CTalk“I believe that relationships between Japan and Israel will never slow down”
CTalk
“I believe that relationships between Japan and Israel will never slow down”
Nobuyuki Akimoto, Co-Founder and Managing Director at VC firm AT Partners, was speaking to CTech at the Israel-Japan Conference in Tokyo
Nobuyuki Akimoto
(Shmulik Dudfur)
“Under the circumstances, we have a big need to pursue innovation in order to accelerate growth. So in that sense, I believe that relationships between Japan and Israel will never slow down,” said Nobuyuki Akimoto, Co-Founder and Managing Director at venture capital firm AT Partners, speaking to CTech at the Israel-Japan Conference in Tokyo.
AT Partners is a Japanese VC backed by large Japanese corporations. The firm invests in top 10 VCs in Israel, the U.S. and Europe. It also offers its LPs a database system on its portfolio companies and its own advisory service. “We help our LPs from the beginning to the end,” noted Akimoto.
“We started our first fund in 2019, but prior to establishing AT Partners I used to work for NTT group and used to head the corporate venture capital activity for NTT,” said Akimoto, who started to visit Israel 10 years ago.
“Starting from 2013, both governments tried to strengthen the relationships between the countries. In 2013, less than 10 Japanese corporations had offices in Israel, but recently that figure has risen to around 100. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 and the downturn in the economy, investment activity has slowed down, but I do believe that relationships between Japan and Israel will never slow down.”
You can watch the full interview in the video above.
