Trace the roots of most modern Japanese tech companies back far enough and there’s a good chance you’ll stumble across a little-known venture capital firm called Jafco Co. Since its inception in 1973, Japan’s oldest and largest VC has quietly backed almost 4,000 companies, including giants like SoftBank Group Corp., Muji stores operator Ryohin Keikaku Co. and Street Fighter games producer Capcom Co. Almost a thousand of its investments have gone public and today command a market value of about $530 billion. Jafco is Japan’s version of Sequoia Capital, the legendary Silicon Valley firm that was also founded in the early 1970s and helped launch Apple Inc., Oracle Corp. and Google Inc.
Image: Shinichi Fuki, president and chief executive officer of Jafco. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg
