Announcing the Start of the "KDDI Mugen Labo Partnership Program" and the Establishment of the KDDI Open Innovation Fund II

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- Promoting Innovation Through Information and Communications Technology with a Stronger Support System for Start-up Companies! -

No.2014-121

  • KDDI CORPORATION

July 14,2014

In order to further enhance its support for start-up companies, KDDI Corporation (KDDI: Head office, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo: President, Takashi Tanaka) will begin a new Partnership Program in Phase 7 of its incubation program aimed at start-up companies and engineers, "KDDI Mugen Labo". In addition, as part of its corporate venture fund, the "KDDI Open Innovation Fund", KDDI will establish the new KDDI Open Innovation Fund II (Fund manager, Global Brain Corporation: Total planned investment, ¥5 billion. Referred to below as the "No 2 Fund").  

The "KDDI Mugen Labo Partnership Program" is a new initiative that aims to create innovation by bringing together the pioneering ideas and speed in development of start-ups and the resources, such as the development environment and information, of established companies. Participating are 13 companies from a variety of industries, including KOKUYO Co., Ltd., Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd., TV Asahi Corporation, PLUS CORPORATION and MITSUI & CO., LTD., that support the message of "KDDI Mugen Labo".
The aim of bringing together the assets and knowhow of the supporting companies is to expand the scope of the support offered to start-ups participating in the program and to create new services through the integration of the start-up and the established company.

Since its establishment in February 2012, the corporate venture fund "KDDI Open Innovation Fund" (No 1 Fund) has financed a total of 24 companies (15 in Japan, 9 overseas), focusing mainly on Internet services; e-commerce, media, O2O, gaming, etc. The No. 2 Fund now being established will actively provide financing for advanced services and technologies that it is expected will lead to new innovations through the fusion of the Net and the real world.

KDDI will continue to focus on the development and support of promising start-up companies, to enable us to offer our customers new benefits that put advanced ICT into practical application.

More information about the "KDDI Open Innovation Fund" and "KDDI Mugen Labo" can be found at the official website:

Open link in a new windowhttp://www.kddi.com/ventures/

For more details, see the Attachment.
Attachment：Announcing the Start of the "KDDI Mugen Labo Partnership Program" and the Establishment of the KDDI Open Innovation Fund II

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