venture capital

Asu Capital Partners Announces Final Close for First Fund

Norbert Gehrke

06 Jul 2025 — 3 min read

Asu Capital Partners, a venture capital firm supporting entrepreneurs aiming for "Japan to Global" expansion, has completed the final close of the "Asu Capital Partners Fund No. 1". In this fourth round of fundraising, the company received investments from Yamanashi Chuo Bank, Yostar, Kashima Antlers FC, Yitu Capital, and individual investor Kazuya Fujii. The total number of portfolio companies has reached 12, and Asu Capital Partners will continue to strengthen its support system for founding investments and startups aiming for "Japan to Global" expansion.

MDM & Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Launch "ALTERNA Trust" for Digital Securities

Mitsui & Co. Digital Asset Management (MDM) and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank have jointly established "ALTERNA Trust", a trust company specializing in digital securities, with a view to further development of the digital securities market, with MDM holding 85.1% and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank holding 14.9%

NEDO's Innovation Outlook

At the beginning of July 2025, the Innovation Strategy Center of Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) published its "Innovation Outlook Version 1.0," outlining a new strategic direction for national research and development. It pivots from a traditional, linear model of R&

Orix to Acquire 71.4% of Hilco Global for USD 776m

ORIX Corporation announced in the May 12, 2025 press release “ORIX Signs Letter of Intent to Acquire Majority Interest (Consolidation) in Hilco Global” that its group company in the U.S., ORIX Corporation USA (OCU), has decided to enter into a nonbinding Letter of Intent with Hilco Trading, a U.

Hokkoku Financial Invests in Soft Space, Partners on Stablecoins

Hokkoku Financial Holdings (Hokkoku FHD) Group's Hokkoku Bank and Soft Space have commenced the development of a SoftPOS solution that enables touch payments from international payment networks including Visa, and for the first time in the world, payments using deposit-type stablecoins. At the same time, QR Investment, a

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MDM & Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Launch "ALTERNA Trust" for Digital Securities

NEDO's Innovation Outlook

Orix to Acquire 71.4% of Hilco Global for USD 776m

Hokkoku Financial Invests in Soft Space, Partners on Stablecoins