The Softbank Corp. group, an Internet-related investor, announced plans Thursday to set up three venture capital funds — two in the United States and another in Japan — that together would be worth more than $1.8 billion.
The Softbank group is preparing to establish the three funds next month, focusing solely on Internet-related businesses, Softbank officials in Tokyo said.
The Japanese venture capital fund will be worth 10 billion yen, 1 billion yen of which will be financed by Softbank Corp.
The move is expected to greatly affect high-tech ventures in Japan, as Softbank is preparing to set up the fund to establish a Japanese version of the U.S. Nasdaq stock market at the end of next year.
One U.S. fund, worth $1.2 billion, will mainly focus on major high-tech companies engaged in Internet-related business, Softbank officials said. Softbank will finance $600 million of this fund itself and invite institutional investors to put up the rest, they said.
The other U.S. fund will be worth $600 million, with its primary focus on relatively small private companies.
The Softbank group has invested in a number of key Internet-related firms, including Yahoo! Inc. and E*Trade Group Inc., which have made unrealized profits estimated at 1.73 trillion yen since they went public.
Softbank President Masayoshi Son has said he aims to establish an "Internet zaibatsu" by holding stakes in companies owning key infrastructure on the Net.
Softbank announced plans last month to become a pure holding company in October by spinning off the last remaining business unit and focusing only on investments for Web-based companies.