TOKYO -- Japanese soccer player Keisuke Honda is launching a venture fund with American movie star Will Smith this month, aiming to raise about $100 million from Japanese investors seeking inroads in budding U.S. startups.
Honda, fresh from Japan's run at the World Cup, and Smith will use their personal connections to find so-called unicorns -- unlisted companies worth $1 billion or more -- for Japanese institutional and deep-pocketed individual investors. Nomura Holdings plans to get on board to solicit investors.
