SoftBank Ventures Asia, the venture arm of newly formed VC and ecosystem building company The Edgeof, has closed a new $150m fund and changed its name to SBVA.
Corporate backers in the new fund, called 2023 Alpha Korea Fund, include SoftBank Group, Hanwha Life, Nexon and KB Capital. State-owned banks Korea Development Bank and Industrial Bank of Korea are also investors.
SBVA will finance early to mid-stage startups in areas such as AI, robotics and computing. The firm will focus on enterprise software, healthcare technology and industrial deep technology.
“Despite the venture investment winter, we were able to successfully conclude the establishment of this fund based on the trust of our investors. We will continue to actively engage in investment activities by closely listening to the concerns of entrepreneurs,” said JoonyPyo Lee, chief executive of SBVA, in a press statement.
The Edgeof acquired SBVA from Japanese technology conglomerate Softbank Group last year.