Hitachi will begin investing through the newly formed Hitachi Ventures in June, and the unit’s CEO will be ex-3M New Ventures president Stefan Gabriel.
Japan-headquartered electronics manufacturer Hitachi will launch a $150m corporate venture capital arm called Hitachi Ventures on June 1 to accelerate startups globally, especially those based in Europe and the US.
The unit has hired Stefan Gabriel (pictured), formerly president of manufactured goods conglomerate 3M’s corporate venturing subsidiary, 3M New Ventures, to be Hitachi Ventures’ chief executive. He featured in Global Corporate Venturing’s Powerlist in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Hitachi Ventures will target startups developing disruptive technologies that can integrate with its parent company’s products.
Hitachi itself has been intermittently active in corporate venturing, generally through subsidiaries, backing companies such as C3Nano, Reno Sub Systems and Flutura Decision Sciences and Analytics.
Toshiaki Higashihara, president and CEO of Hitachi, said: “Hitachi Ventures Fund invests in highly innovative and early-stage startups with rapid growth potential. The purpose is to capture the occurring innovations and to support acceleration of the movements.
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