After two decades at Honda, Akihito Yuzuriha is taking a director role in SMBC’s new VC team.
Akihito Yuzuriha left Honda to join Japanese financial group Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s new innovation arm as a director.
After half a decade at Honda’s startup investment arm, Honda Xcelerator Ventures – where he worked concurrently with his other role in the corporate’s business strategy and development function – Yuzuriha has joined SMCB Edge, the bank’s newly-established VC arm.
A self-described “industrial creation VC”, SMBC Edge plans to take a hands-on approach, with extensive business development support, to startups in Japan and beyond, spanning a range of industries.
The move caps nearly two decades at Honda for Yuzuriha, who spent 12 years as a mechanical engineer in the R&D division before moving to corporate business development and Honda Xcelerator Ventures.
Fernando Moncada Rivera
Fernando Moncada Rivera is a reporter at Global Corporate Venturing and also host of the CVC Unplugged podcast.
