Shosuke Kiba has been promoted to managing partner of multi-corporate-backed venture capital firm Japan-based United Materials Incubator (UMI).
Kiba had previously been a partner at UMI for four years after moving from Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), the Japan state-supported investment holding company that founded UMI in 2016 to back advanced chemicals and materials technology developers.
INCJ made an initial strategic limited partner commitment of up to ¥6bn in the UMI No. 1 fund, which raised ¥10bn ($85m) and which was also backed by Asahi Glass, Ube Industries, Sekisui Chemical, Dexerials, DIC and Nippon Shokubai.
Other strategic partners of UMI, which closed its second fund at approximately $69m in January this year, include Sumitomo Chemical and Mitsubishi Chemical. Other members of Kiba’s team include partner Yosuke Yamamoto, who was previously part of JSR’s corporate VC unit, and accountant Hirobumi Tani.
