Incubate Fund Asia

Overview

Incubate Fund Asia is a Japan-origin venture capital platform with its Asia headquarters in Singapore and operations across India and Southeast Asia. The platform entered India in 2016 as Incubate Fund India and later adopted the Incubate Fund Asia name as its investment mandate expanded across the region.

The firm is sector agnostic, investing in early-stage companies across areas including fintech, supply chain, consumer technology, healthcare, retail, energy, agriculture and technology. Its approach centers on partnering with founders early and supporting them through the journey from initial product development to scale.

Investment Focus and Stage

Incubate Fund Asia focuses primarily on Pre-Seed and Seed-stage companies, often acting as a lead investor in the first institutional round. Its philosophy is built around backing founders early and staying involved as businesses develop.

The firm's sector-agnostic approach has produced a portfolio spanning B2B commerce, supply chain, fintech, consumer technology, healthcare, energy and logistics. With Fund III, its mandate expanded further into DeepTech and SpaceTech, alongside a stronger focus on startups serving Tier 2 cities and businesses enabling small and medium-sized enterprises.

The firm also operates the SMBC Asia Rising Fund, which backs businesses that can create strategic opportunities for SMBC Group and Asian financial institutions. Its areas include lending technology, payments, supply-chain finance, banking-as-a-service, AI and digital assets.

Fund Size and Portfolio

Incubate Fund Asia announced the first close of its third fund with a target corpus of $50 million in 2023. The fund was designed to build a portfolio of around 20 startups, while reserving a substantial portion of its capital for follow-on investments in companies demonstrating strong growth.

Its portfolio includes Captain Fresh, a technology-enabled seafood supply-chain platform; Shopkirana, a B2B procurement platform for grocery retailers; Yulu, an electric mobility company; Plum, an employee benefits platform; and M2P, a banking infrastructure and API provider.

Other portfolio companies include Saveo, Vayana, Fairdeal.market, Drip Capital, Dusaan, Easy Home Finance, GLAMZY, Flipspaces, Olyv, Paper.id, Shivalik Small Finance Bank, Tamasha, Waggle and Wiz.ai.

The firm has also recorded exits including EzeDox, GigIndia, Tripeur, Skillate and WizKlub.

Leadership

Nao Murakami is Founder and General Partner of Incubate Fund Asia. He previously worked in investment banking at Nomura Securities in Tokyo and New York before moving to India and launching his own startup. He founded Incubate Fund Asia's India operation in 2016.

Masahiko Honma is Co-Founder and Partner of Incubate Fund. His background includes investment roles at JAFCO and Accenture's venture capital arm before he founded Core People Partners and later became a joint partner of Incubate Fund.

Rajeev Ranka is Partner and oversees India investment activities across the early-stage fund and SMBC Asia Rising Fund. Dave Kwong is also a Partner, based in Singapore, and works with founders across the regional portfolio.