We have decided to invest in Cross Capital I Limited Partnership, a Fund of Funds* (hereinafter "FoF") managed by Cross Capital Pte. Ltd. (Headquarters: Singapore; Co-Founder CEO: Takaki Nakamura; Co-Founder CFO: Fumi Takashima; hereinafter "Cross Capital"), which specializes in supporting the implementation of open innovation in Japanese companies. Through this investment, we will strengthen our search for promising overseas startups in growth areas such as healthcare, the environment, resources, and energy, and promote business creation through collaboration.
In its "Long-Term Management Vision 2050: The Future, Wrapped for All," the Company aims to create new social infrastructure by creating new businesses in the areas of "food and health," "comfortable living," and "environment, resources, and energy," and has been acquiring and verifying business seeds through investments in and collaborations with domestic and international startups since 2020. However, in areas where the Company's bases do not reach, accessing promising startups in these areas and securing collaboration opportunities has been an issue.
Against this backdrop, through this investment, Cross Capital will utilize its overseas venture network of approximately 2,000 companies to expand access to overseas startups, and aim to build a new business foundation by cultivating human resources for overseas business development and startup investment.
Founded with the aim of supporting Japanese companies in implementing innovation, it began operations in December 2023. It is building an open innovation infrastructure specifically for Japanese companies, utilizing the FoF format, the first of its kind in Japan. Through the extensive network unique to FoF and its unique support system, it provides consistent hands-on support, from verbalizing collaboration themes, searching for partners, conducting proof-of-concept (PoC), and launching businesses.
To date, the Group has grown based on its strengths in technological capabilities and the business foundation it has cultivated over many years, with its core business being the packaging container sector. Going forward, we will further hone these strengths and actively incorporate cutting-edge technologies and new business models through collaborations with global startups, aiming to create areas of sustainable growth by combining these with the Group's assets.
We believe that Cross Capital's FoF model is a highly strategic platform that enables continuous access to growing companies and implementation support through its network with leading growth-stage VCs around the world. Through this investment, we will accumulate business creation capabilities that can promote global co-creation within the company, and aim to achieve both strategic returns and medium- to long-term improvements in corporate value.