Rakuten, Techstars launch Singapore accelerator

Approximately 10 start-ups will make up the inaugural class, each of which will receive a $120,000 investment and access to the Techstars network of over 5,000 founders, alumni, and mentors. They will also receive support from Rakuten departments ranging from e-commerce to R&D and get the opportunity to tap into the company’s ecosystem of more than 70 services.

Start-ups considered for inclusion in the program should focus on areas such as: artificial intelligence, chat commerce, mobile wallets and cryptocurrency, ad tech, virtual reality and augmented reality, voice and image recognition, translation, the internet of things, enterprise integrated messaging, and content development.

“Together with Techstars, an organization with a remarkable track record for developing startup talent, I am very optimistic that we can strengthen the Rakuten global ecosystem and advance the culture of open innovation,” said Hiroshi Takasawa, head of Rakuten Capital, the company’s captive investment arm, in a statement.

Rakuten Capital is most active in Asia through Rakuten Ventures, which has teams based in Singapore and Tokyo managing a $200 million global fund and a JPY10 billion ($89 million) Japan fund. It also has a $100 million fintech vehicle – deployed by teams in Tokyo and the US – and dedicated investment units focusing on global e-commerce and mobility platforms.

“What makes corporate venture capital strong is that one of the most expensive things for commercial VC firms is actually patience,” Sae Min Ahn, managing partner at Rakuten Ventures, told the AVCJ Singapore Forum earlier this year. “In corporate VC we can afford not to invest for a year, or to only invest once a year. That allows us to get a much clearer view on what we need to invest in.”

Nearly 1,200 start-ups have graduated from Techstars accelerator programs globally. On average, alumni go on to raise at least $2 million in outside funding.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• North Asia
• Technology
• Early-stage
• seed
• Venture
• Singapore
• Japan