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Top 50 EdTech Startup Investors in Japan

Last updated: Apr 2024 A list of 50 angel investors and VC funds that invest in Edtech startups based in Japan. We rank investors based on the number of investments they made in Edtech companies from Japan. We update this investor list every month.

Top 50 EdTech Startup Investors in Japan

Investor	EdTech Japan investments
ANOBAKA	7
SMBC Venture Capital	6
PE&HR	5
ANRI	5
Incubate Fund	5
Mobile Internet Capital	4
East Ventures	4
Mizuho Capital	4
Real Tech Japan	4
Nissay Capital	4
Genesia Ventures	3
ITOCHU Technology Ventures	3
QB Capital	3
BEENEXT	3
Robert Huang	3
Kotaro Chiba	3
MITSUI SUMITOMO INSURANCE Venture Capital (MSIVC)	3
STRIVE	3
Kotaro Chiba	3
Monex Ventures	2
Shintaro Yamada	2
Tatsuo Sakamoto	2
VOYAGE VENTURES	2
DOGAN beta	2
Venture Labo Investment	2
DNX Ventures	2
Vector	2
Mistletoe	2
SPARX Group	2
Primal Capital	2
500 Startups Japan	2
Hidetoshi Takano	2
Mamoru Taniya	2
Oita Venture Capital	2
Kiyoshi Ayabe	2
DeNA	2
Narita Shuzo	2
AgFunder	2
F Ventures	2
Japan Finance	2
Leave a Nest	2
Cool Japan Fund	2
en-Japan	2
Mitsubishi UFJ Capital	2
Daiwa Corporate Investment	2
Hideto Fujino	1
Hikaru Kashida	1
Toru Shimada	1
Kips	1
Gaku Nakamura	1

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Investor list

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

Portfolio highlights

3S — 3S is a SaaS developer platform that provides and operates 24-hour home nursing care services through technology.
MOVeLOT — MOVeLOT is an AI company that provides skeletal platform and robot planning, development, and production services.
Fotographer AI — Fotographer.ai is a service that allows e-commerce companies and individuals interested in advertising creatives to generate product photos automatically for use on their websites and in marketing. Product photos for websites and commercials that need to be taken for each campaign or season can be generated using generative AI.

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, Mexico

Portfolio highlights

Ababa — Ababa provides recruitment and employment solutions.
HarvestX — HarvestX manufactures fully automatic robots which contributes to the shortage of agricultural human resources and stable food production
Smartpay — Smartpay is the first free of charge BNPL payment option for Japanese consumers who have credit cards. There are no sign-up fees, interest fees, settlement fees, or late charges. The payment experience is also Japan’s first cross-merchant, cross-platform, and single-click checkout BNPL service, allowing consumers to checkout in as little as 10seconds. The BNPL payment solution is simple to understand, structured on 3 equal installments over 8 weeks. This means that unlike the existing BNPL services in Japan, customers do not need to go to the convenience store to make payments or pay any bank transfer fees.

PE&HR is a private equity and venture capital firm that seeks to invest in incubation, start-up, and early-stage companies. PE&HR primarily invests in the human resources, internet, healthcare, IT, mobile, and social commerce-related industries.

Investment focus

Software, Education, E-Learning
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan

Portfolio highlights

MEME — MEME is a money app for parents and children to make money more familiar and simplifies the flow of money.
VIE STYLE — VIE STYLE offers wearable music device and AI technology services.
Sixty Percent — Sixty Percent is an overseas fashion mail order site that collects street brands from various countries and transmits asian fashion.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

MOVeLOT — MOVeLOT is an AI company that provides skeletal platform and robot planning, development, and production services.
xCARE — xCARE specializes in the development and commercialization phases of the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.
Infobox — Infobox is a sales data platform that includes every detail from market research to creating a list of companies and contacting decision-makers.

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

Portfolio highlights

SoftRoid — SoftRoid provides a software robot that patrols and collects data for analyzing the construction site.
M-INT — M-INT is a life science company that offers medical infrastructure and medical IT system.
Blossom Energy — Developed advanced nuclear reactors that are able to produce clean energy, Blossom Energy manufactures nuclear reactors for the nuclear energy industry. The focus of the company is on providing affordable, stable, and sustainable energy for the world. The company utilizes HTGR, which is a fourth-generation nuclear reactor.

