Japan-based internet company Gree plans to invest almost $100m in businesses outside its core sector over the next year, Japanese venture capital news source The Bridge reported on Friday.
The news was revealed by Naoki Aoyagi, Gree’s managing director, at the B Dash Camp Fukoka event. Aoyagi stated that Gree intends to invest about ¥10bn ($98.7m) as part of an “incubation and acquisition strategy” that is separate to Gree’s corporate venturing unit, Gree Ventures.
“We have to do something different from what other companies are doing,” Aoyagi said. “We have enough money since we’ve been providing social games for a long time. We’ll keep primarily investing in the gaming business, but we secured a $100m budget for investing in non-game businesses.”
Companies funded over the past two months by Gree, which is one of the corporate investors in B Dash Ventures, include game developer Gumi, hotel booking app HotelQuickly and online reward and voucher startup YOYO Holdings.
Gree Ventures recently reached the $50m first close of its second fund.