Rakuten Launches $100m Fintech Investment Fund
- Friday, November 13th, 2015
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Japanese-based eCommerce giant Rakuten has opened a $100m (£66m) investment fund for fintech businesses in the US and Europe, with the Rakuten FinTech Fund.
Rakuten says it is looking for disruptive early- to mid-stage startups and growth companies in the finance space, initially in traditional fintech centres including London, San Francisco, New York and Berlin, but with plans to gradually expand around the globe.
“Rakuten is committed to empowering great entrepreneurs around the world, and Rakuten’s new FinTech Fund represents another milestone in our global expansion of the financial services business,” said Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani. 
The company already operates four fintech businesses – Rakuten Card, Rakuten Securities, Rakuten Bank, and Rakuten Life Insurance – and has made investments in startups Currency Cloud, WePay and Bitnet.
