MUMBAI: Advertising behemoth Dentsu Inc has established a new corporate venture capital (VC) fund called - Dentsu Ventures Global Fund I, with a total capital of approximately $42 million (five billion yen).

With companies in the US, Europe and Asia as its main targets, the fund will not only provide businesses with capital but will also focus on providing entrepreneurs with extensive business support that leverages the problem-solving resources cultivated by the Dentsu Group to date in order to help them bring innovation to the world.

The changes in the business environment surrounding the Dentsu Group and the advertising industry itself are accelerating, and the importance of open innovation through business collaboration with promising external partners is increasing even more. Under such circumstances the Dentsu Group will, through this fund, promote investment in ambitious venture companies that will create an as yet unseen future as well as open up new areas of development through the provision of business development support to the investees.

The Dentsu Group has to date made proactive investments in venture companies and promoted business collaboration through the Dentsu Digital Fund, a fund managed by its subsidiary Dentsu Digital Holdings Inc. Through investments mainly in venture companies outside of Japan as well as seed and early stage investments in Japanese companies, coupled with the building of a complementary relationship with the Dentsu Digital Fund, Dentsu will accelerate open innovation across the Group as a whole.

The fund will have a seven-year period of operation from April 2015 until March 2022.

Dentsu is looking at investing in areas that can change the marketing and communication business in a broad sense. The VC fund is interested in companies that look at new areas that have a high potential for innovation.