Inspire Investment Corporation established INSPiRE Mutualistic Symbiosis Fund 1 Investment Limited Partnership (“The Fund”) together with The Bank of Nagoya, Ltd. and The Nanto Bank, Ltd. in July this year.
This time, The Fund was able to obtain the approval of the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries based on the “Act on Special Measures For Facilitating Investment in Agricultural and Fishery Corporations (Revised Investment Facilitation Act) that came into effect in August 2021 (This is the first approval for an investment limited partnership).
In addition, Japan Finance Corporation which is the largest governmental financial institution received an investment authorization and became an additional member. With a first close of 1.8 billion yen in total, business development activities involving investment have begun. The second close is scheduled for December 2022, and the final size of the fund is expected to be 10 billion yen.

■About The Fund
Japan’s export of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and foodstuffs exceeded 1 trillion yen for the first time in 2021, but still account for only about 2% of total domestic production of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and foodstuffs. Taking into account that other countries such as the United States, France, and Italy have achieved exports of approximately 10 ~ 20% of the total production, the Basic Plan for Food, Agriculture, and Rural Areas adopted by the Cabinet in March 2020 set policy targets for increasing exports of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products and foodstuffs to 2 trillion yen by 2025 and 5 trillion yen (about 10%) by 2030. As one of the measures to achieve this goal, the Investment Development System for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Corporations” was established based on the Revised Investment Facilitation Act, and The Fund was established under this framework. As a result, the Fund is now able to provide risk money to companies that contribute to the construction of the global food value chain expanding from Japan.
Through the management of PNB-INSPiRE Ethical Fund 1 Investment Limited Partnership (“PIEF”), which is managed by Inspire PNB Partners, an affiliate, since 2014, Inspire Investment Corporation has been supporting the overseas expansion of Japan’s “food” in a broad sense and carrying out business development in the “advanced technology domain”.
Similar to PIEF, The Fund will promote business development in various parts of the world in collaboration with “Food”  related companies in Japan that possess world-class manufacturing technologies and know-how, and will invest in agriculture, food, and environment-related technology venture companies that have the potential to solve existing issues, such as environmental maintenance and improvement for sustainable food production, new farming and fishing methods, and food processing, preservation, and logistics.
For companies involved in business development, innovation facilitated by technology ventures enables them to solve issues, and for technology ventures, it enables them to achieve exponential growth by acquiring clients directly linked to revenue generation. Through conducting such <mutual symbiosis > type of business development, The Fund supports the construction of an entire food value chain that will expand from Japan to the world.

Ryosuke Takatsuki, President of Inspire Investment Corporation, commented on The Fund as follows.
“The companies responsible for the food value chain in Japan have been strengthened by Japanese consumers for many years, having evolved and refined themselves independently. In over 20 years’ history, INSPiRE has consistently carried out collaborative business development with domestic and overseas partnerships. Expecting future economic growth in ASEAN countries which are usually pro-Japan, we have been able to build diverse and multi-layered business networks including those for the Islamic market. Our focus towards the second close of The Fund, is to acquire further participation from various companies including regional banks around the country, involving more companies  introducing them and providing them with the opportunity to make full use of our framework of mutual symbiosis.”

■Overview of the Fund
①　Name of the Fund：INSPiRE Mutualistic Symbiosis Fund 1 Investment Business Limited Liability Partnership
②　Total amount at establishment：1.8 billion JPY (the secondary offering period will expire at the end of December 2022)
③　General Partner（GP）：Inspire Investment Corporation
④　Limited Partner（LP）：Japan Finance Corporation, The Bank of Nagoya, Ltd., The Nanto Bank, Ltd. （alphabetical order）

■About Inspire Investment Corporation
Inspire Investment Corporation
Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo　
President: Ryosuke Takatsuki
Focusing on changes in social trends and technological innovations that can bring a positive impact to the world, we engage in business development activities that create new value and new markets.

【Contact】
Inspire Investment Corporation
TEL：03-6418-1091