Finland-based venture capital fund NordicNinja VC has attracted carmaker Honda and electronics companies Panasonic and Omron for its €100m ($113m) inaugural vehicle, VentureBeat reported yesterday.
Public financial institution and export credit agency Japan Bank for International Cooperation has also backed the vehicle, which is incorporated as JB Nordic Fund I and is advised by venture capital firm Nordic Ventures.
NordicNinja will focus on deep tech companies across the artificial intelligence, virtual reality, autonomous mobility and internet of things sectors.
The fund will invest in startups the Nordic and Baltic states, having identified several clusters across these countries with opportunities it claimed remained largely unknown to Japanese investors.
NordicNinja referred to ecosystems around KTH Royal Institute of Technology and universities in Odense, Denmark, and Espoo and Helsinki, Finland, as areas with promising technologies, but it did not specify whether it would specifically seek out spinouts.
Startups will receive between $2m and $5m, and will gain access to local expertise from the corporates to help with expansion efforts into Asia.
The fund is led by managing partners Tomosaku Sohara, Marek Kiisa and Shinichi Nikkuni.
