Investing activities of Japanese Venture Capitalists and Venture Capital Firms

Thirty-five years ago, some members of Kyoto Economic Council visited Boston and came across “Venture Capital ” (hereafter abbreviated “VC”) which did not exist in Japan at that time. Although what they found was slightly different from what they had looked for, they tried to set up the first “Venture Capital Firm ” (hereafter abbreviated “VCF”) in Kyoto. Since then, Japanese VC has gone through ups and downs, and grown into a trillion yen industry. However, a trillion yen amount of VC’s total investment balance accounts only 0.2 % of GDP in Japan. If we compare it with the total financial assets of 1,400 trillion yen and foreign VC’s balance of 30 trillion yen in the US (3 % of its GPD), we can hardly claim that Japanese VC has developed suitably in its economy. Nevertheless, this shows that there is still a substantial room for further development, which makes VC still a promising industry in Japan. Even though Japanese economy is acclaimed to have recovered since 2004, considering the existing regional economy and large income difference among people, we cannot be optimistic for the future. The economic recovery that represents a new era must be led by new industries