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Top 50 Artificial intelligence Startup Investors in Japan in November 2024

Last updated: Nov 2024 A list of 50 angel investors and VC (Venture Capital) funds that invest in Artificial intelligence startups based in Japan. We rank investors based on the number of investments they made in Artificial intelligence companies from Japan. We update this investor list every month.

Top 50 Artificial intelligence Startup Investors in Japan in November 2024

Investor	Artificial intelligence Japan investments
Global Brain Corporation	17
Mitsubishi UFJ Capital	15
ANRI	15
Mizuho Capital	14
Archetype Ventures	13
UTEC - The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners	13
SMBC Venture Capital	11
DNX Ventures	11
Japan Finance Corporation	9
ANOBAKA	8
Incubate Fund	7
East Ventures	7
MIRAISE	7
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation	7
XTech Ventures	6
Mizuho Bank	6
Deep30	6
MITSUI SUMITOMO INSURANCE Venture Capital (MSIVC)	5
Genesia Ventures	5
Japan Finance Corporation	5
Monex Ventures	5
Delight Ventures	5
Kotaro Chiba	4
KDDI Open Innovation Fund	4
Kotaro Chiba	4
Globis Capital Partners	4
Vector	4
Chiba Dojo	4
Daiwa Corporate Investment	4
Innovation Network Corporation of Japan	4
Future Venture Capital	4
UTokyo Innovation Platform	4
Nippon Venture Capital	4
SBI Investment	4
Venture Labo Investment	4
Nissay Capital	4
DBJ Capital	4
Globe Advisors	4
Drone Fund	4
Senshu Ikeda Capital	4
Canal Ventures	3
DOGAN beta	3
D4V	3
Masao Ito	3
STRIVE	3
SPARX Group	3
Sagin Capital & Consulting	3
Mint	3
Mobile Internet Capital	3
MTG Ventures	3

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Investor list

Global Brain Corporation is a venture capital firm that invests in companies from seed or early to pre-IPO startups. Global Brain has invested in 300+ startups from seed/early to pre-IPO startups and achieved 25 IPOs and 61 M&As as a result of providing hands-on support services and resources to its portfolio startups. Global Brain hasmanaged a pure investment fund as well as multiple corporate venture capital funds partnered together with tier 1 public companies of telecom, real estate development, financial service, beverages, agriculture food, logistics, and electronic devices.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence
Series A, Series B, Funding Round
Japan, United States, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

Poetics — Poetics is an AI startup that develops communication related products concerning language and voice to provide business solutions.
Endophyte — Endophyte specializes in endophytic soil solutions, harnessing beneficial microorganisms to plant growth and agricultural productivity.
Qlay — Qlay is an AI-automated global engineer hiring platform

Mitsubishi UFJ Capital is a venture capital firm focusing on life science, ICT, and high technology investments.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Software, Health Care
Funding Round, Series A, Series B
Japan, United States, China

Portfolio highlights

A-Wave — A-Wave is a manufacturing company that develops and markets medical devices, pharmaceuticals, computer software, and hardware.
Tribeau — Tribute is a word-of-mouth app for aesthetic medicine for cosmetic surgeries, cosmetic dermatologists, and orthodontists who are not covered by health insurance.
AI model — AI model specializes in the development and transformation of real-like virtual models for modeling on E-commerce platforms.

ANRI is a Japanese venture capital firm that mainly invests in seed and early-stage startups.

Investment focus

Health Care, Information Technology, Software
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, United States, India

Portfolio highlights

Sukidayo — Sukidayo is a startup company that offers social services related to family and workshops for individuals, companies, and governments.
Crowd Chem — Crowd Chem is an IT company that specializes in software development, data services, and consulting services.
Tanp — Gracia is an EC business and media business that provides coloring precious moments and enriching human connections.

Mizuho is the venture capital firm affiliated to Mizuho Bank, the second-largest Japanese bank in terms of assets. The firm has headquarters in Tokyo.The firm has ¥49.6 billion JPY under management, focusing on information technology and biotechnology investments. Over 600 Mizuho companies have gone public. According to Nikkei, Mizuho is thefifth-largest venture capital firm in Japan.Mizuho Capital was formed in 2002 by the merger of Fujigin Capital, Tokyo Venture Capital and IBJ Investment. Three firms were subsidiaries of Fuji Bank, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan respectively.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Software, Internet
Funding Round, Series A, Series B
Japan, United States, China

Portfolio highlights

THE PHAGE — The phage is a medical device company that focuses on developing AI technology to predict postprandial blood glucose levels.
elleThermo — elleThermo aims to implement Semiconductor-Sensitised Thermal Cells (STCs), an energy conversion technology that can generate electricity from unused waste heat above room temperature.
Good News — Good News is a staffing agency that provides recruitment, public relations, and human resource management services.

Archetype Ventures is a venture capital firm specializing in B2B Tech seed and early stage venture investments.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

Dioseve — Dioseve is providing novel possibilities for all life.
Katagrma — KatagrMa is the first organization that optimizes the organization and human resources development.
Haul — Haul is a human resources company that provides recruitment consulting and marketing SaaS development services.

