UTEC - The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners
UTEC is a seed and early stage venture capital firm investing on the basis of science and technology. Its stated policy is to invest in seed and early stage startups including before incorporation (会社設立前を含むシード/アーリー段階のスタートアップ), and to follow on into middle and later stages. It states it acts as lead or co-lead investor as standard practice, with initial cheques of roughly tens of millions to a few hundred million yen (数千万円から数億円程度) and follow-on totalling roughly JPY 1 billion to JPY 3 billion (10～30億円程度). It says it works with the University of Tokyo as its core axis plus other universities, research institutions, companies and government in Japan and overseas, and that it has invested in more than 30 startups in the United States, Europe, India, Southeast Asia and Africa. It describes itself as a technology transfer related business operator approved by the University of Tokyo (東京大学が承認する「技術移転関連事業者」として). Its own portfolio categories are Life Science & Healthcare, IT and Physical Science & Engineering.
1,300億円 (approx. JPY 130bn; UTEC's own cumulative total across six flagship funds as of June 2026, which is cumulative and not AUM. The most recent, UTEC6, is approximately 460.8億円) AUM71/100 Power Score™2004 FoundedTokyo, Japan
Life SciencesHealthcareTechnologyDeep TechHardware
株式会社東京大学エッジキャピタル (The University of Tokyo Edge Capital), the predecessor entity, is established in April 2004; UTEC dates its founding to 2004 and Tomotaka Goji describes himself as a co-founder from April 2004.
2004
The first fund, ユーテック一号投資事業有限責任組合 (UTEC1), is established on 1 July 2004 at approximately JPY 8.3 billion (約83億円).
2009
UTEC2 Investment Limited Partnership is established on 31 July 2009 at approximately JPY 7.15 billion (約71.5億円).
2013
UTEC3 Investment Limited Partnership is established on 15 October 2013 at approximately JPY 14.57 billion (約145.7億円).
2018
UTEC4 Investment Limited Partnership is established on 17 January 2018 at approximately JPY 24.31 billion (約243.1億円). In the same year the current operating entity 株式会社東京大学エッジキャピタルパートナーズ is established by UTEC Partners LLP and signs a memorandum of understanding with the University of Tokyo (per the Japanese Wikipedia history section; not stated on UTEC's own site).
2020
The predecessor 株式会社東京大学エッジキャピタル is dissolved in June 2020 and the business is consolidated into 株式会社東京大学エッジキャピタルパートナーズ (per the Japanese Wikipedia history section; not stated on UTEC's own site).
2020
株式会社東京大学エッジキャピタル (the 2004 entity) is dissolved and consolidated into 株式会社東京大学エッジキャピタルパートナーズ. UTEC's own 沿革 records this at 2020.06: 株式会社東京大学エッジキャピタル解散、株式会社東京大学エッジキャピタルパートナーズへ一本化.
2021
UTEC5 Investment Limited Partnership is established on 7 May 2021 at approximately JPY 30.41 billion (約304.1億円).
2021
The University of Tokyo receives a donation of shares in 株式会社東京大学エッジキャピタルパートナーズ from 一般社団法人東京大学産学連携支援基金, recorded in UTEC's own 沿革 at 2021.02.
2025
UTEC6 Investment Limited Partnership is established on 30 April 2025 at approximately JPY 46.08 billion (約460.8億円); UTEC announced the formation on 11 July 2025 and described the investor base as institutional investors centred on domestic and overseas pension funds, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds, plus financial institutions.
2025
Shimon Sakaguchi, founder of UTEC portfolio company RegCell, Inc., is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; UTEC published the announcement on 6 October 2025.
2026
Portfolio company TIER IV, Inc. (株式会社ティアフォー) lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market on 22 July 2026 under code 593A.