SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 17, 2025--
Pegasus Tech Ventures, a global venture capital firm headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, and led by Founder and CEO Anis Uzzaman, has announced a strategic collaboration with Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, a leading non-ferrous metals manufacturer headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, under the leadership of President Tetsuya Tanaka.
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This partnership aims to strengthen Mitsubishi Materials’ innovation initiatives by leveraging Pegasus’ global investment network and expertise in supporting corporate innovation initiatives.
Through this collaboration, Mitsubishi Materials Corporation will accelerate its innovation initiatives by incorporating the business models and novel ideas of leading startups in the field of materials technology across multiple regions in the United States, including Silicon Valley, as well as in Europe and Asia.
Yoshiyuki Nagatomo, General Manager of the Manufacturing & R&D Strategy Division at Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, commented, “In 2019, we launched the MMC Innovation Fund and have since implemented various innovation initiatives, including public calls for industry-academia joint research and the introduction of accelerator programs to strengthen external collaboration. As part of our efforts to explore cutting-edge materials technologies, we began leveraging Pegasus Tech Ventures’ extensive global network since 2023 to identify promising opportunities worldwide.”
Mr. Nagatomo continued, “Pegasus has a proven track record of supporting the innovation efforts of its many corporate partners. Through this strategic partnership with Pegasus, we expect our innovation activities to be further accelerated. By incorporating the technologies and business models of startups, we aim to create new value from within our organization.”
Anis Uzzaman, Founder and CEO of Pegasus Tech Ventures, added, “By leveraging our expertise and extensive global network, we will be connecting Mitsubishi Materials Corporation with world-leading startups in the field of materials technology. We are very excited to contribute to the next generation of growth for the Mitsubishi Materials Group.”
About Mitsubishi Materials Corporation:
Mitsubishi Materials Group has established "Our Commitment" for 2030 as "For people, society and the earth, circulating resources for a sustainable future." For more details, please visit https://www.mmc.co.jp/corporate/en/company/policy/index.html
About Pegasus Tech Ventures:
Pegasus Tech Ventures is a global venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley with over $2 billion in assets under management. Pegasus offers venture capital and corporate connections to emerging technology companies around the world. In addition to delivering venture capital returns, Pegasus offers a unique Venture Capital-as-a-Service (VCaaS) model for global corporations wishing to partner with cutting-edge technology startups. Some of the 40+ corporate partners that have partnered with Pegasus include Marathon Petroleum, ASUS, Aisin, SEGA, Niterra, Sojitz, Calbee, and Denka. Pegasus has invested in over 280 companies around the world, including SpaceX, OpenAI, Airbnb, Anthropic, SoFi, and Doordash, among others. Learn more at: www.pegasustechventures.com.
In addition, Pegasus runs the globally recognized Startup World Cup, one of the world’s largest networking and pitch contests, held across more than 100 regions around the world, fostering and celebrating innovation and entrepreneurship globally. Learn more at www.startupworldcup.io.
Pegasus Tech Ventures Announces Strategic Partnership with Mitsubishi Materials Corporation
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most American presidents aspire to the kind of greatness that prompts future generations to name important things in their honor.
Donald Trump isn't leaving it to future generations.
As the first year of his second term wraps up, his Republican administration and allies have put his name on the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue and a new class of battleships that's yet to be built.
That’s on top of the “Trump Accounts” for tax-deferred investments, the TrumpRx government website soon to offer direct sales of prescription drugs, the “Trump Gold Card” visa that costs at least $1 million and the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, a transit corridor included in a deal his administration brokered between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
On Friday, he plans to attend a ceremony in Florida where local officials will dedicate a 4-mile (6-kilometer) stretch of road from the airport to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach as President Donald J. Trump Boulevard.
It’s unprecedented for a sitting president to embrace tributes of that number and scale, especially those proffered by members of his administration. And while past sitting presidents have typically been honored by local officials naming schools and roads after them, it's exceedingly rare for airports, federal buildings, warships or other government assets to be named for someone still in power.
“At no previous time in history have we consistently named things after a president who was still in office,” said Jeffrey Engel, the David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “One might even extend that to say a president who is still alive. Those kind of memorializations are supposed to be just that — memorials to the passing hero.”
White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said the TrumpRx website linked to the president's deals to lower the price of some prescription drugs, along with “overdue upgrades of national landmarks, lasting peace deals, and wealth-creation accounts for children are historic initiatives that would not have been possible without President Trump’s bold leadership.”
