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Sometimes, Michiko Kato thinks back on the great challenges of her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She once dropped everything in her native city of Tokyo to attend Harvard Business School in Massachusetts. One day, she decided to leave her career in the stable world of finance to enter the rocky terrain of startup life. That jump is what changed everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Kato officially assumes her greatest challenge yet \u2014 CIO of Toyota\u2019s Woven Capital and CEO of Toyota Invention Partners. The latter appointment makes her the first female CEO of a wholly owned Toyota subsidiary.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Woven Capital is the growth-stage venture capital arm of Toyota, focused on backing founders<\/a> building in mobility (including space, cybersecurity, and autonomous driving). It last announced an $800 million Fund II in August last year (Fund I, also at a $800 million, launched in 2021), with plans to back at least 20 new Series B investments. Companies in its portfolio include the satellite company Xona and the defense manufacturing infrastructure company Machina Labs.\u00a0<\/p>\n The firm seeks to find the \u201cfuture leader of mobility,\u201d she said, and aims to pick companies that are \u201ccollaboration partners with Toyota.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe can co-lead, we can make small investments, or we can do an aggressive investment; we try to be flexible,\u201d she said. And as for her? \u201cI want to be hands-on. I want to be valuable to startups. And, I want to really focus on the partnership creation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Kato this week is not alone in her promotion at the firm. Mia Panzer is also moving from her business strategy role at one of Toyota\u2019s technology subsidiaries to become COO of Woven Capital. That means not one but two of the top roles at this corporate VC (CVC) firm will be held by women, a signal of how the male-dominated world of finance and investments is progressing.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span> Historically, women have done (only a little bit) better at climbing the ranks at CVCs than at traditional venture firms. The last concrete data, however, comes from a 2014 CBI report that said that a little less than 20% of the top CVCs had women on their investing teams. The number was compared, at the time, to the fact that only 7% of partners at the top 100 venture firms were women.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n