Global Brain sets up $39m fund with Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company

Global Brain Corporation (Global Brain) of Japan has partnered with Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company (Meiji Yasuda) to establish the “Meiji Yasuda Future Innovation Fund L.P.” with a committed capital of $39 million.

In a statement, Global Brain said that the “Meiji Yasuda Future Innovation Fund” is intended for leading startup companies that are developing businesses in these three areas: maintaining and improving people’s health; revitalizing local communities; and technological innovation that creates new experiences.

They also want to make the products and services that are being offered by Meiji Yasuda become more attractive as they also try to expand touchpoints with new customers.

Global Brain will function as the general partner of the fund. It is tasked to find promising startups, make investment decisions, and provide a wide range of support to startups which “Meiji Yasuda Future Innovation Fund” will invests in.

The company is also set to extend assistance to the chosen startups to make sure that they achieve rapid growth. Meiji Yasuda, on the other hand, is a limited partner in the fund which has a life span of 10 years.

The insurance firm had total assets of at least $343.5 billion as of March 2022. It reported profits of 221.2 billion yen in a period of six months, ending in September 2022, or an increase of 8% year-on-year.

It also acquired additional shares in Thai Life Insurance last year to increase its stake from 15% to 17%.

Before it entered into partnership with Global Brain, Meiji Yasuda also partnered with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in the $44 million ME Innovation Fund that was launched in January 2023.

The fund will be invested on global startups with high potentials of making breakthrough innovations in the digital and green innovation domains.

Global Brain, on the other hand, is an independent venture capital firm in Japan that aims to bring new industries to the society through extensive hands-on support for startups and open innovation with large corporations.

For this year alone, it already invested in four companies in Japan and the U.S. The company has $1.6 billion in assets under management and has so far invested $900 million across more than 800 deals.