"The Administration’s focus isn’t on smart branding, but delivering on President Trump’s goal of Making America Great Again," Huston said.
The White House pointed out that the nation's capital was named after President George Washington and the Hoover Dam was named after President Herbert Hoover while each was serving as president.
For Trump, it’s a continuation of the way he first etched his place onto the American consciousness, becoming famous as a real estate developer who affixed his name in big gold letters on luxury buildings and hotels, a casino and assorted products like neckties, wine and steaks.
As he ran for president in 2024, the candidate rolled out Trump-branded business ventures for watches, fragrances, Bibles and sneakers — including golden high tops priced at $799. After taking office again last year, Trump's businesses launched a Trump Mobile phone company, with plans to unveil a gold-colored smartphone and a cryptocurrency memecoin named $TRUMP.
That’s not to be confused with plans for a physical, government-issued Trump coin that U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said the U.S. Mint is planning.
Trump has also reportedly told the owners of Washington’s NFL team that he would like his name on the Commanders’ new stadium. The team’s ownership group, which has the naming rights, has not commented on the idea. But a White House spokeswoman in November called the proposed name “beautiful” and said Trump made the rebuilding of the stadium possible.
The addition of Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center in December so outraged independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont that he introduced legislation this week to ban the naming or renaming of any federal building or land after a sitting president — a ban that would retroactively apply to the Kennedy Center and Institute of Peace.
“I think he is a narcissist who likes to see his name up there. If he owns a hotel, that’s his business,” Sanders said in an interview. “But he doesn’t own federal buildings.”
Sanders likened Trump's penchant for putting his name on government buildings and more to the actions of authoritarian leaders throughout history.
“If the American people want to name buildings after a president who is deceased, that’s fine. That’s what we do,” Sanders said. “But to use federal buildings to enhance your own position very much sounds like the ‘Great Leader’ mentality of North Korea, and that is not something that I think the American people want.”
Although some of the naming has been suggested by others, the president has made clear he’s pleased with the tributes.
Three months after the announcement of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, a name the White House says was proposed by Armenian officials, the president gushed about it at a White House dinner.
“It’s such a beautiful thing, they named it after me. I really appreciate it. It’s actually a big deal,” he told a group of Central Asian leaders.
Engel, the presidential historian, said the practice can send a signal to people "that the easiest way to get access and favor from the president is to play to his ego and give him something or name something after him.”
Some of the proposals for honoring Trump include legislation in Congress from New York Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney that would designate June 14 as “Trump’s Birthday and Flag Day," placing the president with the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington and Jesus Christ, whose birthdays are recognized as national holidays.
Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube has introduced legislation that calls for the Washington-area rapid transit system, known as the Metro, to be renamed the “Trump Train.” North Carolina Republican Rep. Addison McDowell has introduced legislation to rename Washington Dulles International Airport as Donald J. Trump International Airport.
McDowell said it makes sense to give Dulles a new name since Trump has already announced plans to revamp the airport, which currently is a tribute to former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles.
The congressman said he wanted to honor Trump because he feels the president has been a champion for combating the scourge of fentanyl, a personal issue for McDowell after his brother’s overdose death. But he also cited Trump’s efforts to strike peace deals all over the world and called him “one of the most consequential presidents ever.”
“I think that’s somebody that deserves to be honored, whether they’re still the president or whether they’re not," he said.
More efforts are underway in Florida, Trump’s adopted home.
Republican state lawmaker Meg Weinberger said she is working on an effort to rename Palm Beach International Airport as Donald J. Trump International Airport, a potential point of confusion with the Dulles effort.
The road that the president will see christened Friday is not the first Florida asphalt to herald Trump upon his return to the White House.
In the south Florida city of Hialeah, officials in December 2024 renamed a street there as President Donald J. Trump Avenue.
Trump, speaking at a Miami business conference the next month, called it a “great honor” and said he loved the mayor for it.
“Anybody that names a boulevard after me, I like,” he said.
He added a few moments later: “A lot of people come back from Hialeah, they say, ‘They just named a road after you.' I say, ‘That’s OK.’ It’s a beginning, right? It’s a start.”
FILE - A sign for the Rose Garden is seen near the Presidential Walk of Fame on the Colonnade at the White House, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as a flag pole is installed on the South Lawn of the White House, June 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Workers add President Donald Trump's name to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, after a Trump-appointed board voted to rename the institution, in Washington, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - A poster showing the Trump Gold Card is seen as President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Sept. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)
