Real Madrid's English midfielder Jude Bellingham celebrates scoring a goal at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid.
OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP via Getty ImagesReal Madrid, the richest soccer club in the world, has launched a startup accelerator in Asia and has partnered with some of the largest startup support groups and venture capital firms in the region to help scout for promising young companies.
The startup accelerator, called Real Madrid Next Accelerator for Asia, is accepting applications until April and the program will end with a demo day in December. Real Madrid, which ranked No. 1 on Forbes’ world’s most valuable soccer teams list last year, has partnered with Japanese startup database and support program operator Creww to help run the accelerator.
Creww will help scout and evaluate startups for Real Madrid Next Accelerator for Asia, which will then select 10 startups for the program. The accelerator is seeking startups in the fields of athlete performance, audiovisual content, digital health, cybersecurity, fan engagement and social network. The selected startups will have opportunities to work with Real Madrid and its sponsors like healthcare giant Abbott and tech companies such as Adobe and HP.
Creww’s CEO, Sorato Ijichi, tells Forbes Asia in an interview that his company is teaming up with Tokyo-based Protocol, an online network of startups and investors founded by former Japanese soccer star-turned-investor Keisuke Honda, to raise a $10 million to $20 million fund to invest in the selected startups. Real Madrid might separately invest in the startups, adds Ijichi.
Keisuke Honda in 2018 while playing for the Japanese national team.
Jeroen Meuwsen/Soccrates/Getty ImagesTo help scout for startups across Asia, Real Madrid Next Accelerator for Asia has partnered with some of the largest startup support groups and VC firms in the region. They include Philippine tycoon Manuel Pangilinan’s Ideaspace; Singapore-based Saison Capital, the VC arm of Mizuho-backed Japanese credit card company Credit Saison; Malaysia’s Opt-In Studio; Impactto in Indonesia; Indian state-run Kerala Startup Mission; Seoul-based Tap Angel Partners; and Techsauce Media and Present Ventures, both based in Thailand.
Ideaspace and Tap Angel Partners, whose portfolio includes semiconductor startup Mobilint, might also invest in the selected startups, says Ijichi. Real Madrid Next Accelerator for Asia is looking for more partners to help scout for startups and is currently in talks with potential partners in Singapore and Taiwan, he says.
The Japanese startup market is already well covered by Creww, which, according to Ijichi, has three-quarters of the country’s startups in its database. Domestic venture capital firms like Dawn Capital, the VC arm of Japanese mobile games developer Akatsuki, and Incubate Fund (which has backed the likes of Agrist, which made the Forbes Asia 100 to Watch list in 2021, and space startup Ispace), are also helping with the scouting.
Some of the wealthiest people in Asia are involved in soccer and have businesses related to the sport. Asian tycoons who own soccer clubs include Singaporeans Forrest Li (local club Lion City Sailors) and Peter Lim (Valencia), Malaysian Vincent Tan (Cardiff City) and Thai Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha (Leicester City). In 2021, Lim and his son Kiat founded a digital soccer community called ZujuGP that’s fronted by Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo.
Update: March 15, 2024
This article has been updated to include Saison Capital, Opt-In Studio and Present Ventures as partners of Real Madrid Next Accelerator for Asia.
