Epson establishes ¥5bn innovation fund

Epson has established the Epson X Investment Corporation (EXI), a new CVC subsidiary to accelerate collaboration and open innovation, grow existing businesses, and create new ones, with ¥5bn ($72m) to invest.

Epson says EXI as a CVC subsidiary is capable of rapidly making decisions and investments. This will help the company further accelerate its open innovation strategy

Epson's general partner in EXI will be Global Brain Corporation (GB), an independent venture-capital company with considerable expertise in CVC management. The Epson Group will have a 99 per cent interest in a new corporate venture fund with many millions of dollars available for investment. Fund management will target investments in venture companies worldwide.

The new subsidiary comes out of the Epson strategy, one of the basic policies of Epson's Phase 2 Mid-Range Business Plan is to accelerate growth by taking maximum advantage of assets and through collaboration and open innovation. In the past ten years, Epson has invested millions of dollars in mergers and acquisitions and in collaborative projects and capital tie-ups with venture businesses.

Epson has primarily pursued opportunities in which it could take advantage of synergies with their core devices, especially their core inkjet devices. This has helped the company break ground in new businesses and develop new markets that expand the scope of applications.

Mergers and acquisitions are the most common way for enterprises to enter other industry sectors. In recent years, however, CVC has gained attention as an effective way to form collaborative relationships and capital tie-ups with venture companies in a wide and diverse range of fields and sectors. It is also seen as a way to prepare for major environmental changes and disruption.