The Global Brain-managed funds will invest in startups in sectors ranging from construction and entertainment to space.
Japanese real estate development and management company Mitsui Fudosan is setting up two corporate VC funds, with a total allocation of ¥20bn ($130m).
The initiative will comprise two funds initially – a ¥15bn ($98m) Innovation Fund and a ¥5bn ($32m) Frontier Fund. In partnership with venture capital firm Global Brain, it plans to invest tickets of up to ¥500m ($3.2m) for early-stage companies and ¥5bn for growth-stage investments.
The larger of the two funds will have a slightly shorter life term of 10 years and can invest at any stage, though in practice it will look mainly at middle and later-stage companies. Focus areas will include automation, construction, entertainment and technologies addressing labour shortages.
The Frontier fund will have a longer horizon of 15 years to take bets at an earlier stage on pre-revenue companies primarily in energy, space, and next-generation mobility.
In addition to providing the capital, the corporate said it is also seeking to co-create businesses with its portfolio companies.
The funds form part of Mitsui Fudosan’s & Innovation 2030 long-term management initiative, which it launched last year to explore new business areas and asset classes beyond its core business. The company already has an existing CVC unit, 31Ventures, which was launched in 2015 and is also managed by Global Brain.
Fernando Moncada Rivera
Fernando Moncada Rivera is a reporter at Global Corporate Venturing and also host of the CVC Unplugged podcast.
