Vertex Ventures Japan (VVJ) has invested in Gaianixx Inc., a University of Tokyo deep-tech startup, as a new investor in the company's Series C first round. The round raised a total of ¥2.0 billion, bringing Gaianixx's cumulative funding to approximately ¥3.85 billion.
The financing was completed through a third-party allotment of shares to existing and new investors. New participants alongside VVJ include the Mitsui Kinzoku-SBI Material Innovation Fund II, Toray International, and Kiraboshi Capital. Existing backers — University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC), JX Metals, JIC Venture Growth Investments (JIC VGI), Alconix, i-nest Capital, and SMBC Venture Capital — also participated, with JIC VGI leading the round.
Solving a structural trade-off in semiconductors
Gaianixx's core technology, the proprietary "Multi-functional® interlayer," relaxes the lattice mismatch between a substrate and the crystal film grown on top of it, enabling high-quality single-crystal films across dissimilar materials. The company positions the technology as a way to resolve the long-standing "cost-versus-performance trade-off" in compound semiconductors, with applications spanning next-generation sensors, communication (SAW) devices, power semiconductors, LEDs, and optical-communication components.
Since its Series B, Gaianixx has moved from technology validation into commercialization. It has completed "design wins" with two companies now advancing to device development using its materials, and is fielding joint-development and evaluation inquiries from close to 40 device makers in Japan and abroad.
Use of proceeds
The new capital will fund the full-scale operation of Gaianixx's Yamanashi Technical Center and its proprietary pilot line for large-scale sample supply and process verification; global business development across North America, Europe, and Asia, together with expanded hiring of mass-production process engineers and business-development and IP-strategy professionals; and further strengthening of its intellectual-property portfolio. Gaianixx currently has 12 patents granted — 11 covering its core Multi-functional® interlayer — and 87 applications pending in Japan and overseas.
"We are delighted to take part in this financing. Gaianixx's core Multi-functional® interlayer technology realizes the single-crystallization that the compound-semiconductor industry has long sought, and holds the potential to become a platform technology for a compound-semiconductor market worth well over ten trillion yen. Having walked alongside the company since its earliest days, we feel its feasibility growing by the day. By fusing the team's deep technical expertise and semiconductor start-up experience with the global ecosystem of the Vertex Group, we will contribute to Gaianixx's growth and to innovation across the compound-semiconductor market."
Naonori Kurokawa
General Partner
Vertex Ventures Japan
About Gaianixx
Founded in November 2021 and based at the University of Tokyo (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo), Gaianixx Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells Multi-functional® interlayer and epitaxial technologies under the mission of "renovating the world with the Multi-functional® interlayer." The company is led by CEO Kento Nakao.