About Universal Materials Incubator
Universal Materials Incubator is a venture capital firm founded in 2015. It is primarily based out of Tokyo, Japan. As of Apr 2025, Universal Materials Incubator is an active investor, having invested in 29 companies, with 4 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Series A round in Japan based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from High Tech to Environment Tech and Food and Agriculture Tech. Most recently it led the $975K Seed round of LiSTie.
Overall, Universal Materials Incubator portfolio has seen 1 IPO and 1 acquisition, namely and Jitsubo. A lot of funds co-invest with Universal Materials Incubator, with names like Omnivore sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio.
Universal Materials Incubator has team of 21 people including 10 partners.
Key Metrics
Team Members
, &
Portfolio Count
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Series A, Seed &
Portfolio IPOs
Portfolio Acquisitions
Portfolio Soonicorns
Deals in last 12 months
Universal Materials Incubator's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Universal Materials Incubator has invested in 29 companies over the last 9 years, with an average of 2 new investments annually in the last 5 years. In 2024, it made 5 investments, while as of Apr 2025, it has made 2 investments in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Industrial Microbes and most recent follow-on round was in EF Polymer.
Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1stÌý¸é´Ç³Ü²Ô»å | Follow-on | Total | |
2025 (YTD) | 0 | 2 | 2 |
2024 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
2023 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
2022 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2020 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2018 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
2017 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
2016 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
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Universal Materials Incubator's Investment Trends by Stage
Universal Materials Incubator has made 10 investments in Series A stage, 4 investments in Seed stage, 2 investments in Series B stage and 1 investment in Conventional Debt stage.Universal Materials Incubator's Investment Trends by Sector
Universal Materials Incubator has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Sustainability Tech, Chemicals and Materials Tech, High Tech, Chemicals and Materials and Environment Tech. Notably, it has invested in 16 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 13 Tech companies, 2 Software companies and at least 2 companies focusing on Tech hardware.
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Sustainability Tech | 6 |
Chemicals and Materials Tech | 5 |
High Tech | 5 |
Chemicals and Materials | 4 |
Environment Tech | 4 |
Others | 11 |
Universal Materials Incubator's Investment Trends by Geography
Universal Materials Incubator has made most investments in Japan (18), followed by United States where it has made 6 investments.
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Japan | 9 |
United States | 4 |
India | 2 |
New Zealand | 1 |
United Kingdom | 1 |
Universal Materials Incubator's recent investments
Here are the most recent investments by Universal Materials Incubator:
Date | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apr 16, 2025 | India | Series B | $6.6M | MTG Ventures [+1] | |
Mar 12, 2025 | India | Series B | $40M | Accel [+4] | |
Nov 19, 2024 | United States | Seed | $10M | ||
Sep 10, 2024 | Japan | Seed | Undisclosed | ||
Jul 29, 2024 | Japan | Seed | $975K | - |
Get the detailed list of all investments by Universal Materials Incubator. Download now!IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Universal Materials Incubator's Portfolio
Here are Universal Materials Incubator's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dec 24, 2021 | Mar 08, 2018 | Series B | Undisclosed |
Acquired companies in Universal Materials Incubator's Portfolio
Here are Universal Materials Incubator's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dec 11, 2014 | - | - | - |
Team profile of Universal Materials Incubator
Universal Materials Incubator has a team of 21 membersÌýincluding 10 Partners and 3 PrincipalsÌýlocated in Japan and United States. Universal Materials Incubator's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of top team members in Universal Materials Incubator:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | Tokyo | - | ||
Partner | Saitama | - | ||
Partner | - | - | ||
Partner | Tokyo | - | ||
Partner | - | - | ||
Partner | - | - | ||
Partner | - | - | ||
Partner | Tokyo | - | ||
Partner | Japan | - | ||
Partner | Japan | - | ||
Principal | Tokyo | - |
Get the full list of Universal Materials Incubator's team & partners for free. Download now!Co-investors of Universal Materials Incubator
Over the past 9 years, 112 investors have co-invested in Universal Materials Incubator's portfolio companies.
- Invested before Universal Materials Incubator:Ìý, OS Fund and 55 others have invested in rounds before Universal Materials Incubator. There are 3 companies where osti.gov has invested before Universal Materials Incubator and 2 companies where OS Fund has invested before Universal Materials Incubator.
- Top Co-investors of Universal Materials Incubator:Ìý39 investors entered a company along with Universal Materials Incubator. These include investors like Omnivore (1 company).
- Invested after Universal Materials Incubator:ÌýA total of 16 investors have invested in Universal Materials Incubator's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Accel (1 company), Conti Ventures (1 company) and Lewis & Clark Agrifood (1 company).
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