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

MedUp — MedUp operates foro CRM, a SaaS CRM tool that provides hospitals with sales and marketing support, data analysis and visualization, and more.
KAUCHE — KAUCHE is a social commerce app. They provide services for online and mail-order retail shops. Their customers' inquiries are addressed through phone, email, and online applications.
Sumutasu — sumutasu is an online real estate marketplace that enables users to quickly buy and sell their properties.

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.

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

Japan DX — Japan DX platform provides a comprehensive data-driven services to inbound tourists to Japan.
Unito — Unito offers people a friction-free lifestyle by pursuing optimization of living.
GenerativeX Co — GenerativeX provides AI app development, consulting, and generative model development.

Real Tech Japan is a venture capital firm that seeks to invest in innovative R&D technology companies. Realtech Fund is a joint venture between the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry and NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization). The firm was founded in 2014 and based in Tokyo, Japan.

Investment focus

Manufacturing, Biotechnology, Robotics
Funding Round, Series A, Seed
Japan, Singapore, Austria

Portfolio highlights

Ashirase — Ashirase is a developer of a walking navigation system for the visually challenged. The company assists visually impaired people in walking independently. This also allows the user to have more attention to spare for audible warnings in their environment. It includes voice input and guidance via a smartphone app. A vibration interface is attachedto their shoes.
ProfilePrint — Helping agribusinesses buy and sell better, ProfilePrint is powered by a patented digital food identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) technology. ProfilePrint synthesises complex molecular data of ingredient samples into digital fingerprints, rapidly predicting its identity and quality.
Integriculture — Integriculture makes cellular agriculture products to improve sustainability, food security, and reduce public health problems. The company offers a developed patented general-purpose large-scale cell culture system that can culture wide range of cells without external addition of expensive growth factors and provide consumers with affordable cleanmeat.Founded in 2015, Integriculture is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

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

Portfolio highlights

Dodai — Dodai manufactures and assembles the electric motorcycles.
Yap — Yap helps pharmaceutical businesses enter the market in a multitude of methods.
Pocket Sign — Pocket Sign develops digital platforms that store e-signatures and other authentication details for it's users privacy and security.

Genesia Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on seed/early-stage startups in Japan and Southeast Asia.

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Malme — Malme is a company that operates in the fields of 3D technology, architecture, civil engineering, and construction. The company offers total support for BIM/CIM operations, with a team of engineers who are well-versed in construction consulting. The company's motto is to 'update civil engineering', indicating a commitment tocontinuous innovation and improvement in the field. The company's services are designed to assist in the planning and execution of construction projects, leveraging advanced 3D technology and architectural expertise.
Miresso — Miresso is a startup firm that offers nuclear fusion power generation services through natural resources.
Gaxie Co — Gaxie is an IT firm that provides a cloud management system and manages scholarship sites for business.

ITOCHU Technology Ventures (ITV), based in Tokyo, is the venture capital arm of ITOCHU Corporation. ITOCHU is one of the world's largest corporations with offices in over 80 countries and operations that cover a broad spectrum of industries. ITV's mission is to invest and help build leading information technology companies by leveraging avast array of resources both domestically and internationally throughout ITOCHU and its group companies. The ITOCHU group has a long history of funding information technology companies with successes including Siebel Systems, NVIDIA, Openwave and Aruba Networks. Current portfolio includes, Box, Fab, Ooyala, WHILL, Tokyo Otaku Mode, etc.

Investment focus

E-Commerce, Software, Information Technology
Funding Round, Series B, Series A
Japan, United States, Belgium

Portfolio highlights

Funds — Funds is an online marketplace for lending funds.
KAICO — KAICO is a pharmaceuticals, diagnostic drugs production company.
Yoii Fuel — Yoii Fuel is a software company which analyzes a company's KPIs and enables them to obtain a means of financing based on this data.

