Japan has long gone its own way on technology, even inspiring its own term, “Galápagos syndrome,” for products and services that thrive at home yet go nowhere abroad. Now, the country’s corporate giants are worried they’re about to miss another technology wave, and are writing big checks to make sure they don’t.
On Tuesday, Pegasus Tech Ventures, a Silicon Valley–based investor, said it will quadruple the corporate venture fund it manages for Japanet, one of Japan’s largest mail-order and television shopping networks, to $200 million. That follows an earlier decision by auto supplier Aisin to double its Pegasus-managed fund to $100 million.
