Japan-based venture capital firm Now formed a second fund last month with backing from corporate limited partners (LPs), it has revealed.
Founder Foundry 2 has set a ¥10bn ($91.8m) target for the vehicle, which is set to run for 10 years, and will back developers of technologies in areas including enterprise software, digitalisation, social media, direct-to-consumer, blockchain, e-commerce, sustainability and augmented and virtual reality.
Internet company GMO, digital media group Gree and marketing firm Vector all contributed to the vehicle, as did financial services firms Shinsei Bank, Fukuoka Financial Group and Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings, the last two through FFG Venture Business Partners and Tokai Tokyo Investment respectively.
Brokerages Matsui Securities and SMBC Nikko Securities, asset manager K&P Asset Management and individual investors Yoshiyuki Kaneko and Tsuyoshi Kubota filled out the LP list.
Now launched its first Founder Foundry fund with $45.5m in capital when it was founded in 2018, and it had invested in 74 companies, mainly at seed stage. The latest iteration will expand its focus to middle and later-stage deals.
Gree and FFG Venture Business Partners had already backed the first fund, whose LPs included messaging app developer Line, advertising technology provider Septeni Holdings, real estate developer Apaman Group and school operator Tsuzuki Educational Institution Group.
