Japan Investment Corporation (JIC), a Japanese public-private fund, will invest JPY2 billion ($12.7 million) in Red No. 1 Healthcare Investment Limited Partnership, which focuses on biotech, medical devices, and healthcare services startups.

In a statement on Friday, JIC said it reached a limited partner investment for the move. Red No. 1 Healthcare Investment Limited Partnership is a fund managed by Tokyo-based venture capital firm Red Capital Co., Ltd.

Red Capital was founded in 2024 and is based in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. The fund targets healthcare startups from the applied research stage through to late-stage development.

JIC cited three rationales for the investment. First, healthcare startups require long development timelines and substantial capital, but the supply of risk capital to the sector remains limited.

Second, institutional investor participation in domestic venture capital funds remains insufficient, and JIC expects its involvement to attract further institutional capital in successor funds.

Third, JIC said the Red Capital investment supports diversity, equity, and inclusion within Japan’s startup ecosystem, where the proportion of women in investment decision-making roles and female entrepreneurs both remain low.

JIC was established in September 2018 under Japan’s Industrial Competitiveness Enhancement Act, with a mission to supply risk capital to startups, promote open innovation, and strengthen Japanese industrial competitiveness through direct funds and LP investments in private funds.

Malaysia’s Qmed Asia, Intel to jointly build unified hospital patient monitoring platform