Top 10 Automotive Angel Investors in Japan in January 2026

Last updated: Jan 2026 A list of 10 angel investors that invest in Automotive startups based in Japan. We rank investors based on the number of investments they made in Automotive companies from Japan. We update this investor list every month.

Top 10 Automotive Angel Investors in Japan in January 2026

Investor	Automotive Japan investments
Daisaku Harada	2
Toru Yoshikawa	1
Suzuki Tamon	1
Nagatsuka Masayoshi	1
Yuji Akaba	1
Yuya Taketani	1
Nobuyuki Idei	1
Shintaro Tabata	1
Hidetoshi Takano	1
Yasuyuki Kin	1

Find investors that fund startups like yours. Automatically.

Our algorithm will find investors that invest in your industry, stage, and geography.

Investor list

Daisaku Harada is the Director of Management Strategy at Mercari. Daisaku attended Chuo University.

Investment focus

Finance, Tourism, Automotive
Seed, Pre-Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Carstay — Carstay Comfortable Overnight in car or tentdo itCar tripWith guests who want to enjoy.

Toru Yoshikawa - CEO @ mybest Japan

Investment focus

Internet, Software, Education
Angel, Series B
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Seibii — Transforming traditional car maintenance, repair, after-parts installation, road service industry of Japan by leveraging Technology.
Leading Mark — Leading Mark, a rising human resources startup in Japan. Leading Mark is branching out into mid-career and international hiring. It currently has a one-man team in China working to bring the top Japanese-speaking Chinese students to domestic companies. He also touts his startup’s focus on the average job seeker. “We want to make sure that the usersget the info that he or she needs the most,” he says. Large scale, legacy players can sometimes prioritize the needs of the hiring company, and their commission, over the needs of applicants themselves. This leads to frustration and short-circuited careers.

Suzuki Tamon

Investment focus

Internet, Software, Automotive
Angel
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Seibii — Transforming traditional car maintenance, repair, after-parts installation, road service industry of Japan by leveraging Technology.

Nagatsuka Masayoshi

Investment focus

Internet, Software, Automotive
Angel
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Seibii — Transforming traditional car maintenance, repair, after-parts installation, road service industry of Japan by leveraging Technology.

He was born in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Joined Komatsu after graduating from Tokyo University. He joined McKinsey after studying at Stanford University. Establishment of offices in Korea, management support of Zaibatsu, government support during financial crisis, etc. Established a breakthrough PARTNERS after McKinsey retirement to support thefounding of many ventures (current position). He participated in the founding of ZUU Co., Ltd.

Investment focus

Financial Services, Finance, Automotive
Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

ZUU — ZUU is a Japan-based company that supports financial advisors with related consultancies and manages monetary websites. It also supports the asset management and asset advisor business of executives with finance and IT.
Zuu Online — ZUU online is a Tokyo-based financial media which provides original insights on financial market news,the latest business trend and personal finance advice
Terra Motors — Terra Motors is an electric car manufacturing company that utilizes IoT and digitally connecting EV mobility. They develop the global enterprise for global warming. SEED48 is the first electronic motorcycles that have brilliant functionality such as the highest speed(40km/h)and practicality(40km/1charge) Their products are provided at thefamous electronic retail stores, do-it-yourself stores, bicycle stores, car stores, and gas stations. They achieve a dominant share of the electronic motorcycles market.In 2011, They would mainly focus on the south east Asian market.

Yuya Taketani - Chief Executive Officer @ Gunosy

Investment focus

Apps, News, Mobile
Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Gunosy — Gunosy is a news curation application that covers a wide range of news from entertainment news to political news. The application finds its news from multiple web sources and presents them according to how hot the topic is. Gunosy’s features include categorized tabs; the ability to customize the categories that users need to follow and create theirown personal magazine; instant access to a wide variety of news; and push notifications to remind users of news updates.The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Japan.
MySherpa — MySherpa fosters a culture in which people can openly discuss mental health issues.
Telescope Japan — Telescope Japan Internet Company

Nobuyuki Idei has served as our independent director since June 2007.Being an experienced director, Nobuyuki Idei currently also serves as director of Accenture, director of FreeBit Co, Ltd., director of Lenovo Group, and chairman of the National Conference on Fostering Beautiful Forests in Japan.Nobuyuki Idei is the founder and chief executiveofficer of Quantum Leaps Corporation, a specialist consultancy that advises private and public institutions on the changing role of technology in the 21st century.Nobuyuki Idei is also the founder and chairman of the board of Asia Innovators’ Initiative, a private non-profit organization that he established in 2011 to serve as a catalyst for social innovation in Asia by bringing together a diverse range of individuals and promoting knowledge sharing.Nobuyuki Idei was chairman and chief executive officer of Sony Corporation from 2000 to 2005, chief corporate advisor from 2005 to 2007, and chairman of the advisory board from 2007 to 2012.Prior to that, Nobuyuki Idei held a range of leadership positions at Sony including general manager of the audio division, senior general manager of the home video group, and president and representative director.Nobuyuki Idei has also served in a number of other advisory positions including as counselor to the Bank of Japan, member of Japan’s national IT Strategy Council, and vice-chairman of Nippon Keidanren.Nobuyuki Idei received a bachelor of science degree in economics and politics from Waseda University in Tokyo.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Manufacturing, Internet
Seed, Funding Round, Corporate Round
Japan, France, United States

Portfolio highlights

Pyrenee — Pyrenee is a hardware startup that creates devices that protect people's lives.
Antescofo — Antescofo is the mariage of world-class R&D and Business endeavours. Their technology is the result of 7+ years of R&D in the world’s largest laboratory dedicated to Music and Technology, IRCAM in Paris, and public experience with the most important musicians and orchestras around the world. The principle? Through Intelligent MachineListening, they recognize how humans perform music in real-time and use that information to synchronize content and provide an immersive experience! Antescofo was incorporated in July 2016 and based in Paris, France.
Stake Technologies — Stake Technologies is a technology company that provides blockchain solutions to enterprises.

Shintaro Tabata - Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Sales @ Line

Investment focus

Sharing Economy, Audio, Content
Seed, Angel, Series A
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Voicy — Voicy is a mobile platform that recruits both media personalities and news organizations; the entertainers read the news so users can get the latest info from their favorite voices.
Carstay — Carstay Comfortable Overnight in car or tentdo itCar tripWith guests who want to enjoy.
Telework — Telework is a multi-location workspace that utilizes vacant seats and rooms.

Joined Intelligence in 1999. Established Key Players Inc. in 2005. Consultation with more than 3,000 managers and career counseling for more than 10,000 individuals. In addition, we have invested in more than 55 outside directors, advisors and angels in Silicon Valley and Bangladesh in Japan. Over 100 lectures on careers, entrepreneurship andstartups.