Japan’s venture capital industry is in a very difficult situation. That’s, in a nutshell, the result of a recent Nikkei survey. According to the paper, investments from the nation’s top 20 VC firms dropped a whopping 40% in fiscal 2009 to $711 million. Compared to 2007, that’s even 50% less. To be more concrete, the… Continue reading Japanese Venture Capital Investments Take Nosedive in 2009
Tag: vc
Japan’s CyberAgent Sets Up $22.7 Million Fund For Startups In East Asia
The more you talk with Japanese VCs and entrepreneurs these days, the more you hear “China” as the next target for investing money or establishing a subsidiary. Now Japanese web behemoth CyberAgent (listed at the Tokyo Stock Exchange) says it has set up a fund exclusively focused on web startups in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan… Continue reading Japan’s CyberAgent Sets Up $22.7 Million Fund For Startups In East Asia
Lang-8 Raises Angel Round Just Under 10M Yen
Lang-8, a multi-lingual social network / language-learning site, has raised 9,570,000 yen ($100K) from prominent angel investors: * Kiyoshi Nishikawa, a founder of ngi group * Takashi Yoshida, ex-CTO of Rakuten * Masahide Nakamura [JP], CEO of Allied Architects * Shuichi Takenaga, CEO of Aucfan [JP] CEO, Youyou Ki, is going to use the investment… Continue reading Lang-8 Raises Angel Round Just Under 10M Yen