Takuro Wakabayashi

Advanced Science & Technology Enterprise Corp. (ASTEC) is an independent Japanese venture capital firm which was established in 2001 as a 'Kabushiki Kaisha' by Takuro Wakabayashi and a group of professors at the University of Tokyo. The idea was to create a very early-stage venture capital firm to provide support to Japanese technology start-ups with innovative products and services. Based in Tokyo, the firm manages the ASTEC Technology Incubation Fund, backed primarily by institutional investors. They also provide services to help Japanese universities manage collaborative research and consortiums and collaborate with Technology Licensing Organizations to help with commercialization efforts.