Ted Yamamoto

Founder & General Partner, Waseda University Ventures

Ted Yamamoto is the Founder and General Partner of WASEDA University Ventures, Inc., an early-stage venture capital firm affiliated with WASEDA University in Japan. He has been a venture capitalist for over 28 years, specialising in launching companies grounded in breakthrough academic research for social and technological impact. In 2020, he was ranked first on Forbes Japan’s Midas List, a prestigious venture capital ranking based on annual capital gains.

Ted currently serves on the boards of Tres Alchemix, Pestalozzi Technology Inc., and others. Since 2021, he has also been an advisor to the Office of the President at Waseda University.

Until 2020, Ted was a Partner and Board Director at UTEC (University of Tokyo Edge Capital) for 12 years, a leading deep-tech VC firm affiliated with the University of Tokyo. At UTEC, he focused on seed and early-stage investments in information technology, spearheading numerous ventures and serving on the boards of companies such as Fyusion, Inc.(acquired by Cox Automotive, December 2020), Mujin, Inc. (MBO, February 2019), Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory Ltd. / ACSL (IPO, December 2018; 6232:TYO), Phyzios, Inc. (acquired by Google, February 2013), and Naked Technology, Inc. (acquired by mixi, Inc., September 2011), among others.

Prior to joining UTEC in July 2008, Ted spent 14 years at Mitsui & Co., Ltd., where he played a key role in its venture capital operations in both the US and Japan. In 1997, he was seconded to Nippon Venture Capital Co. as Deputy General Manager. At Mitsui, he also helped establish FeliCa Pocket Marketing, Inc., a joint venture with Sony Corporation, where he served as Senior Manager for Sales, promoting new business opportunities centred on Sony’s contactless IC chip, FeliCa technology.

Ted read Physics at the University of Oxford, holds an MA (Oxon.), and completed an Executive MBA as an Oxford Alumni Scholar.