Toyota’s Woven Capital Appoints New Cio And Coo In Push For Finding The ‘future Of Mobility’

Sometimes, Michiko Kato thinks backmost connected nan awesome challenges of her life. 

She erstwhile dropped everything successful her autochthonal metropolis of Tokyo to be Harvard Business School successful Massachusetts. One day, she decided to time off her profession successful nan unchangeable world of finance to participate nan rocky terrain of startup life. That jump is what changed everything. 

On Wednesday, Kato officially assumes her top situation yet — CIO of Toyota’s Woven Capital and CEO of Toyota Invention Partners. The second assignment makes her nan first female CEO of a wholly owned Toyota subsidiary. 

Woven Capital is nan growth-stage task superior limb of Toyota, focused connected backing founders building successful mobility (including space, cybersecurity, and autonomous driving). It past announced an $800 cardinal Fund II successful August past twelvemonth (Fund I, besides astatine a $800 million, launched successful 2021), pinch plans to backmost astatine slightest 20 caller Series B investments. Companies successful its portfolio see nan outer institution Xona and nan defense manufacturing infrastructure institution Machina Labs. 

The patient seeks to find nan “future leader of mobility,” she said, and intends to prime companies that are “collaboration partners pinch Toyota.”

“We tin co-lead, we tin make mini investments, aliases we tin do an fierce investment; we effort to beryllium flexible,” she said. And arsenic for her? “I want to beryllium hands-on. I want to beryllium valuable to startups. And, I want to really attraction connected nan business creation.” 

Kato this week is not unsocial successful her promotion astatine nan firm. Mia Panzer is besides moving from her business strategy domiciled astatine 1 of Toyota’s exertion subsidiaries to go COO of Woven Capital. That intends not 1 but 2 of nan apical roles astatine this firm VC (CVC) patient will beryllium held by women, a awesome of really nan male-dominated world of finance and investments is progressing.

Historically, women person done (only a small bit) amended astatine climbing nan ranks astatine CVCs than astatine accepted task firms. The past actual data, however, comes from a 2014 CBI study that said that a small little than 20% of nan apical CVCs had women connected their investing teams. The number was compared, astatine nan time, to nan truth that only 7% of partners astatine nan apical 100 task firms were women.

Today, successful venture, that number hovers astir 15.4%, suggesting nan percent of women successful finance roles astatine CVCs has increased, too. 

Kato joined nan patient backmost successful 2020 arsenic 1 of nan first caller hires for what was past nan recently spun-out Woven Capital. (It spun retired from an in-house subsidiary of Toyota.) 

She’s spent 15 years successful investing overall, including connected nan M&A squad astatine Unison Capital and arsenic CFO for nan Japanese AI startup ABEJA. Since joining Woven, she’s led six investments (including an undisclosed one) into startups for illustration nan reusable rocket institution Stoke and nan autonomous conveyance institution Nuro, her first investment. She’s astir excited by aeromobility, beingness AI, and hardware. “I deliberation we tin fundamentally toggle shape nan measurement manufacturing is done,” she said of her imagination for nan CVC. 

Working alongside her will beryllium Panzer, successful nan recently formed COO role. She’s going to beryllium taking complete finance, operations, HR, and ineligible strategy. She said location are 2 things each CVC is ever worried astir — a firm slowdown that kills deals and misalignment pinch nan genitor company. “My occupation is to fundamentally thief pinch processing this through,” she said. 

She’s been moving pinch Ro Gupta, Woven Capital’s managing director, since his days building nan mapping institution Camera backmost successful 2019. She joined that startup while 3 months pregnant pinch her first kid to tally finance. Previously, she was astatine Goldman and past astatine nan pet wellness institution Independent Pet Partners (IPP). She said she wasn’t really looking to time off her occupation astatine IPP but decided to springiness Gupta and Camera a chance. 

“I really for illustration being portion of nan startup world,” she said. 

Toyota’s tech subsidiary past purchased Carmera (a waste she helped facilitate), and Gupta and Panzer joined that division. In December 2025, he became managing head of Woven Capital and decided to bring Panzer along. Kato and Panzer study to Gupta.

At first, Panzer didn’t deliberation she was afloat qualified, but past she thought astir really women ever opportunity they aren’t afloat qualified for a job, while men conscionable jump successful and do it. She thought of a profession afloat of assumptions astir her, from nan assemblage recruiter who didn’t deliberation she would person method knowledge because she was a woman, to nan friend astatine Goldman who told her she wasn’t his title for promotion because she was a woman. 

She decided to conscionable jump in, too.

“We talk a batch astir nan Japanese conception of ikigai where you attraction connected trying to find thing you’re bully at, what you love, what nan world needs, and what you tin get paid for,” she said, adding that it feels afloat circle arsenic generations of her family person worked successful automotive parts. “I ever opportunity to different women, ‘Let them person debased expectations,” she said. “Easy to overdeliver.’”