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GenOrigin Team


Generation Origin

Kari Andersen, Partner

Since starting in private equity in 1989, Kari has spearheaded innovative investment products, and forged alliances between technology start-ups and Japanese corporations. She brings a wealth of fund-management experience, a guiding vision, and international insight to her endeavors, yielding year-after-year success.


In 2005, Kari founded Generation Origin with the goal of combining Silicon Valley infrastructure with Asian innovation, and she has since been helping start-ups globalize their businesses. She focuses on information technology with an emphasis on enterprise solutions that address safety, efficiency and the environment.


Previously as a Principal at Knightsbridge Advisers, Kari originated fund-raising for the sixth Knightsbridge early-stage U.S. venture capital fund of funds, and she was also a member of the due diligence team for venture investments. Prior to that, she gained early-stage operational experience overseeing a tenfold increase in assets over five years as one of five members of an executive team at VenCap International plc, an Oxford-based private equity fund of fund and public technology manager. Earlier, she was a lending officer at JP Morgan’s Euroclear operation supporting $7 billion of daily trading among Nordic and Baltic institutional clients, including central banks, boosting the Danish crown to fourth most-traded currency. She also marketed a proprietary software system.


Kari began her venture capital career at Sumitomo Trust and Banking, Co., Ltd, Tokyo, where her passion for budding technology was kindled as she invested a ¥2-billion internal fund of fund in U.S. venture funds and initiated a tech focus for the M&A team. She also monitored Asian fund investments and made on-site visits with portfolio companies in China (Shenzhen, Macao, Hong Kong) and Taiwan. Her previous experience includes working for the Japanese Foreign Ministry and for Japan’s External Trade Organization (JETRO).


Kari holds an MBA with honors from Solvay Business School in Brussels and a B.A. in Humanities from Kokusaikirisutokyo University in Tokyo. Raised in Asia, she speaks 5 languages, including Japanese.

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