LY Corporation, the company formed when Yahoo Japan merged with Line, will explore deep tech with CVC subsidiary Z Venture Capital's second fund.
Japanese internet group LY Corporation’s corporate VC arm has launched a ¥30bn ($191m) second fund which will target high-growth areas of technology.
LY was formed in 2021 through the merger of diversified internet company Yahoo Japan and instant messaging platform operator Line. Their CVC units, Line Ventures and YJ Capital, joined together at the same time to form Z Venture Capital with a $271m debut fund.
ZVC Fund II will concentrate on emerging deep tech areas as well as LY’s core sectors: media, commerce, financial technology and AI.
“This fund will focus on digital-first businesses, which are at the core of LY Corporation’s operations, while also expanding into emerging sectors like AI, space technology, robotics and other areas of deep tech,” Z Venture Capital CEO Joon Hwang said today.
“Our goal is to back startups at their earliest stages, with a strong emphasis on seed and early-stage investments, while continuing to support the growth of our existing portfolio companies through follow-on funding.”
The announcement of the latest fund comes alongside details of Z Venture Capital’s activity in 2024, which involved it allocating $34.5m in 54 startups. The latest of which, a $1.5m round for sleep analytics technology developer Munice, took place under a week ago.
The firm invests in Japan, Korea, the US and Southeast Asia, out of offices in Tokyo, Seoul and San Francisco. Although ZVC Fund II will participate in rounds from seed to late-stage growth, over 60% of its investments last year were at seed stage.
