The duo aim to raise $100 million from interested Japanese investors and connect them with U.S. entrepreneurs in the start-up industry to foster a new business relationship.

AceShowbiz - Hollywood heavyweight Will Smith has joined forces with Japanese soccer star Keisuke Honda to launch a new investment fund.

The unlikely duo aims to raise $100 million (£76.6 million) from interested Japanese investors and connect them with U.S. entrepreneurs in the start-up industry to foster a new business relationship, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Further details about the company will be unveiled later this month, but the Nikkei Japanese business daily states investments will be made in a variety of sectors, not just in the fields of sports and entertainment.

Will and Keisuke are also expected to personally interview potential investees.

The new partners are said to have grown close through the sportsman's management firm, Honda Estilo, to which the Independence Day star and his rapper/actor son Jaden Smith are both signed in Japan.

Will also supported Honda during the FIFA World Cup in Russia, and gave him a shout out at a pre-match press conference in Moscow on Sunday, July 15, when he teamed up with Latin star Nicky Jam and Kosovar singer Era Istrefi to perform the tournament's official song, Live It Up, during the closing ceremony before the big final between France and Croatia.

"You know who else I like? Keisuke Honda," he told reporters, when asked about his favourite players. "We have a little bit of a relationship. Keisuke is the truth. I like his heart. He is a really authentic, good dude".

Keisuke already has experience as an angel investor, a person who provides funding for business start-ups usually in exchange for ownership equity, while Will owns his own production banner, Overbrook Entertainment, and co-founded the JUST water company with Jaden in 2015 in a bid to help reduce the amount of plastic waste across the globe by packaging spring water in paper-based cartons.

Follow AceShowbiz.com @ Google News

You can share this post!

You might also like
Related Posts