Nomura Launches Digital Asset VC Firm Laser Digital 

Japanese financial holding Company Nomura Holdings has established a digital ecosystem venture capital (VC) arm, Laser Digital. The company announced the new VC arm on September 21st, noting that it will build on its existing expertise. Laser Digital will utilize the institutional investor businesses and global client base Nomura has garnered over the years. The new arm will wholly focus on digital assets under the leadership of Steven Ashley and Jez Mohideen. While Ashley serves as the chairman, Mohideen will be the CEO.

Nomura chose to launch the VC arm in Switzerland as it is a digital assets-friendly location. Switzerland has a robust regulatory regime for digital assets and blockchain projects. Also, the region is an “attractive talent pool.” Nomura Holdings President and Group CEO Kentaro Okuda made some comments on the launch of Laser Digital.  He said:

“Staying at the forefront of digital innovation is a key priority for Nomura. This is why, alongside our efforts to diversify our business. We announced earlier this year that Nomura would be setting up a new subsidiary focused digital assets. We look forward to sustainable growth in this new business under the leadership of Steven and Jez.”

Nomura Says Laser Digital Will Release New Services and Product Lines Soon

Furthermore, Nomura added that the world should expect Laser Digital to roll out new services and product lines over the coming months. As the company announced in May, it intends to gain an edge over its rivals in Europe and America. At the time, Mohideen said the new business would initially focus on top crypto assets before exploring non-fungible tokens and Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Nomura had said that it would weigh institutional interest before expanding Laser Digital to include DeFi and NFTs.

Nomura unveiling Laser Digital is another instance of the growing mainstream of financial institutions debuting on the Web3 market. Global investment banking giant HSBC launched a metaverse fund for wealthy Asian clients earlier this year. The company said its asset management arm would manage its metaverse portfolio. HSBC unveiled the Metaverse Discretionary Strategy investment portfolio to provide wealthy Asians with options that will continue to improve over the coming years. The portfolio manager at HSBC Asset Management in London, Nicholas Dowell, expects the metaverse to become the next evolution of the internet.

Similarly, leading investment management firm Invesco has entered into Web3 with its metaverse fund. The company initiated the metaverse fund to focus on seven thematic segments of the Web3 space.

The metaverse is expected to be highly valuable over the next decade. Mckinsey recently placed an estimation of $5 trillion by 2030 on the fast-growing market. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) each projected the metaverse to be worth $8 trillion.