UTEC-The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners Co., Ltd.. UTEC is a seed/early stage technology focused venture capital firm associated with The University of Tokyo.

Investment focus

Biotechnology, Health Care, Medical
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
Japan, United States, Singapore

Portfolio highlights

Estie — Estie is a Development of AI / machine learning algorithm and new business in real estate company.
Liminal — Advanced battery inspection and metrology with ultrasound and machine learning
SUN METALON — Next Generation Sustainable Metal Manufacturing

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and its group companies offer a broad range of financial services centered on banking. They are also engaged in the leasing, securities, credit card, investment, mortgage securitization, venture capital and other credit related businesses. The following lists the activities of SMBC, its subsidiaries andaffiliates in the various business segments.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Health Care, Software
Funding Round, Series B, Series A
Japan, United States, Singapore

Portfolio highlights

Quanmatic — Quanmatic is an information and technology company that provides algorithms development and solutions to bridge quantum technologies.
Good News — Good News is a staffing agency that provides recruitment, public relations, and human resource management services.
Okuma Diamond Device — Okuma Diamond Device supplies cutting-edge technologies that make diamond semiconductors vital.

DNX Ventues is an early stage VC firm focusing on B2B Startups that are shaping industries and transforming the way we live and work.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, SaaS
Seed, Series A, Series B
Japan, United States, Canada

Portfolio highlights

Butlr — Butlr protects people's health and well-being during the coronavirus pandemic with a low-cost thermal imaging system that captures people’s behavior in indoor and outdoor environments. Butlr’s proprietary hardware pairs with advanced AI to gain insight into people’s movements in physical space, providing actionable intelligence to assistedliving, homes, and public spaces, all while safeguarding privacy. Butlr is a spin-off from the MIT Media Lab. Butlr’s sensor network captures human dynamics through state-of-art sensory monitoring and AI, understanding users’ needs to achieve a seamless automation experience, preventing risk, and monitoring health. Responsive architecture is a vision of a future where the built environment is as customizable as a streaming music podcast, based on simple, intelligent architectural objects. The natural world is in a constant state of flux; combinations of moisture, breeze and temperature change continuously. When we are inside our buildings, however, our environment loses its dynamism, and we’re forced to constantly tweak the conditions to achieve optimal comfort. Responsive architecture uses intelligent objects to mirror the processes of the natural world, creating environments and “microclimates” that are suited to individuals or small groups based on the heat signature of their bodies. Today the team at Butlr uses small, low-cost sensors to track the motions and body heat of Each person has a biometric heat signature as unique as a fingerprint. The Butlr sensors recognize an individual’s heat signature, and can modify room temperature and lighting for ideal comfort. Unlike cameras that track and record faces, the Butlr system relies on a heat signature, which is unique, but cannot be used to trace your identity. Starting from home applications, the future vision for responsive architecture is to empower cities with networks of heat sensors that can make cities responsive, predicting and responding to vehicle flows, pedestrian density, and weather conditions on the fly. Using thermal data provides many news layers of interaction not possible with cameras.
Crisp — Crisp connects data between retailers, distributors, and brands to power real-time insights across the supply chain.
Planetary Technologies — info@planetarytech.com

Japan Finance provides a diversified portfolio of financial services to the small and medium enterprise sector.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, Internet
Debt Financing, Funding Round, Seed
Japan, India, Hong Kong

Portfolio highlights

Meleap — HADO is a new sport utilizing the leading AR technology with players wearing a head mounted display and an armband sensor to compete against each other by using the ‘energy ball’ or ‘shield’ and earn points in a three-on-three, eighty-minutes game between two teams.
Tanaakk — TANAAKK provides “HITSERIES”, Growth-as-a-Service especially for Fortune Global 500 in-house startups to migrate R&D fruits into cloud-native scalable SaaS. HITSERIES delivers reference architecture, platform and related DevOps, RevOps, EquityOps services. There is annually US$190 R&D expenditure solely in Japan. TANAAKK find growth optionin R&D, selecting right cloud business scheme and enabling liquidity for discounted intellectual assets. Usually supporting conglomerate to achieve new $100M SaaS revenue in 5 years.
Shiftmation — Axiverse creates an environment where employees shift automatic creation service using artificial intelligence to create a better society.

ANOBAKA is a Tokyo-based venture capital firm with rich group resources to add value to seed-stage startups. ANOBAKA actively invests in and supports startups aiming to be a global leader in the innovative Internet business and promising to greatly grow up in the future. ANOBAKA's investment focuses on fledgling seed-stage startups. Inaddition to investment financing, ANOBAKA provides founders with a variety of business support such as development consulting by our engineers, sales support, and international marketing support.

Investment focus

Software, Content, Food and Beverage
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, United States, India

Portfolio highlights

JOYCLE — JOYCLE is a waste management company that specializes in trash recycling, disposal, and environmental consulting services.
Livetoon — Livetoon creates intellectual property characters to access various content artificial intelligence.
Nekonome — Nekonome creates a game platform with global character designs, in-game updates, and regular events, providing a personalized gaming experience based on data.

