SDG Impact Japan (“SIJ”), the sustainable investment platform, and Unison Capital Group (“Unison”), the leading private equity group in Japan, today announced an agreement in principle to launch the new growth-stage capital fund and set up a forum to enable venture companies to make a greater contribution to building a sustainable society.
With the expanding needs for building a sustainable society in the area such as carbon neutrality and circular economy, Asia Pacific has seen a surge of innovation and significant early-stage venture capital investment in some of these areas. But what is still missing is the growth stage capital to help scale promising companies and to support them becoming real contributors in solving the challenges – this initiative helps address this opportunity. Unison in Japan, Korea, Singapore, and India, and SIJ with strategic partners across Asia-Pacific region, have been respectively supporting entrepreneurs and companies in those regions. We believe that the two organizations can create greater synergies by working together and therefore reached to this agreement.
The two companies will work together to establish a fund that will provide growth capital to innovative venture companies in the Asia Pacific region that aim to contribute to the promotion of a sustainable society. In addition, Unison and SIJ will establish a forum of thought leadership in sustainable tech that brings together great minds of entrepreneurs, investors, and large corporations in the region and beyond to discuss the challenges and opportunities around sustainability, and to enable venture companies to make a greater contribution to building a sustainable society.
Also, to advance the interest of all parties, Steve Leonard, current CEO of Singularity University*, will join SIJ as a managing partner, and will serve as SIJ’s lead for the fund and the forum. We will also seek for a strategic collaboration with Singularity University to support this fund and the forum. Singularity University is the global organization known for helping leaders at all levels understand how exponential technologies can give anyone anywhere the ability to create positive impact.
* Singularity University is a global impact organization that looks into the future to help leaders better understand how exponential technology will shape businesses and societies in the years ahead. Over the past decade, Singularity has worked with more than 75,000 leaders drawn from corporations, nonprofits, governments, investors and academia to solve world’s greatest challenges.
“Unison Capital Group has a long track record of ESG focused investments in Japan and Korea. We have long acknowledged business opportunities of providing growth capital to venture companies that aim to build sustainable social infrastructure. In the last few years, we have invested our proprietary capital to sustainability-focused venture companies in Japan, Singapore and India. And now we are very excited to partner with SIJ, who has so much expertise and experience in this area, to expand this investment across the Asia Pacific region” said Mr. Osamu Yamamoto, the CEO of Unison Capital Management.
And Mr. Mamoru Taniya, the Chairman of SIJ added; “We focus on creating new capital flows that accelerate sustainable development. We see compelling investment opportunities across the Asia Pacific to address the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges. Together with Unison Capital, one of Japan’s leading private equity firms with extensive investment experience in the Asia Pacific region, we will leverage our network to source great opportunities, and help these companies amplify impact and sustainability with our team of experts”.
About Unison Capital Group: Unison Capital Group is a private equity investment firm founded in 1998 and based in Japan, Korea and Singapore. Unison is a pioneer in buyout investments in small and mid-cap companies in Japan and Korea, and has a cumulative track record of $5 billion in equity investments across five funds in Japan and two funds in Korea.
About SDG Impact Japan: SIJ is the first sustainable investment platform based in Japan, and invests in entrepreneurs and companies solving the world’s hardest problems. Together with its strategic partners, SIJ has established early-stage venture funds focused on promoting the circular economy, and sustainable agri-food tech solutions. SIJ also advises on Japan’s first outcome focused ESG engagement fund for listed equities.
