Reports have emerged that Andreessen Horowitz venture capital firm, also known as a16z, is preparing to open its first Asia office in Tokyo.
The California-based investment firm aims to incorporate Japanese companies seeking investment in startups. Silicon Valley venture capital firms have been increasingly looking to Japan as a promising lower-risk alternative source of investors, responding to technology tensions between the United States and China.
The proposed new office is likely to facilitate collaboration with Andreessen Horowitz's limited partners and to coordinate future fundraising efforts in Tokyo, with the firm also likely seeing Japan as a promising market for its portfolio companies.
Japan has separately committed to fostering and developing startups under the government's Startup Development Five-year Plan, seeing entrepreneurship as a factor in lifting the country's innovation capabilities. Under the Plan, the government aims to support over 5000 commercialization cases of university-originated research over 5 years, centered mainly around supported startup ecosystem cities, with the participation of overseas accelerators and venture capital sources complementing new government funding.
Why is this significant?
1) A world-leading VC firm selecting Tokyo for its first Asia office signals to others in both the VC and technology industries globally that Japan is on the cusp of a new era of technological relevance;
2) a16z is likely to be the first, but not the only, major firm to make inroads to Japan, and so connected ecosystems as well as local ecosystems are likely to benefit; and
3) Collaborations and connections are likely to, first, emerge and, secondly, develop far more quickly than if developed from a ‘blank page’ via entirely new initiatives, due to the depth of experience and existing networks that will enter Japan.
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Curated by GITEX ASIA TECH VOICE: Wade Wright