NEW DELHI:
Akatsuki Entertainment Technology (AET) Fund, the venture capital arm of Tokyo-listed gaming and entertainment company Akatsuki, is the latest risk capital investor to scout for deals in the Indian startup ecosystem.
The $50-million (about Rs 352-crore) proprietary capital fund is looking to bet on content-focused
startups, particularly those providing content in vernacular languages, gaming, entertainment and media in Asia’s third-largest economy. “We typically invest in seed and Series-A rounds, with a typical cheque size of about $500,000. We are investing in three regions — India, US and Japan,” Yuki Kawamura, principal at
AET Fund, told ET.
According to Kawamura, AET is also working with Accel Partners and Blume Ventures, two leading VC firms operating in the country. “Because we are still quite new in this market, all of our investments, so far, have been co-investments with local partners. We will be co-investing for the next year or so with local VCs,” Kawamura said.
Kawamura said that the AET Fund has also partnered with other ‘top-tier’ VC funds, but declined to share names, citing confidentiality.
Like most early stage investment firms operating in these segments, AET Fund is betting on the growing number of internet users in India, the increasing penetration of smartphones, and lower data costs.
“I am more than happy to engage with startups providing services and product that cater to that population,” Kawamura said. But the developments also come at a time when early-stage investments in India, particularly angel and
seed-stage deals, have been seeing a precipitous drop in the country. Data from
Tracxn, an aggregator of deal information, shows the strain in the space. The number of deals fell from 366 in 2016 to barely over 100 so far in 2018.