Japan-based digital fabrication and artificial intelligence technology developer Pixie Dust Technologies (PDT), has raised ¥3.8bn ($34.7m) yesterday in a series B round featuring several corporate investors.
Telecommunications firm KDDI, energy utility Kansai Electric Power Group and IT equipment producer NEC Corporation’s NEC Capital Solutions subsidiary took part in the round through respective corporate venturing vehicles KDDI Open Innovation Fund, K4 Ventures and CSV Venture Fund.
Printing services provider Toppan, insurance provider Dai-ichi Life Insurance and marketing group Dentsu also invested, as did SBI Investment, SMBC Venture Capital and Mizuho Capital, subsidiaries of financial services firms SBI Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mizuho Bank.
Venture capital firm Venture Labo Investment and public-private partnership Innovation Network Corporation of Japan filled out the round, which was secured alongside a $9m bullet loan agreement with Shoko Chukin Bank’s Ueno Branch.
Founded in May 2017, PDT aims to promote sound, light and electromagnetic wave control systems based on intellectual property developed by Japanese academic institutions. It has been collaborating with University of Tsukuba since late 2017 and intends to establish a research foundation at the institution.
Co-founder and CEO Yoichi Ochiai is an associate professor at Tsukuba and head of its Digital Nature lab, and the intellectual property developed in the lab will be transferred to PDT in return for share acquisition rights for the university.
The series B funding will help PDT build human resources and research and development infrastructure. It had raised $5.8m in an October 2017 series A round and $940,000 in bridge financing in March 2018, according to TechCrunch Japan.
