Popular social networking service (SNS) from Japan named Mixi have entered Indian market with $50 million capital fund dedicated for investing in early-stage startups in the similar entertainment space.

Mixi provides a host of services back in Japan. People can think of it like a mixture of several social media platforms like Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter. It contains numerous online communities, public and community events, latest news updates along with over 28 million gamers and a large library with 1500+ games.

Speaking to moneycontrol on their arrival, principal partner at Mixi Global Investments, Tomoharu Urabe said, “We identified India as the most lucrative and exciting, although a quite challenging place to start our global investment approach.”

Urabe also revealed that the company will be focusing on startups in seed to pre-series B stage, with initial investments reaching up to $2 million. The company is also in the process of setting up a team and may change their investment approach in future as the need be.

India is among the countries with the largest online presence, which Mixi might have felt they best to expand into, as it focuses mainly around smartphone-based digital entertainment through smartphones.

There are also many gamers in the country, majority of with use their mobile device for gaming. Gaming companies with great concepts can benefit from the investments and will ultimately add to the growth of the gaming sector in India.

Hope to support companies with our industry knowledge, says Urabe

“More and more people are starting to spend their time on mobile entertainment. So, we believe that there are strong demands for the services that build deeper, meaningful connections in India. We hope to support those portfolio companies with our industry knowledge,” Urabe said in a statement to The Economic Times.

It is not surprising to see foreign investors eyeing the digital market of India, especially the gaming sector, dues to its rapid growth in recent years. A joint report by OnePlus, Redseer, and IAMAI suggested that the industry will reach a capitalization of $3.9 billion by 2025. The real money gaming sector however has recently faced a heavy blow with new GST rate on full face value.