Rakuten launches $100m fund for global fintech investments
Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten has launched a $100 million fund for investments in financial technology start-ups worldwide.
The Rakuten FinTech Fund will target early to mid-stage start-ups that are innovative and strategically relevant, and that offer attractive return potential. It will focus on businesses that can benefit from Rakuten's experience in the financial sector; portfolio companies will have access to the firm's online banking, credit card, insurance, securities and asset management divisions.
While initially Rakuten will primarily seek out start-ups in London, San Francisco, New York and Berlin, the firm will expand operations worldwide over time, according to a release.
"Companies like Currency Cloud, WePay or Bitnet [previous fintech investments by Rakuten] are great examples of disruption changing the landscape in payments and providing innovative solutions that address fundamental needs of global customers," said Rakuten Managing Partner Oskar Miel, who will act as the fund advisor. "The Rakuten FinTech Fund is dedicated to helping these businesses accelerate disruption and innovation in historically more traditional and conservative markets."
In addition to its own e-commerce business, Rakuten has taken an active role in venture capital investments, both in Asia and worldwide. Last year it launched a $100 million global VC fund; investments include leading a $10 million Series A round for Singaporean mobile advertising platform PocketMath and investing an undisclosed amount of Series C funding to Chinese discount site Fanli.
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