Opt Enters Venture Capital Business Focusing On Ad Tech And E-Commerce / MarkeZine

Opt established a dedicated division to accelerate growth of Internet related startups. In this year, the company plans to invest around 1 billion yen in startups located in Japan and APAC focusing on E-commerce, Crowd sourcing, Edu x Tech, and Advertising Technology.

In addition, Opt invests in Sozo Ventures- True Bridge Fund I, US-based venture capital fund through its US subsidiary. It partners with e-marketing companies centered around big data and O2O which has a potential to get into Japan market aiming to create new business in Japan. Opt has already partnered in capital and business with Retailgence, US-based O2O service provider to support its Japan entry.

MarkeZine 7/19/2013 [jp]

memo

• Opt is one of the largest Internet marketing agencies in Japan. It announced an acquisition of Singapore-based ad network, CDA, in March. Other ad agencies such as CyberAgent and Septeni are also active in going global. Advertising business has been relatively domestic except search ads by Google. But it seems these major players believe it will be much more borderless in the near future.
• http://www.opt.ne.jp/

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[TechCrunch] SoftBank Capital Raises $50M To Invest Exclusively In New York Startups

SoftBank Capital, the investment arm of Japanese mega-carrier Softbank Corp., has just announced that they’ve raised $50 million that they plan to invest entirely into early-stage New York startups. 

This new New York fund will be headed by SoftBank Capital General Partner Jordy Levy, with the funds coming from the State Of New York itself in hopes that it’ll boost the startup ecosystem there. The one main rule of this new fund is that any company that gets investment from this fund has to call New York home — in fact, it sounds like they’ll mostly be focusing right on the core, New York City. ...

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TechCrunch 5/30/2013 [en]

memo

• It is quite unique that a Japanese carrier's venture fund invests in only New York-based startups. It is interesting that Softbank is not active in venture investment in its home, Japan compared to other two carriers, Docomo and KDDI, both of which have an incubation program and venture fund focusing on Japan. Softbank has had several successful cases for bringing US startups into Japan including Yahoo and Ustream. Some portfolio of the fund will probably replicate the strategy in the future. 

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[Sd] Japan’s Rebright Partners establishes a new fund focused on startups in Southeast Asia

Japanese seed investor Rebright Partners, led by veteran entrepreneur Takeshi Ebihara, recently formed a new investment fund focusing on the internet and mobile business in Southeast Asia.

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Sd 5/12/2013 [en]

memo

• Rebright Partners also runs Batavia Incubator, a joint venture with Indonesia's Corfina Group to invest in seed startups in Indonesia. With the new fund, it aims to expand to other Southeast Asian countries.
• http://rebrightpartners.com/

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[Sd] Tokyo-based web integrator IMJ teams up with Fenox Capital, plans to invest in SE Asia

Tokyo-based web/mobile solutions company IMJ (JASDAQ:4305) has announced a partnership with Fenox Capital, a Silicon Valley-based VC firm. The companies have established a fund worth about $4 million dedicated to investing in startups in the South East Asia region. In terms of the fund’s capital allocation, IMJ takes a 74.37% stake and Fenox makes up the rest. ...

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Sd 4/16/2013 [en]

memo

• The new company to manage the fund is IMJ FENOX PTE. LTD., which is located in Singpore. IMJ's existing venture investment arm, IMJ Venture Partners will be merged to the new company. Not only in South East Asia, but it invests in Japan and US according to the company's press release.  
• http://www.imjfenox.com/en/

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Samurai Incubate Establishes Samurai Fund 4 / Cnet Japan

Samurai Incubate has founded three venture funds since 2009, in which a smartphone ads, Nobot, and application virtualization technology, Synclogue have been incubated.

The amount of Samurai Fund 4 is 220 million yen. The duration is 8 years and 6 months. In addition to ShinGinko Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Government owned bank, Fuji Startup Ventures, Bit-isle and others invest in the fund. ...

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Cnet Japan 4/1/2013 [jp]

memo

• Samurai Incubate usually invests around 5 million yen in seed stage startups. So, it says it will invest in about 40 startups from the fund. There are several seed stage focused VCs including accelerators, however, in terms of number of portfolio, Samurai Incubate would be the largest one in Japan.

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US Subsidiary Of Digital Garage Establishes Venture Fund With Eric Ries As Adviser / Venture Now

Neo Innovation, a 100 % subsidiary of Digital Garage based in US, sets up Neo Lean Fund, a venture fund investing in startups. Partnering with Digital Garage Group, it aims to develop business of startups executing Lean Startup. ...

