Singapore-based enterprise debt agency MARS Progress Capital has launched its first fairness fund with an preliminary $500-million dedication, marking its official foray into the fairness house.
Dragon Fund I’ll make progress fairness investments into personal, tech, and tech-enabled firms, with deal sizes between $20 million and $100 million. It’ll initially deal with the Asia-Pacific area.
MARS Progress Capital is a three way partnership established in 2021 between Mitsubishi UFJ Monetary Group (MUFG) and Liquidity Group, an AI-based monetary asset administration agency.
In a press release, MARS mentioned the launch of Dragon Fund I builds upon the success of the agency’s non-dilutive funds powered by MUFG’s preliminary monetary dedication of $750 million.
“With the preliminary shut of Dragon Fund I, MARS Progress Capital underscores our dedication to providing monetary stability for high-potential enterprises,” mentioned Fumitaka Nakahama, group head of worldwide company and funding banking at MUFG.
Dragon Fund I’ll look to spend money on firms with distinctive administration groups, sturdy execution monitor report, and excessive progress potential, mentioned Ridhi Chaudhary, managing director and a GP companion of the fund.
MARS Progress Capital presently utilises an AI-based credit score mannequin developed by Israel-based Liquidity Capital to analyse and fine-tune deal circulate. This “hybrid mannequin” includes a mixture of AI and on-hand human experience, enabling MARS Progress Capital to speed up its decision-making processes, it mentioned.
“The power to increase the decision-science expertise past non-dilutive financing into fairness funding will not be solely a testomony to the expertise itself however, extra importantly, the deep relationship between MUFG and the Liquidity Group,” MARS mentioned.
In Could, the agency had launched two new debt funds—MARS Japan Fund and MARS Europe Fund—that present financing to Japanese and European startups.
MARS Japan Fund gives progress financing to promising pre-unicorns and unicorns in Japan whereas MARS Europe Fund invests in European tech startups that handle numerous social points reminiscent of local weather change.
Final month, MUFG introduced it has elevated its capital dedication to the non-dilutive funds of MARS Progress Capital from $750 million to $1 billion.
