LINE is a popular messaging app that is looking to expand worldwide even in the face of growing competition in the messaging space. In a bid to court new startups, the company just announced a new investment fund called the Line Life Global Gateway.
The Line Life Global Gateway the fund will operate independently from LINE Ventures, though LINE Ventures and LINE itself are the only two parties putting up capital for the investment fund. The JPY 500 million (US$42 million) fund went live on February 4th and is expected to operate for 10 years. The fund is similar to the $100 million USD gaming fund set up last summer, though the purpose of this fund is somewhat different.
Instead of putting funding into gaming, the Line Life Global Gateway was created to support startups operating in ecommerce, payment, media, and entertainment industries.
“By working closely with these companies, LINE aims to enhance the services that have evolved from LINE and reinforce the foundation for LINE to grow further as a global platform,” the company said in its press release.
This fund shows LINE as a messaging and gaming company further expanding into other areas as its life-enhancing ventures announced last year expand, are added onto, and evolve.
Although Line Ventures is supplying some of the money for Line Life Global Gateway, the new organization will be a completely separate subsidiary.
LINE app is available for most major platforms.