Tokyo, Japan – Beyond Next Ventures Inc. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Tsuyoshi Ito) is pleased to announce the final close of the BNV Fund – 3 (official name: Beyond Next Ventures 3 Investment Limited Partnership) at 25.7 billion yen, surpassing its initial target.

Established in March 2023, the fund has attracted investments from financial institutions, corporations, asset management firms, and fund of funds (FOFs). We are pleased to expand our institutional investor base, including pension funds and universities. With this third fund, our total assets under management have grown to approximately 48 billion yen.

Features of BNV Fund-3

1. Leading Finance from Seed to Later Stages

Beyond Next Ventures has invested in 80 startups, primarily in the seed stage, focusing on university-originated and deep tech areas. BNV Fund – 3 increases the maximum cumulative investment per company to 2 billion yen and extends the fund’s operational period to a maximum of 11 years, one year longer than before (plus an extension of up to three years with the consent of the limited partners). These features allow us to offer continuous financial support to investee companies in their journey from seed to scale.

2. Further Strengthening Company Creation

Deep tech startups, often emerging from universities and research institutions, still lack the personnel capable of advancing the commercialization of outstanding science and technology inventions. In response to this challenge, we work on forming ideal management teams by matching researchers building great technologies with entrepreneurial business leaders from our vast pool of 3,000+ management professionals. Furthermore, we enable company creation by helping domain experts validate their business prospects, build business plans, and secure seed-stage funding.

3. Strengthening Global Expansion Support, Centered on India

Envisioning a medium to long-term shift towards Asia, we are doubling down on our efforts to help our domestic portfolio companies go global. In particular, since establishing a subsidiary in Bengaluru, India, in January 2020, we have strengthened our business presence with local members. We have also onboarded dedicated personnel to support the entry of domestic portfolio companies into India.

4. Initiation of ESG Investment

In December 2023, we formulated our basic policy on ESG and ESG guidelines. We also signed the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in March 2024. We aim to enhance long-term corporate value by making responsible investments that consider ESG factors and by supporting the ESG management of our portfolio companies.

At a firm level, we are committed to a variety of ESG initiatives including:

• Reducing environmental impact (such as minimizing the use of plastics and paper, and avoiding food waste)
• Promoting diversity (with approximately 40% of our employees being women and a diverse workforce including several Indian members)
• Strengthening governance (by clarifying decision-making processes and ensuring transparent information disclosure)

5. Promotion of Impact Investment

Our third fund is a signatory of Impact-Oriented Finance Declaration. We have also crafted our Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) policy that guides our intent to make investments that create impact, contribute towards maximizing impact, and synergize the relation between economic and social returns.

Overview of the BNV Fund-3

• Concept: Solving humanity’s challenges through Japanese science/technology
• Number of Investments: Approximately 25 companies
• Maximum Cumulative Investment per Company: up to 2 billion yen
• Operation Period: Up to 14 years (11 years + 3 years extension)
• Investment Stage: Continuous investment from seed to growth phases
• Key Investment Areas: Healthcare, drug discovery and biotech, agri-food, digital (quantum, AI, etc.), space, climate tech

Investment Track Record

We established our 1st fund (5.5 billion yen) in 2015 and the 2nd fund (16.5 billion yen) in 2019. We invested in 80 companies, primarily deep tech startups in Japan and India, within fields like healthcare, agri-food, etc. In the 1st and 2nd funds, we have achieved exits through 2 IPOs (SUSMED, Inc. and QD Laser, Inc.) and 6 M&As (Repetoire Genesis, Inc., GigIndia and etc).

Beyond VC, Our Deep Tech Ecosystem

Since our founding, we have focused on building an ecosystem to accelerate the social implementation of research outcomes.

• Through “BRAVE”, our program for promoting the commercialization of research findings, 52 companies have been established.
• From our “INNOVATION LEADERS PROGRAM”, which cultivates executive talent in the deep tech sector, we have produced over 50 entrepreneurs (with a total of more than 450 participants).
• Since 2019, we are operating “Beyond BioLAB TOKYO,” a shared wet lab supporting early-stage bio-startups.
• We have initiated full-scale activities in India to support the overseas expansion of Japanese companies.

We will continue to support challengers in the deep tech domain beyond the scope of traditional venture capital.

About Beyond Next Ventures Inc.

Creating the beyond next society; enabling exceptional people solving global challenges.
We believe deep tech scientific innovations can enrich the world. Gathering top talent and risk financing together with these innovations inspires new business models and ensures future generations by creating a reinforcing cycle of science and technology innovation.

• Head Office: 3-7-2 Nihonbashi Honcho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, MFPR Nihonbashi Honcho Building, 3rd Floor
• Subsidairy: Galaxy-Wework, 43, Residency Road, Shanthala Nagar Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India – 560025
• Representative: President & CEO, Tsuyoshii Ito
• Established: August 2014
• Business: Investment and growth support for deep tech startups in Japan and India, support for the commercialization of research seeds, cultivation and formation of management talent and teams, operation of shared wet labs, etc.
• URL: https://beyondnextventures.com