June 2, 2023

KDDI Corporation

KDDI Corporation invested (hereinafter, "this investment") in the ff Red & White venture investment fund focusing on Central and Eastern Europe investment which was established by JBIC IG Partners (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Tsuguya Ieda, CIO: Makoto Shiono) and ff Venture Capital sp. z o.o. (Headquarters: Poland; Representative: Mariusz Adamski), a venture capital firm with locations in the US and Poland.

The ff Red & White fund invests in Central and Eastern European startups with the intention of providing opportunities for strategic partnerships with startups that possess cutting-edge technologies and solutions in software and other domains in addition to providing an economic return to the investing companies.

Through this investment, KDDI will work to solve social issues by capitalizing on KDDI's unique strengths in 5G, IoT, and other areas in collaboration with startup companies that possess strengths in manufacturing industry digital transformation (DX) and enterprise SaaS in Central and Eastern Europe.

As "the company that customers feel closest to," KDDI will continue to promote business co-creation through investment in promising startup companies, and create new business models together with customers and partners.

• ■About KDDI Open Innovation Fund

  KDDI Open Innovation Fund is a corporate venture fund that supports a broad range of venture companies. The currently active KDDI Open Innovation Fund III focuses on the areas of AI, IoT, data marketing, fintech, B2B SaaS, and entertainment with a total operating fund of 20 billion yen.