Money Forward Venture Partners is a wholly owned subsidiary of Money Forward that says it operates almost like an independent VC because over 90% of its fund comes from outside investors, and it uses Money Forward’s back-office, sales, PR, and recruiting resources to help portfolio companies without requiring them to fit the parent company’s business agenda; it also acts as a hub connecting startups with investors, governments, universities, and regional banks, shown concretely through its ongoing "Key Site" collaboration with The Kiyo Bank for regional startup work. The fund keeps an unusually close relationship with its investors, having brought 16 people on as secondees over time, and has moved fast, producing three IPOs and one acquisition within about three and a half years while returning roughly half its invested capital to backers, then launching a new follow-on fund in 2025 to keep supporting its strongest companies—all while describing venture capital’s contribution as less than 1 percent of the risk entrepreneurs themselves take on.