CyberAgent Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of Japan-based internet company CyberAgent, has begun raising capital for its second fund, which will be sized at ¥b5n ($50m), it said today.
The company made the announcement at the same time as it revealed that it has fully invested its $24m previous fund, CA Startup Internet Fund No.1.
Tetsuya Hayashiguchi, senior vice president of CyberAgent Ventures Japan, told Tech in Asia that its new fund, CA Startup Internet Fund No.2, was larger than the previous fund in order to invest in larger startups at seed stage, and also to make follow-on investments in portfolio companies.
CA Startup Internet Fund No.2 is also set to expand the range of CyberAgent Ventures’ investments from IT businesses to internet of things companies.
CyberAgent has funded over 200 early-stage IT companies in Japan and overseas, its first fund having committed about $18m between 2004 and 2010. The unit generally commits between $100,000 and $1m to each portfolio company.