Japan's MIXI sets aside $50 million to invest in Indian startups

Japanese digital entertainment company MIXI has set aside a corpus of $50 million (nearly ₹414 crore) to invest in early-stage startups in India's B2C gaming and digital entertainment industry over 3-4 years, a senior official said.

MIXI Global Investments, the newly announced venture fund, will serve as an investment vehicle for the Tokyo-based company to identify and help promising startups in India.

"Our primary focus is the digital entertainment sector in India, and I have been meeting many startups across India for quite some time...There are many gaming studios coming in India, and I like the ecosystem around them such as streaming services for gaming and also esports is one area that I think would be really fitting," Tomoharu Urabe, principal partner, MIXI Global Investments, told ET.


He added the company sees India as a big opportunity due to its working-age population expected to grow until 2050, along with the number of smartphone users with 50% of the population already owning a smartphone.

The company said the digital entertainment market centered around smartphones is also growing rapidly, and the mobile gaming market is expected to be valued at 1 trillion JPY ('58,000 crore) by FY27.

"More and more people are starting to spend their time on mobile entertainment. So, we believe that there are strong demands for the services that build deeper, meaningful connections in India.We hope to support those portfolio companies with our industry knowledge," Urabe said.

Urabe said MIXI is in the process of setting up a team in India, based out of Bengaluru, and will be investing in startups at the seed stage till pre-series B rounds.