Tokyo — Sept. 20, 2022 — Asteria Corporation (Japan listed, Security Code: 3853) announced today that it will start raising capital in October to launch a second fund of the Corporate Investment business, Asteria Vision Fund II L.P. (AVF-II).
Background and Objectives
The Asteria Group established an investment subsidiary, Asteria Vision Fund (AVF), in February 2019. In April of that year, the Group set up a $22 million investment fund, Asteria Vision FundⅠL.P. (AVF-I), drawing capital from Higo Bank as a limited partner*1 in addition to investments from the Group.
AVF-I has completed investments in six enterprises based on its “4D” focus domains — Data, Device, Decentralized, and Design — which are also Asteria’s research and development strategies. AVF-I has already achieved major results: among the portfolio companies, Gorilla Technology Group Inc. (“Gorilla”) went public on the Nasdaq in July 2022. The investment into Gorilla (1.3 billion yen) has grown to approximately 10.8 billion yen*2 valuation as of September 20.
Asteria Group therefore has decided to launch AVF-II to further accelerate its growth. AVF-II will begin soliciting investors in October 2022 with a mission to invest based on its “D4G” focus domains — Data, Device, Decentralized, Design for Green. It will form a $30 million to $40 million fund capitalized mainly by Asteria and also backed by several limited partners with an eye to starting investment activities in early 2023.
Overview of the Second Fund
New focus domains “D4G”
Name
Asteria Vision Fund II L.P.
Managing Director
YOSHIDA Shinji（Managing Director）
Location
The U.S. state of Delaware
Planned launch date
January 2023
Target
Focus domains “D4G”
Data ：AI, Quantum Computing
Device ：IoT, Wearable devices
Decentralized ：Blockchain, Web3
Design ：Technology Bridge
Green ：Sustainability
Planned Number of Portfolio Company
Around 20 companies
Fund Size
$30 million to $40 million
Investment Period
10 years (from 2023 to2033)
Reference : Portfolio Companies of AVF (arranged in a random order)
Company
Main location
Business area
Gorilla Technology
Taiwan
AI (Edge computing)
Space X
United States
Rocket, satellite internet service
JPYC
Japan
Stablecoin
Workspot
United States
Remote desktop
Imagine Intelligent Material
Australia
Graphene & sensors
Not disclosed
Not disclosed
Not disclosed
Impact on Business Performance and Future Outlook
Asteria expects that the impact of the formation of AVF-II on the Group’s financial performance for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, will be minimal.
Asteria plans to start investment activities with an eye to making a contribution to the performance in the medium to long term. We will disclose the specific financial impacts and other related information as necessary.
*1: A partner who has no management authority and whose liability is restricted to the amount of his or her investment
*2: Assumption: 1 USD = 130 yen, the exchange rate that Asteria assumed for the full-year forecast.
For the press enquiries, please contact Masumi Koizumi of Asteria’s PR and IR department.
TEL: +81-3-5718-1297 / Mobile: +81-80-7716-9841 (Koizumi) / E-mail: press@asteria.com
Asteria is a registered trademark of Asteria Corporation.
Company names used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
