Sony is all set to double its shares in the world of startup investments.
New tech startups are entering the world and giving quite a stiff competition to traditional business giants. As these startups are flooding the market, they have managed to attract the attention of the Japanese tech giant Sony. The company has recently announced its new fund that aims to raise a whopping 20 billion JPY, which is roughly around $185 million. It will then invest that sum in tech startups that are in the middle-to-late stages and are present within important industries of high growth in countries like Japan, Europe, Israel and the United States.
The confirmed LPs of the fund are Osaka Shoko Shinkin Bank, the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and the Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Company. There have been no comments made by Sony on the amount of funds that have been raised so far.
According to reports, the Innovation Growth Fund is the first firm that has been set up by Sony in collaboration with Daiwa Capital Holdings, also popularly known as the VC side of the investment bank Daiwa Securities. This fund will focus mainly on the investment in companies belonging to the fields of robotics, fin-tech and artificial intelligence, including other “fast-growing” tech start-ups of other segments of the market.
Sony Investment: previous One Not enough?
Based on statements made by Sony, the previous fund, namely the Sony Innovation Fund with a sum of $100 million, is said to have made over 40 investments till date. Sony, along with IGF, now aims to expand its investments and target tech start-up companies.
The Executive Vice President of Sony Corporation, Toshimoto Mitomo recently commented that Sony has contributed towards the promotion of open innovation by nurturing the new generation of startups and technologies with its corporate venture capital activities. By establishing this fund, the company hopes to foster open innovation while continuing to contribute towards social development.
The long-term goal of this new fund by Sony is to help the companies which Sony has invested in develop into public firms, which is exactly what Daiwa Capital Holdings is helping the company to do. The fund also has plans to make connections with acclaimed research institutions along with other established tech companies and help the startups to develop.
Based on statements by Yoshihisa Kaneko, the Executive Managing Director of Daiwa Securities, the merging of Sony’s immense knowledge of the new as well as important technologies and Daiwa’s prowess in finance could create a completely different and new type of venture capital pursuit and start new trends in the whole system of venture capitals.