Incubate Fund is an independent early-stage venture capital that specializes in providing capital to technology startups at the seed stage. The firm built a portfolio of over 300 companies in Asia, taking 12 companies to public and 20 companies to M&A exit since 2010.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, E-Commerce
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, United States, India

Portfolio highlights

Vieu — Learn about us, our team, our backers and the story behind Vieu.
KOMPEITO — Office de Yasai is an online platform that enables users to order and get vegetables delivered to their offices. The platform’s operations are based in Tokyo, Japan.
Phi — Phi is a social gaming platform that focuses on 'on-chain Identity' using ENS and wallet activity. It allows users to build their web3 cities based on their wallet activities. The platform also offers a variety of features such as Silver Gas Saver, Supersonic Bat, Gold Gas Saver, Hypersonic Bat, Iron Gas Guzzler, and Ethereum Wallpaper.Phi also provides a user guide for its users to understand how to play and access Phi Land, and how to create their Phi Land. The platform is designed to be immersive and interactive, providing a unique gaming experience for its users.

East Ventures is an early stage venture capital (VC) focused on Southeast Asia, Indonesia & Japan. Success cases include Tokopedia, Traveloka, and Mercari.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, E-Commerce
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
Japan, Indonesia, Singapore

Portfolio highlights

SoLeLands — SoLeLands provides children with future-ready skills, virtues, and applied competences and inspires children to love learning.
Maka Motors — MAKA is dedicated to building the best electric motorcycles for Indonesian riders.
Zenith Learning Group — Zenith Learning Group's mission is to deliver a holistic, world-class education to learners across South East Asia through technology.

We are engineers investing in engineers. With experienced mentors, MIRAISE supports you hands-if basis, for business model, financial planning and presentation. All founders of our potfolio automatically join MIRAISE online community that gives you the peer-learning opportunities with other founders. Join us updating the normal!

Investment focus

Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Consulting
Seed, Funding Round, Pre-Seed
Japan, United States, Estonia

Portfolio highlights

CuboRex — CuboRex realizes creative mobility using its crawler technology.
Zenmetry — Zenmetry primarily engages in the development of web services and business consulting.
SUSHI TOP MARKETING — SUSHI TOP MARKETING is an IT company that offers marketing, NFT utilization, and consulting services.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation offers a broad range of financial services centered on banking. They are also engaged in leasing, securities, credit card, investment, mortgage securitization, venture capital, and other credit-related businesses. The following lists the activities of SMBC, its subsidiaries, and affiliates in the various businesssegments.It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. As of the year 2009, SMBC was the second largest bank in Japan in terms of assets.

Investment focus

Financial Services, Finance, Energy
Debt Financing, Funding Round, Post-IPO Debt
Japan, United States, India

Portfolio highlights

Sakana AI — We are creating a new kind of foundation model based on nature-inspired intelligence.
Twelve — Twelve is a carbon transformation company converting captured carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals, fuels, and other essential products. Their technology eliminates emissions by turning CO2 into essential products that are made from fossil fuels. They specialize in the fields of CO2 electrocatalysis and electrochemical reactor design.
Urth — Urth is an IT company that specializes in architectural design by providing corporations with a metaverse for architects' business models.

XTech Ventures aims to achieve dramatic growth for investee companies by supporting entrepreneurship, multifaceted management support, and IPO support for the excellent middle class who are enthusiastic about entrepreneurship.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, Media and Entertainment
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, Italy, United Arab Emirates

Portfolio highlights

Logo Labo — Logo Labo provides branding and marketing services, including brand development, formulation, IT-based branding and marketing support.
Batton — Batton is a product-developing company that sells AI-enabled RPA buttons and AI formats that allow papers to be automatically formatted.
OpenMoney — OpenMoney is a company that offers information related to financial services.

Mizuho Bank is a commercial bank that began operation on July 1, 2013, with its headquarters in Tokyo in Japan. It offers corporate and investment banking services to major corporations, financial institutions, and public sector entities. It also provides current and ordinary, deposits at notice, time, and specified deposits, deposits for tax,nonresident deposits in yen, foreign currency deposits, negotiable time deposits and loans by bill, loans on a deed, and overdrafts as well as discounts for bank acceptances, commercial papers, and documentary bills. Moreover, it offers investment banking and custodial, syndication, bond administrative, real estate finance, acquisition finance and corporate restructuring, project, and asset finance services, settlement and asset management services. It operates as a subsidiary of Mizuho Financial Group.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Software, Internet
Debt Financing, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, Singapore, United States

Portfolio highlights

avatarin — avatarin develops next-generation mobility and human augmentation platforms.
AALTO HAPS — The AALTO Zephyr is the most persistent fixed-wing High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) on the planet, capable of flying in the stratosphere for days, weeks, months at a time.
Akaysha Energy — Discover innovative and sustainable renewable energy solutions with Akaysha Energy. Powering Australia's future with clean, reliable energy.

Deep30 is specializing in AI technologies such as deep learning that consists of individuals connected to the University of Tokyo’s Matsuo Lab, which is famous for AI research.