QB Capital is make equity investments in venture companies.

Investment focus

Manufacturing, Medical, Biotechnology
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

Alumnote — The alumni association management software developed by Alumnote allows schools to manage their alumni associations online. The focus of the company is to undertake loyalty building and marketing for potential donors such as graduates and provides digital tools, and supports the execution of donation acquisition.
Ashirase — Ashirase is a developer of a walking navigation system for the visually challenged. The company assists visually impaired people in walking independently. This also allows the user to have more attention to spare for audible warnings in their environment. It includes voice input and guidance via a smartphone app. A vibration interface is attachedto their shoes.
Co-LABO MAKER — Co-LABO MAKER is a service that matches research equipment that can be used on an hourly or daily basis and organizations.

BEENEXT is a Venture Capital fund managed by serial entrepreneurs that focuses on assisting founders with its operational experience, network, trust, unique perspectives, and the capital. The team invests in early-stage tech start-ups that are focused on building the new digital platforms driven by the data network. BEENEXT aims to establish aplatform of founders, by the founders and for the founders across the globe, primarily in South East Asia, India and Japan. Since its establishment in 2015, the team has invested in over 180 companies globally.

Investment focus

Software, E-Commerce, Financial Services
Seed, Series A, Series B
India, Japan, Indonesia

Portfolio highlights

Scimplifi — At Scimplify we are solving the sourcing and manufacturing Chemistries. Involved in every step of R&D, Scale up & Commerical Manufacturing to ensure success.
Protos Labs — Protos Labs is a Singapore-based cybersecurity company founded by ex-Booz Allen cyber leaders. We provide cyber risk solutions to both Enterprises and Insurers, ranging from risk quantification to underwriting and claims solutions. We work with government agencies, enterprises, insurers regulators g
International Battery Company — International Battery Company (IBC) is constructing unique I-NMC Prismatic cells in India at the planned non-captive Gigafactory. Because of their big form factor, IBC cells reduce battery complexity while providing 40% more energy density than LFP cells. They are also recyclable. These cells will be ideal for mobility applications (EVs). Thesupply chain will be localized and secure, allowing for energy independence.

Mr. Huang founded SYNNEX in 1980 and serves as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Prior to this, Mr. Huang was the International Sales Manager at Advanced Micro Devices. Mr. Huang holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Kyushyu University, Japan, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rochester and an M.S. inManagement Science from the Sloan School of Management at MIT.

Investment focus

Education, E-Learning, Language Learning
Series A
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Polyglots — POLYGLOTS designs and develops English news-reader mobile applications. It helps its application users learn English while reading news updates.POLYGLOTS is a development and operation of the English learning application "POLYGLOTS", the Japanese learning application "MONDO", and the finance / accounting specializedlearning application "Bigo", and the development and provision of an adaptive learning platform.

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.

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

Miresso — Miresso is a startup firm that offers nuclear fusion power generation services through natural resources.
PR Table — PR Table is a provider of a public relation platform designed to offer corporate storytelling. The company's platform creates, accumulate and utilizes story for marketing and advertisement, enabling corporate clients to transmit information on story publication, recruitment and information focused on founding episodes.
Virohan — Virohan is India's leading professional training partner of NSDC, providing paramedical diploma courses in MLT, OTT, HA, etc for 12th pass and graduates.

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

Showroom B2B — SHOWROOM B2B is building the largest B2B “Phygital” platform for India’s $108 Bn fashion industry by connecting Tier 2+ clothing retailers directly with small to mid-scale apparel manufacturers and providing all parties with solutions for distribution, credit, logistics, and marketing.Showroom works on “Touch & Feel” mode of selling where itsunique distribution model ensures that there is almost NO RETURN of products sold. It creates Experience Centres for its retailers which gives them the confidence to buy without any iota of doubt about product quality.Showroom's offerings = Better Margins for Clothing Retailers + Aggressive Growth for Clothing Manufacturers
Testsigma — Powerful cloud-based test automation platform that lets you automate tests for web, mobile, desktop apps, and APIs in minutes. Sign up now!
Mercado Único — Mercado Único is a B2B platform for the distribution and management of opportunistic sales of Consumer Goods that are close to expiration and slow-moving, connecting suppliers (manufacturers/distributors) to buyers (retailers/distributors) with items that have predictable and immediate use at discounted prices.

