TOKYO, Feb. 21, 2022 — Fiducia Inc. announced that it has executed the first closing of its inaugural fund (Fiducia Growth Tech Limited Liability Investment Limited Partnership), with an initial size of 3.26 billion yen. The fund, which has started investments, will continue its fund-raising activity to grow in scale over the period of about one year.
The participating institutional investors of the fund include AI Capital Co., Ltd., Tokyo University of Science Investment Management Co., Ltd., Nanto Bank Co., Ltd., and Pavilion Capital. The investors range from a renowned gatekeeper and a venture capitalist to a large regional bank and a reputable Singapore-based private equity fund.
The Latin word "Fiducia" was chosen as the corporate name with the intent of executing fiduciary duties and social responsibilities. Fiducia intends to cultivate and invest in innovative companies in real technology (Real/Deep Tech) and health care innovations. Fiducia will invest in these companies and help them with expertise in finance and investments. Fiducia will help them build better business networks and, most importantly, help them to grow.
The management and employees of Fiducia will aspire to contribute to the globalization of the companies in its investment portfolio.
The integration of the virtual and the real worlds is rapidly progressing, which presents great business opportunities for Real/Deep Tech companies, including ones from Japan. Healthcare innovation from Japan’s academia is advancing, but it is yet to be discovered by international investors. Fiducia focuses on investments in these two promising areas, and helps them grow to maximize investor returns.
The growth capital business bridging the gap between startups and public equity markets is now an important arena for private investments worldwide. However, this segment is underdeveloped in Japan. Fiducia aspires to help develop growth capital investments on Japanese soil to invest in and to help develop Real/Deep Tech and Health care Innovation companies.
Many large companies in Japan are rebalancing their business portfolios by spinning off non-core technologies. While some of these technologies will become more attractive if they were managed independently, they still struggle to attract financing from local venture capitalists because these companies are busy focusing on developing local IT platforms and subscription businesses. This is a perfect opportunity for Fiducia. The asset management company intends to act proactively and also work together with other counterparties to fulfill its goals.
Fiducia aims to build a balanced portfolio – not with a scattered shotgun approach but with an intentional bias toward concentration, allowing us to focus on growth investments in the Real/Deep Tech and Healthcare Innovations. This approach allows Fiducia to spend more time with the companies in which it invests, to give their management business and financial advice and to help them build business networks locally and globally.
Domestic Real/Deep Tech companies and Healthcare innovators are not limited to the Tokyo metropolitan region; they also exist in the rural regions. Fiducia hopes that its investment activities could contribute to the transformation of the industrial structure and the revitalization of rural areas.
Comments from Founders:
Takumi Shibata, Fiducia’s Co-Founder, said: "Re-energizing Japanese businesses and revitalizing regional communities will call for urgent solutions. Our focused investments in Real/Deep Tech area and in Healthcare innovations will help to solve these issues, with attractive returns to investors. Fiducia will be excited if its focused profit-seeking investment approach and returns can contribute to solving these national challenges on any scale possible."
Tokihiko Shimizu, Fiducia’s Co-Founder, said: "Fiducia is convinced that focused investments in Real/Deep Tech and in Healthcare Innovations offer promising investment opportunities that deliver attractive returns. Growth stage investors like us are operating in a less crowded space in Japan and enjoy blue ocean-type access to investment opportunities. This is one more reason why Japan needs this growth-stage investment segment to grow. I will endeavor to contribute to building a strong, disciplined and focused investment business in order to cater to our investors’ need for returns, based on my past business experience in national pension management, private equity and venture capital investments."
