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Teppei Tsutsui

Investor in emerging tech that disrupts digital media and entertainment

Teppei Tsutsui is the Managing Partner of GFR Fund, a San Francisco-based venture capital fund focusing on early-stage startups in gaming, entertainment, and consumer technology.12 With over a decade of experience as an active investor, Tsutsui has led several key investments and acquisitions.14

Career Highlights

  • Managing Partner at GFR Fund since 20166
  • Previously worked at GREE, Inc. as Director of Investment (2014-2016) and Director of Corporate Planning / Strategic Finance (2011-2014)6
  • Former advisor on M&A strategy at Morgan Stanley1
  • Worked in business development at Mitsubishi Corporation in Japan1

Education

  • MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business2
  • Bachelor's degree in Law from Hitotsubashi University2
  • Attended an exchange program at Erasmus University Rotterdam6

Investment Focus

  • Typical investment size: $250k - $500k4
  • Invests in pre-seed, seed, and Series A rounds1
  • Sectors of interest: Gaming, VR/AR, AI, Video Streaming, and Blockchain1
  • Geographical focus: USA, with recent expansion into the UK and broader Europe7

Notable Investments

Tsutsui has been involved in several investments, including:

  • Orange (Seed round, $19M)5
  • Magma (Seed round, $5M)5
  • RedKangaroo (Pre-Seed round, $1M)5
  • Omeda Studios (Seed round, $2M)5
  • RTFKT (virtual shoe company acquired by Nike)3

Tsutsui is known for his expertise in the Asian market and his role in GREE's acquisitions of OpenFeint and Funzio.12

Highlights

Apr 25 · linkedin

🚀🚀🚀 Exciting News 🚀🚀🚀

Here is an exciting announcement from Sanlo, one of GFR Fund companies in the mobile gaming space!

The Sanlo Webshop platform is now open. Sanlo Webshop empowers game developers with new avenues for monetization. Their platform opens doors to exciting possibilities, enabling developers to connect directly with their players and unlock better business model economics.

Always been amazed by the visions and creativity of its founders, Olya Caliujnaia and William Liu. Really enjoy working with them and look forward to building something big together!

Learn more 👉https://lnkd.in/e3bdBd5X

Mar 12 · linkedin

GFR Fund is little known to founders, especially outside gaming. We're a small, game & consumer-focused fund that prefers to be behind the scenes. We have invested in 70+ companies globally, and here are three highlight investments that show who we are and what we're looking for in founders.

We wrote the first check in VRChat Inc. at their seed round in late 2015. VR was still nascent, and many other social VR companies had raised tons of money. But we wanted to work with Graham Gaylor & Jesse Joudrey because it was the only company with a passionate community. By now, most of the others have disappeared, and VRChat has become a central place for VR users to hang out.

We also wrote the first check in RTFKT when Benoit Pagotto Chris Le Steven Vasilev were just about to start a new company that connects gaming and street fashion cultures. Three years later, you all know how RTFKT became one of the biggest brands in fashion and web3.

The third company is Omeda Studios. GFR led their seed round in early 2021. The conversation started when its founder Robbie Singh DMed me on Twitter. None of the three founders had worked in the game industry before, but we fell in love with the game and the community they built and decided to invest.

It's worth noting that all three companies were started by first-time founders. They are young, talented, and understand the target market and users really well. They're resilient but flexible, quick to adapt to new market trends, just like RTFKT founders jumped on the rise of NFT collectibles. They don't know the formula for success, unlike experienced industry execs, so they are open to trying new things.

Also, all these founders are very good at building the user community. VRChat now has one of the largest user bases in VR. RTFKT built a fantastic fan community on Instagram even before starting a company. Omeda also had 50k+ users on Discord waiting for its game launch. Lots of those Omeda fans reached out to me and thanked me when Omeda announced its fundraising, which is insane.

If you're coming to GDC and would like to meet with us, please visit our Office Hour on Weds, 3/20. Look forward to meeting with lots of founders!

#gdc2024 #gaming #consumer #founders #funding #officehours

Related Questions

What are some of the key investments led by Teppei Tsutsui?
How did Teppei Tsutsui's role at Morgan Stanley influence his investment strategy?
What makes GFR Fund unique in the venture capital industry?
How did Teppei Tsutsui discover RTFKT, the virtual shoe company acquired by Nike?
What sectors does GFR Fund primarily focus on?
Teppei Tsutsui
Teppei Tsutsui, photo 1
Teppei Tsutsui, photo 2
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Location

San Francisco Bay Area