Investment focus

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Content
Seed, Funding Round, Series B
Japan, Singapore

Portfolio highlights

ACES — ACES is providing image recognition algorithms such as object recognition and face and expression recognition
DeepCraft — DeepCraft is an AI development company that provides a wide range of AI and data analysis services to enhance corporate competitiveness.
Polaris.AI — Polaris.AI offers AI contract development, support and AI technology education services.

MSIVC is a venture capital firm that invests in Japanese and global startups scaling to IPO. It focuses on startups in verticals of Fintech, SaaS, Healthcare, AI, E-Commerce, Foodtech, and Environment etc.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, Food and Beverage
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan, United States, India

Portfolio highlights

AssetHub — AssetHub is an AI-powered 3D modeling tool that enables game developers to create and edit 3D assets 100 times faster, enabling mass production of content and combining AI with manual work, enabling faster prototyping and editing.
Drone Show Japan — Drone Show Japan company specializes in drone shows for events, aerial photography, and workshops.
Okuma Diamond Device — Okuma Diamond Device supplies cutting-edge technologies that make diamond semiconductors vital.

Genesia Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on seed/early stage startups in Japan and Southeast Asia. Since it's inception in Dec 2016, Genesia Ventures has invested in over 90 companies in Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and the US. Genesia Ventures invests in various sectors: SaaS, marketplace, Media, Finance, Insurance,RealEstate, Healthcare, Medical, Travel, Education, Manufacturing, Construction, HR, Agriculture, Sports, Retail, Entertainment, etc.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Software, Content
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia

Portfolio highlights

Flucle — Flucle provides company rule building and risk mitigation, cloud advisor, human resource development, training & labor management services.
Haul — Haul is a human resources company that provides recruitment consulting and marketing SaaS development services.
Logipeace — Logipeace is a SaaS communication platform that offers semi-automation of logistics operations and communication using generative AI.

Japan Finance provides a diversified portfolio of financial services to the small and medium enterprise sector.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, Internet
Debt Financing, Funding Round, Seed
Japan, Hong Kong

Portfolio highlights

Emunitas — Emunitas is an on job training platform that provides career counselling and recruitment services to students.
Onestruction — Onestruction is an IT firm that offers construction solution development, 3D model and document creation, and operational support services.
Metaverse Creators — Metaverse Creators is a feature-rich virtual platform providing gamers with a wide range of games, creation tools, and avatar editing tools.

Monex Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Japan that finances seed and early stage investments in startup companies.

Investment focus

Software, Financial Services, Information Technology
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
Japan, United States, China

Portfolio highlights

Degas — Degas develops solutions to improve the productivity of small-scale farmers in Africa.
pickupon — Pickupon is a company that transcribes important parts of the call
MoneyDuck — MoneyDuck - Making Smart Financial Decision

Delight Ventures is a venture capital firm that thoroughly reduces the hurdles of entrepreneurship in Japan and supports entrepreneurs in the world. Entrepreneurship is taken as a natural career path, and we aim to be a society where both successful and unsuccessful people can continue to take on challenges.

Investment focus

Software, Service Industry, Human Resources
Seed, Series A, Series B
Japan, United States, South Korea

Portfolio highlights

10pct. — 10pct. is a consulting firm that provides hotel management, marketing, and operation support services to its clients.
Coopel — Coopel is an RPA that allows beginners to easily automate daily tasks and make work efficient.
PartnerProp — PartnerProp is a PRM tool with outstanding potential and a wide variety of capabilities that resolves all partner business difficulties.

Kotaro Chiba is the founder of ChibaDojo Fund. Kotaro Chiba attended Keio University.

Investment focus

Travel, Internet, Software
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

MI-6 — MI-6 is a research, development, consulting, and project management for material development using IT. We will promote materials informatics in the field of material development with our technological capabilities and a wealth of project knowledge that challenge the world's most advanced technologies .
ELESTYLE — ELESTYLE are promoting mobile payments and providing high value-added services for users to realize a cashless society.
Luup — Luup is an Internet Company.

KDDI Open Innovation Fund is a corporate venture capital fund that will support promising startup companies. Total size of the fund is JPY10 billion. This is the first corporate venture capital fund established by KDDI. The fund will be managed by Global Brain Corporation (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO, Yasuhiko Yurimoto),which has a strong track record in the venture capital business. By combining KDDI’s know-how and assets with Global Brain’s investment and management support capabilities, we will work together to accelerate cooperative activities with promising startup companies. Through this fund, as well as "KDDI ∞ Labo," a startup incubation program currently inviting a second round of applications, we will continue to support the growth of the next startup companies.

Investment focus

Software, Mobile, Internet
Funding Round, Series B, Series A
Japan, United States, Germany

Portfolio highlights

DataMesh — DataMesh empowers conventional enterprises to adopt intelligent design, accelerate service deployment, and execute cost-effective planning processes by leveraging Digital Twin and Mixed Reality technologies.
THINKR — THINKR provides advertising, video production, content, UX design, and animation services.
Turing — Turing develops and manufactures fully autonomous vehicles.

Kotaro Chiba is the founder of ChibaDojo Fund. Kotaro Chiba attended Keio University.

