Dentsu Inc. (TOKYO: 4324) (ISIN: JP3551520004) (President & CEO: Tadashi Ishii; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 74,609.81 million yen) announced today that it has established “Dentsu Ventures Global Fund I,” a corporate venture capital fund with a total capital of five billion yen. With companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia as its main targets, the fund will not only provide businesses with capital but will also focus on providing entrepreneurs with extensive business support that leverages the problem-solving resources cultivated by the Dentsu Group to date in order to help them bring innovation to the world.

The changes in the business environment surrounding the Dentsu Group and the advertising industry itself are accelerating, and the importance of open innovation through business collaboration with promising external partners is increasing even more. Under such circumstances the Dentsu Group will, through this fund, promote investment in ambitious venture companies that will create an as yet unseen future as well as open up new areas of development through the provision of business development support to the investees.

The Dentsu Group has to date made proactive investments in venture companies and promoted business collaboration through the Dentsu Digital Fund, a fund managed by its subsidiary Dentsu Digital Holdings Inc. Through investments mainly in venture companies outside of Japan as well as seed and early stage investments in Japanese companies, coupled with the building of a complementary relationship with the Dentsu Digital Fund, Dentsu will accelerate open innovation across the Group as a whole.

 

Outline of the Fund

Name:   Dentsu Ventures Global Fund I
Total fund capital: Five billion yen
Date of establishment: April 2015
Period of operation: Seven-year period from April 2015 until March 2022
Investment regions: Global investments with a focus on the U.S., Europe and Asia
Investment stages: Balanced, wide-ranging investments with the focus on seed and early stage investments, but also including mid-stage and later-stage investments
Investment areas: (1)   Areas that can change the marketing and communication business in a broad sense
(2) New areas other than the above that have a high potential for innovation
 

[About the Dentsu Group]

Dentsu is the world’s largest advertising agency brand. Led by Dentsu Inc. (Tokyo: 4324; ISIN: JP3551520004), a company with a history of 113 years of innovation, the Dentsu Group provides a comprehensive range of client-centric brand, integrated communications, media and digital services through its eight global network brands—Carat, Dentsu, Dentsu media, iProspect, Isobar, mcgarrybowen, Posterscope and Vizeum—as well as through its specialist/multi-market brands including Amnet, Amplifi, Data2Decisions, Mitchell Communications (PR), psLIVE and 360i.

The Dentsu Group has a strong presence in 124 countries across five continents, and employs around 40,000 dedicated professionals. Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd., its global business headquarters in London, oversees Dentsu’s agency operations outside of Japan. The Group is also active in the production and marketing of sports and entertainment content on a global scale.
www.dentsu.com