GREE Ventures rebrands to STRIVE, announces $130M first close of new fund
GREE Ventures, the venture capital company that invests mainly in seed to early-stage startups, has rebranded into STRIVE, the company announced.
The firm has also announced the first close of its US$130 million third fund called STRIVE III, and plans to do a final close by the end of 2019
On the company’s official site, it states that “STRIVE” carries meanings such as “work hard, devote, counteract, fight, compete”.
The fund will focus on seed stage investments predominantly in the B2B sector.
STRIVE has already made its first few investments from this fund into ClassPlus (edutech platform in India) and TrustDock (Japan).
Major LPs in the third fund include SME Support JAPAN (a part of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry of Japan), GREE Inc., and members of the Mizuho Financial Group including Mizuho Bank, and Mizuho Capital.
The firm that has offices in both Japan and Singapore and is currently led by General Partners Yusuke Amano and Tatsuo Tsutsumi. It has also promoted Nikhil Kapur, who has been with STRIVE for three years, to a Partner.
“At STRIVE our mission is to support our portfolio in their journeys through a tailored approach for each company – be it sourcing talent, achieving product-market fit, or subsequent fundraising,” says Kapur.
In the past, STRIVE has had its shares in co-investing with other leading VCs across the region, including Sequoia Capital, Monk’s Hill Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Chiratae (IDG) Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Times Internet, and Golden Gate Ventures.
To date, STRIVE has increasingly been investing in the B2B sector, catering to both local SMEs as well as global enterprises.
STRIVE’s first fund was revealed back in 2014 vintage, which is running at 1x+ DPI (having fully returned the fund) and an IRR of over 40 per cent, has seen it resulting in three IPOs, one private unicorn, and seven acquisitions in five years. Its second fund in 2016 listed several fast-growing companies such as PopXO in India, Saleswhale in Singapore, and Ayopop in Indonesia among its portfolio.
Currently, STRIVE said it is in talks with LPs outside of Japan for its investments in the Southeast Asian and Indian markets.