The JFR Mirai Creators Fund team. Image courtesy of JFR Mirai Creators Fund.
Japanese retail group J Front Retailing has formed a business succession fund having teamed up with venture capital firm Ignition Point Venture Partners.
J Front Retailing was founded in 2007 as a holding company for department store chains including Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores and Parco.
The new fund will target domestic companies conducting businesses to preserve regional Japanese cultures, especially food and culinary traditions. It will start investing in March 2024 and is the first initiative of this kind in the retail industry, according to J Front Retailing.
The business succession fund’s details such as its name, total allocated capital, investment ratio and launch date will be disclosed in the near future.
The corporate already launched a CVC scheme, called JFR Mirai Creators Fund, in October 2022 in partnership with Ignition Point. It focuses on lifestyle and communication technologies and products and has disclosed nine investments including elderly care service Trinity Technology, alternative asset investment platform WealthPark and Jiraffe, which operates trading card stores.
Ignition Point, on the other hand, was founded in 2021 and helps manage corporate venturing programmes. In addition to J Front Retailing’s funds, it runs Goldwin Play Earth Fund and Life Design Fund, part of travel agency Goldwin and shopping mall operator Aeon Mall, respectively.
