Brief: Biz card digitizer Sansan gets $18m from Goldman Sachs

Sansan COO Rio “PopEye” Inaba, speaking on stage last week at Tech in Asia Jakarta 2017. Photo credit: Tech in Asia.

The news (via Nikkei Asian Review):

• Goldman Sachs has invested US$17.6 million in Sansan, a Tokyo-based startup that digitizes business cards to create a professional social network, the US financial services giant said today.
• Today’s investment brings Sansan’s total disclosed funding to almost US$98 million, according to Tech in Asia data. The startup closed its series D round in August, securing US$38 million from investors including the Sumitomo Mitsui- and Toyota-backed Future Creation Fund, and Salesforce.  

Why it matters:

• According to the The Nikkei, Sansan will use the funds to fuel its expansion into India initially, followed by Indonesia and other Southeast Asian markets. Goldman Sachs also has “an eye toward earning investment returns when Sansan goes public down the road,” the newspaper said.
• The US firm also announced that it will be pumping US$876 million into Japan-related investments over the next couple of years – meaning that other local startups are likely to benefit.
• Goldman Sachs said it will invest in “promising startups” and “support their long-term growth.” It will also devote some of the capital to teaming up with Japanese companies on joint acquisitions of foreign businesses.  

Converted from Japanese yen. Rate: US$1 = ¥113.89.