FUNDINNO and Okasan Securities Strengthen Capital and Business Alliance, Expanding Unlisted Stock Investment Opportunities through "FUNDINNO PLUS+"

FUNDINNO Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, Representatives: Yuki Shibahara / Manabu Oura, Type 1 Financial Instruments Business Operator, Kanto Local Finance Bureau (Kinsho) No. 2957, hereinafter referred to as "Our Company") and Okasan Securities Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, President and Representative Director: Yoshihiro Ikeda, hereinafter referred to as "Okasan Securities") have agreed to further strengthen their collaboration in their capital and business alliance, and have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote support for funding unlisted companies and to provide new investment opportunities to investors.

Through this strengthened collaboration, we aim to combine the strengths of both companies and further contribute to the development of Japan's startup ecosystem.

■Background and Objectives of This Matter

Since our capital and business alliance in March 2022, Our Company and Okasan Securities have been promoting collaboration to facilitate funding for domestic unlisted companies by leveraging each other's knowledge and networks.

Recently, against the backdrop of the government's "5-Year Plan for Startup Development," the funding needs of unlisted companies have been scaling up and diversifying. On the investor side, in addition to traditional assets (such as listed stocks and bonds), interest in "unlisted stocks" as alternative assets is rapidly increasing, with growing calls for portfolio diversification. To respond quickly to these changes in the market environment, we have agreed to fundamentally strengthen our existing collaborative framework.

■Details of Specific Initiatives

The following initiatives will be sequentially initiated and developed.

• Providing Investment Opportunities through "FUNDINNO PLUS+"

We will establish a framework to introduce "FUNDINNO PLUS+" and "FUNDINNO MARKET PLUS+"*, which specialize in large-scale fundraising, to clients of Okasan Securities' Private Banking (PB) department. This will allow us to guide them to investment opportunities in carefully selected unlisted companies utilizing systems such as the Specified Investor Stock System (J-Ships).

* FUNDINNO Launches "FUNDINNO MARKET PLUS+", a Secondary Exchange for Unlisted Stocks for Professionals. (https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000287.000021941.html)

• Collaboration in Sourcing (Deal Origination)