Japan Investment Corporation (JIC) has invested US$100 million in two funds managed by US venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA) in a move to help nurture “globally significant” Japanese startups.
JIC, a sovereign wealth fund with around $15.3 billion of assets, announced its investment in the New Enterprise Associates 19, L.P. and NEA 19 Venture Growth Equity, L.P. in a statement on March 11.
“Consistent support across all stages, from seed and early-stage to late-stage funding, focused on global market expansion can help promising startups grow into international unicorns,” JIC says. “However, the level of such support in Japan remains insufficient.”
According to JIC, NEA’s methodologies have helped create more than 100 unicorns – privately held startups valued at more than $1 billion –worldwide, and that the goal of its investment in the two funds is to “foster development ofglobally significant Japanese unicorns”.
The wealth fund also says it plans to introduce the US firm to co-investment opportunities with Japanese venture capital peers to encourage more investments in local startups and attract greater interest from global investors.
