Japanese venture capital firm Genesia Ventures announced Monday the first close of its new fund, Genesia Venture Fund 3 Investment Limited Partnership, with a total amount of approximately $90 million.

Similar to the first and second funds, the third fund is focused on investments in pre-seed and seed stage startups in Japan and Southeast Asia (SEA), Genesia Ventures said in a statement.

It said the investment size will increase to a maximum of $4 million per company (including follow-on investments) in order to continuously support aspiring companies in creating sustainable businesses.

In addition to the previous funds’ focus on digital startups, it said the fund three will also invest in frontier technology, including robotics and space technology.

Canal Ventures, GREE, Japan Investment Corporation, Mizuho Bank, Mizuho Capital and Oriental Land Innovations have participated in the first close, it added.

It also said the fund will continue to seek investors moving forward, and the final close is scheduled for August 2022, with the goal of creating a fund with a corpus of $130 million.

According to the statement, the first fund completed its final close in December 2017 with a total of $35 million. It invested in 47 pre-seed and seed-stage startups: 35 in Japan, 10 in SEA, and 2 in other markets as of January 31, 2022.

The second fund completed its final closing in October 2020 with a corpus of $70 million, and invested in 59 companies: 41 in Japan, 16 in SEA, and 2 in other markets as of January 31, 2022.

It said the third fund will continue to invest with a similar mandate as the first and second funds, and invest primarily in digital transformation (business models around digital transformation, such as software as a service that improves business structures of various industries, and platforms that eliminate complex layers), new economy (new economy business models such as online merge offline, consumer to consumer E-commerce service, sharing economy, decentralized platforms, etc., that optimize individual empowerment and customer experiences), media and entertainment (business models around media and entertainment, such as content, virtual reality, and augmented reality that provide value in the form of moving experiences, as individual interests diversify) and frontier tech (new industries, including robotics, digital twinning, and space technologies, as well as areas relating to digital innovation through the application of information
sciences).

“Genesia Ventures was founded in August 2016. It has been five years and five months since its founding, and since then, we have invested in more than 100 pre-seed and seed stage startups in Japan and Southeast Asia in the effort to meet our six challenges (enriching people’s lives, circular economy, equality of information and opportunity, demonstration of wisdom, coexistence and symbiosis, healthy society),

“I am reminded of how the power of startups is essential to create a prosperous society. We will continue to challenge ourselves, much like a startup, and do our utmost to help create a society full of wealth and opportunity, together with stakeholders in the ecosystem,” said Genesia Ventures General Partner Soichi Tajima.

According to the statement, Genesia Ventures had also recently joined United Nations-supported principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), and had formulated an environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) investment policy that will help it move forward in realizing its vision for “a society that creates wealth and opportunities for all”, through long-term and sustainable enhancements in the corporate value of startups, and solving social issues.

“When I think about our vision and the six challenges we set forth, I often find myself at a loss as to how to achieve them. But we are making steady progress, step by step. We have been given opportunities to work with over 100 promising startups and entrepreneurs.

“The competitive environment in Southeast Asia is increasing in intensity by the year, both among startups and among venture capitals. We will continue to do our best to bridge Southeast Asia and Japan, and between startups and large corporations, as a venture capital firm with deep roots in the regions,” said Genesia Ventures Head of Investments in Southeast Asia / General Partner Takahiro Suzuki.

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