Incubate Fund Asia, a sector-agnostic Japanese venture capital fund, has announced the first close of its third fund, which targets a corpus of $50 million (around Rs 416 crore).

The early-stage focused fund aims to build a portfolio of around 20 start-ups with the third fund. It will invest only 40 per cent of its corpus and use the rest to back the ‘winners’ in the portfolio.

Incubate Fund’s India-focused entity has been rebranded as Incubate Fund Asia and aims to extend its focus to pre-seed and seed-stage startups in India and Southeast Asia (SEA), according to a company statement.

Incubate Fund Asia was founded by Nao Murakami, with support from Incubate Fund’s Japan team.

“Our mission is to empower startups and fuel innovation across Asia. With the target fund closure of $50 million, we will be ready to significantly enhance our support to emerging ventures, driving sustainable growth and innovation. Incubate Fund Asia remains deeply committed to its vision of nurturing innovation and catalysing the growth of startups, ultimately contributing to the development of a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem across Asia,” said Murakami, General Partner of Incubate Fund Asia

The fund has supported 27 Indian companies, including ShopKirana and Captain Fresh. It invests in the $500,00 to $1.5 million range. In 2019, Incubate Fund launched a $18-million Fund II.