A new, $30 million microfund meant to jumpstart Japan-based startups will focus, in part, on biotechnology and healthcare.
The global venture firm, called 500 Startups, has invested in some 1,000 companies in more than 50 countries. The new Japan-centric fund is open to any and all sectors for startup investment, but is particularly interested in biotech, healthcare and technology companies. It hasn’t to date made many investments in these sectors – but is branching out in the Japanese market.
500 Startups Japan fund will be divided between early stage investments and follow-up funding, TechCrunch reports. It’ll invest between $100,000 and $500,000 in the startups – though it could commit up to $1 million per company.
Japanese investors tend to be more risk averse than American firms, as the fund’s lead, James Riney, told TechCrunch.
“There’s a huge difference in funding between the U.S and Japan,” he said. “There really isn’t a lot of money for entrepreneurs to get their business off the ground here, and Japanese investors really tend to be risk averse.”
[IMAGE: Flickr user Grantuking]
