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Press Release

New Year 2025 and 5th Anniversary Greetings

2025.01.15

As we step into 2025, all of us at Leave a Nest Capital are thrilled to be celebrating our 5th anniversary. We’ve been driven by our mission “designing effective organizational management with the power of human capital” since we started on January 6, 2020.

We couldn’t have reached this significant milestone without the unwavering trust and support of so many exceptional people: deep-tech entrepreneurs passionately working to change the world, partner companies and experts who have generously collaborated with us to accelerate the deep-tech sector, members of Leave a Nest Capital and the Leave a Nest Group, and participants in our projects. To each and every one of you, we express our heartfelt gratitude.

As we look back on the progress we’ve made over the past five years, we’re also excited about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in 2025.

<Reflections on Five Years of Progress>  

Over the past five years, Leave a Nest Capital has been dedicated to supporting the early stages of deep-tech ventures that are working hard to solve pressing societal challenges through the power of science and technology. We’ve embarked on a transformative journey to create a system that establishes a solid management foundation for these ventures. We’ve identified the crucial phase from initial research and development and proof-of-concept (PoC) to the clarification of the market and business model, which we call the “germination stage.” Our team has been diligently working on investment development and environmental development businesses to address three key issues: “funding,” “human resources,” and “management.”

In our investment development business, we’ve made significant strides by providing seed investments ranging from 5 to 20 million yen to each portfolio company over the past five years through direct investment from Leave a Nest Capital, successfully investing in a total of 52 ventures. A major milestone for us was the establishment of Japan’s first evergreen fund, “Germination Fund I,” in December 2022. Through this fund, we made seed investments of 5 million yen per portfolio in 10 promising deep-tech ventures. What sets these investments apart is the unwavering commitment of Leave a Nest’s “Science Bridge Communicators,” who have stepped up as valuable companions to take on the challenge of changing the world with the same passion and determination as the ventures’ founders.

Recognizing the importance of human capital, we’ve launched two groundbreaking initiatives to nurture partners who can effectively support deep-tech venture founders on their journey to success.

The first initiative is the “Deep Tech CxO Association,” a vibrant community of CxO personnel who play pivotal roles within deep-tech ventures. We launched this association in 2023 and set an annual project theme to drive meaningful discussions and actionable insights. In 2023, we tackled the critical topic of “Clarifying the competencies required for CxO personnel during the start-up stage,” and in 2024, we delved into “Developing a management issue map for early-stage deep-tech ventures,” providing a roadmap for navigating common challenges.

The second initiative is the “Germination College,” which we launched in 2024 with the mission of cultivating talented individuals who can support deep-tech venture founders with the same passion and expertise from outside the company. We’re proud to have witnessed the successful completion of the program by twenty exceptional individuals from diverse backgrounds, including financial institutions, venture capital or corporate venture capital firms, business corporations, and local governments. These individuals, who are responsible for supporting startups and ventures or exploring innovation, have taken a significant first step in deeply understanding the reality of deep-tech ventures and increasing the number of members who can effectively promote “germination.”

In our environmental development business, the dedicated members of Leave a Nest Capital have gone above and beyond. They’ve not only handled all corporate affairs, including accounting and labor management, for the venture companies they support but have also introduced on-site advisory services to streamline and optimize business flows. Over the past five years, we’ve successfully supported the corporate operations of nearly 50 venture companies, enabling them to focus on their core missions and achieve sustainable growth.

<Leave a Nest Capital in Year 2025>  

In November 2022, the Japan government unveiled the ambitious “Five-Year Plan for Nurturing Startups,” which set a visionary goal of establishing 100,000 startups in the near future. This aspirational target underscores the critical need for nurturing and supporting 100,000 entrepreneurs who will drive innovation and shape the future of our economy. However, as we reflect on the intricacies of organizational management, it becomes clear that the number of dedicated professionals who can accompany these entrepreneurs on their journey, sharing their vision and mindset, must be significantly greater than the number of entrepreneurs themselves.

As we stand at the midpoint of this transformative five-year plan in 2025, we can confidently say that the startup ecosystem is gaining tremendous momentum, with a growing number of entrepreneurs embarking on their ventures. However, we must also acknowledge that there’s still a pressing need for “funds” and “human resources” to support these entrepreneurs, particularly in the germination stage of deep-tech startups and venture companies that aim to solve complex social issues through the power of science and technology. 

Focusing on this critical issue, we’re committed to further evolving and intensifying our efforts to tackle the challenges related to funding and human resources that we’ve been diligently working on over the past five years.

1) Defining “Germinators” and Developing a Growth Model  

One of our primary missions in 2025 is to increase the number of ‘players who can accompany entrepreneurs with the same vision and mindset’ during the germination stage of deep-tech ventures.

To achieve this mission, we’re introducing the concept of “Germinators,” a term we’ve coined to refer to the companion players who take on any role in accelerating the germination of deep-tech ventures. Germinators can come from diverse backgrounds, such as CFOs or COOs who work alongside founders within the ventures, or investors who actively support the ventures with various actions, from business development and sales channel development to business model construction. These Germinators go beyond merely acting as a sounding board; they’re deeply invested in the success of the ventures they support.

In 2025, we’ll embark on a transformative journey to develop concrete definitions and comprehensive training models for these “Germinators.”

2) Proposing and Commercializing the CEC (Corporate Entrepreneur Capital) Model   

As Germinators accompany ventures on their journey, they accumulate invaluable experience related to “zero-to-one” business development and corporate management. Through these experiences, we’ve developed an exciting hypothesis: Germinators themselves have immense potential to evolve into successful entrepreneurs.

In recent years, promoting partnerships between deep-tech ventures and large, medium, and small enterprises has been a key focus strategy for the Leave a Nest Group. 

We believe that when these enterprises actively make compact and speedy germination investments of around 5 million yen in deep-tech ventures that resonate with Germinators, it creates a powerful synergy. Germinators can more easily accompany and support these ventures, leveraging their expertise and resources. To encapsulate this concept, we’ve coined the term “CEC (Corporate Entrepreneur Capital),” which represents the idea of Germinators being deeply involved in the commercialization of the ventures they accompany, ultimately leading to the development of new entrepreneurs.

Under the CEC model, we’re currently developing a comprehensive framework to effectively train and support aspiring entrepreneurs. We’re excited to announce that we plan to launch this groundbreaking service in early 2025. If you’re passionate about collaborating with deep-tech ventures and fostering the growth of entrepreneurs, we invite you to reach out to us and explore the possibilities together.

At Leave a Nest Capital, we remain steadfast in our commitment to creating a robust system that accelerates the growth of deep-tech ventures by “designing effective organizational management through the power of human capital.” We believe that by empowering Germinators and implementing innovative models like CEC, we can drive meaningful change and create a brighter future for the deep-tech ecosystem.

We look forward to your continued support in 2025!  

Warm Regards,
Masahiro Ikegami
Representative Director
Leave a Nest Capital Co., Ltd.