Investment focus

Internet, Drones, Software
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

MI-6 — MI-6 is a research, development, consulting, and project management for material development using IT. We will promote materials informatics in the field of material development with our technological capabilities and a wealth of project knowledge that challenge the world's most advanced technologies .
ELESTYLE — ELESTYLE are promoting mobile payments and providing high value-added services for users to realize a cashless society.
Luup — Luup is an Internet Company.

Globis Capital Partners (GCP) is a venture capital firm in Japan. With its combination of local business presence through Globis Group and the experience of Western VC experience, GCP has set new VC standards in Japan, with hands-on, and in-depth industry expertise.

Investment focus

Internet, Software, Information Technology
Funding Round, Series A, Series B
Japan, United States, Israel

Portfolio highlights

Newmo — newmo delivers sustainable local public transportation create a user experience (UX) that people may utilize with peace of mind and comfort.
Leaner Technologies — Leaner Technologies provides cloud-based software for cost reduction analysis.
Okuma Diamond Device — Okuma Diamond Device supplies cutting-edge technologies that make diamond semiconductors vital.

Vector is a Japan-based PR agency that provides PR planning and implementation services for its clients. The agency also offers other services covering areas such as management, finance, accounting, human resources, administration, internal controls, and audits. Vector was founded in 1993.

Investment focus

Media and Entertainment, Software, Marketing
Funding Round, Seed, Corporate Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Nailie — Nailie is an app that lets you connect to a nail specialists just for you.
xxxxnese — xxxxnese is a logistics company that focuses on import, export, domestic sales, influencer marketing, and software development businesses.
AstroX — AstroX is a private space startup company that develops satellite launch vehicles for space development. It utilizes the rockoon method for developing launch vehicles and small rockets to help clients easily use space.

Chiba Dojo is an entrepreneurial community that supports startup companies in various stages from seed to pre-IPO.

Investment focus

Information Technology, E-Commerce, Content
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
Japan, Singapore, United States

Portfolio highlights

Nstock — Nstock is specialized in developing SAAS based applications for ecosystem.
Oyraa Inc. — Oyraa provides online meetings and conference apps. Their interpreters will help you communicate not only in business but also in personal situations, such as in hospitals and real estate agencies.
Domuz — Domuz is a firm that wants to utilize technology and design to create a lifestyle that makes potted plants and flowers more comfortable.

Daiwa Corporate Investment is a private investment firm of Daiwa Securities Group that has been engaged in overseas VC investments by taking advantage of an extensive business network in Japan and foreign countries, long experience and professional knowledge, and by supporting the growth of a number of overseas portfolio companies and their stockexchange listings.

Investment focus

Software, Task Management, Internet
Funding Round, Series A, Seed
Japan, France, Singapore

Portfolio highlights

GITAI — GITAI is a robotics startup for space development. The company aims to replace astronauts with robots that can work for a long time while being remotely controlled from earth while in low earth orbit space stations to decrease the burden on astronauts, shorten the time it takes to perform work in space, and reduce costs.
COUNTERWORKS — Counter works is an Information technology company.
Nippon Hydropowtech — Nippon Hydropowtech uses proprietary technology and experience in hydrolysate production to investigate new food applications.

Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) is a public-private partnership aimed at promoting innovation and enhancing value.Leveraging the rich history of Japanese technological prowess, INCJ aims to provide financial, technological and management support in order to promote the creation of next-generation businesses through “openinnovation,” or the flow of technology and expertise beyond the boundaries of existing organizational structures.INCJ will draw on funding as well as management and technological expertise from the public and private sectors. INCJ is actively reviewing various investment opportunities in areas of green energy, electronics, IT and biotechnology to infrastructure-related sectors such as water supply. Each investment will be thoroughly vetted to ensure it meets the exacting standards of INCJ's Innovation Network Committee, which will make the final investment decisions.INCJ is capitalized at 280 billion yen, with the Japanese government injecting 266 billion yen and 26 private corporations (refer to details in Appendix below) providing a further 14 billion yen. The government will also provide guarantees up to a total of 1,800 billion yen for INCJ investments, giving it an investment capability of approximately 2,000 billion yen. INCJ will be established for a period of 15 years.

Investment focus

Manufacturing, Software, Robotics
Funding Round, Series B, Series A
Japan, United States, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

Cloudian — Cloudian provides exabyte-scale storage for your capacity-intensive workloads: S3-compatible storage for on-prem, hybrid cloud, and multi-cloud.
Seajacks — Cadeler is a global leader in offshore wind farm construction, maintenance, and decommissioning.
Vehicle Energy Japan — Vehicle Energy Japan specializes in development, manufacturing and sales of automotive lithium-ion batteries.

Future Venture Capital Co., Ltd. is a venture capital firm specializing in early stage investment. The firm invests in diversified investment in a broad range of industrial sectors. It seeks to invest in Japan. The firm prefers to be the lead investor in its portfolio companies. Future Venture Capital Co., Ltd. was founded in 1998 and is based inKyoto, Japan with offices in Tokyo, Aomori, Iwate, Yamagata, Kanazawa, Mie, Sakai, Kobe, and Ehime.

