Our Mission
Seeking to foster innovation through venture and growth investment activities that improve international competitiveness and resolve Japan's industrial and social issues.
Seeking to foster innovation through venture and growth investment activities that improve international competitiveness and resolve
Japan's industrial and social issues.
Issues & Promise
At a time when social structures are changing and evolving worldwide, other countries are actively integrating startup-driven innovations to transform their industrial structures and create new markets.
Accelerating change in the competitive environment surrounding Japanese industry and the transformation of Japan's industrial and social structures have created an urgent need to address industrial and social issues. To do this, the public and private sectors must work together to vigorously promote innovation.
Against the backdrop of this urgent need to strengthen Japan’s competitiveness by reforming its industrial structure, we are committed to creating an ecosystem that can nurture Japanese startups by accelerating their growth and by supporting the promotion of open innovation among established companies.
To foster the development and growth of a wide variety of new industries, we will contribute to reinforcing the funding supply for startups and the diversification of exit strategies by making growth investments based on market issues. We will also play a role in supporting the growth of Japanese industry as a whole by strengthening our overseas networks and attracting new investment.
We are committed to fulfilling our mission and responsibility as a public-private fund and remain faithful to our commitment to strengthening Japan’s industrial competitiveness and resolving social issues.
01
Contribute to strengthening Japan's industrial competitiveness
.svg)
Contribute to enhancing industrial competitiveness by promoting a sufficient supply of risk capital to policy-relevant venture and growth areas and collaborating with the private sector.
02
Promote solutions to social and industrial issues
Accelerate innovation and promote solutions to social and industrial issues by discovering and supporting new technologies and new businesses that promote industrial transformation.
03
Promote open innovation
Promote open innovation beyond the framework of existing industries to achieve social implementation of innovations and contribute to developing Japan’s innovation ecosystem.
04
Leverage network and catalyst functions to enhance value
Maximize investment returns by leveraging the network and catalyst functions of a government-backed fund to create value through deal creation, hands-on work, and industry collaboration, among other activities.
05
Contribute to strengthening Japan’s risk capital supply
Discover and develop diverse investment human resources and contribute to building a foundation for a supply of risk capital in Japan that is both deep and diverse.
Our Goal
Promote the creation of new businesses for Society 5.0
Support for business related to the new business creations that require discontinuous growth with a uncertainly for the business and require a long-term, large-scale supply of risk money
Create Unicorn Ventures
Create unicorn ventures seeking sustainable growth with a competitive edge in the global economy
Utilize promising technologies lying dormant in regions
Respond to demand for funding for ventures launched by universities in local areas, where many technologies that can be expected to generate high returns are not being fully utilized
Approach
We, VENTUREGROWTH INVESTMENTS will accelerate innovation and promote solutions to social issues by discovering and supporting new technologies and new businesses that help resolve industrial and social issues and strengthen Japan's international competitiveness.
In addition, we will steadily advance the social implementation of innovation by investing in new industry development and building a startup ecosystem in venture growth fields.
Our Funds
Growth Fund
Middle / Growth / Later
A fund that utilizes expansion, growth, and later-stage investments in promising startups to support their growth prior to initial listing and encourage the social implementation of innovation.
Background and Outlook
One of the hurdles to creating unicorns in Japan is the limited supply of risk capital available to meet the needs of growth/later-stage startups seeking to grow their businesses. Furthermore, recent trends in international affairs and changes in the economic environment are expected result in increased demand for supplemental funding prior to IPO in Japan's emerging stock markets.
VGI’s mission is to promote innovation through venture growth investment activities that contribute to improving Japan’s international competitiveness and resolve industrial and social issues. Our main strategy is to support the growth of promising startups prior to IPO through VGF1 and VGF2 investments at the expansion, growth, and later stages.
VGF1 and VGF2 invest based on a bird's-eye view of the entire industry and with the expectation of contributing to resolving industrial issues. In addition, VGF1 and VGF2 invest in the development of new industries in areas where risk capital is needed.
view more
Deep Tech
Early
Providing comprehensive support from early stage through exit strategy, this fund seeks to eliminate gaps between investment stages and create new industries by investing in startups in new fields with the potential to become the nucleus of next-generation industries.
Background and Outlook
From the perspective of driving the creation of new businesses for Society 5.0, a supply of long-term, large-scale risk capital is required for social implementation of technologies related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, such as AI, IoT, and robotics, as well as for business fields that can be globally competitive, such as mobility, space, materials, and electronic devices.
