JAPAN – World Innovation Lab, a Palo Alto, CA- and Tokyo, Japan-based venture capital firm, raised over $1 billion in additional capital.
The capital will be deployed across multiple funds including WiL’s third growth fund, WiL Ventures III; WiL’s venture fund investments, WiL Strategic Partners funds; and corporate VC (CVC) funds. Capital commitments across all funds now exceed $1.9 billion.Led by Gen Isayama, co-founder and CEO, WiL aims to strengthen the global venture ecosystem by bridging startups and corporates in the United States and Asia, with a particular focus on Japan — Asia’s leader in SaaS adoption, as well as the world’s second largest enterprise software market and third largest consumer market.WiL partners with its broad limited-partner base of Japanese corporations and government entities to enable U.S. and European startups to scale in Japan, and supports the innovation and globalization of Japanese companies.The firm’s portfolio boasts a total of 15 unicorns to date. Notable WiL investments that have exited to public markets from Fund I and Fund II include Asana, Mercari, Raksul, Wise and Auth0 — whose acquisition by Okta was completed in May 2021.WiL’s first two funds have emphasized investment in digital transformation, with its U.S. investments generally concentrated on later-stage rounds, such as Series B and beyond in the B2B SaaS space. Target sectors have included fintech, insurtech, automation and productivity, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure and developer tools. The firm also invests in the same sectors in Japan, but capital also is deployed to early-stage companies.In addition to direct investments, WiL invests in established and emerging venture capital funds through its WiL Strategic Partners funds. WiL Ventures III adds sustainability, climate tech, health tech, Web3, and other emerging technologies as new areas of investment. 14/06/2022
