Nomura Strategic Ventures Announces Investment in OSARO

San Francisco, April 6, 2021 - Nomura Strategic Ventures, LLC (NSV) today announced an investment in Osaro Inc. (OSARO), a San Francisco startup developing AI-based software solutions for industrial automation.

The investment, which assumes the form of a growth capital term loan, was extended from Nomura's venture debt fund, Nomura Strategic Ventures Fund 1 (NSV Fund 1). The transaction will enable OSARO to raise flexible capital while minimizing dilution, and will also further the startup's strategic objective of connecting with the Japanese market.

NSV Fund 1 is an early- to mid-stage venture debt investor that makes debt investments in situations where it can assist with the go-to-market strategies for startups seeking access to the Japanese market. In order to achieve these objectives, NSV works closely with the sales and business-development teams of startups and leverages Nomura Group's strong network of relationships in Corporate Japan.

'Unlike other venture debt investors, we not only invest capital, but also facilitate the business-development objectives of startups like OSARO,' said Neeraj Hora, CEO of NSV. 'Through our recently launched Nomura-SRI Innovation Center, we expect to find more opportunities to source startups and next-generation technologies that have synergies with Corporate Japan.'

NSV is a subsidiary of Nomura Holding America Inc. and manages NSV Fund 1 as well as the investment activities of the Nomura Group's Financial Innovation office in the United States. NSV venture debt inquiries can be referred to Ryan Turner, a Managing Director at Nomura.

Derik Pridmore, CEO of OSARO, added: 'Given our strategic focus on Japan and Asia as primary markets for OSARO, we are excited to work with NSV, who will help facilitate the next leg of our business development and revenue diversification in Japan and beyond.'

'OSARO solutions help our customers move products. We provide a flexible, scalable way to augment picking labor in the grocery, cosmetic, apparel, and pharmaceutical industries. Our piece-picking systems have improved performance and efficiency for customers in e-commerce order fulfillment and intralogistics, including the world's top material-handling companies,' continued Pridmore.

'OSARO has achieved significant milestones in Japan over the last year, deploying systems across Japan and launching a new OSARO subsidiary, OSARO GK, in Tokyo. We're excited to work with Nomura and to continue to expand our sales and engineering organization in Japan.'

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