Why Hitachi Ventures: Interviews, Careers, & Portfolio

Hitachi Ventures Overview

Hitachi Ventures is the venture capital arm of the Hitachi Group – one of the leading industrial players in the technology sector.

Hitachi Ventures primarily invests in innovative companies which provide solutions to society’s key social, environmental, and technological challenges in different areas such as industrial automation, cloud services, IT, mobility, smart infrastructure, smart medicine, smart city, smart infrastructure, energy, and many more.

The firm looks for companies in Europe, North America, and Israel which typically are under healthcare, social businesses, and environment space. They invest in Series A, B, and C rounds around the world.

Hitachi Ventures was founded in 2019 and has offices in Boston, USA and Munich, Germany.

Hitachi Ventures AUM

According to Business Wire, Hitachi Ventures has $600 million in assets under management.

Hitachi Ventures Interview Process & Questions

Firms may decide to tweak their interview process with each candidate. However, you’ll find that the general nature of the interview stays the same. When you interview at Hitachi Ventures, you can expect:

• 4 to 6 rounds of interviews
• For the initial rounds, the junior professionals will be in charge of the interview. For the later part, the senior staff take over.
• Entire process typically lasts for several weeks – except for on-cycle or on-campus recruiting

The interview questions will be a combination of behavioral, fit, and investing questions so make sure to prepare for that.

My Growth Equity Interview Guide is an excellent resource in case you need help preparing for interviews.

Why Hitachi Ventures

“Why this firm?” almost always shows up during interviews – and also one of the most critical questions you have to answer.

If you’ve done networking to get connected with the firm’s employees, this is the right time to mention whoever you’ve met and how their experiences have positively influenced your decision to apply.

You can also try listening to interviews with the firm’s founders, portfolio companies, and key personnels to come up with relevant answers.

For starters, here’s Stefan Gabriel, CEO at Hitachi Ventures, at the 2019 GCV Symposium:

More Interviews

• Insights from Gayathri R, Partner at Hitachi Ventures
• Interview with Stefan Gabriel @ Hitachi Ventures
• Gayathri Radhakrishnan, Partner at Hitachi Ventures, joins John Cole in this episode of Circuit Talk: Funders and Founders

Hitachi Ventures Case Study

Communication skills and technical knowledge are two important factors that investment firms like Hitachi Ventures consider when selecting the right candidate. They often use case study to evaluate these traits.

Most case studies will have you perform financial modeling and provide investment recommendations. However, cold calling case study may also be included if you’re applying for junior roles.

You can find more case study resources inside my Growth Equity Interview Guide.

Hitachi Ventures Salary & Compensation

As per Glassdoor, analysts at Hitachi Ventures have earned salaries of $98K per year, while there’s no recent data for associate hires. Figures may vary depending on many factors like experience, location, and education.

Analyst

Hitachi Ventures Careers, Jobs, & Internships

Visit our job board if you’re looking for open roles at Hitachi Ventures or other similar firms.

Hitachi Ventures Portfolio & Investments

According to Crunchbase, Hitachi Ventures has made 25 investments across three funds. Some of their notable deals include Strangeworks, Arrcus, and Ascend Elements.

Notable Transaction: Makersite

Makersite is a software-as-a-service provider which helps manufacturing enterprises address complex challenges around their supply chains and products.

Specifically, the Company helps procurement and development teams in the manufacturing industry to better decide which products to buy and where to get them at scale. Their AI automatically maps an enterprises’ suppliers, products, and manufacturing processes against 100+ supply chain databases. Then it creates precise twins of each product plus how they are used, made, and disposed.

Some of Makersite’s portfolio includes companies like Vestas, Cummins, Lush, and Microsoft.

In October 2022, Makersite secured a $18 million Series A funding, which was led by Hitachi Ventures and Translink Capital with participation from Planet A and KOMPAS.

The investment followed Makersite’s strong revenue and customer growth in the last 12 months. The Company will use the funds to expand their clientbase and improve their solutions.

Next Steps

If you decide to send your application and build your investing career at Hitachi Ventures, I would highly recommend that you check out my Growth Equity Interview Guide first before attending interviews.

Growth Equity Interview Guide helps professionals get a good grasp of topics that are typically covered during interviews such as financial modeling, case studies, and more. Check it out and start learning today!