Living Lab Ventures (LLV), the corporate venture capital arm of Sinar Mas Land, has launched a Japan Thematic Fund in partnership with Spiral Ventures to facilitate cross-border business growth between Japan and Southeast Asia, with Indonesia positioned as a key market, according to a statement.
The fund reached its first close following the signing of an MoU in BSD City on Wednesday, although the size of the fund was not divulged.
The fund is backed by a syndicate of strategic investors from both countries, including Cool Japan Fund, as one of the key investors. Other limited partners include Bank Danamon (part of MUFG Group), Rohto Pharmaceutical, Advasa, Culture Convenience Club—the operator of Tsutaya, one of Japan’s largest bookstore chains—and Sinar Mas Land, which also serves as a cornerstone LP.
The initiative is designed to ease market entry and scaling for Japanese companies expanding to Southeast Asia and for Southeast Asian startups seeking access to Japan. The partners are positioning the fund as a cross-border platform that combines capital with market access, distribution networks, and localisation support.
LLV plans to leverage its BSD City development—already used as a pilot environment for startup testing—as a landing base for companies to run product and service trials before entering wider Indonesian and regional markets. Spiral Ventures brings experience investing across Asia in companies focused on operational or market-structure challenges.
The participation of Cool Japan Fund, a Japan government-backed entity promoting global expansion of Japanese consumer and cultural assets, underscores investor interest in Southeast Asia as a growth alternative amid Japan’s muted domestic market. Other investors bring sector-specific distribution, retail, and healthcare networks that may support go-to-market partnerships.
Executives from both sides noted that the fund aims to support longer-term partnership building rather than rapid deployment. LLV has stated that its current venture approach focuses on staged commercialisation, corporate pilots, and gradual scaling rather than growth-at-all-costs expansion.
The launch aligns with LLV’s broader effort to position BSD City as a regional innovation hub and gateway for global companies entering Indonesia.
“This initiative goes far beyond investment—it represents true integration,” said Yuji Horiguchi, CEO and Managing Partner of Spiral Ventures. “By uniting Japan’s technological precision and cultural excellence with Southeast Asia’s entrepreneurial energy and speed, we aim to create new business models, foster sustainable innovation, and generate social impact that transcends borders [..].”
Mulyawan Gani, CEO of Digital Business of Sinar Mas Land, added, “[..] The Japan Thematic Fund represents a commitment by Sinar Mas Land through LLV and other partners to strengthen the economic ties between our nations through innovation and technology. With Cool Japan Fund’s participation and the expertise of our partners, we are creating a foundation for long-term collaboration that will generate shared prosperity for both Japan and Indonesia.”
This marks LLV’s third thematic fund. The firm, launched in June 2022, manages Living Lab Ventures’ Fund I, called LLV Fund I, which focuses on city-centric solutions. Its portfolio includes Traveloka, EV infrastructure provider Swap Energy, DCT Agency, BRIK, and Artotel, a mid-hotel group in Indonesia, among others.
Its second vehicle, the Urban Gateway Fund, in which it is the general partner with external limited partners such as Red Badge Pacific, GS Construction (Korea), Prasetia Dwidharma, and East Ventures. The Urban Gateway Fund focuses on sectors related to mobility and transport, proptech, data analytics and AI, omnichannel retail, sustainable resources management, and smart city tech.
