ICMG Group (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Group COO: Gen Funabashi) has established ICMG Co-Creation Fund II Limited Partnership with Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO : Takahiro Mori; hereinafter “OKI”) , The Hokuriku Bank, Ltd. (Head Office: Toyama City, Toyama; President: Hiroshi Nakazawa), and The 77 Bank, Ltd. (Head Office: Sendai City, Miyagi; President: Hidefumi Kobayashi) as the main investment partners.

Based in Singapore, the Venture Capital fundwill invest in global startups, with key focus on India’s next unicornstartups, in collaboration with OKI, The Hokuriku Bank, and The 77 Bank, aiming to create new social value co-creation on a cross-border basis. The fund has already raised almost USD 20million at its first close, and will expect additional participation to expand the size of the fund toward the second close.

ICMG Co-Creation Fund I Investment Limited Partnership, established in May 2021, has invested in close to 20 startups from India and other Asian countries. Some of these portfolio companies were part of a partnership between ICMG and other leading global venture capital funds, and are expected to become Asia’s next unicorns. The ICMG Co-creation Fund I has provided a platform for co-creation to happen between entrepreneurs and Japanese companies especially through the open innovation support leveraging the local networks, customer bases and business development expertise of the investee companies.

Achievements of ICMG Co-Creation FundⅠinvestments：

ApnaKlub, ICMG’s portfolio company since January 2023, was founded in Bangalore, India in 2020 by Shruti Shruti (CEO) and Manish Kumar (COO). ApnaKlub provides an FMCG sourcing and distribution platform for the Tier 2 plus region in India and has partnered with over 240
brands including P&G, Unilever, and Dabur. It offers packaged food, beverages, and personal care products with healthy benefits, and has created a marketplace for users to start digital retail and wholesale businesses through its Last Mile service. Going forward, the company plans to leverage its marketplace and marketing capabilities to promote the export of superior Japanese consumer goods.

（Left）Shruti Shruti, CEO & Co-Founder, ApnaKlub

Anveshan, ICMG’s portfolio company since November 2023, operates a D2C marketplace offering premier health-conscious food products such as ghee (butter oil) and cooking oil. With quality and traceability, Anveshan optimizes the farmer-to-consumer value chain,
transforming traditional Indian superfoods into modern premium organic products and offering them to consumers across India. Moreover, Anveshan was featured on “Disney+: Brands of Tomorrow” last year in 2024 through a documentary that shared about the brand’s story to the rest of India, which allowed Anveshan’s brand awareness to be accelerated through the streaming platform’s growing popularity.
Currently, ICMG is helping Anveshan expand into the Japanese market by connecting them with local banks and consumer goods buyers, as well as rebranding for the Japanese market and analyzing consumer buying behavior.

（From left to right）Kuldeep Parewa, CEO & Co-Founder, Aayushi Khandelwal, CMO & Co-Founder, Akhil Kansal, COO & Co-Founder, Anveshan

ICMG Co-Creation Fund II has designated the Global South market, especially India and Southeast Asia, as the strategic investment destination, and will promote fund management and co-creation activities on a larger scale. Backed by a rapidly growing digital economy and a demographic dividend centered on young people, India, with more than 100 unicorn companies – ranking just after the U.S. and China, is a market that is attracting the attention of investors around the world. The country's economic growth rate exceeds that of other countries, and the demographic dividend, especially among young people, and rapid digitalization are driving the evolution of the business environment. The number of Japanese companies entering the Indian market is also on the rise, as they target new areas of innovation such as D2C brands and quick commerce, where goods can be delivered in 10 minutes. This includes the case of PayPay, a Japanese cashless payment application, which has adopted the technology and business of Paytm, a major Indian payment company.

On the other hand, the reality is that the hurdles to investment and business are high due to Indian business practices and stereotypes about market entry. To fill this gap, ICMG Co-Creation Fund II will focus on both investment in local Indian start-ups and promotion of co-creation. We will realize “in-out innovation” from Japan to overseas markets including India and Southeast Asia, and “out-in reverse innovation” from overseas to the Japanese market.

