Japan-based cybersecurity technology developer Cocon raised ¥1.95bn ($18.7m) in convertible bond financing yesterday from investors including YJ Capital, the corporate venturing arm of internet company Yahoo Japan.
Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Oita Venture Capital, Deepcore and Tokyo University of Science Innovation Capital also invested, on behalf of financial services firms Mitsubishi UFJ and Oita Bank, telecommunications group SoftBank and Japanese university Tokyo University of Science, joining Chiba Dojo and JIC Venture Growth Investments.
Founded in 2013 as Panda Graphics, Cocon provides IT security, artificial intelligence technology and crowdsourcing services.
YJ Capital had joined Sumitomo Electric Industries, a subsidiary of conglomerate Sumitomo, to invest $24.6m in the company in 2018 through a deal that took its overall funding to roughly $36m.
Digital marketing agency Opt and East Ventures took part in a $1.4m round for Cocon in 2014. Its other shareholders include SIG Asia Investments and SBI Investment, respective vehicles for technology and quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group and financial services firm SBI, as well as MS Capital.
