Japan's Jafco raises $67m for debut Taiwan fund

The firm established a Taiwan office in March of last year in order to launch funds for the domestic market. Jafco said in a statement that it is "confident that innovative businesses will emerge from the disruptions resulting from the current COVID-19 global crisis."

The Taiwan business is part of Jafco Asia, which was formed in 1990 and also has bases in Singapore, Beijing, and Shanghai. Jafco Asia has raised $1.88 billion since inception and currently has $480 million in funds under management. It has backed more than 500 companies, of which at least 115 have completed IPOs.

In March, Jafco closed its sixth flagship Japan fund at the hard cap of JPY80 billion ($765 million). The final corpus comprises a JPY29.1 billion contribution from Jafco and JPY50.9 billion from 75 LPs. It is the firm's first Japan vehicle raised under a partnership model and also the first in which individual partners have been able to contribute capital in their right.

Jafco was founded in 1973 as Japan Associated Finance and set up the country's first VC fund in 1982. The latest fund from Jafco Asia closed at $140 million in 2017 while the most recent US-focused vehicle, Icon Ventures V, raised $260 million in 2012 under the name Jafco Technology Partners V. 

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Technology
• China
• Taiwan (China)
• JAFCO