Sony Innovation Fund 4 will invest in startups closely aligned to the parent company's main businesses.
Sony has announced the first closing of a new investment fund that has several Japanese banks as limited partners.
Sony Innovation Fund 4 has a target of at least JPY20bn ($126m). Corporate LPs in the new fund include MUFG Bank, Development Bank of Japan, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Sony Bank.
The new fund is one of several to have been launched by Sony Ventures, the corporate venture arm of the Japanese electronics, media and entertainment group. It is the company’s second fund to have corporate limited partners, following its Innovation Fund 3 in 2022.
This fund will “adopt a more selective approach to investment, focusing on areas with even stronger strategic alignment to Sony Group’s businesses, and will fully leverage Sony Group’s internal resources to further accelerate support for the sustainable growth of our portfolio companies,” said Kazuhito Hadano, CEO of Sony Ventures, in a release.
The first Sony Innovation Fund was formed in 2016. Other funds launched by Sony include Innovation Growth Fund in 2019 and Sony Innovation Fund: Africa, formed in 2023 to invest in African entertainment businesses.
With this new fund, total assets under management across the Sony Innovation Fund platform are expected to exceed JPY85bn.
