Mitsui & Co., one of Japan's leading large-scale holdings, has partnered up with Koç Holding for the 30 percent share of its technology investment company Inventram. Established six years ago in collaboration between Koç Holding and Koç University, Inventram makes investments in early-stage technology companies that are developing "disruptive" technologies for existing business models, and patent licensing fields.
Speaking during the partnership signing ceremony, Mitsui & Co Europe Corporate Planning President Naotaka Hayashi said they made the investment due to their trust in the potential of the Turkish economy and stressed that they trusted Koç's expertise and they would contribute to this project along with their global business network.
Koç Holding Deputy Chairman Ali Koç said that they will benefit from Mitsui's knowledge in the field with this partnership. "For us, the most important added value is to be able to evaluate investments faster," Koç said, adding that they expect the flow of deals to increase with this partnership.
It was reported that Inventram will work with Mitsui in the fields of electronics, integrated systems, artificial intelligence and sensors.
Inventram General Manager Cem Soysal said that the investment criteria of the company, which so far has invested in four companies and has been working on two investments, is that the companies should hold patents. Inventram plans to invest in at least two companies and eight patents each year. Soysal said that they can invest between $250,000 and $1 million in early-stage companies, saying, "We are looking for a patent requirement for the companies we invest in. Of course, if they have provable business models, we will increase the amount of our investment accordingly." Stating that Inventram also worked in the commercialization of Koç Group's companies' patents, Soysal said they have now started presenting the commercializable patents outside through Inventram by also keeping the strategic ones in their own portfolios. "We will see how we can evaluate the non-strategic ones with Mitsui," Soysal added.
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