Nomura Sets up $92 Million Fund to Aid Start-Ups

Investment bank Nomura has issued a statement on Wednesday wherein the firm states that it has commenced with the 'Voyager - Nomura FinTech Partnership' in India, the purpose of which will be to harness emerging technologies in order transform its businesses and services. In addition to this, Nomura has also resolved to set up a $92 Million fund to assist start-ups, as per a company's senior official. "We also plan to create a new 10 billion yen ($92 million/Rs 6 billion) fund to provide financial support to start-ups. The Voyager initiative in India is a further sign of our commitment to engage with start-ups and encourage financial innovation," Yo Akatsuka, Senior Managing Director, Innovations, Nomura Holdings, Inc was quoted as saying in the statement.

With this initiative, Nomura aims to encourage entrepreneurs to come up with innovative fin-tech solutions which can be deployed across the financial industry to help boost the capital markets and investment banking, as per the statement. Nomura has also set up a Nomura Innovation Centre (NICe) at Powai to provide a platform to start-ups which will be selected for the Voyager programme.Also read: TCS Posts 4.2% Increase in Quarterly Earnings

"New technology, supported by an innovation-driven ecosystem, has resulted in an environment of increasing collaboration between new and traditional market players," R.K. Rangan, President & CEO, Nomura Services India was quoted as saying in the statement. "Building on this momentum, Voyager is a programme for start-ups to engage with Nomura to drive innovation through its global network."

Nomura further clarified that entrepreneurs working at the NICe will gain access to the firm's resources and also test their concepts and solutions, thus leveraging the company's workforce, process and technology. The statement further added that the partnership could ultimately result in the start-ups gaining Nomura as an investor and/ or as a client.

(With inputs from agencies)Also read: Amazon Fire TV Stick Launched at Rs 3,999