Yamaha’s $100 million fund to invest in AI, robotics and transport
Yamaha Motor is establishing a second Yamaha Motor Exploratory Fund, L.P. II. The company-financed ten-year fund based in the US has a total investment purse of $100 million and its target investments are noted as ‘startups with innovative technologies and ample business growth potential in the fields of transportation, robotics, data/AI, fintech/insurtech, and digital health and wellness’.
The fund is following the Yamaha Motor Exploratory Fund, L.P., which was established in 2018, and will strengthen the company’s corporate venturing while utilising the knowledge accrued from the first fund. The search for companies to invest in will be carried out by Yamaha Motor Ventures (YMV).
In 2015, Yamaha Motor established YMV in Silicon Valley as its corporate venture capital arm, starting the first Yamaha Motor Exploratory Fund, L.P. as its own investment fund in 2018, before setting up the Yamaha Motor Sustainability Fund in 2022 to invest in companies working to address problems concerning the environment.
In its new medium-term management plan (2022–2024) announced in February 2022, Yamaha Motor designated several ‘new businesses’ and ‘growth businesses’ as ‘strategic business fields’. As part of managing its business portfolio, the company will actively allocate management resources to these businesses in order to develop them into future core businesses. For these new businesses, the company will promote new value creation unique to Yamaha Motor through co-creation partnerships and with the technologies and expertise it has garnered to date.
