Japan’s $10 Billion Quest for a Super-Innovator

The state-backed Innovation Network Corp. of Japan wants to spend 1.2 trillion yen ($10 billion) to fund Japanese entrepreneurs. Its aim: Find a Japanese innovator akin to Tesla Motors Inc. CEO Elon Musk, Bloomberg News reports.

INCJ already has invested 813 billion yen ($6.8 billion) on such ventures. It has agreed to spend another 800 billion yen in 92 ventures so far, most of which are startups or recent companies.

The fund’s new chairman, former Nissan Motor Co. vice chair Toshiyuki Shiga, says encouraging Japanese entrepreneurs is an “urgent mission.”

Bloomberg notes that Japanese venture capitalists invested 143 billion yen ($1.2 billion) last year compared with $48 billion by their colleagues in the U.S.