World Innovation Lab (WiL), a US-Japan venture capital firm, has announced raising over $1 billion across several funds, it said in a statement.
The over $1-billion corpus raised would be for the firm’s third growth fund WiL Ventures III; fund of funds, and corporate VC funds, WiL co-founder and CEO Gen Isayama said.
Isayama said WiL aims to strengthen the global venture ecosystem by bridging startups and corporates in the US and Asia, with a particular focus on Japan — Asia’s leader in SaaS adoption, as well as the world’s second-largest enterprise software market and third-largest consumer market.
The VC firm partners with its broad limited-partner base of Japanese corporations and government entities to enable US and European startups to scale in Japan, and supports the innovation and globalisation of Japanese companies.
“US startups struggled with entering Japan, one of the world’s leading enterprise and consumer markets, while large Japanese corporations wrestled with digital transformation and accessing Silicon Valley’s innovation ecosystem. While not an easy task, bridging the two seemed like a win-win,” said Isayama.
With the latest fundraising, the firm has raised a total of over $1.9 billion. The firm’s portfolio boasts a total of 15 unicorns to date. Notable WiL investments that have exited to public markets from Fund I and Fund II include Asana, Mercari, Raksul, Wise and Auth0 — whose acquisition by Okta was completed in May 2021.
WiL’s first two funds have emphasized investment in digital transformation, with its US investments generally concentrated on later-stage rounds, such as Series B and beyond in the B2B SaaS space. In addition to direct investments, WiL invests in established and emerging venture capital funds through its WiL Strategic Partners funds.
WiL Ventures III adds sustainability, climate tech, health tech, Web3, and other emerging technologies as new areas of investment.
“We have learned during the past two years that sustainable businesses cannot exist without a stable and healthy society. For that reason, we are expanding our focus to also include companies tackling major societal challenges such as health, climate change, and sustainability,” Isayama said.