Why I have joined White Star Capital, and why we like Japan
I am really excited to announce that I am officially joining White Star Capital as a Venture Partner. As you may know, White Star Capital is an early stage technology venture capital with a focus on investing on both sides of the Atlantic. We’ve had offices in New York, London, Montreal and Paris, and I’ll be heading our fifth and newest office in Tokyo, to support our portfolio companies’ expansion into this part of the world, and also to back budding Asian entrepreneurs to help them mark their footprint in the global arena.
Our partners and team members have been really open minded in welcoming me, as I have a rather unconventional career for someone in the venture capital domain. Having spent half of my life in Japan and the other in Europe, I started my career in capital markets for an investment bank, followed by a short-lived startup stint before returning to Switzerland to work for the World Economic Forum. I returned to Japan as “Fourth Industrial Revolution” was becoming a buzzword, and supported Japanese companies find Silicon Valley partners while concurrently serving as a commentator to a Japanese politician on his Internet live show. My lifelong passion has been connecting dots, and the thought of being able to connect passionate entrepreneurs with capital and new markets, to bring about impact is what keeps me awake at night!
Now, let’s move on to the question of “Why Japan”. An investment strategy such as ours is not commonplace. Already being on two different continents is a challenge and adding a third continent / island may seem a stretch. However, it is a natural strategic move for us, and we are merely replicating our bet on fast-accelerating hubs as we have done in the past in Montreal and Paris. We also observe our portfolio companies playing their cards in a similar style, with Mnubo not only gain traction in Japan but double down by opening a Tokyo office as part of their core growth strategy. Spanish adtech company Adglow also established their presence in Tokyo by opening an office in February 2018. In fact Tokyo has the highest concentration of corporate headquarters in the world, and as a result it is one of the best places to envision partnerships and tech applicability between startups and established industry players.
Have we got your attention? To learn more about the Japan Venture Capital Landscape, please see this report that we have put together. In this report, we start by looking at the Venture Capital ecosystem. Then, we look at current challenges that we’ve identified, as well as the government’s past and future policies. Finally we end with our current thoughts on how to venture in the Japanese market.
Please have a read and feel free to share widely!
If you have any comments or suggestions for future versions of the report, please feel free to reach out to shun@whitestarvc.com
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About White Star Capital
White Star Capital is an early-stage Venture Capital firm that invests in exceptional entrepreneurs building ambitious, data-driven businesses. Based out of London, New York, Montreal, Paris and Tokyo, our international presence, perspective and people enable us to partner closely with our Founders to help them scale internationally from Series A onwards.
Find out more about how we venture beyond at http://www.whitestarvc.com
