gumi Inc., a leading global mobile game publisher and developer, today launched a dedicated fund to invest in promising cryptocurrency and blockchain technology companies, called gumi Cryptos. The fund offers its portfolio companies a strategic venture capital investment partner with unique access to the Japan cryptocurrency market through its network of investors and management board. The first projects funded by gumi Cryptos include Basis, Origin Protocol, Robot Cache and Pryze.

With an initial investment of $30 million, gumi Cryptos is led by proven operators Hironao Kunimitsu, Founder and CEO of gumi Inc., and Miko Matsumura, founder of US-based virtual currency exchange Evercoin. Matsumura is a Venture Partner at BitBull Capital and an advisor at Arrington XRP Capital. He is an investor in Lyft, FileCoin, Brave, CIVIC, Basecoin, Propy, Polymath and more. Matsumura has also served as an advisor to over a dozen ICOs and startups, having raised over $250 million to date for companies such as Bee Token (Decentralized AirBnB) and Celsius Network (Crypto Lending Platform). The full list is available at https://miko.com.

gumi Cryptos fills a specific void in the investment spectrum of the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. In many cases, even the top cryptocurrency organizations in the world struggle to understand and access markets in Japan, including investment and industrial networks, customers, exchanges and regulators.

Kunimitsu said, “We decided to create a fund that enables us to engage more directly with early-stage blockchain and cryptocurrency startups, in order to be more effective partners and have a real impact in the market. Our team brings tremendous expertise in emerging technology, and with gumi Cryptos, we can truly partner with these companies as they achieve amazing results for all stakeholders.”

Matsumura said, “Having advised top global cryptocurrency startups alongside some of the best investors in the world, I’ve come to realize that all of them struggle to break into Japan, the largest cryptocurrency market in the world. I’m excited to join gumi and their well-respected network in Japan.”

White & Case LLP, a global law firm, acted for gumi Inc. in establishing gumi Cryptos LLC and negotiated the joint venture arrangements between the partners. The Tokyo-led legal team included Nels Hansen, Ayako Kawano, Fumika Cho and Kei Horiguchi. Voyage Group Co., Ltd., an entertainment company, and YJM Games Co., Ltd., a Korean game company, and other major domestic financial institutions are invested in this fund.

Some facts about the Japan market:

Japan is the third largest economy in the world
Japan was the first country to legalize Bitcoin
As of January 15, 2018, Japanese Yen accounts for 56.2 percent of Bitcoin (BTC) volume, according to coinhills.com. Yen is followed by U.S. dollars at 28.4 percent, while all others account for 15.4 percent.

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