Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
CoCooking, a Japan-based operator of a food sharing service dubbed Tabete backed by Keio University, has reached a second close for its pre-series A round of undisclosed size. JR East Japan Start Up, a corporate venturing vehicle for rail operator JR East, investment firm PE&HR’s Social Entrepreneur Fund III and Higashimatsuyama Entrepreneur Support Investment, as well as angel investor Yōichi Asō invested in the latest tranche. Itochu-Shokuhin, a food and liqueur subsidiary of trading group Itochu, venture capital fund Now and individuals Naruhisa Nakagawa and Shunsuke Ikegami provided the first tranche of the pre-series A funding in July 2019. Keio University Shōnan-Fujisawa Campus (SFC)’s SFC Forum Fund, Itochu subsidiary Itochu Techno-Solutions, business process outsourcing and consulting company 222Partnership, Now, Optima Ventures, Social Entrepreneur Fund II and assorted angel investors took part in the company’s August 2018 round, which represented SFC Forum’s first investment.