Team
Bobby Shirai
President
Scope of Responsibility
Decision of investment
Global operation management
Bobby began his career with Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL) in 1985, working in Electronic Component division before transitioning to Semiconductor Production Equipment (SPE) division in 1990. Since TEL started globalization of SPE business in 1994, Bobby has been contributing to establish and solidify trusted partnership with customers in the U.S. from various positions in Product BU and Account Sales including product/technology marketing roles in the thermal processing segment.
Bobby Shirai also serves as President for Tokyo Electron U.S. Holdings (TEH) and Chairman for Tokyo Electron America, Inc. (TEA).
Bobby holds a B.A. in Economics from Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. Outside of the office he enjoys playing golf and music.
Hidenori Sato
Vice President & General Partner
Scope of Responsibility
Decision of investment
Global operation management
Hidenori Sato joined Tokyo Electron in 1992 as an Etch process engineer. Since then, he has supported various customers in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, and other regions, and later served as a process manager for the U.S. market. He has played a significant role in the elemental development of etching equipment and process technology, acquiring extensive knowledge in both the process and hardware domains. Beyond Etcher technology, he has also contributed to marketing efforts for 3D integration, packaging, further deepening his understanding of semiconductor device technology and integration across both front-end and back-end processes.
He holds a Bachelor's degree in Physical Chemistry at Sophia University.
Ted Hirose
Group Director, US region
Scope of Responsibility
Investment in US
US operation management
Ted joined TEL in 1997 and has been assigned to TEL Venture Capital since 2007. He brings 20 years of experience in venture investment, strategic alliance, corporate planning, new business planning, and various business analysis. Before joining TEL Venture Capital, he held various initiative roles at both TEL Japan and US headquarters. Currently based in Silicon Valley, Ted leads start-ups scouting, due-diligence, venture investment execution as well as portfolio management in many core focused areas such as semiconductor process technologies, new display technologies, advanced materials, AI, industrial tech, and med tech. Ted is passionate about supporting startups, especially when combining the best of both worlds – US entrepreneurship spirit and detailed craftsmanship from TEL Japan.
Brent Elliot
Senior Venture Partner, US region
Scope of Responsibility
Investment in US
Brent joined TEL Venture Capital in 2021. He has 40 years of experience founding, funding, growing, and selling technology companies, primarily in front-end semiconductor capital equipment.He has a broad background in technologies required for leading edge equipment, subsystems, and components, and holds over 100 U.S. and International patents. Brent is passionate about identifying high-value opportunities to develop and apply new technologies to growing markets, and about helping grow teams, capabilities, and relationships needed for world-class business success.
Jacques Berg
Vice-President, EU region, Venture Partner
Scope of Responsibility
Investment in EU
EU operation management
Jacques Berg joined TEL Venture Capital in 2015. He has over 30 years of experience working in the semiconductor industry. He has been with Tokyo Electron since the opening of its European Operation in 1994 and has, since then, held numerous management positions mostly in Sales, Marketing and Business Development. Prior joining TEL Venture Capital his last assignment within TEL, Jacques was the Head of the WW Sales, Marketing and Business Team of TEL Solar operating from its HQ in Switzerland. Within his career Jacques has been a member of various SEMI Committees including Semi Europe Strategic Technology Committee and Semi Europe Russia Committee. He is based in Grenoble France and has an Electronic Engineering Background.
Takenao (Takee) Nemoto Ph.D.
Director
Scope of Responsibility
Technical staff
Takenao (Takee) Nemoto, Ph.D., joined TEL Venture Capital in 2016 with over 10 years of experience in marketing and business development in CVD. He has an additional 9 years thereafter in management roles in CVD and etching systems related to process and semiconductor equipment development for Tokyo Electron and its subsidiaries. During his career, he was also assigned as an associate professor for semiconductor process integration at Tohoku University, Japan, where he had also received his Ph.D. in engineering. He is chair of Admta Plus 2016 and a session chair of the IEEE NANO 2016 conference. Takee is eager to create innovation by cooperating with startups and he hopes to bring value to this industry.
Ken Matsuse
Accelerator
Scope of Responsibility
Accelerator
Marketing staff
Ken Matsuse has joined TEL Venture Capital in 2013 as senior researcher. He researches startups and their market/application from a technology point of view. According to his experience, he is familiar with PV, including energy storage and semiconductors. He was in charge of a director of PV business development at TEL. He has more than 20 years of semiconductor industry experience as sales director, marketing manager and process engineer, especially for CVD. He received the TEL excellent employee award for best sales lead in Korea.. He also received a master’s degree in fluidics simulation at Osaka university.
