Hajime Kumabe, CEO of Woven by Toyota, Joins Interstellar Technologies as a Board Member

Interstellar Technologies Inc., headquartered in Taiki, Hiroo District, Hokkaido, and led by CEO Takahiro Inagawa, is a company dedicated to addressing global challenges through space transportation and utilization as a comprehensive space infrastructure provider. The company is pleased to announce that as of January 28, 2025, Mr. Hajime Kumabe, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Representative Director of Woven by Toyota Inc., headquartered in Chuo-ku, Tokyo, has been appointed as an external (non-executive) director.

The Vision Behind the Board Appointment

On January 7, 2025, Interstellar Technologies and Woven by Toyota, a member of the Toyota Group leading the transformation of mobility, announced an agreement on strategic capital and business alliance. As part of the collaboration, Woven by Toyota invested approximately 7 billion yen as a lead investor by the first close of Series F. Through Mr. Kumabe’s appointment to the board, both companies aim to strengthen corporate governance and accelerate efforts to shift rocket manufacturing from one-off production to low-cost, high-quality, and mass-producible manufacturing.

Profile of Hajime Kumabe

First joining Nippon Denso Co. Ltd. (now DENSO Corporation) in 1986, Mr. Kumabe led the development of the company’s electronics platform and its Driving Assist & Safety business unit. In 2014, he was appointed as the Managing Director of the Advanced Safety business unit before taking on the development of both advanced mobility and advanced testing & evaluation systems.

After serving in the Autonomous Driving (AD) Software Company Preparation Department, he was appointed CEO of J-QuAD DYNAMICS – a company established by DENSO, AISIN, ADVICS and JTEKT in 2019 to lead the development of integrated AD control software. Simultaneously providing Executive Officer duties to DENSO’s AD & Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) business unit, in January 2021, Mr. Kumabe was appointed to the board of Woven Core, one of the preceding organizations of Woven by Toyota and became the CEO and Representative Director of Woven by Toyota, effective October 1, 2023.

With extensive experience in the development and mass production of Toyota vehicles, Mr. Kumabe has most recently strengthened collaboration among Toyota group companies in the field of automated driving to prepare and promote software development for mass production.

Interstellar Technologies Inc.

Interstellar Technologies Inc. is a Japanese start-up building space infrastructure through affordable launch services and innovative satellite solutions to make space accessible for everyone. Headquartered in Taiki, Hokkaido, Interstellar’s product development extends across five locations, including branches in Tokyo,Fukushima, and Obihiro, as well as a laboratory at the Muroran Institute of Technology. Interstellar has achieved three successful spaceflights with suborbital launch vehicle MOMO, making it Japan’s first private company to reach space. Currently, Interstellar is developing the orbital class launch vehicle ZERO. Additionally, Interstellar leads Our Stars, a satellite development project, pioneering Japan’s vertically integrated rocket-satellite communication service.