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Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management, the Indian asset management company of Nippon Life, will launch and manage ‘Indo Japan Emerging Technology and Innovation AIF (alternative investment fund),’ a fund-of-VC-funds.
The fund-of-funds (FoF) will invest in unique Indian technology start-ups in emerging fields including Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), fintech, healthcare, consumer, education, robotics, automation and B2B software. These investments will stimulate the India-Japan partnership in digital areas and speed up Japanese investors’ participation in the Indian start-up ecosystem.
The FoF targets to raise about $150 million from Japan and will be one of the biggest investments in the Indian venture capital space from Japan, apart from the giant SoftBank, sources said.
The offer has already generated great interest among investors, and four major Japanese investors have signed letter of intent. Mizuho Bank, Development Bank of Japan, Nippon Life and Suzuki will participate as lead limited partners (LPs) in the FoF
Direct access to start-ups
Sundeep Sikka, ED and CEO, Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management, said the launch of the Indo-Japanese technology fund will give Japanese investors direct access to the Indian start-up space. The launch was done at the G20 summit at the meeting between the Prime Ministers of both countries.
Nippon Life Insurance is the second-largest insurance company in Asia with total assets of $700 billion. It has investments in insurance and asset management companies across the world. With India doing well, Nippon Life will help RNAM to get the highest share of foreign money coming into India.
Largest foreign-owned AMC
It has signed a definitive agreement with Reliance Capital, which is exiting the mutual funds business, to acquire nearly 22.49 per cent stake in Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management. Post this deal, RNAM will become the largest foreign-owned AMC.
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