Toyota Tsusho teams up with OurCrowd to scout for new auto tech

Toyota Tsusho Corporation, a Japanese general trading company and a member of the Toyota Group, reportedly announced its collaboration with OurCrowd, a renowned Israel based venture capital crowd investment platform, to invest and source innovation in Israel and across the world. OurCrowd would act as a technology scout for Toyota Tsusho, seeking start-ups mainly in the domain of autonomous driving. Additionally, emphasis would be given to sensor technology, data compression, and security and image recognition. The scouting contract would also focus on technologies in other fields, which includes smart cities, digital health, environmental technologies, med-tech as well as in big data in agriculture. Executive Vice President, Regional CEO and CTO of Toyota Tsusho, Minoru Murata stated that the future belongs to those who would be implementing innovative, game-changing technologies. Murata added that the company and the company’s 58,000 employees across the globe are proud of being leaders in the company’s focus industries, however, to ensure Toyota Tsusho’s future leadership it must identify, work and invest in start-ups that are transforming the world everybody lives in. Murata further added that the company’s partnership with OurCrowd would bring it these crucial technologies and leaders to collaborate together on the global challenges of the next generation. OurCrowd CEO and Founder, Jon Medved stated that the company is proud to be collaborating with a general trading firm like Toyota Tsusho. The Japanese company represents a 70-year old tradition of brilliance in global business and is also focused on resolving real world problems. Medved added that this would be good news for global startups as well as good news for the world. The partnership would work under OurCrowd’s Corporate Innovation Program framework. This framework aims to use its 13 offices across the globe to link industry-leading corporations with start-ups that are promising. Since its establishment, OurCrowd platform has become Israel’s foremost active venture investor. The company has raised $1.28 billion in terms of commitments and has invested in 170 start-ups as well as funds. Recently, Toyota Tsusho launched its Hino truck wholesaler in Saudi Arabia, which is the first Japanese truck wholesaler in Saudi Arabia.   Source credit: https://www.jpost.com/Jpost-Tech/Business-and-Innovation/Toyota-partners-with-Israels-OurCrowd-to-hunt-for-innovation-605514