Investment focus

Health Care, Information Technology, Manufacturing
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan, United States, Myanmar

Portfolio highlights

Flucle — Flucle provides company rule building and risk mitigation, cloud advisor, human resource development, training & labor management services.
Dioseve — Dioseve is providing novel possibilities for all life.
Second Heart — Second Heart is a medical center that offers preventive diabetic care and awareness programs to avoid foot amputations.

The University of Tokyo IPC is a company responsible for expanding the innovation ecosystem of the University of Tokyo. Accelerate global innovation from the University of Tokyo through three activities: start-up support, investment business, and corporate innovation support.It was established as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the University ofTokyo in 2016 with the enforcement of the revised law of the Industrial Competitiveness Enhancement Law, which is the basis law. The investment targets of the Todai IPC are venture companies that utilize the research results and human resources of the University of Tokyo, but they also make FOF (fund of funds) investments in funds managed by some private venture capital companies. In 2019, it started a consortium-type incubation program (University of Tokyo IPC 1stRound) to support the establishment and financing of Tokyo University-related ventures.

Investment focus

Biotechnology, Medical, Manufacturing
Series A, Funding Round, Series B
Japan, United States, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

OOYOO — OOYOO Co., Ltd. is a DeepTech venture that combines international entrepreneurial spirit, and a 'Made In Japan' excellence, to bring the latest innovations in clean technology to society for a smarter, cleaner, and more mobile world.
Visban — Visban is a technology company that specializes in utilizing mmWave signals for connectivity both indoors and outdoors. Their primary focus is on providing reliable and fast network solutions that eliminate dead spots and offer uninterrupted connections. By utilizing mmWave signals, Visban can achieve this with fewer base stations, leading to moreenergy-efficient operations and extended battery life for mobile devices on their network.
Trans-N — Trans-N aims to introduce advanced AI technologies, accelerating digital transformation and promoting its AI transformation. Trans-N offers management consulting, AI system development, and sales of AI-related products, including meeting minutes and contract analysis tools, serving major trading companies.

Nippon Venture Capital ("NVCC"), established in 1996 as one of the few largest Japanese independent venture capital firms, is destined to undertake the unprecedented task of providing full-range venture capital services in cooperation with major Japanese business leaders and leading companies, which have supported and nurtured various newbusinesses on their own, as well as proactively developing new venture enterprises.

Investment focus

Software, Health Care, Information Technology
Funding Round, Series A, Seed
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

Rege Nephro — Rege Nephro is a biotech company that specialized in R&D, production and marketing of renal disease therapeutics.
Renalys Pharma — Renalys Pharma is a private, late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical firm in Japan dedicated on developing new therapies that address unmet needs in the management of renal illness in Japanese and Asian patients.
Arsaga Partners — Arsaga Partners, Inc., "develop with the fastest and highest quality" as concept, is a one-stop IT system development company.- All functions necessary for IT system development such as IT strategy consulting, UX/UI consulting, planning, engineering, designing, maintenance and operations are provided through our one-stop solution.- With engineers accounting for over 90% of our company structure we can work directly with our clients. - Our motto is to providing services at a reasonable cost without outsourcing and to bring our Japanese omotenashi spirit to our development services. - We think of Digital transformation (DX) Not as a trendy word, but as IT system development that truly contributes to our clients' business needs.Main Services - One-stop IT System Development Business, Start-up/New IT Business Consulting, Enterprise System/New Business Planning and Development(Digital Transformation/DX), Web System Planning and Development, Application Planning and DevelopmentKey Clients - Nippon Steel Kowa Real Estate Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Estate, ShionogiV-CUBE, Mizuho Securities, Sciseed inc.

SBI Investment supports the business development and growth of private venture companies through fund investment. It manages and manages venture capital funds under the management philosophy of becoming a leading company responsible for the creation and development of core industries in the 21st century as a "new industry creator".SBIInvestment has invested in a total of 986 companies in the past, of which 169 (17.1% of investment companies) have exited through IPO or M & A.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Software, Financial Services
Series B, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, South Korea, United States

Portfolio highlights

BasiGo — BasiGo is an early-stage e-mobility start-up looking to revolutionize the public transportation sector by providing matatu owners with a cost-effective electric alternative to diesel buses.
AI model — AI model specializes in the development and transformation of real-like virtual models for modeling on E-commerce platforms.
Ultra Social — Ultra Social offers marketing support, management creator production, and tiktok live production services.

Venture Labo Investment is venture capital firm that provides financial supports to invested companies at each growth stage.

Investment focus

Financial Services, FinTech, Internet
Funding Round, Series B, Seed
Japan, Indonesia, South Korea

Portfolio highlights

SImount — SImount is a database management system platform that connects all data such as Excel, CSV, PDF. Moreover, It can utilize all the data related to business, leading to higher business efficiency and higher sales.
Uniforce — Uniforce helps businesses expand sustainably by providing cloud-based and consulting services.
Batton — Batton is a product-developing company that sells AI-enabled RPA buttons and AI formats that allow papers to be automatically formatted.

Nissay Capital is a venture capital Company specializing in seed, start-up, growth capital, middle stage, and later stage investment.

