MIXI, a Japanese mobile entertainment company, launches $50 Million CVC to foster innovation in India’s startup ecosystem

MIXI, a leading Japanese mobile entertainment company, announces the launch of its India first $50 Million Corporate Venture Capital (CVC). The brand aims at empowering early-stage entertainment startups in the country. This initiative is a reflection of MIXI’s commitment to fostering innovation in communication and entertainment in emerging countries.

The newly launched CVC will serve as an investment vehicle for MIXI to identify and help promising startups in India. The focus of the CVC will be on startups in the entertainment sector and consumer services.

Investment background
India is a populous country with approximately 1.4 billion people, and its working-age population (15-64 years old) is expected to continue growing until nearly 2050.¹ Along with population growth, the number of smartphone users is also increasing rapidly, with around 50% of the population owning a smartphone.² Due to this rising number of smartphone owners, the digital entertainment market centered around smartphones is also growing rapidly, and the mobile game market is projected to be valued at 1 trillion JPY by FY2027.³

Commenting on the announcement Tomoharu Urabe, Principal Partner, MIXI Global Investments, Inc.  said “We believe in India’s startup ecosystem especially in the sector of digital entertainment. MIXI is a business operator in social network and mobile entertainment apps.  We are committed to contribute to startups’ growth with our industry knowledge and assets, and positively impacting the startup ecosystem in India“

MIXI investment
From FY2019-FY2022, we made investments totaling around 70 billion yen with the aim of developing new pillars of business and creating synergies with our existing businesses. We invested extensively in growing businesses and services that fit our company’s purpose, creating numerous synergies and contributing to the expansion of our businesses.

We plan to use 30 to 50 billion yen on M&A and capital and business alliances in the three years from FY2023 to FY2025. We’re focusing investments on overseas markets, including emerging markets, and are aiming to create global businesses and strengthen global synergies. Under this plan, we will invest in the rapidly-growing market of India and leverage our assets and expertise in our B2C services in the Digital Entertainment area to create synergies with portfolio companies.

The Company will continue promoting overseas investment while aiming for global business growth and the creation of global synergies.

Overview of the CVC