Gree Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of Japan-based digital media company Gree, has reached the first close of a fund called Strive III which it intends to close at ¥15bn ($137m).
General partners Yusuke Amano and Tatsuo Tstutsumi will run the fund with Singapore-based partner Nikhil Kapur. Its limited partners (LPs) include Gree as well as financial services firm Mizuho Bank and its corporate venturing unit Mizuho Capital, and state-backed entity SME Support Japan.
Strive III is the unit’s third fund, and it will provide early-stage funding for business-to-business technology developers. It has already invested in Japan-based identity confirmation platform provider Trustdock and India-based education management app developer Classplus.
Kapur told TechCrunch: “People often confuse us as a single LP fund. But we are quite independent from Gree, plus we are not a corporate fund and we are not investing in gaming.”
The fund plans to reach its final close at the end of 2019 and is seeking capital from LPs in Southeast Asia and India, with a view to exploring the local ecosystems.
Gree is also among the LPs in venture capital firm Infinity Ventures’ fourth fund and it has an Indonesia-based accelerator, Skala, with conglomerate Salim Group’s digitisation unit Innovation Factory.
