Independent VC fund “Big Bull No. 1 Investment Business Limited Liability Partnership” established and started investing in
entertainment/toC startups Image
URL: Big Bull Co., Ltd. Press release: September 30, 2024 Established and started investing in “Big Bull No. 1 Investment Limited Partnership,” an independent VC fund that invests in entertainment and toC startups. First close after receiving investment from individual investors. Supporting two startups working on game business and manga anime related business
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Big Bull Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director: Yuji Hojokai) has formed Big Bull No. 1 Investment Business Limited Liability Partnership (hereinafter referred to as the “Fund”) and has reached its first close. This fund will contribute to the formation of a new culture that enriches lives both in Japan and around the world through support activities that support the creation of new entertainment and lifestyles, as well as the challenges of businesses that support them. Contact us ■Features of this fund This fund is an independent venture capital fund that focuses on investing in startups working in the toC field, with a focus on entertainment and retail consumers. We will make a wide range of investments, including businesses targeting prosumers, SMEs, and BtoBtoC. We mainly invest in startups from the founding/seed stage to around Series A, but we also target later stages including pre-IPO, and we will flexibly consider investment conditions on an individual basis in the range of investment amount from 5 million yen to 50 million yen. . In order to maximize fund performance, our policy is to provide management support according to the needs of the startups we invest in. ■Comments Japan Technology Venture Partners Co., Ltd. Representative Director/CEO Kazutaka Muraguchi (This fund LP) Ever since we met with Mr. Hojokai as a person in charge of investing in JPYC (stable coin), we have occasionally met and exchanged information. He is very eager to learn about cutting-edge fields, and even as someone who has been in the VC industry for a long time, I am always impressed by his thorough study. I think it’s great that you have both the perspective of PMF of the services provided by the investee from the user’s perspective, and also, another important point, the perspective of whether or not it is socially just and whether there is a violation of laws and regulations. I think so. I hope that we will be successful in providing support for amazing and cool startups. Skev Co., Ltd. Representative Director and President Mr. Narugami (This fund LP) Based on my experience developing Skeb, I have invested as an angel investor in multiple startups that claim to support creators. However, after making an investment, there are many cases where I am left alone, and I find myself asking, “Why didn’t you consult with me?!”, which makes me realize how difficult investing can be. Mr. Hojokai has a track record of continuing to make down-to-earth investments as a capitalist without getting carried away by empty industry keywords. I decided to act as an LP because I thought it would be better to leave investment decisions and follow-up to Hojokai, who is an otaku and fully understands creators. Mr. Yoshiso (This fund LP) Mr. Hojokai not only has a wide range of knowledge and experience as a capitalist, but he is also a true otaku with a deep love and knowledge of anime and subculture. If Hojokai were to launch a fund focused on the entertainment field, I would definitely like to participate, and I have decided to participate as an LP. I hope that through this fund, he will not only succeed as a capitalist, but also that many startups will achieve great success. i Advisory Co., Ltd. Representative Director Akihiko Nishi (This fund LP) I was attracted to the philosophy and investment strategy outlined by the representative, Mr. Hojokai, and decided to invest in the Big Bull No. 1 Fund. I have been following Mr. Hojokai’s activities as a capitalist for some time, and he not only has the ability to discover investment targets, but also has a wide range of knowledge from the stock market to accounting and legal matters.In addition, he has a deep knowledge of anime, games, and content. I am very happy to be able to work with you on this occasion. I wish the fund and Hojokai all the best in their future endeavors, and I will do my best to support them. Mr. Wataru Ihara (Representative Director and President of Miobe Analytics Co., Ltd.) (Fund LP) As I work in data analysis and AI development for entertainment, I feel that Japanese entertainment is highly competitive on a global scale and has a lot of room for growth. On the other hand, there is a high level of uncertainty as to whether entertainment and retail consumer businesses will succeed as businesses, and it is also true that it is difficult to raise funds from the start-up/seed stage to around Series A. Therefore, we support this fund, which focuses on this phase, and hope that through the fund we can support entrepreneurs entering those fields. OLM Ventures Co., Ltd. Representative Director Hidekazu Yokota (Fund Advisor) I have been in contact with Mr. Hojokai as a colleague in the same industry focusing on the entertainment field, and I was particularly impressed by his deep knowledge of subcultures based on his past entrepreneurial experience. Now that he is going independent, I sympathize with his passion for the entertainment field and have decided to help him as an advisor. I would like to utilize my own experience to support Japanese entertainment startups together with Hojokai. Big Bull Co., Ltd. Representative Director / General Partner Yuji Hojokai Since becoming independent from my previous fund, I am very happy that I have been able to successfully establish my first fund thanks to the support of many people. In particular, I would like to once again express my deep gratitude to all of our LP investors who invested in us at the important early stage of the first close. In addition to everyone who submitted comments, we have received funds from many other people. We will do our best to manage the fund in order to meet everyone’s expectations, so we appreciate your continued support. In addition, Mr. Furukawa, who has been a friend since high school and is an extremely talented full-stack engineer, and Mr. Yokota, who has an excellent investment track record in the entertainment field and has extensive VC management experience, will also participate in fund management. I have received it. We are very encouraged and look forward to making full use of their strengths and extensive experience in supporting investees and managing funds. ■Member biography Hojoue Yuji – General Partner Born in 1992. Graduated from Kagoshima Prefectural Tsurumaru High School. After graduating from Keio University Faculty of Law, he worked at a securities company where he engaged in M&A advisory and public underwriting. Participated in independent VC i-nest capital from 2020. As a principal, he is in charge of investment operations from seed to pre-IPO projects, mainly in the entertainment and fintech fields. Established Big Bull No. 1 Investment Limited Partnership in 2024. Shoichi Furukawa – EIR / Venture Capitalist Graduated from Kagoshima Prefectural Tsurumaru High School. Graduated from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo. After working at multiple startups, including Japan’s No. 1 Twitter management tool “SocialDog,” he became Director and CTO of Digital Recipe. Developed AI writing “Catchy” before ChatGPT, and has over 100,000 users. His book “Read ahead! IT x Business course ChatGPT: The future created by conversational AI” has sold over 80,000 copies. Mentor of the Matsuo Laboratory Incubation Team, University of Tokyo. Director of the Generative AI Association. Representative director of Bitland. ■Company profile
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/148190/1/148190-1-d0a2119799612f2f143960e9f93f6955-1446×522.png Company name: Big Bull Co., Ltd. Representative: Yuji Hojokai Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo Management fund: Big Bull No. 1 Investment Limited Partnership Website:
https://bigbull.co.jp/ The unlimited liability partner of this fund is Big Bull No. 1 Limited Liability Partnership, which is a special business notifier for qualified institutional investors, etc. Big Bull No. 1 Limited Liability Partnership is a partnership whose members include Big Bull Co., Ltd. and Yuji Hojokai. This press release is for the sole purpose of providing information regarding the establishment of the Fund, and does not constitute a solicitation for any specific transaction or acquisition of equity in the Fund.
