Keio Innovation Initiative (KII), a venture capital unit for Japan-based Keio University, closed a ¥10.3bn ($99.3m) second fund today featuring limited partners (LPs) including pharmaceutical firm Eisai.
Brokerage Kyokuto Securities, financial services firms Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ, the latter’s Mitsubishi UFJ Capital unit, the government-linked Organisation for Small and Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation and private investor Kazuomi Kanetō are also among the LPs.
KII was founded in 2015 as a joint venture between the university’s business management arm, Keio Academic Enterprise, and securities brokerage Nomura Holdings.
KII Fund II will operate for about a decade on a sector-agnostic basis, mainly leading seed and early-stage rounds for 20 to 25 technology developers, having already backed five companies.
The vehicle closed its maiden fund at $43m in 2016, KII confirmed in its latest announcement. The disclosure indicates that reported plans to expand that fund by about $100m did not come to fruition.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
