Daiki Yamashita, general manager of corporate venture capital at Sekisui America Corporation, is one of our top 50 Emerging Leaders in corporate venturing for 2026.
Daiki Yamashita is a veteran of corporate venture capital and, in his third CVC role, is helping Japanese chemical producer Sekisui grow its open innovation activities as the sole member of its early-stage investment team to be based in North America.
“I would like to expand our activities in North America and also the rest of the world, including the UK, the EU and Asia,” he says.
“Sekisui is one of the major chemical companies in Japan but, looking at the startup ecosystem, the Japanese market is very small. Probably less than 1% of startups are based in Japan and 99% elsewhere in the world. We need to expand our CVC activities globally, and I believe I am, in part, responsible for that global expansion.”
“The startup CEO, CFO and CXO expect to communicate with us as humans and that is really important. After finding that promising startup, communication with the startup is the most important phase”
Yamashita moved to Silicon Valley in 2024, having joined Sekisui two years earlier, and immediately began seeking to leverage partnerships with local startups to learn more about the US market.
He was originally a chemical engineer at camera and imaging equipment maker Ricoh before joining its CVC team in 2014. After four years, he moved to telecoms firm KDDI, investing in startups and overseeing business development activities.
It is that background in materials and chemistry that Yamashita says gives him an edge in handling the transition of AI to the physical world. And when it comes to talking to startups, he is inspired by the example of his two children, who have thrived after being immersed in a new environment, despite having to learn a new language.
“We are using a lot of generative AI tools now, but real communication is still human to human. The startup CEO, CFO and CXO expect to communicate with us as humans and that is really important,” he says. “After finding that promising startup, communication with the startup is the most important phase.”
The Emerging Leaders are mid-career corporate venture professionals who are making an outstanding contribution to their teams and the industry.
See the full list of Emerging Leaders here.
