Japan’s JIC invests four local start-ups

JIC Venture Growth Investments (JIC VGI) was set up in July with a JPY120 billion sector-agnostic technology start-up fund that deploys in a range of JPY1-5 billion. The state-backed entity is dedicated to local ecosystem building and addressing social and industrial issues such as aging and labor shortages.

Monstar represents the largest of the four new commitments. It comes four months after a JPY4.2 billion round for the start-up that featured Japan Post Capital, Dentsu Innovation Partners, and a Saudi Arabian investor. Total funding now comes to more than $100 million, with previous backers including the likes of Gogin Capital, East Ventures, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, SMBC Venture Capital, and YJ Capital.

Monstar produces a range of consumer and enterprise mobile apps, software, internet-of-things applications, and augmented and virtual reality products. It also operates an IT co-working space and helps tech companies source team members from an international talent pool. There are separate products for modernizing restaurant operations, automating repetitive office work, and simplifying music streaming services.

“The industry hypothesis that serves as the background of this investment is that, with the need for existing industries to create value through the development of a new business that involves digital transformation, the company will continue to develop products and provide services for the digital transformation of operation at points of contact with customers,” Daisuke Kaihoku, a partner at JIC VGI, said in a statement.

The three other investments include a JPY2 billion commitment to enterprise cloud services provider Uhuru and a JPY300 million commitment to quantum computing start-up Quemix. JIC VGI also participated in a JPY1.3 billion round for travel agency Asoview alongside a group of local VCs including YJ Capital. Asoview claims to be the first and largest experience booking platform in Japan, with more than 450 kinds of experience services on offer.

“Tourism and services industry currently faces an unprecedented crisis due to COVID-19,” JIC VGI said in a separate disclosure. “By supporting Asoview in overcoming the crisis and thus accelerating its business growth, VGI seeks to encourage further funding to tourism and services industry and to create new value, such as accelerating DX [digital transformation] in the industry, keeping social distance for prevention of infection under the pandemic and revitalizing regional economics.”

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Consumer
• Support services
• Technology
• Early-stage
• Japan
• YJ Capital
• enterprise software
• Travel