Chinese and Japanese startups take notice – there is another $132M coming your way

After seeing heavyweights like Rakuten, Gree, and SoftBank establish multiple venture capital funds targeting Southeast Asian startups, Japanese entrepreneurs might be wondering if their time to shine had passed. Infinity Venture Partners, one of the longest active venture capital firms in Japan, hushed some of that speculation with the announcement of a hefty fund.

For starters, the firm has finalized US$32 million in new funding. It expects to close an additional US$100 million in the first half of 2015. Familiar faces like Recruit Holdings, Daiwa Securities, and Mixi all contributed cash to the fund. The money will reach early stage startups in Japan as well as China.

Infinity Venture Partners is perhaps best known for holding semi-annual tech conferences in Japan. Its ability to put on a good event should not overshadow the firm’s general investing acumen, however. Its previous five year fund – for US$128 million – netted a three times return. The company cites Groupon Japan, Japanese personal finance tool Freee, and Chinese startup news service 36kr among its hits.

With the fall 2014 edition of its popular conference just a few weeks away, industry observers should keep an eye out for the first investments from the new fund.

See: Infinity Venture Partners launches a Craigslist for Japan