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Venture Now 3/12/2013 [jp]

memo

• Neo Innovation was founded in March 2012 to provide software development and design consulting for enterprise and governments. It has acquired four companies located in Ohio in US, Singapore, Uruguay and New York. Digital Garage has invested in many startups in US including Twitter and Path. It will accelerate the investing and incubation activities with the new fund.
• http://www.neo.com/

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[Tech In Asia] Rakuten Sets Up $10 Million Startup Strategic Fund in Southeast Asia

Following Rakuten’s new Asia headquarters in Singapore, the Japanese e-commerce giant has launched a US$10 million fund in Southeast Asia to strategically invest in companies that will help them in its e-commerce ventures. Mr. Toru Shimada of Rakuten (4755:JASDAQ), who leads the fund, told me:

Within Asia, we already have e-commerce businesses in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Taiwan and plan to expand further in Southeast Asia. We not only invest in startups in Asia but also make business synergies [with startups for Rakuten’s] business.

...

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Tech In Asia 3/8/2013 [en]

memo

• Since the size, $10 million, is not so large, Rakuten probably invests mainly in seed or early stage startups in South East Asia. Among Japanese internet companies, CyberAgent has been aggressively investing in startups in the region with offices in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Taiwan. Gree is also accelerating its corporate venture activity there. There will be more Japanese companies entering the market with big potential in the near future.

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Incubate Fund Establishes 2B Yen Fund To Invest In 100 Startups In 3 Years / Venture Now

Incubate Fund announced its second fund targeting for seed stage startups. The total amount is 2 billion yen.

Investors for the fund include Infocom, Sega, Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, JAPAN, D2C, Nissay Capital, Mixi, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and others. It aims to invest 100 startups within the next three years.

Incubate Fund runs Incubate Camp, seed acceleration program since 2010 to aim at fostering young entrepreneurs and has invested over 100 startups in the last five years.

Venture Now 3/1/2013 [jp]

memo

• The first fund of Incubate Fund launched in 2010 was mainly invested by DeNA, but it seems the company does not invest in the second fund. In the early times of the first fund, Incubate Fund invested in gaming startups such as successfully exited Pokelabo or Istopika. However, the VC has gradually expanded the categories of investment area such as crowd sourcing or social media. 
• http://incubatefund.com/

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[SD] NTT Docomo launches startup incubation program, partners with 500Startups and B Dash Ventures

Japan’s largest mobile telco NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) today announced its new incubation program called ‘Docomo Innovation Village’ (first alluded to back in October) has launched. Its goal will be to intensifying business partnerships with startup companies. 

In connection with the start of this program, the company is planning to launch a new 10 billion yen fund (approximately $107 million) (called Docomo Innovation Ventures) by receiving all shares of NTT Investment Partners, a fund management company belonging to NTT group’s stock holding company. The fund will be established in late February. 

...

Sd 2/7/2013 [en]

memo

• The second largest telco in Japan, KDDI launched a similar type of initiative last year combining incubation program (Mugen Labo) and venture fund (Open Innovation Fund).  But it is interesting that Softbank, which must be the most entrepreneurial company among the three, does not have the type of program or even looks not interested in startups in Japan although the company invests in several startups outside of Japan. 

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[e27] Fuji Startup Ventures established a JPY1.5B fund for integrating apps and technology into TV programs

Japan’s Fuji TV has setup a 1.5 billion yen fund to invest in startups that develop applications and services that have potential in being integrated into TV programming. Nikkei reports that the new venture capital fund (about US$17 million) aims to create business synergies between these startups and the many subsidiaries and businesses that Fuji TV runs, including radio stations, the recording business and mail-order shopping. 

 ...

e27 1/24/2013 [en]

memo

• Corporate VC activities are becoming more and more active recently. Internet and telecom companies have set up their own new venture fund in the last few years including GREE, Yahoo, KDDI, Klab, gumi, and Docomo will establish 10 billion yen of fund soon even though NTT group already operates another venture fund managed by NTT Investment Partners. It is expected that the trend will boost Japan's venture ecosystem. 

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[Tech In Asia] GMO VenturePartners Shifts Focus to Southeast Asia With $12M Fund

Japan’s GMO VenturePartners is today announcing the launch of a one billion yen (or about $12 million) venture fund that will see the firm focus on opportunities in the Southeast Asia region. The group is the VC arm of GMO Internet Group (TYO:9449), and its previous investments include China’s Qihoo 360, which the company invested in with its GMO VP Fund I. It notes that investment from existing funds in Japan and China will continue as well. ...

Tech In Asia  11/27/2012 [en]

memo

• Corporate VC of Internet companies like CyberAgent or GREE have been quite active in South East Asia. Recruit is another corporate VC committed. Compared to CVC, not many pure VCs from Japan invest in startups in these countries. It maybe because it is still not so easy for startups in the region to exit, which is risky for financial investor, but for corporate VCs, it can take advantage of the investments for its expansion. 

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