Japanese tech entrepreneurs form Tokyo Founders Fund
A group of Japanese tech entrepreneurs have formed a new start-up-focused fund called Tokyo Founders Fund, styled after Silicon Valley’s own Founders Fund.
According to Japanese news tech site Wired.jp, the seven-member founder group includes: Yusuke Asakura, former CEO of social network site Mixi; Kensuke Furukawa, CEO of life hacking site Nanapi; and Taichi Murakami, CEO of internet firm Livesense, among others.
Details of fund activities have not yet been disclosed but the group has said it will offer pre-seed and seed stage investment to tech start-ups globally.
The fund’s US-based inspiration was set up in 2005 by PayPal co-founders Peter Thiel, Ken Howery and Luke Nosek, with Google co-founder Brian Singerman. It has backed the likes of Facebook, SpaceX, Spotify, and Airbnb. Recent Asia investments include Japan’s Genesis Healthcare, and Australian web-based design platform Canva.
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