Dave Hurley Ph.D.
Senior Venture Partner, EU region.
Scope of Responsibility
Investment in EU
Dave Hurley joined TEL Venture Capital as a Senior Venture Partner in 2023. He is in charge of investments, portfolio management and startup engagement in Europe. He also supports Tokyo Electron Europe’s publicly funded R&D and advocacy activities, related to the EU Chips Act.
Prior to joining TEL Venture Capital, Dave spent 10 years as General Manager of TEL Magnetic Solutions, a company he founded as a university spin-out and embarked on his technology entrepreneur journey as CEO over 15 years. Dave has served as advisor, mentor and board member to several start-up companies in the semiconductor space during his career.
Dave received PhD and undergraduate degrees in Physics from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland and has held research fellowships at the Humboldt University in Berlin and Tohoku University, in Japan.
Eyal Shekel
Senior Researcher,
EU region
Scope of Responsibility
Investment Israel
Eyal is a thirty years veteran in the Semiconductors industry after graduating a mechanical engineering from the Technion (Israel technical institute).
After he joined TEL, he served as regional service manager and general manager of Israel, then senior management and Senior Vice President (SVP) for service and support operations for TEL Europe.
Since 2019, he is SVP for service strategy and excellence with global challenges in TEL including the sustainability group.
During such period, Eyal has been supporting TEL Venture Capital activity in Israel and in Oct 2023, he has officially joined TEL Venture Capital team as senior researcher.
Todd Mihara
Venture Partner
Scope of Responsibility
Investment in Asia and Israel
Todd Mihara has joined TEL Venture Capital in 2012. He is currently based in Silicon Valley and passionate about creating innovation in collaboration with start-ups. He has wide experience of investment in Israel, Canada, Japan and U.S. as venture capitalist and management of the collaboration with start-ups for business development. He has more than ten years of experience in business planning, sales and marketing in semiconductor industry, for the lithography process in TEL. He received the B.A in economics from Sophia University.
Koichiro (Kobe) Araki
Venture Partner
Scope of Responsibility
Investment in Japan
Controller
Kobe joined TEL Venture Capital in 2017 and has been working on exploring startups with technical synergies with TEL and supporting growth and looking for new business possibilities. Previously he was engaged in Tokyo Electron's IR activities for 4 years and before that he has over 10 years' experience in the Information Systems Division. Master's degree in electronic information engineering was acquired at Yokohama National University.
Sergey Fedotov
Venture Partner, US region
Scope of Responsibility
Investment in US
Sergey has 10 years of experience growing, fundraising and acquiring startup technology companies in the advanced displays, optical and electronics materials segments as a finance executive and board of directors member.
Sergey joined TEL Venture Capital in 2023 to pursue his passion for learning about new technologies and bringing them from drawing board to profitability. As a Venture Partner, Sergey uses his broad background in senior finance roles, management consulting, coupled with a B.Sc. in Economics from London School of Economics, to help portfolio companies and to perform due-diligence and venture investment execution at TEL Venture Capital in the Silicon Valley.
Mariko Ozawa
Technical Staff
Scope of Responsibility
Technical staff
Mariko Ozawa joined TEL Venture Capital in 2024, after gaining experience in roles such as Product Marketing, Technical Sales, and Technical Research in SPE Equipment in her 20 years in TEL.
She has extensive experience in semiconductor technology and markets, including technical research, consortium engagement, strategy development in corporate marketing, and sales experience with Wet Cleaning Systems, Etch Systems, etc.
She received a Master’s degree in Management of Technology from Tokyo University of Science, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Aoyama Gakuin University.
Akira Tanihara
Technical Staff
Venture Associate
Scope of Responsibility
Investment in Japan
Technical staff
Akira Tanihara joined TEL Venture Capital in 2019.
He has more than 20 years semiconductor industry experience. Since he joined TEL, he was in charge of development of μ-wave plasma CVD equipment, film treatment equipment etc.
He has extensive technical experience of mainly hardware design including mechanical design, vacuum equipment, μ-wave, gases and materials.
He received the B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan in 1987.
Hiroshi Kobayashi
Technical staff
Scope of Responsibility
Technical staff
Hiroshi Kobayashi joined TEL Venture Capital in 2024.
