Japan's largest bank MUFG to launch new $300 mln debt venture fund
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (MUFG) 8306.T will launch a new $300 million fund to offer debt financing to late-stage tech startups in the Asia-Pacific region, its chief executive said, as Japan's largest lender seeks to tap opportunities in growing economies. The move comes amid a fundraising frenzy in Asia as the number of unicorns, or privately held startups with a valuation of more than $1 billion, has swelled. The new debt fund will be created early next year through Mars Growth Capital, a Singapore-based joint venture between MUFG and Israeli financial tech firm Liquidity Capital, Hironori Kamezawa told Reuters in an interview.
MUFG will make a $300 million capital commitment to Mars, which will provide debt financing to startups in later stages of growth including unicorns. If the investee firms eventually choose to go public, MUFG plans to support their initial public offerings with its U.S. alliance partner Morgan Stanley MS.N, Kamezawa said.
The fund's financing decisions will be based on Liquidity's artificial intelligence-driven credit scoring model that forecasts future earnings and cash flow of a startup from real-time financial and accounting data. "We've seen immense needs from startups for debt financing" as a way to raise funds without reducing existing shareholders' ownership, Kamezawa said. "It's usually difficult for us bankers to extend loans to those startups in the red, but the Israeli firm's credit scoring model has helped us out," he added.
It will be Mars Growth Capital's second debt fund. The first fund, set up last year, is focused on early-stage startups and currently has a $200 million capital commitment. Mars Growth Capital has so far clinched financing deals with 11 companies, according to MUFG.
Liquidity is the world’s leading pioneer of bespoke technology for private credit, powered by advanced infrastructure with AI at its core. It defines a new standard in capital allocation through a nexus of the sharpest minds in private credit and technology.
Proven at scale in Liquidity’s own multi-billion-dollar private credit business, this technology deploys capital faster than any firm in capital markets history—with unmatched speed, precision, and adaptability across North America, Europe, APAC and MENA.
Liquidity develops bespoke technology infrastructure for banks and asset managers, embedding intelligent decision science across the full credit lifecycle from origination to compliance, while serving visionary growth-stage and mid-market companies in 45+ sectors through its own structures and funds.
Built on trust and backed by leading institutions including MUFG Bank Ltd., Spark Capital, KeyBank, Cross River Bank, Meitav Dash, IDB Bank, and others. Visit liquidity.com.
MORE STORIES
Controlled Autonomy: Why AI in Private Credit Requires Human Oversight
AI can analyse more data, faster, than any analyst, but no investment committee will sign off without clear explicable logic behind the decision-making process. The case for explainable models and the imperative of retaining a human-in-the-loop.
July 2026
Better Than the Average Analyst, at Scale: How AI is Redefining Deal Structuring
Structuring a loan means stress-testing covenants, repayment terms and capital structure against every plausible outcome. AI models that can comprehensively map the possibility space enable analysts to structure a loan that accurately prices credit risk and generates a competitive advantage for their institution.
July 2026
The Precision Problem: Why Generative AI Falls Short in Credit Analysis
The accuracy of AI models at banks and asset managers can make the difference between a strong and a struggling loan book. Those models need embedding into the information environment of financial institutions to refine their outputs over successive deal lifecycles.
July 2026
Liquidity wins best US to UK midsize company at 2026 TAG Awards
Liquidity has won the award for best US to UK Midsize company at the 2026 Transatlantic Growth Awards, hosted by BritishAmerican Business.
June 2026
Blending instinct with insight: AI’s role in due diligence
AI is prevalent throughout modern business, primarily tasked with streamlining mundane and repetitive tasks to free up workers to focus on high-level cognitive tasks. But when machines are asked to flip from simple data entry processes to being involved in critical financial processes and decisions, stakeholders tend to get concerned with AI’s potential error rate.
January 2026
Private credit powers the new wave of transatlantic growth
In 2025, the private credit market is crossing new frontiers—bridging capital, ideas and growth between the UK and US at an unprecedented pace. Fuelled by policy incentives, government partnerships and a rapidly evolving entrepreneurial landscape, the demand for cross-border financing is reshaping the opportunities for high-growth companies on both sides of the Atlantic.
October 2025
Tech: The Next Big Thing In Asset Management
Tech is increasingly shaping the asset management industry with the shift towards highly automated and intelligent processes. Tech-enabled market intelligence platforms are becoming more prevalent, providing asset managers with real-time insights and predictive analytics to make informed decisions.
February 2025
The Role of AI in Deep Tech Due Diligence: Insights from Danor Aharon, VP Data Science at Liquidity Group
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape industries, its influence is expanding into the deep tech landscape, particularly in the critical area of due diligence.
September 2024
.png)
