May 24, 2023
ICMG Ventures Pte. Ltd.
ICMG Ventures Pte. Ltd. (Head Office: 6 Temasek Boulevard, #42-02 Suntec Tower 4, CEO: Gen Funahashi) is pleased to announce that the company has obtained a Venture Capital Fund Management License (VCFM License) from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
In Japan, ICMG (ICMG Co-Creation Fund I) has already been accredited by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) as an investor that promotes the use of external management resources under the Act on Strengthening Industrial Competitiveness, in recognition of its past achievements in co-creation activities between Asian start-ups and Japanese companies. The acquisition of the VCFM license will enable us to further accelerate our investments in Asia and support Japanese companies in their expansion into Asia. With that, ICMG has become the first company to obtain both the METI’s accreditation and the VCFM license.
Utilizing this license, ICMG Co-Creation Fund II will start venture capital fund management based in Singapore, investing in global startups that will become the next unicorns in India and Asia, and accelerate cross-border co-creation projects with Japanese companies.
Bottom center: ICMG Ventures CEO Gen Funabashi as well as ICMG India, Singapore and |
ICMG Co-Creation Fund I, currently managed by the ICMG Group, not only invests in domestic startups but also global startups, through co-investments with top VCs, that will become the next unicorns in India and Southeast Asia. The fund supports open innovation with Japanese companies, within the network of ICMG Group, through utilizing local networks, customer bases and business development expertise of the investee companies. In particular, we have invested in industry-specific B2B marketplace businesses in Asia with top global VC firms such as Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global, and have supported the expansion of Japanese companies into Asia by placing high-quality Japanese products on the platforms of the investee companies after the investment.
Our second fund, ICMG Co-Creation Fund II, shall be based in Singapore to give us a stronger position in entering the other Asia markets. Singapore is positioned as one of the world’s top innovation hubs by Bloomberg, the World Economic Forum, and other global indices, and has a strong ecosystem of tech startups, incubators, VCs, global companies and others. The fund’s CEO, Gen Funahashi, has lived in Singapore for seven years and has successfully co-invested with global VC firms such as Sequoia Capital, Jungle Ventures, Google, and Tiger Global in India and Asia.
ICMG Ventures will continue to identify business opportunities for the next unicorn companies in each of the key markets, and by collaborating with ICMG’s core innovation platform, will accompany co-creation activities with Japanese companies post investment towards implementation, strengthening mutual value creation support for Japanese companies and global startups.
The acquisition of this license will also enable ICMG to provide operational support to a Singapore-based Corporate Venture Capital(CVC) that supports the global investment business of Japanese companies. ICMG will further develop its startup investment business by utilizing the capital and knowledge accumulated through the Co-Creation Fund I.
[For more details of ICMG Ventures]
Please refer to the following website of the MAS.
https://eservices.mas.gov.sg/fid/institution/detail/408113-ICMG-VENTURES-PTE-LTD
【About ICMG Group】
ICMG Group has been leading co-creative innovation not only in Japan but also in Southeast Asia and US together with various stakeholders such as leading Japanese big corporations, startups, and government agencies. ICMG Group has also carried out renewable energy investment projects in Southeast Asia with Tokyo Electric Power Company and Chubu Electric Power Co, formed a strategic partnership in Singapore with UNDP to promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and launched the sustainable city initiative project in Japan with Aichi Prefectural Government. ICMG Co-Creation Fund aims to create a sustainable society by providing growth capital and strong partner network of leading Japanese corporations to startups that solve social issues.
For media inquiries, please contact:
ICMG Ventures Pte. Ltd.
Public Relations Office
Phone：+81 03-6812-2548
Email：icm_info@icmg.co.jp