Katsuhiro Yamashita, CEO of TNP On The Road Corporation, a Japanese venture capital company, delivered comments as part of a panel discussion on the Japanese venture capital world at the two-day 2007 “Red Herring Japan” conference held in Kyoto, Japan on July 24th, 2007.
Other panelists joined from venture capital companies also active in Japan and the United States.
Entitled “Main Stage Roundtable: VC Opportunities in Japan” and moderated by David Chao, co-founder and General Partner of Doll Capital Management, Yamashita kicked off his comments with a general overview of the venture capital market in Japan.
“In Japan, business development and R/D was mainly done by major companies, supported by their own financial facilities, but the central paradigm changed in Japan after the bubble economy burst. We have lots of good technology seeds in Japan, but we did not have infrastructure to promote technology ventures. So we have been developing a viable ecosystem since 2000, concurrent with our fundraising rounds”, said Yamashita.
In response to some additional comments from panelists about their activities, Yamashita also noted with respect to TOR’s activities, “we work with a number of academic facilities, such as for example Yokohama National University, and we also utilize the network of retired engineers or younger technical staff retiring or leaving various Japanese companies who are skilled in such highly specialized technical areas as packaging and miniaturization
fields”, he observed.
Additional panel participants were executives from Globis Capital Partners, Global Catalyst Partners and Globespan Capital Partners. Delegates to Red Herring Japan came from the United States, Canada, Europe and from around Asia.
In turning to the topic of keeping invested companies on track to their success, Yamashita observed that in the past he had experience in selecting and placing in a Japanese firm the best possible management to challenge their difficult start-up challenges, and as a result, turning the company around during its critical phase. He also cited TOR’s work with firms from Korea, China and the USA, as TOR’s platform is addressing those critical markets through engaged interface.
TNP On The Road is a subsidiary of Tsunami Network Partners (TNP), established in Yokohama Japan and by carving out the venture capital function of TNP. Taking advantage of TNP's experience and infrastructure for venture support, TOR features the function of "Network-based Hands-on Venture Capital". It is active in investing in companies in Asia and the United States.
Red Herring Japan 2007, a two day event delved into Japan’s technology marketplace and celebrate its numerous—often underrepresented—innovators. The interactive event focused on such areas as Web 2.0; Wireless Developments; VC Investment; Cleantech; and Digital Living/Digital Workplace. Each track began with kickoff comments by Chairman of Red Herring, Alex Vieux. Red Herring is a global media company uniting the world’s best high technology innovators, venture investors and business decision makers in a variety of forums: a leading innovation magazine; an online daily technology news service; technology newsletters, and major events for technology leaders around the globe.
For further inquiries about this event and the panel discussion, feel free to contact
(in English) Investment Manager Tom Logan at logan@tsunami2000.co.jp