GLP’s Japan Venture Capital Firm Closes on $96M for Maiden Fund

Monoful Venture Partners, a Japan-focused venture capital arm of industrial property giant GLP, has reached a first closing of its maiden fund with JPY 12.9 billion ($96 million) in commitments.

Founded this year, MVP invests in growth-stage start-ups in Japan’s logistics and real estate ecosystem, GLP said Wednesday in a release. Monoful Venture Partners I targets companies in sectors including robotics, artificial intelligence, fintech and e-commerce.

Investors in MVP I include Japanese firms SMBC Nikko Securities, Keio Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Toppan Printing and Sun Asterisk, as well as Singapore-headquartered GLP. MVP will continue to seek investment partners, aiming for a fund size of at least JPY 15 billion.

“We are very pleased with the successful first close of Monoful Venture Partners I,” said Yoshiyuki Chosa, president and CEO of GLP Japan. “The logistics industry is continuing to evolve and modernise to support a changing workforce and new logistics transportation regulations. Together with our partners, we aim to build a new-age logistics ecosystem through digitisation to increase labour efficiency and improve operating workflow.”

Beyond Real Assets

GLP said MVP would be invested in five portfolio companies by the end of 2022. A GLP representative declined to provide information on those companies when contacted by Mingtiandi on Wednesday.

MVP is cutting a similar path in Japan to GLP’s Hidden Hill Capital in China, where the $1.6 billion Hidden Hill Modern Logistics Private Equity Fund invests in companies in that country’s logistics ecosystem.

That 2018-vintage fund became GLP’s first to target assets beyond real estate when the developer set up the vehicle with backing from institutional investors including China Post Capital, an investment arm of the state-owned postal operator.

In 2017, GLP was reported to have joined with a private equity affiliate of China Development Bank to complete a $45 million investment in Beijing-based big data firm G7which makes devices to provide real-time data on the activities of trucking fleets.

GLP co-founder and CEO Ming Z Mei also chairs Eastern Bell Venture Capital, which participated in a $23 million investment in trucking tech firm Fuyoukache led by JD.com’s shipping affiliate, JD Logistics, and co-led, together with mainland utility State Power Investment Corporation, a $47.8 million investment in Shenzhen-based new energy vehicle firm Dishangtie.

Resilient Market

Japan continues to offer fertile ground for GLP investment strategies after the warehouse specialist in January announced the final closing of its flagship logistics development fund with JPY 412 billion ($3.7 billion) in total commitments, marking the largest-ever private vehicle targeting real estate in the country.

The company is also betting on Japan’s data centre market, with plans to invest more than JPY 1.5 trillion ($12 billion) in developing server farms during the next five years, GLP announced in February.

Last week, GLP’s Japan-focused REIT announced the sale of a fully occupied warehouse northwest of Tokyo for JPY 4.1 billion ($30.4 million) — a price 25 percent higher than the asset’s appraised value — as investors seeking stable cash flow and low-risk returns continue to bet on the logistics sector in the world’s third-biggest economy.