He has over 30 years of experience as a process engineer for semiconductor thin-film manufacturing equipment at Tokyo Electron.
He was responsible for evaluating the differentiation of elemental technologies and judging their practicality, and has a wide range of technical experience, including process development, implementation on equipment, and mass production support at customer sites.
He received a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Kogakuin University of Technology & Engineering.
Tomohiko (Tomo) Niizeki Ph.D.
Technical Staff
Venture Associate
Scope of Responsibility
Investment in Japan
Technical staff
Tomohiko Niizeki joined TEL Venture Capital in 2022.
He has more than 10 years research experience in academia. Since he joined TEL, he was in charge of development of high-density plasma HARC etching equipment.
He has extensive technical experience including vacuum equipment, deposition and microfabrication of ultrathin film of metal/oxide/semiconductor, and analysis of electron-/spin-/crystal-/nano- structure.
He received the Ph.D degree in applied physics from Tohoku University, Miyagi, Japan in 2005.
Yusaku Yamada
Venture Associate
Scope of Responsibility
Investment in Japan
Yusaku Yamada joined TEL Venture Capital in 2024 and is responsible for scouting startup companies. Previously, he worked in the business planning department at Tokyo Electron. He was responsible for market analysis across multiple equipment, business strategy planning, and strengthening partnerships with key customers. He received his B.A. in sociology from Tsuru University.
Alan Park
Researcher
Scope of Responsibility
Investment in Korea
Alan Park joined TEL Venture Capital in 2024 as researcher in Korea, after 7 years’ experience in TEL Korea with new technologies and collaborating with TEL engineering.
He has more than 20 years of experience as an expert in equipment, parts, and materials at a major semiconductor chip maker in Korea.
He has extensive experience not only in equipment, but also in subsystems, parts, and software, and has been passionate about identifying and growing high value-added markets.
He majored in mechanical design at Hanyang University in Korea.
Douglas R.Vreeland
Corporate Secretary
Douglas R. (“Doug”) Vreeland and his team assist the TEL Venture Capital with the due diligence, CFIUS reviews and other legal work related to their investment activity.
He has 25 years’ experience as a practicing attorney including as an associate at one of the country’s largest law firms,as an IP litigator in a Fortune 50 corporate law department, and as in-house counsel for a “unicorn” startup tech company.
He also leads the U.S. Legal Department for Tokyo Electron, and oversees a team of experienced technology lawyers, and professionals who are responsible for managing the legal needs.
Naoki Shimazaki
Chief Investment Counsel
Naoki brings 40 years of experience as a corporate finance attorney to his position as Chief Investment Counsel for TEL Venture Capital. He has advised investors and startups in more than 300 venture capital financings and several dozen acquisitions since 1998. He spent eight years working in Tokyo for one of the country’s largest law firms, including the last three years as managing partner of the office. In his capacity as Chief Investment Counsel, Naoki oversees the legal review of the company’s investments. He divides his time at TEL Venture Capital with his duties as CFO of a medical diagnostic technology company. He holds both a J.D. and an M.B.A. from UCLA.
Maria Alonso
Legal staff
Maria Alonso counsels the TEL Venture Capital on due diligence and potential national security risks of investment transactions and seeking clearances from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States(CFIUS).
She is also an international trade and compliance attorney for Tokyo Electron U.S. Holdings, Inc. She advises TEL on a broad range of international trade and national security matters, including those governed by the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), economic sanctions, U.S. customs laws and regulations, and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
Sandra Rifai
Regional Advisor
Boston & East Coast
She has made a career of consulting for startups in the greater Boston area spanning multiple industries including sensors, biotech, advanced materials and electronics. She has considerable experience in supporting companies in their commercialization journeys as a technology and market intelligence specialist.
Sandra was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT after receiving her PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Ottawa.
Hideki Shibata
Consultant
Hideki Shibata joined TEL Venture Capital in 2021. He has about 40 years of experience in the research and development of a semiconductor device manufacturer.
For several generations, he has overseen the development of back-end processes for high-performance logic devices and large-capacity NAND flash memory, and the development of innovative new function devices in the More than Moore area with the aim of creating added value without chip scaling.
He covers a wide range of specialized technical fields, such as semiconductor device and design, multi-layer wiring formation,3D integration, MEMS sensor, Nano biotechnology, and optical transmission. In that regard, he has served as internal managers of public-private projects and outside committee members of the consortium. In addition, he is currently a visiting professor at Nagoya University, Keio University, and Shibaura Institute of Technology.