Rakuten Ventures, Rakuten‘s early stage corporate venture capital firm, has launched a new fund dedicated to Japan.
The 10 billion yen (approx. US$84m) Rakuten Ventures Japan Fund will focus on making investments in and empowering the community of Japanese startups with advanced technology and business models.
The fund, which will be led by Managing Partner SaeMin Ahn and Investment Manager Hogil Doh, will also seek to support business growth by driving synergies with the technologies and platforms of the Rakuten Group.
Originally launched in 2013, Rakuten Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of the Rakuten Group, one of the world’s leading Internet service companies, providing a variety of consumer- and business-focused services including e-commerce, eBooks & eReading, travel, banking, securities, credit card, e-money, portal and media, online marketing and professional sports.
Rakuten Ventures currently counts Carousell, Visenze, Coda Payments and Send Anywhere among its investment portfolio.
In June 2014, the subsidiary launched a US$100 million global fund to target startups and companies in Israel, Asia Pacific, and the USA, with a focus on companies that can enable better user experience and facilitation, and currently includes PocketMath, Algorithmia, AdsNative, Epic! And OneSignal in its portfolio.
FinSMEs
27/01/2016