Investment focus

Health Care, Internet, Medical
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan, United States, Ethiopia

Portfolio highlights

Tribeau — Tribute is a word-of-mouth app for aesthetic medicine for cosmetic surgeries, cosmetic dermatologists, and orthodontists who are not covered by health insurance.
Space One — Space One specializes in the production and development of rockets and offers innovative solutions for space transportation services.
Qlay — Qlay is an AI-automated global engineer hiring platform

DBJ Capital Co., Ltd. was founded in June 2010 through the integration of two venture capital firms of the DBJ Group, New Business Investment Co., Ltd. and Intellectual Properties Development & Investment, Inc. We are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Development Bank of Japan Inc.At DBJ Capital, we focus on venture firms which use newtechnologies and business models to grow and compete on the global market, regardless of their industry or scale. To meet the particular needs of each client, we mobilize the entire DBJ Group to arrange the best investment solutions, ranging from growth-spurring equity investment to financing schemes drawing on DBJ's vast networks.We also assist in venture start-ups. Our value enhancement team provides the kind of comprehensive, hands-on support needed to commercialize outstanding intellectual property and technologies developed by firms, research labs, and universities, and to carve out a place for them in the market.DBJ Capital will continue to play in a part in Japan's economic revival - by helping the firms we invest in to grow, and by encouraging the creation of new industries in Japan.

Investment focus

Software, Health Care, Internet
Funding Round, Series A, Seed
Japan, United States, Australia

Portfolio highlights

KAKEAI — KAKEAI, an AIcloud system that improves the status of member management in the middle management layer as its main business.
DoctorMate — DoctorMate is a service that allows you to consult with your doctor about problems at your nursing home.They will reduce the risks and burdens related to medical care from the field of nursing care, and support the creation of a system that allows nursing care providers to concentrate on daily care with peace of mind.
Japan Carbon Cycle Lab — Japan Carbon Cycle Lab is a technology company that focuses on the research and development of CO2 capture and recycling techniques.

Globe Advisors is an independent investor that finds companies that are expected to grow significantly in the future. A growing company is one that a good manager and his team can put in a good product in a good market. Such companies are properly valued, funds for growth are raised and a better future is created. Globe Advisors wants to be acompany that can contribute to the creation of such a society.

Investment focus

SNS, Artificial Intelligence, Content
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, Switzerland

Portfolio highlights

Hutzper — Hutzper is a computing solution for the manufacturing industry specialized in image recognition and AI development.
initialpoint — initialpoint develops an authentication systems for the telecommunications industry, social infrastructure, and security solution companies.
Galapagos — Galapagos is a manufacturing company that focuses on results.They trying to create an application that produces results in the application market where only good things are evaluated.

Drone Fund is a venture capital firm that provides supports in IP strategy, innovative planning, and drone policy. It offers capital investment and financing and aims to create a Drone Ecosystem where LPs and startups can benefit from membership within the Drone Fund.

Investment focus

Drones, Robotics, Aerospace
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan, United States, Canada

Portfolio highlights

LOMBY — LOMBY is a logistic firm that delivers orders through its robotic machines.
Triorb — Triorb is a technology company that specializes in robot mobility development with the help of software and hardware solutions.
CuboRex — CuboRex realizes creative mobility using its crawler technology.

Senshu Ikeda Capital offers financial consultancy services.

Investment focus

Software, Internet, Information Technology
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan

Portfolio highlights

iYell — iYell Mortgage Platform consists of three pillars, Media that can be used for marketing, Technology to make the procedure more efficient.
Rege Nephro — Rege Nephro is a biotech company that specialized in R&D, production and marketing of renal disease therapeutics.
Good News — Good News is a staffing agency that provides recruitment, public relations, and human resource management services.

Canal Ventures is a corporate venture capital firm of the Nihon Unisys Group that invests in seed early phase startups.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Apps, Internet
Series A, Funding Round, Series B
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

MUSE — MUSE is a robotics company that provides robotic solutions for retail stores to support in-store operations.
Pinpin Kirari — Pinpin Kirari is a web platform that supports the region of the elderly.
SUSHI TOP MARKETING — SUSHI TOP MARKETING is an IT company that offers marketing, NFT utilization, and consulting services.

They believe that the fundamental challenge facing the local economy is the lack of employment diversity. Although it is a simple example, it is easier to understand if you compare the Tokyo metropolitan area with Kyushu and list the companies that can achieve annual income of 10 million yen at the age of 30 (probably with a head office in KyushuMost companies with the highest annual income will be infrastructure company

Investment focus

Internet, Task Management, Artificial Intelligence
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan

Portfolio highlights

LiLz — LiLz is an IT technology network for businesses looking to use AI and IoT to offer new services and value.
Geofra — Geofra develops Planning and creation of items that rejuvenate the movement of people in physical areas, regional revitalization initiatives
Tsukulink — Tsukulink is a job match matching platform for Japan’s construction industry.

D4V (Design for Ventures) is a Tokyo-based early-stage venture capital firm that invests in disruptive, consumer and enterprise technology startups.