OKI, a new investor in the fund, had been focusing on hardware businesses such as ATMs and printers, but has now formulated “Innovation Strategy 2025” and set “Advanced Remote Operation,” “Logistics,” “Healthcare and Medical Care,” and “CFB®” as the four areas of focus for innovation. Taking these four areas into consideration, ICMG aims to accelerate the development of new businesses in overseas markets and the introduction of innovation into existing businesses, thereby diversifying their global earnings structure. In particular, through co-creation with portfolio startups, the fund will support the early introduction of next-generation technologies and cross-border business development to enhance global competitiveness.

In the Hokuriku and Tohoku regions, supported by regional banks such as The Hokuriku Bank and The 77 Bank, we will also work with local companies, local governments, and universities to create innovation based on industry-government-academia collaboration. This initiative is designed to return new value not only to the regional banks, but also to their customers and the region as a whole so as to build a foundation for new businesses and technologies to take root in the community. By linking the practical experience of local companies with cutting-edge research at universities, we will help solve issues unique to the region and create new industries. Furthermore, we will also form an ecosystem that supports the sustainable development of the region while connecting Japan and the rest of the world, such as through collaboration with KAWARUBA, an innovation hub designed by ICMG Group and newly established in Haneda, Tokyo.

By combining ICMG Group's extensive consulting know-how, expertise in digital transformation (DX) and social transformation (SX), and by acting as a bridge between major Japanese companies and overseas start-ups pursuing innovation, we will work together to create a new future.

＜ファンドの概要＞

Endorsement from each company:

The ICMG Co-Creation Fund II is the foundation for co-creation between Japanese companies and innovative start-ups from around the world to create new businesses together. We believe that this is not just an investment vehicle aimed at financial returns, but a place to support co-creation activities that combine the strengths of Japanese companies and the speed of startups. With the intellectual capital that we have built from Fund I, Fund II will also aim to collaborate with Fund I startups that are solving critical social issues in India and Southeast Asia. To embody ICMG Group's vision of “visualizing intellectual capital that is intangible and promoting co-creation with diverse stakeholders,” we are committed to creating a sustainable ecosystem that goes beyond the traditional role of Venture Capitalists, and will contribute to improving the competitiveness of Japanese companies through global business creation.

Thanks to the support of ICMG Group, OKI invests in the overseas fund for the first time, and we will start full-scale open innovation activities in the Global South. We are very pleased and encouraged by the participation of Hokuriku Bank and The 77 Bank in this fund as co-investors and partners. As OKI is committed to aggressively expanding into the global market as one of its strategies for further growth, we will continue to do our utmost to realize our goal of “Delivering OK! to your life".

This is our first participation in ICMG Group's investment fund. The concept of this fund, which aims to connect the world, Japan, and the region through investment and co-creation with startup companies in the next big economic powers such as India and Indonesia, to revitalize the region, solve social issues, and promote Japan's growth, is very meaningful for us as a regional financial institution.

The creation and revitalization of regions is a pressing issue for our bank. In addition, one of our recent themes is how to harness the growth potential of economic powerhouses such as India for the benefit of Japanese local regions and our clients. We have high expectations that the investment in this fund will help solve regional issues and create various businesses by combining the business models of overseas start-ups with the intellectual capital and commercial materials of local companies. How can we connect the potential that lies dormant in Japan and its regions with the rest of the world? I would like to share various issues with those of you gathered here this time, and we will work more closely together to make the investment and co-creation of the Co-Creation Fund II as exciting as possible.

Due to the recent decline in population and the aging of the population, the domestic market is expected to shrink further in the future. We believe that participating in the ICMG Group's Co-Creation Fund and bringing overseas growth into the region through “co-creation” initiatives in partnership with startup companies in fast-growing countries such as India and Indonesia will be of great significance to the local economy.

In April 2025, we will open a Singapore subsidiary, 77 NEXT CONSULTING PTE. LTD., to support the overseas expansion of our business partners, develop new suppliers, and further strengthen our functions as a regional trading company. Through participation in this fund, which will serve as a bridge between Japan and overseas, we will continue to bridge the gap between local startups and local companies and contribute to the sustainable development of the local economy together with the participating companies of this fund and all related parties.