Japan's Gumi raises $30m for blockchain VC fund
Gumi, a Japanese mobile game publisher backed by a number of VCs, has secured $30 million for a venture capital fund that will invest in blockchain and cryptocurrency start-ups.
LPs include Voyage Group, a diversified Japanese media and technology business, Korean gaming company YJM Games, and unspecified Japanese financial institutions. The fund, known as Gumi Cryptos, will aim to improve access to Japan's cryptocurrency market infrastructure, including investment channels, industrial networks, customers, exchanges and regulators.
Gumi Cryptos will be led by Hironao Kunimitsu, founder and CEO of Gumi, and Miko Matsumura, founder of US-based virtual currency exchange Evercoin. Matsumura, who also serves as a venture partner at BitBull Capital and an advisor at Arrington XRP Capital, has advised more than 10 ICOs and has raised some $250 million for cryptocurrency companies.
"Having advised top global cryptocurrency start-ups alongside some of the best investors in the world, I've come to realize that all of them struggle to break into Japan, the largest cryptocurrency market in the world," Matsumura said in a statement. "I'm excited to join Gumi and their well-respected network in Japan."
Gumi was founded in 2007 with a focus on game development, mobile app distribution platforms and social networking services. It has received funding from large players in the industry such as Sega Networks as well as several VC firms including East Ventures, Jafco Ventures, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital. World Innovation Lab led a $50 million round for the company in 2014. It went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange later the same year.
Previous involvement in venture investment includes the launch of a unit known as Gumi Ventures with an approximately $3.2 million fund in 2012, as well as the establishment in 2016 of the Venture Reality Fund, a US-based program focused on virtual reality. To date, Gumi Cryptos has backed at least four blockchain and cryptocurrency start-ups, including Basis, Origin Protocol, Robot Cache, and Pryze.
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