Tokyo-based social game maker gumi enters the investment business. As The Nikkei just reported, the GREE partner has spun off a separate investment company to scout for interesting targets in Asia (GREE is a stakeholder in gumi).
“gumi Ventures” is mainly looking for China- or Singapore-based social game developers aiming for the global market.
Japanese bank Shinsei is dispatching a manager and contributing 300 million yen (US$3.7 million) to the fund, while gumi itself is injecting 50 million yen (US$630,000).
gumi Ventures plans to invest in a total of 10 to 15 early-stage social game makers in the next 2 years. Each company will get 10 to 30 million yen (US$125-375,000) in return for a stake sized at up to 15%.
KLab is another Japanese social game maker that started an international investment business. GREE set up investment arm GREE Ventures in November last year.
