Nikon Ventures, the corporate investment arm of the Japanese photographic equipment and optics manufacturer Nikon, is partnering with Geodesic Capital, a VC company, to establish a $51.5m fund.
The fund, called NFocus Fund, will run for 10 to 12 years and will target mid-stage startups in technology sectors, mainly in the US but also globally. Geodesic Capital, as the fund’s manager, has been chosen in part for its experience liaising between Silicon Valley firms and Japanese companies, according to the press release announcing the fund.
NFocus Fund is part of Nikon’s plan to strategically position itself for an economy where humans work alongside autonomous machines.
Established in 2008, US-based Nikon Ventures invests globally. Its most recent fund before NFocus was the Nikon-SBI Innovation Fund II, which started in 2023 with $33m, and is a partnership with financial services provider SBI Holdings.
In April 2024, Nikon participated in the $5.9m series A funding round for Medmain, a company that makes AI systems for use in healthcare, including an analytical system to assist in diagnosis.
