Mixi launches $50m fund for India-based entertainment startups

Tomoharu Urabe, principal partner at Mixi Global Investments, Mixi’s new CVC / Photo credit: Mixi

Mixi, a Japan-based mobile entertainment company, has launched its US$50 million corporate venture capital (CVC) initiative to invest in early-stage Indian startups in the entertainment and consumer services sectors.

The firm said it will identify and help “promising” startups in those segments.

“We believe in India’s startup ecosystem, especially in the sector of digital entertainment,” Tomoharu Urabe, principal partner at Mixi Global Investments said in a statement.

Established in 1997, Mixi was once dubbed “Japan’s Facebook.” The company operates a social networking app of the same name and a multiplayer smartphone game called Monster Strike.

Outside the CVC fund, Mixi plans to allocate about 30 billion yen (US$209.6 million) to 50 billion yen (US$349.3 million) for mergers and acquisitions, as well as capital and business alliances between the financial years of 2023 and 2025. The company said it will focus on investment in overseas markets, including emerging economies like India.

This move comes amid a rise in smartphone users in the country, with the figure expected to hit the 1 billion mark by 2026. Meanwhile, India’s mobile games sector is projected to reach US$427 million in market volume by 2027.

Currency converted from Japanese yen to US dollar: US$1 = 143.26 yen.

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