Takahashi Ventures, a Japanese startup accelerator, has announced a new 40 million yen (approximately $360,000) series 30 million yen (approximately $270,000) fund. The fund will be used to invest in early-stage companies. This is the third fund that Takahashi Ventures has raised, and it brings the total amount of money under management to 100 million yen (approximately $900,000). 40m series 30m takahashiventurebeat
In 2013, Hiroshi Takahashi and Keiji Inafune launched a Kickstarter for their then-unnamed project, which they described as “a spiritual successor to the 8- and 16-bit action-adventure games of our childhoods.” The project was fully funded, raising $3 million from over 24,000 backers. Four years later, that game, now titled “Mighty No. 9,” is finally out. 40m series 30m takahashiventurebeat
In early September, Japanese internet company Rakuten announced that it was investing 40 million dollars in Takahashi Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley. This is the latest move in Rakuten’s expansion into the American tech market, which began in 2012 when the company purchased online retailer Buy.com for $250 million.
Rakuten’s investment in Takahashi Ventures is part of a larger trend of Japanese companies investing in American startups.