Investment focus

Financial Services, Software, Apps
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, United States, Singapore

Portfolio highlights

Pragtech — Pragtech develops and operates parking lot service software that helps to eliminate payment congestion and reduce operating costs.
Genba Hub — Genba Hub specializes in providing business management systems for construction and maintenance enterprises.
SUN METALON — Next Generation Sustainable Metal Manufacturing

Masao Ito is a Founder & CEO at User Local.

Investment focus

Content, Information Technology, Social Media
Seed, Series A, Angel
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Illusil — Illusil is a service that makes it easier for anyone to generate slide materials and reduces the amount of time needed to do it. Additionally, presentations can be automatically generated from text input by AI, and over 1,000 design templates can be used to build original slides.
Cloudbase — Cloudbase is an information technology company that specializes in the fields of cloud services and management.
Driver Technologies — Driver Technologies is a cloud logistics platform provider. It provides a solution for driver matching and cargo vehicle demands.

STRIVE focuses on investing in early-stage (Seed to Series A) internet and mobile companies. It seeks out companies in Japan, Southeast Asia, and India with top-notch management teams and strong market potential. It is not tied to strategic investments for GREE Inc. and leverages its pan-Asia expertise for guiding its portfolio in an engaged,hands-on role.

Investment focus

Software, Internet, E-Commerce
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
Japan, India, Indonesia

Portfolio highlights

Asuene — Asuene involves in clean power retail business, retail SaaS business, etc.
YOUTRUST — YOUTRUST is a startup to operate YOUTRUST a referral recruitment platform for side-job change.
Testsigma — Powerful cloud-based test automation platform that lets you automate tests for web, mobile, desktop apps, and APIs in minutes. Sign up now!

SPARX Group Co., Ltd. is an independent Asia-based equity and credit asset management services and Asian fund financial specialist with offices in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul for global institutional and individual investors, including financial advisors and financial planners, with alternative strategies (including activist, short-enabled, private equity and quantitative and fund-of-funds) and mutual funds (through SPARX Asia Funds such as SPARX Asia Pacific Opportunities Fund, SPARX Asia Pacific Equity Income Fund, SPARX Japan Smaller Companies Fund and SPARX Japan Fund) managed or sub-advised by SPARX Asset Management Co. Ltd., SPARX Asia Investment Advisors Limited and Cosmo Asset Management Co., Ltd.

Investment focus

Software, Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology
Funding Round, Series B, Series A
Japan, United States, China

Portfolio highlights

Blue Skies Space — Blue Skies Space provides access to space science data from low-cost space missions.
Blue Laser Fusion — Blue Laser Fusion is a commercial fusion company. Blue Laser Fusion is a laser startup to commercialize laser fusion by inventing its own laser and fusion reactor.
Nanofiber Quantum Technologies — Powering a globally connected quantum future with pioneering nanofiber cavity QED.

Sagin Capital & Consulting is the venture capital arm of The Bank of Saga.

Investment focus

Internet, Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology
Funding Round, Series A, Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

REVORN — REVORN is a fragrance AI and DX research and development company. They develop products such as odor sensors that can respond to odor issues and needs. They provide consultation at a range of levels, from identifying issues to developing solutions.
HMS — HMS develops AI smart camera that integrates image input and processing.
KOMPEITO — Office de Yasai is an online platform that enables users to order and get vegetables delivered to their offices. The platform’s operations are based in Tokyo, Japan.

Mint operates as an independent venture capital firm specializing in the early stage of startups. It focuses on bridging the boundaries between finance and business, investors and entrepreneurs, creating a foundation for startup growth, and supporting entrepreneurs.

Investment focus

Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology, Video Chat
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

PICK — PICK is a startup that provides a digital transformation platform for the real estate and construction industries.
Suit Up — Suitup is a project and task management solution that teams can readily utilize regularly. With spreadsheet-like processes, it make teamwork evident and prevents tasks from being neglected or deadlines from being missed.
Sky Link Technologies — Sky Link Technologies specializes in the establishment of new technologies for the improvement of people's convenience.

Mobile Internet Capital (MIC) keeps up on the latest developments of Mobile Internet technologies and services at a high level, and continues to be a venture capital with both technical expertise and execution capability.

Investment focus

Software, Mobile, Internet
Funding Round, Series A, Seed
Japan, United States, China

Portfolio highlights

KAKEAI — KAKEAI, an AIcloud system that improves the status of member management in the middle management layer as its main business.
Katagrma — KatagrMa is the first organization that optimizes the organization and human resources development.
Recustomer — Recustomer is an IT company that develops software for digital payment and provides support for web development.

MTG Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of MTG that invests in beauty and wellness tech, food tech, and sports tech sectors.

Investment focus

Media and Entertainment, Marketing, Food and Beverage
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan

Portfolio highlights

knowuit — knowuit is a company that provides supply chain efficiency solutions to shippers. It develops and provides "Newit," a supply chain DX tool for shippers.
Robofull — Robofull is a manufacturing firm that specializes in the design and sale of automation equipment for factories to solve the labor shortage.
Auba — Auba is engaged in open innovation program, consulting specialized in Ol, and media outreach activities.

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