Sony Group announced today that it has established Sony Innovation Fund: Africa (SIF: AF), a program that will support the growth of entertainment businesses in Africa. Appropriately, the Tokyo multinational conglomerate, through Sony Ventures Corporation (SVC), has earmarked $10 million for early-stage startups in gaming, music, film and content distribution.
Sony Ventures’s latest endeavor to support technology businesses across markets and stages is this fund focused on African entertainment startups. Last year, SVC completed the first closing of Sony Innovation Fund 3 at $215 million to back all stages of emerging technology companies. The subsidiary manages all of Sony’s venture investment activities through SIF3, Sony Innovation Fund (SIF); Sony Innovation Growth Fund by IGV, a joint venture with Daiwa Capital Holdings; and Sony Innovation Fund: Environment.
The Japanese tech giant’s venture arm has made more than 100 investments in consumer and enterprise-facing businesses across various sectors like entertainment, robotics, AI, mobility, fintech, healthcare, logistics and SaaS from all these funds.In Africa, fintech remains the most funded sector, attracting almost half of the venture capital coming into the continent last year. And though other sectors such as logistics, healthcare and mobility are top of mind for local and global investors keen on African tech, it’s entertainment, which is often overlooked, that Sony Ventures is choosing to start with for its first foray into Africa.Gen Tsuchikawa, CEO of Sony Ventures, told TechCrunch that although the Japanese behemoth established the Sony Innovation Fund in 2016 to invest in ventures across various business fields, it remains a creative entertainment and technology company whose mission is to fill the world with sentiment through the power of creativity and technology.
“The entertainment field has been a key area of focus for Sony Innovation Fund since the beginning and will continue to be. Africa, in particular, has a vibrant community of creators and entrepreneurs looking to invent new ways to enhance entertainment experiences for audiences and that propelled Sony to establish SIF: AF,” he added.
