ANNOUNCEMENT 14 Mar 2019

On March 14th, 2019, the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) along with 5 Japanese firms created a fund for the development and production of agricultural drones. 

NUMBER OF INTERVENTIONS

1

  • 1 harmful
  • 0 neutral
  • 0 liberalising

SOURCE

INCJ (2019) 農業用ドローンのナイルワークス、総額約 16 億円の第三者割当増資を実施 Implemented a third-party allotment of approximately ¥ 1.6 billion in total for agricultural drones
Available at:
https://www.incj.co.jp/news/PressRelease_INCJ_Nile_20190314.pdf

Inception date: 14 Mar 2019 | Removal date: open ended

Capital injection and equity stakes (including bailouts)

On March 14th, 2019, the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) along with Sumitomo Chemical Co., Sumitomo Shoji Co., Kumiai Chemical Co., Sparks Group Co., Ltd. And Drone Fund No. 2, a 2.4 billion yen fund called Nileworks was created for the development and production of agricultural drones. INCJ will contribute 1.6 billion yen (15 million USD) to this fund. The agriculture drones seek to assist in Japanese agriculture production by offsetting the decline in the farming population in rural Japan. The drones role is to fly around farms and diagnose the growth of crops through advanced camera technology. 

About the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ)
In 2009, INCJ was created as a public-private investment fund to financially support industries "next-generation businesses". INCJ supports projects that "combine technologies and varied expertise across industries and materialize open innovation.". According to the INCJ website, the fund has an investment capacity of up to USD 20 billion. Although characterized as a public-private partnership, in fact only 0.1 billion of the 2.6 billion USD invested in the fund was provided by the private sector. The rest came from the Japanese government. Of the 0.1 billion USD said to be contributed by the private sector, 13.6 million USD was in fact provided by the Development Bank of Japan, a state-owned bank.

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