Japanese striker Keisuke Honda swaps football for finance

Keisuke Honda and Will Smith

Japanese footballer Keisuke Honda, 32, has launched a venture capital fund with Hollywood star Will Smith to invest in startups addressing social problems, his agent said yesterday.

The Dreamers Fund, set up in April in Los Angeles, aims to raise about $100 million from investors, with Japanese brokerage giant Nomura Holdings serving as "the anchor investor", Honda's management firm KSK Group said.

"I hope to change the lives of people in the US, Japan and the world for the better through the Dreamers Fund," Honda said quoted as saying in the statement. The former AC Milan striker announced his retirement from the game after Japan's World Cup exit in a last-gasp defeat to Belgium.

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