GMO VenturePartners Establishes the GMO Global FinTech Fund That Is Focused on Investing in The Global FinTech Space, Such as Indonesia’s Future Payment Operator

Tokyo, Japan – May 31, 2018 – GMO Internet Group company and Japanese Venture Capital firm, GMO VenturePartners (http://www.gmo-vp.com/en/ ) today announces that it will launch the GMO Global FinTech Fund in June 2018, which is focused on investing in the global FinTech space. GMO Global FinTech Fund will support particular aspects of startups, such as business development, with FinTech companies GMO Financial Holdings, Inc. and Money Forward, Inc. as our strategic partners. GMO Global FinTech Fund will invest in Indonesia’s future payment operator FinAccel Pte Ltd that is growing quickly.

Background of the launch of the GMO Global FinTech Fund

Since 2005 GMO VP has operated five funds (JPY 10 billion). Thirteen GMO VP investees have achieved IPOs including Money Forward, Inc. in 2017 and Raksul, Inc. that went public today. Mercari, Inc. is expected to be listed on the Mothers (Tokyo Stock Exchange) on Tuesday, June 19, 2018.

As the firm closes existing funds to new overseas investment, the launch of GMO Global FinTech Fund marks an expansion of investment focus to include the FinTech space where the rise of a further innovative service is anticipated in the future. While continuing to invest existing funds in Japan and North America, GMO VP will direct the new fund toward startups in the rapidly growing India and South-East Asia (SEA) region.

Summary of GMO Global FinTech Fund

GMO Global FinTech Fund will make full use of not only a wide network and new businesses but also the assessment abilities each company of GMO Internet group has, with FinTech companies GMO Financial Holdings, Inc., which leads a business company that has No.1 annual FX trading volume worldwide for the 6th consecutive year^*, and Money Forward, Inc., which is one of GMO VP investees that is rolling out a mounting number of new FinTech operations, as our strategic partners. Initially established at approximately 3 billion yen, we are looking for a maximum of 10 billion yen.

■GMO Internet Group synergy

GMO VP seeks out investment opportunities that have an affinity with the businesses and specializations of other companies in the Japanese Internet conglomerate, GMO Internet Group. In addition to using GMO Financial Holdings’ expertise, GMO VP will support companies to expand within Japan through collaboration with GMO Payment Gateway, a leading provider of payment and finance-related services.

■Investment targets

In FinTech, investment targets are “alternative lending,” “RPA for financial institutions,” and “development of credit algorithm utilizing the AI,” which may have high potential for growth in the future. GMO VP invests in FinTech and Internet service related start-ups that have their own technology and business models and can launch new businesses globally.

*The Company’s FX trading volume (trading value/in dollar volume) was No.1 in 2017 according to Finance Magnates’ report.

GMO Global FinTech Fund

Name	GMO GFF
Date of establishment	Friday, June 1, 2018
Operation period	10 years (the maximum extension period of up to 2 years)
Application period	Friday, June 1, 2018 – Friday, May 31, 2019 *Please contact us for more information on the second close.
Amount	Maximum of 10 billion yen

Investee

GMO Global FinTech Fund has decided the investment in the following start-up.

■FinAccel Pte Ltd (URL: https://finaccel.co/ )

Indonesia’s future payment operator FinAccel Pte Ltd offers Kredivo (https://www.kredivo.com/ ). Its credit accuracy is equivalent to that of major banks, with the majority of leading local ecommerce sites introducing its services. Credit algorithm for individuals who do not have their own credit cards make up the base of FinAccel’s strength, and the company is growing quickly.

GMO VenturePartners, Inc.

GMO VenturePartners is Japanese corporate VC firm and a member of GMO Internet Group. Its 100 portfolio companies include 13 IPOs: Qihoo 360 Technology(NYSE), BOKU (AIM), LIFULL (the first section of the TSE), Fullspeed (TSE), Accelmark (TSE), FreakOut Holdings (Mothers), Vector (TSE), Money Forward (Mothers), Mercari (expected to be listed on the Mothers in June 2018), Uzabase (Mothers), Raksul (Mothers), REALWORLD (Mothers), and LOCKON (Mothers).

GMO Internet Group

GMO Internet Group is an Internet services industry leader, developing and operating Japan’s most widely used domain, hosting & cloud, ecommerce, security, and payment solutions. The Group also includes the world’s largest online FX trading platform, as well as online advertising, Internet media, and cryptocurrency related services. GMO Internet, Inc. (TSE: 9449) is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. For more information, please visit https://www.gmo.jp/en/