Japan's Gree Ventures reaches $50m first close on tech fund

The vehicle is already bigger than its predecessor, GV-I Investment Partnership, which launched in 2011 and raised JPY2 billion.

Gree is an investor in the fund alongside fellow tech company Ateam, Mizuho Capital, Credit Saison and the government-backed Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation Japan (SMRJ). A final close of around JPY7billion is expected in the next three months.

In keeping with Gree Ventures' investment strategy to date, the fund is targeting areas such as consumer internet, mobile services, marketing technology and cloud services. It will pursue Series A stage investments of JPY100-300 million.

Gree Ventures was set up in 2011 and has  backed around 13 companies; eight in Japan, four in Indonesia and one in Singapore.

Unlike most other corporate VCs, it claims not to seek synergies with its parent by targeting the gaming and content sector. The firm instead maintains a broad focus within the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, providing both risk money and hands-on support to start-ups in Japan and Southeast Asia.

Recent investments in Japan included Viibar, a crowdsourcing site dedicated to low-cost video production, and Kaizen Platform, the start-up behind planBCD, a user-friendly platform for website user interface improvements. In Indonesia it has backed real estate market place Urbanindo.com and e-commerce site Berrybenka.com.

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• Topics
• Early-stage
• Southeast Asia
• North Asia
• Technology
• Fundraising
• Technology
• Venture
• Gree Ventures
• Fundraising