However, startups in new industrial fields and deep tech startups with the potential to become the nucleus of next-generation industries require time to commercialize and expand their businesses. Creating significant new markets from outstanding science and technology demands comprehensive support for the growth of startups in the deep tech field in order to create new industries.
Against this backdrop, VGF2 will collaborate with private funds in which JIC has an equity stake to invest in deep tech, providing comprehensive support from early stage to exit strategy to eliminate gaps between investment stages and promote the emergence of next-generation industries.
view more
Life Science
Early
A fund established to provide early follow-up to contribute to the sustainable development of new industries, it provides comprehensive support from early stage through exit strategy, eliminating gaps between investment stages while contributing to sustainable development of new industries through investment in startups in biotechnology, drug discovery, healthcare and other new industry fields.
Backgroud and Outlook
From the perspective of driving the creation of new businesses for Society 5.0, a supply of long-term, large-scale risk capital is required for business fields that can be globally competitive, such as biotechnology, drug discovery, and healthcare. But the life science field has several challenges, including the small number of growth-stage startups, insufficient growth among startups that reach this stage, and poorly designed capital policies.
Against this backdrop, VGF2 targets startups with the potential to capture a significant market (First in Class or Best in Class) or that have a technological competitive advantage, providing support for business growth and capital policy up to exit. VGF2 focuses on the life science field, offering comprehensive support from the early to middle stages (in the case of drug discovery, from submission of clinical trial notification to the start of clinical trials) and exit strategy to eliminate gaps between investment stages and create next-generation industries. The fund promotes business growth through hands-on support, including assistance for global business development and overseas listing.
*For early-stage investments, the fund intends to address the shortage of risk capital in the life science sector, and assumes that investments will be made together with other VCs who will act as lead VC (including cases in which the fund is co-lead VC).
view more
Opportunity Fund
Secondary/Aftermarket
A fund seeks to revitalize the domestic secondary and growth markets, create unicorns, and contribute to strengthening and expanding the entire startup ecosystem.
Background and Outlook
Japan’s secondary market, where primary investors trade their stakes in startups, is immature and is one of the reasons why startups here have relatively small IPOs. Furthermore, startups that IPO early in the domestic market may have limited access to growth capital and may not be able to realize their growth potential.
In addition to being a "direct secondary" investor that supports growth by directly acquiring existing shareholder equity in mid-to later-stage startups that are expected to IPO within a few years, OPF1 seeks to boost startup growth curves through "aftermarket" investments that support sustainable and rapid growth of startups facing the challenge of raising funds for post-IPO growth, and to promote the creation of unicorns and the sustainable and rapid growth of promising listed startups.
view more
Governance
VGF1
Fund name: JIC Venture Growth Fund No. 1 Investment Limited Partnership
Fund size: Approximately 120 billion yen
Operation period: 12 years (with extension)
Target: Middle Growth Laters
VGF2
Fund name: JIC Venture Growth Fund No. 2 Investment Limited Partnership
Fund size: Approximately 200 billion yen
Operation period: 10 years (with extension)
Target: Middle Growth Later/ Early (Deep Tech Life Sciences only)
OPF1
JICVGI Opportunity Fund No.1 Investment Limited Partnership
Fund size: Approximately 40 billion yen
Operation period: 10 years (with extension)
Target: Secondary/Aftermarket
Ecosystem
By forming a network with industry, government, academia, and overseas parties, including more than 500 major companies, we will support the growth of startups, strengthen the competitiveness of industry through open innovation, and contribute to resolving problems in the startup ecosystem.
Business growth Support
Developing sales opportunities and business frameworks by leveraging the support of large companies in diverse industries and established industry networks
Fundraising Support
Supporting startup fundraising by leveraging a broad network of VC, major corporate/CVC, and domestic and overseas institutional investors
CXO Recruitment Support
Using our network of startup-focused human resources and staffing companies to identify CXOs and other management-level personnel
Listing Support
Support for startup listing on domestic and overseas markets, including NASDAQ and others
Hands-on Support
Hands-on support for startup M&A EXIT
Rulemaking Support
Medium- to long-term rulemaking and deregulation initiatives that leverage collaboration among industry, government, and academia to address regulations and rules that have become bottlenecks
Overseas Development Support
Supportfor overseas market entry and market creation in cooperation with overseas governments and support organizations. Support for overseas PoC, clinical trials, etc.
(For existing companies) Carve-Out Support
Support for the creation of innovation from large companies through carve-outs of new businesses, R&D themes, etc.
