Japan-based financial services firm Juroku Bank has formed a venture capital unit dubbed Nobunaga Capital Village and a startup accelerator called Juroku Bank Accelerator 2021.
Nobunaga Capital Village will be launched in April 2021 with ¥4.5bn ($41.2m) of capital across two vehicles, and will target developers of financial technology and local economy revitalisation projects, focusing on the Chūbu region where the bank is headquartered.
Kiyotaka Tōge, chief investigator of Juroku Bank’s corporate planning department, will oversee Nobunaga Capital Village as president. Plans for the initiative were first revealed in December 2020.
Juroku Bank Accelerator 2021 was formed in association with startup incubator studio Creww. Entrepreneurs can submit their candidacies until April 9, before finalists are selected in July to participate in proof-of-concept trials with local partner companies ahead of a demo day scheduled for October.
Beekeeping equipment provider Akitaya Honten, logging and wood processor Kobayashi Sannosuke Shouten and automotive parts manufacturer Pacific Industrial are among the accelerator’s collaborators, as are car and civil engineering equipment vendor Navic and metal plating producer Yamada Mekki Kougyousho.
Juroku Bank had already been involved in corporate venturing, having backed iYell and Photon Electro Soul, through its Juroku Frontier Fund and Juroku Lease subsidiaries respectively.
