NUJP Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Kenta Goto; hereinafter “NUJP”) is pleased to announce that it has raised a total of approximately 100 million yen through a third-party allotment of shares to Incubate Fund and DRG FUND, together with a loan from the Japan Finance Corporation. With these funds, NUJP will strengthen its investment in and hands-on support for distinctive Japanese small and mid-sized brands, and drive their business growth in overseas markets.

■ Background to the Fundraising

Japan is home to countless examples of craftsmanship refined over long periods of time, brands rooted in their local regions, and products carrying a distinctive aesthetic and story. In recent years, such brands and products have once again been drawing attention from outside Japan.

At the same time, many of them face challenges including a lack of successors, a shortage of management talent, a shrinking domestic market, and limited know-how for overseas expansion. As a result, there are no small number of businesses that possess value capable of captivating people around the world, yet struggle to secure sufficient opportunities for growth or to be passed on to the next generation.

In response to these challenges, NUJP provides investment and M&A, management support, and overseas sales channel development as an integrated offering—carrying the potential of carefully nurtured Japanese brands into the future and out into the world. The purpose of this fundraising is to further accelerate these efforts.

■ Future Plans

NUJP will use the funds raised to accelerate the following initiatives:

• Investment in and M&A of promising Japanese brands and businesses, including business succession
• Management support and overseas expansion support for portfolio companies, and recruitment of talent to strengthen management and governance structures
• Building sales channels and networks in overseas markets

Drawing on the expertise we have accumulated in executing M&A transactions, providing management consulting to global companies, and supporting overseas sales and marketing, we will help refine the quality, philosophy, and cultural background of Japanese brands into forms that resonate in overseas markets, thereby supporting their sustainable growth.

■ What NUJP Aims to Achieve

NUJP wants to bring about a world in which brands from Japan are loved and admired by people everywhere.

To that end, we aim to become a platform that carries Japan’s cultural enterprises out into the world. We provide investment, management support, and overseas expansion support to Japanese brands and businesses with distinctive technologies, philosophies, and cultural roots, building the structures that allow each of them to compete in global markets while making the most of their individual appeal.

So that new challenges and inherited convictions alike may be passed down and retold to the next generation, we are building a new foundation on which Japanese culture can live on around the world and be loved by people everywhere.

■ Examples of Current Initiatives

1) Investment in and growth acceleration support for a domestic fashion brand

We have invested in a fashion brand created by a Japanese designer with roots in New York, and are providing hands-on support spanning brand strategy, sales channel development, e-commerce operations, and pop-up rollouts. Going forward, we intend both to strengthen the brand’s domestic sales base and to explore expansion into overseas markets, primarily in Asia.

2) Overseas expansion support for a traditional sake brewery brand

For a long-established sake brewery based in Yamanashi Prefecture with a history of more than 100 years, we are supporting the formulation of an overseas expansion business plan, the articulation of its brand story, and the creation of business meeting opportunities. Through joint participation in trade shows and business matching events related to overseas expansion, we are broadening the brand’s points of contact with local buyers and prospective partners, and reframing the value of Japanese sake culture into a context that communicates in overseas markets.

3) Investment, branding, and overseas expansion support for a Japanese craft gin brand

We have invested in a brand that develops and sells Japanese craft gin, and are advancing support across product concept design, brand development, sales strategy, and overseas expansion. Making the most of uniquely Japanese ingredients and stories, the aim is to establish a new form of Japanese craft gin that will also be embraced in overseas markets.

■ Comments from Investors

Masahiko Homma, Representative Partner, Incubate Fund Co., Ltd.

Brands underpinned by Japanese culture and artisanal skill have what it takes to succeed globally, yet this is an area where their true value has not been fully realized, due to shortages of management talent and overseas expansion know-how. Founder Mr. Goto is a rare talent: he stood at the front line of overseas marketing at Sony, and subsequently honed his ability to execute M&A and business transformation in consulting. Together with a team of global professionals drawn from companies such as Sony and Amazon, he has assembled a lineup capable of delivering both the value creation and the overseas expansion this business requires, at a high level. We will do everything we can to support the birth of a global brand group originating in Japan.

Ryu Kusakabe, General Partner, DRG Fund

NUJP Co., Ltd. provides investment, management support, and overseas expansion support as an integrated offering to outstanding brands and cultural industries found throughout Japan, with the aim of maximizing their value by taking Japanese companies global.

Japan is home to many brands that possess quality, originality, and cultural depth capable of earning recognition worldwide, yet cannot fully realize that value because of challenges in overseas expansion and management structure.

DRG Fund decided to invest because we strongly identify with the global perspective and execution capability of Mr. Goto and the rest of the management team, as well as with the company’s vision of making Japan’s cultural resources shine in global markets.

Through this investment, we will support NUJP’s brand investment and M&A activities, its overseas expansion support, and the strengthening of its organizational foundation, and will work alongside the management team and employees toward building an ecosystem in which Japanese brands can grow continuously on the world stage.

■ Comment from the CEO

Kenta Goto, Representative Director, NUJP Co., Ltd.

I spent much of my life before entering the workforce overseas. Growing up in an environment with almost no other Japanese people, Japanese manufacturing brands—automobiles, home appliances—were a source of pride that helped anchor my own identity. At the same time, as the times changed, I watched the influence of Japanese manufacturing brands that once commanded such a presence in the world gradually fade, and I felt that keenly.

Today, however, in fields quite different from manufacturing—food, art, fashion, IP content, lifestyle—value originating in Japan is once again attracting global attention. I believe Japan is entering an era in which it will deliver to the world not simply “products,” but the culture behind them: the philosophy, the stories, the aesthetic sensibility, and the trust.

Japan has many brands and businesses with compelling products and stories that remain insufficiently known abroad because of barriers of language, culture, sales channels, and management resources. NUJP delivers investment, management support, and overseas expansion support to these Japanese brands as an integrated offering, bringing their value to global markets. In doing so, we will create a new Japanese cultural economy that commands the world’s attention.

■ Company Overview

Company name: NUJP Co., Ltd.
Address: Biz-Field Meguro 2F, 3-15-8 Nishi-Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
Representative: Kenta Goto, Representative Director
Inquiries regarding this release: info@nujp.co.jp