SoftBank Ventures backs Japanese sneaker marketplace

Local venture investors Base Partners and Colopl Next also participated, as did internet services company The Guild. It brings total funding to date to JPY2.5 billion, following closely on a Series A also led by SoftBank Ventures.

Launched in 2018, Snrk Dunk positions itself as a secure C2C reselling platform for a product category that is subject to counterfeiting. It has grown more than 1,000% in the past year 2.5 million monthly users, according to a statement. The fresh capital will support an international expansion, as well as product development, marketing, logistics, and recruitment in customer support.

SoftBank Ventures Asia – previously known as SoftBank Ventures Korea – claims to “plug great start-ups into the SoftBank Group ecosystem in order to facilitate side-by-side growth,” supporting partnership and cooperation with group entities, including the $100 billion Vision Fund. It concentrates on start-ups with growth potential in Asia, the US, Israel and the EU, with an emphasis on artificial intelligence, the internet-of-things, and smart robotics.

The firm has around $1.3 billion in funds under management across 17 funds. Its latest global vehicle raised $341 million in 2019, with SoftBank Group having contributed $141 million. There have been more than 250 start-up investments since 2000, the bulk of which have been in Korea. Previous exposure to Japan includes social network gaming and service provider Cocone.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• North Asia
• Consumer
• Early-stage
• Japan
• SoftBank Ventures Asia
• TMT
• e-commerce