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Following the establishment of WASEDA University Ventures (WUV), which promotes the social implementation of technology, Waseda University has founded WASEDA University Impact Capital (WIC) to pursue “Deep Humanity” — an integration of Deep Tech and the humanities and social sciences.

Waseda University aims to launch an impact venture capital fund in 2026 that leverages the University’s academic strengths to address pressing social challenges. To serve as the management company of this fund, the University has established WASEDA University Impact Capital, Inc. (WIC).

This initiative builds upon WUV, which focuses on early-stage investment in Deep Tech to accelerate the social implementation of scientific and technological innovations. In alignment with Waseda University’s vision of “contributing to humankind throughout the world,” WIC advances the concept of “Deep Humanity” — combining Deep Tech with insights from the humanities and social sciences — and seeks to promote Social Well-being through impact investment.

WIC Within Waseda University’s Vision Toward 2050

Waseda University aims, by 2050, to evolve into a university that contributes to humankind throughout the world and to drive transformative change in Japanese society through the convergence of knowledge spanning research, education, and social engagement.

In 2022, guided by the founding principle of “the Practical Application of Scholarship,” Waseda established WASEDA University Ventures (WUV) to create and nurture venture companies that accelerate social value creation, particularly in the Deep Tech domain centered on science and engineering.

In contrast, WIC seeks to integrate technological innovation with insights from the humanities and social sciences to advance Social Well-being and plans to establish a new impact venture capital fund dedicated to this mission.

Background: Investment that Reexamines Humanity and Society in the Age of AI

As artificial intelligence advances rapidly, many forms of rational judgment are increasingly performed by AI. In this emerging era, uniquely human qualities, i.e. experience, emotion, meaning, are expected to become more central than ever.

To build a sustainable and better society under these conditions, technological expertise alone is insufficient. Insights from the humanities and social sciences, which identify, analyze, and transform challenges within human and social systems, are indispensable.

Recognizing this, WIC has been conceived to address societal challenges that cannot be fully captured by conventional science-driven Deep Tech investment. Going beyond traditional Deep Tech, WIC combines technology with humanistic and social scientific insight to pursue innovations that contribute to global peace and human flourishing — what we term “Deep Humanity.”

WIC will focus on challenges surrounding human beings and society, including:

• Educational inequality
• Limited access to healthcare
• Regional decline and demographic ageing
• Mental health challenges

Working alongside purpose-driven and ethically grounded entrepreneurs, WIC will generate profits through problem-solving and foster enterprises that promote Social Well-being.

What WIC Means by “Social Well-being”

WIC does not measure investment success solely by financial returns. It seeks to promote Social Well-being through investment.

WIC defines Social Well-being as:

The well-being of human beings and the societies that surround and sustain them.

This concept is structured around four pillars:

1. Optionality

A society in which individuals have meaningful choices, disparities and prejudice are reduced, and everyone can design their own life path.

2. Contributive Justice

A society in which all individuals — regardless of age, nationality, gender, or (dis)ability — have fair opportunities to contribute, and where their contributions are justly recognized.

3. Empathy & Respect

A social environment that reconnects isolation and division through mutual understanding and trust, and where misinformation and digital disinformation are less likely to create fragmentation.

4. Mental Wealth

Beyond mental health alone, a state in which individuals experience psychological stability, resilience, and a sense of meaning in life.

WIC will evaluate the social impact of portfolio companies based on these four dimensions and incorporate them into investment decision-making and post-investment monitoring.

Circulating “Good Profit” – Social Implementation of a New Form of Capitalism

WIC will operate as an impact investor — pursuing both financial returns and measurable positive social impact.

WIC emphasizes the creation of “Good Profit.”

Good Profit refers to profit generated not by imposing negative externalities on others or the environment, but by solving social problems themselves, making the resolution of societal challenges the very source of financial return.

WIC and its portfolio companies will adopt “problem-solving that generates Good Profit” as their shared purpose, aiming to align social impact and financial return in positive correlation.

Shigenobu Okuma, founder of Waseda University, declared:

“Do not think only of your own interest, your family’s interest, or the interests of your country alone, but be ambitious to contribute to humankind throughout the world..”

Guided by this spirit, WIC seeks to realize investments in which social impact and financial return reinforce one another.

Note on “Good Profit”

The concept of “Good Profit” — defined as profit derived from solving social problems — is proposed by Professor Emeritus Colin Mayer of the University of Oxford in Capitalism and Crises: How to Fix Them (Nikkei BP, 2024), supervised in its Japanese edition by Professor Hideaki Miyajima of Waseda University.

Overview of WASEDA University Impact Capital, Inc. (WIC)

Representative Director: Satoko Ohno (Graduate of Waseda University School of Commerce; Certified Public Accountant)
Established: 21 October 2025
Capital: JPY 10 million
Shareholders:

• WIC Partners LLP – 70%
• Waseda University – 30%

Mission:
To confront the fundamental challenges facing humanity and society through humanities and social science innovation and integrated knowledge that bridges disciplines, and to generate profit through solving social problems alongside purpose-driven and ethically grounded entrepreneurs — thereby fostering enterprises that promote Social Well-being.

URL：http://www.wic.vc/
Contact: [email protected]