Image of metaverse cemetery Kaze no Rei (Spirit of the Wind) courtesy of Alpha Club Musashino.
Japanese wedding and funeral services firm Alpha Club Musashino has formed a corporate venture capital arm called LifeShift Innovation Fund 1.
The fund is equipped with ¥1.8bn ($11.4m) and will invest in funeral-related technologies and services. Japanese business development and M&A consulting firm Paradigm Shift will help manage the fund as general partner.
Founded in 1964, Alpha Club Musashino operates wedding and funeral events mainly in the Japanese prefectures of Fukushima, Yamagata and Ibaraki. The firm also owns hotels, recreational facilities and golf courses.
The CVC fund is part of the parent company’s Vision70 scheme, which celebrates its 70th anniversary through various business initiatives. Among them are space funerals, metaverse cemeteries, overseas expansion and the launch of a small-scale funeral facility.
