Corporate limited partners helped Japan-based, drone technology-focused investment firm Drone Fund reach the first close last month of a fund with a ¥10bn ($95m) ceiling, it announced yesterday.
Farm machinery producer Kobashi Industries, engineering consultancy and construction firm Kokusai Kogyo (Japan Asia Group) and telecommunications firms NTT Docomo and SoftBank were among the LPs, as were brokerage SMBC Nikko Securities and startup-focused research firm Leave a Nest.
Formed in May this year, Drone Fund III Investment Limited Partnership is expected to reach a final close in March 2021.
Drone Fund is now set to begin conducting investments out of the new vehicle. It has a similar focus to the firm’s $15m first fund, which closed in June 2017, and the second iteration, which had raised $47.3m in May 2019.
Fund III will back developers of artificial intelligence, robotics and advanced mobility technologies designed to to solve social issues caused by a declining working-age population in Japan, outdated infrastructure, climate change, natural disasters and the ongoing public health crisis related to covid-19.
The firm has so far backed more than 40 companies based in Japan and elsewhere. Its portfolio includes flying vehicle and drone technology developer SkyDrive, industrial drone technology provider Sensyn Robotics and X-ray sensor developer Anseen.
