May 26, 2021

KDDI Corporation

Through KDDI Open Innovation Fund III (operated by Global Brain Corporation; hereinafter "KOIF III"), which aims to incubate new business co-creations with promising venture startups, KDDI invested in EditForce, Inc., a company that provides gene editing technology (Headquarters: Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture; President & CEO: Takashi Ono; hereinafter "EditForce").

EditForce is a venture company that has proprietary DNA/RNA editing technology and has been developing a pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein platform technology [1] since its founding in 2015. This technology allows for RNA editing in addition to DNA editing, which has the potential to cater to a wide range of applications. Since 2017, EditForce has been focusing efforts on drug discovery, and through partnerships with multiple pharmaceutical companies and bio-ventures, promoting R&D of the application of PPR in the area of pharmaceutical development.

Through this investment, KDDI will assist the improvement of DNA and RNA editing technology by providing KDDI's telecom and analytical techniques.

As a "company that customers feel the closest to," KDDI promotes co-creation of businesses through investments in promising startups to create new business models with customers and partners.

(Reference)

• ■Corporate profile of EditForce, Inc.

  • (1)

    Company name: EditForce, Inc.

  • (2)

    Headquarters: 1-9-17 Tenjin, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka

  • (3)

    Founded: 2015

  • (4)

    Line of business: Design and industrial application of DNA- and RNA-targeting molecules using PPR technology

  • (5)

    Representative: Takashi Ono
    URL: https://www.editforce.co.jp

• ■About KDDI Open Innovation Fund

  KDDI Open Innovation Fund is a corporate venture fund that supports a broad range of venture companies. The currently active KDDI Open Innovation Fund III focuses on areas of entertainment, home, IoT, big data, and Fintech with a total operating fund of 20 billion yen.

• [1]

  Technology that creates proteins that bind to the target DNA/RNA sequence by understanding the mechanism of how sequence specificity is determined in pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein (plant-type protein that controls gene expression by sequence-specifically binding to DNA/RNA).