500 Startups to raise Japan seed fund
US-based accelerator 500 Startups has extended its Asia footprint with the launch of a $30 million fund dedicated to early-stage Japanese technology companies.
The company has submitted a registration filing for 500 Startups Japan to US regulators. The fund will be led by James Riney, formerly of online games developer DeNA's captive VC unit, according to a statement by the company.
500 Startups previously operated in Japan through a joint venture with local mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo.
Earlier this year 500 Startups created satellite funds for Korea and Thailand, called 500 Kimchi and 500 TukTuks, respectively. Strong-performing companies backed by this growing family of micro-funds - which also includes Southeast Asia-focused 500 Durians and India's 500 StartupWallah - often receive follow-on investment from the 500 Startups master fund in the US.
The company recently appointed Binh Tran and Eddie Thai as venture partners in Vietnam. "For us, it was never a question of ‘is Vietnam ready as a market?', but rather ‘are we ready for Vietnam as a market?'"Khailee Ng, managing partner of 500 Startups, said in an annoucement.
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