Samurai Incubate launches Israel accelerator

The so-called Accelerate Program Israel will be held at the firm's co-working space in Tel Aviv. The early stage investor expanded into Israel in July 2014 with the hope of backing local start-ups that could eventually become a target for Japanese strategic investors.

This coincided with the launch of its fifth fund targeting JPY1 billion ($8.3 million) with a new mandate to back Israeli start-ups at the pre-seed stage. Samurai has also backed Tel Aviv-based startup incubator Startup East in an effort to strengthen exchange between the Japanese and Israeli startup communities.

"Honestly, I don't know why more Japanese investors aren't rushing into Tel Aviv," Shohei Ando, operations manager at Samurai Incubate, told AVCJ in January. "The city is full exciting new businesses and technology, and has already attracted a number of Chinese companies - but very few Japanese investors active in the country."

Asian VC investors have been active in Israel's fast-growing start-up scene for some years now, but Japan has been slow to exploit the opportunity when compared to Korea and China. Samurai is trying to redress the balance.

 

 

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