Innovation Kyoto 2016 Investment Limited Partnership ("KYOTO-iCAP No.1 Fund"), with Kyoto University Innovation Capital Corporation ("Kyoto iCAP") (Head office: Sakyo-ku, Kyoto; Representative Director: Koji Murota) as unlimited liability partner, has made an investment in Sho Engineering Co. ("Sho Engineering") (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Teruo Fujiwara), a venture company that utilizes research results from Kyoto University.

Execution of Investment in 0sho Engineering
Sho Engineering is a start-up company that develops and manufactures microwave wireless power transfer devices, etc., founded by engineers who have worked in the space development business and other fields, and who have served as the executive committee of the Wireless Power Transfer Consortium for Practical Applications (WiPoT; Representative: Professor Masatake Shinohara, Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University). Ltd., a start-up company that develops and manufactures microwave wireless power transmission devices, was established by engineers who have been involved in space development projects.

Based on joint research with Kyoto University and other research institutions, Sho Engineering is developing a number of applied devices and systems, including wireless power supply systems for drones that incorporate microwave wireless power transmission technology, and power transmission and reception devices that wirelessly transmit power from drones and other moving objects to batteryless sensors and simultaneously receive data from the sensors. We are developing a number of applied devices and systems, such as wireless power transmission systems for drones equipped with microwave wireless power transmission technology.

Professor Shinohara of Kyoto University's Research Institute for Ars Vivendi focuses his research on wireless power transmission using microwaves, including power transmission systems, target location estimation and beamforming techniques, power receiving systems, and microwave processing equipment, with the ultimate goal of realizing a space solar power generation system. For near-future applications, he is experimenting with wireless power transmission to battery-less sensors, mobile terminals, electric bicycles, and drones, etc. At the same time, he is working to raise awareness of microwave frequency utilization through lectures and consortium activities in Japan and abroad. Professor Shinohara is also one of the founders of Sho Engineering and will now assume the position of scientific advisor for the company.

Kyoto iCAP believes that Sho Engineering has the potential to open up many new markets by further improving the practicality of industrial drones, which are just beginning to blossom, and by opening the way for the use of various sensors in harsh environments where batteries and power sources cannot be used. We have underwritten a third-party allotment of approximately 100 million yen in a seed round for the company in the hope that these activities will promote the social implementation of the microwave power transmission technology that Kyoto University has cultivated over many years.

Sho Engineering Outline

Establishment	March 8, 2018
Business	Development of devices for wireless power / data transfer for several applications incl. drone
Head Office Location	Minato Ward, Tokyo
President & CEO	Teruo Fujiwara