Bonds Investment Group (BIG), the corporate venturing subsidiary of Japan-based marketing firm Opt, has partnered Japan’s Hyogo prefecture and Kobe city governments to form a ¥1bn ($9.5m) vehicle.
Hyogo Kobe Startup Fund (also known as Hyogo Kobe Fund) will launch next month and is set to operate for a decade, extendable by three years. BIG will be the general partner of the fund while limited partners will include Hyogo prefecture and Kobe city-affiliated organisations.
The vehicle will target seed to early-stage startups already based in Hyogo or willing to move there. It will focus on developers of environment, energy, medical and healthcare technologies, as well as companies that intend to solve social and regional issues in a post-pandemic context.
Kobe Startup Ecosystem Consortium, a local industry‐university‐government partnership formed in December 2019, will be among the strategic partners for the vehicle’s portfolio companies, providing industry and technology know-how.
BIG, which was known as Opt Ventures until July 2020, has some ¥14bn ($133m at current rates) of capital under management across BIG Funds I and II, having backed more than 55 companies across areas including healthcare, construction, real estate, financial and human resources technologies.
