Nomura International

Nomura International, based in London, serves as a significant European arm of Nomura Holdings, a prominent global financial services group headquartered in Japan. While Nomura International's primary activities revolve around wholesale banking, including the trading and sale of fixed income and equity products, the broader Nomura group actively engages in strategic investments. These investments are typically channeled through entities like Nomura Strategic Investments (NSI), which functions as the corporate venture arm.

NSI's investment mandate is distinct from that of a traditional venture capital firm. Instead of solely seeking financial returns from early-stage startups across diverse sectors, NSI focuses on strategic alignments. Its investments primarily target companies in financial technology (fintech), digital assets, and other innovative areas that complement or enhance Nomura's core financial services business. This approach aims to foster innovation, explore new business models, and potentially integrate emerging technologies into Nomura's operations. For instance, Nomura has participated in substantial funding rounds, including a $48 million Series B for digital asset securities firm Securitize and a $129 million Series D for data analytics company Quantexa.

Given the strategic and opportunistic nature of these investments, and the fact that Nomura International is fundamentally an investment bank rather than a dedicated venture capital fund, defining typical "first cheque" sizes can be challenging. Their investment sizes vary widely depending on the strategic importance of the target company, its stage of development, and the overall funding round dynamics. However, based on their strategic investment activities, initial commitments can range from smaller, highly strategic early-stage infusions to more substantial participations in later rounds where they are a new, significant investor.