Japan-based e-commerce group Raccoon Holdings has invested ¥100m ($920,000) in LaunchPad Fund, a seed-stage vehicle operated by venture capital firm Infinity Ventures.
Infinity Ventures has been holding LaunchPad pitch events twice a year at its Infinity Ventures Summit since 2007 in a bid to identify and back early-stage entrepreneurs.
The firm has increased their frequency to four times a year and delegated investment initiatives to the LaunchPad Fund formed in October 2020 with $9.5m of capital.
In addition to online goods distribution, Raccoon Holdings focuses on business-to-business (B2B) transactions. The group also runs wholesale portal Super Delivery, cross-border e-commerce platform SD Export, B2B post-payment tool Paid and accounts receivable management service Uriho.
The corporate intends to increase its startup investment activities and mergers and acquisitions deals through its commitment to LaunchPad Fund. It has conducted some corporate venturing in the past, having backed confidential document management system provider Taas in late 2019 and Japan Cloud Capital, which operates crowdfunding platform Fundinno, two years before.
