February 24, 2021

KDDI Corporation

On February 5th, 2021, KDDI invested in SHE, Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director CEO/CCO: Eri Fukuda, hereinafter referred to as SHE) through KDDI Open Innovation Fund 3 (operated by Global Brain Corporation, hereinafter referred to as KOIF III), which is aimed at initiating joint ventures with promising startup companies. SHE is a company that operates a career school for millennial [1] women.

This school is called SHElikes, a career school for women that offers courses to help women of the millennial generation acquire the digital creative skills they need to pursue their careers and help them figure out a way of working that works for them. There is a total of 20 courses and 72 classes to choose from to meet the students' needs. In addition, the school provides career change support to students through the brand community, such as through coaching and follow-up services after students obtain a job where they can make use of their skills. SHElikes is gaining the trust of millennial women, with more than 90% of their students in their 20s and 30s, and the total number of students they have helped exceeding 20,000.

Through this investment, KDDI will take advantage of KDDI's various connections with our customers to help SHElikes attract more students. This will not only assist in SHE's business growth, but also help women everywhere shape their own careers as KDDI proceeds towards our "KDDI Sustainable Action" SDG to "connect people and promote respect for diversity" to make way for a diverse and inclusive society.

As a company that is at one with our customers, KDDI promotes business co-creation through investment in promising startup companies to build new business models together with our customers and partners.

Reference

1. 1. About SHE

   • 1.

     Company Name: SHE, Inc.

   • 2.

     Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo

   • 3.

     Founded: April 2017

   • 4.

     Business Overview: Operation of "SHElikes", career school for women, and "SHEcreators", millennial women creative partner team

   • 5.

     Representative: Eri Fukuda
     URL: https://shelikes.jp/

2. 2. About the KDDI Open Innovation Fund

   The KDDI Open Innovation Fund is a corporate startup fund that supports a broad range of startups. The currently active KDDI Open Innovation Fund 3 has an operational worth of approximately 20 billion yen. It is focused on funding companies specializing in areas including entertainment, domestic appliances, IoT, big data, and fintech.

• [1]

  Generation born between the second half of the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s and became adults/began working in the early 2000s.