Japan takes the lead in overseas startup funding battle with China

It has been found that Japan-based investors are more productive than their Chinese counterparts about Asian startups outside their home countries, however the lead is quickly diminishing.

In 2017, Japanese funds and companies made 99 investments in Asian startups, in comparison to 64 deals by Chinese investors, Nikkei Asian Review reports.

This also saw a steady increase from 94 and 60 deals up from the previous year.

Japanese investors added $16.8bn in 2017, which is a rise from $10.2bn from the year before, but is only slightly ahead of China on $16.7bn.

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71% of the deals made by Japanese investors in 2017 were worth $10mn or less which is in comparison to 38% for Chinese investors.

It is believed that those figures are an indication that Japanese investors are more likely to be involved in smaller startups.

In January, Fintech startup Money Forward began a project with the aim of investing in potential partners.

The move sees the company aim to profit from “connection building overseas” as an increasing number of younger Japanese companies search abroad for investment opportunities.