Mizuho Capital, the corporate venturing subsidiary of Tokyo-based financial services firm Mizuho Bank, focuses on investments in the information technology and biotechnology sectors.
As of 2021, the unit had ¥49.6 billion JPY ($430m) under management and had made over 370 investments since it was set up two decades ago. Data published by Nikkei indicates that Mizuho is the fifth-largest venture capital firm in Japan.
Mizuho Capital was formed in 2002 by the merger of Fujigin Capital, Tokyo Venture Capital and IBJ Investment. Three firms were subsidiaries of Fuji Bank, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan respectively.
Yusuke Omachi is the unit’s president and CEO, and has recently overseen investments in entertainment company Ventus Japan’s $2.6m series A round, as well as in the $10m venture round for Space BD, a specialist in the industrialisation of space exploration and travel based in Tokyo.
Among Mizuho Capital’s most notable exits are Money Forward, a developer of personal accounting software, wealth manager Wealthnavi and Allm, a collaborative platform for healthcare providers.
The unit’s investments are concentrated within the Japanese market: figures published recently by Mizuho showed that just 1% of its portfolio by value was invested outside of the country. Most of its investee companies (59%) are described as early stage, while almost half (48%) are in IT or internet-related sectors.
