Japan's Dentsu launches $42m corporate venture fund
Japanese advertising agency Dentsu has established a new corporate venture capital arm, Dentsu Ventures, and launched a new fund with a corpus of JPY5 billion ($42 million).
The fund will run for seven years and be global in its scope, targeting investments across the US, Europe and Asia. The focus will be on seed and early-stage investments, but the firm will also look at mid- to late-stage deals.
In particular, Dentsu Ventures wants to back start-ups in the marketing and communications space. According to a release, the fund will not only offer capital but also provide entrepreneurs with business support and resources from the Dentsu Group.
This is not the company's first foray into venture capital. The corporation has previously made investments via Dentsu Digital Fund, a vehicle managed by its subsidiary Dentsu Digital Holdings. Dentsu will continue to operate this fund alongside the new one.
Previous investment by Dentsu Digital include Japanese social restaurant guide FoodKing, online printing service Raksul, mobile game developer Quan, and fashion photo app Mind Palette.
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