MUFG, Japan’s largest bank, launches $100M fund for Indonesian startups

MUFG, Japan’s largest bank by market cap, announced today the launch of a $100 million fund focused on Indonesian startups. The fund, a collaboration between MUFG subsidiaries MUFG Innovation Partners, MUFG Bank and Indonesian commercial bank Danamon, is called MUFG Innovation Partners Garuda No. 1 Limited Investment Partnership.

The fund, which is the third one managed by MUFG’s fund management company MUIP, will make strategic investments in startups that can work with Danamon, a commercial bank acquired by MUFG and MUFG Bank in 2019. Danamon’s goals are to increase product competitiveness, promote digitalization and partner with portfolio companies to tap into their customer contacts.

Since its inception in 2019, MUIP has invested a total of more than 40 billion yen (about $307.5 million USD) in startups around the world. The launch of its new fund comes about a month after MUFG invested $200 million in Akulaku, a Jakarta-based fintech. That was also a strategic investment, with Akulaku and MUFG planning to collaborate on tech, product development, financing and distribution.

MUFG has been focused on increasing its presence in Southeast Asia, and earlier this year it purchased the Philippines and Indonesian units of Home Credit BV for €596 million.

MUFG, Japan’s largest bank, launches $100M fund for Indonesian startups by Catherine Shu originally published on TechCrunch