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

Investment focus

Internet, Travel, 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.

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

During his years at Waseda University, Shintaro worked at Japan’s biggest e-commerce mall, Rakuten, Inc. On August 1st 2001, Shintaro established “Unoh Inc.” after graduating university. At Unoh he was responsible for designing and developing several web services, one of which was the online magazine subscription . Services provided by Unohinclude planning, development and management of the film enthusiast community site “Movie Life” (acquired by PIA Corporation) as well as “Sugu.CC” , “NeoAd” (both acquired by GMOAP) and the photo sharing site “Photozou” (acquired by Digital Garage).In 2009 Unoh entered into social gaming, creating multiple successful social games. Among these games, “Machitsuku!” has been its biggest hit with over 5 million users. On August 3rd 2010, Unoh joined Zynga and Shintaro became General Manager of Zynga Japan. He resigned on January 2012. After traveling around the world, He established the new company “Mercari, Inc.” on February 2013 and released the resale shopping app “Mercari” on July 2013 in Japan.He is a true Internet geek, spending a lot of time on the Internet and boasts around 180,000 followers on Twitter.

Investment focus

Internet, Finance, Information Technology
Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
Japan, United States, Kenya

Portfolio highlights

Autify — Autify - Revolutionizing Software Testing with the most advanced AI-powered Software Testing Tool
Peach Cars — Peach Cars building a solution for those looking to buy and sell vehicles whole information on vehicles and hassle-free transactions.
AnotherBall — AnotherBall is a blockchain startup that combines entertainment and blockchain.

Tatsuo Sakamoto is a Head of Sales, Japan at MOLOCO. He Attended The University of Tokyo.

Investment focus

Recruiting, Information Technology, Task Management
Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Morght — Morght is an information technology service company.
Cloudbase — Cloudbase is an information technology company that specializes in the fields of cloud services and management.
ElevationSpace — ElevationSpace offers high quality & well equipped workspaces giving tenants a nurturing environment .

Voyage Ventures is the venture capital arm of Voyage Group specializing in seed and early-stage investments. The firm seeks to make investments in the internet and mobile internet industry. It invests from JPY1 million ($.01million) to JPY to 10 million ($.12 million) in its portfolio companies. The firm typically invests in Japan, China, and othergrowing Asian markets. Voyage Ventures, Inc., formerly known as EC Navi Ventures Company, was founded on March 25, 2011, and is based in Tokyo, Japan.

Investment focus

Software, Internet, Content
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan, China, Germany

Portfolio highlights

pickupon — Pickupon is a company that transcribes important parts of the call
bravesoft — bravesoft is a software company that operates events and in-house product for contract development and events. The company offering services such as UI / UX design, application consignment development service, appvisor push, and technical research service.
ventus Japan — ventus is an Media and Entertainment based company.ventus aiming to be an entertainment company that provides technology that all fans can enjoy.

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.

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

Investment focus

Internet, Software, Media and Entertainment
Funding Round, Series B, Seed
Japan, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

Gift Pad — Gift Pad is a web catalog gift that allows recipients to choose their favorite products.
READYFOR — READYFOR is a Japanese crowdfunding platform for the service sector. It enables investors to find projects to invest on.
Terra Drone — Terra Drone Indonesia provides drone services for various industry sector such as mining, construction, oil & gas, energy, and utilities.

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

Yamori — Yamori is a software development company which offers a cloud real estate management platform to realize stable rental management.
Tensor Energy — Creating the operating system of our zero-carbon, distributed energy future
Coalesce Automation — Coalesce is the only data transformation tool built for scale. Evolve your transformations and empower your entire data team.

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

PeaceTecLab — PeaceTecLab is a CtoCsharing service, as its main business.
The Ethical Spirits & Co. — The Ethical Spirits & Co. is an online store for spirits and alcohol.
Driver Technologies — Driver Technologies is a cloud logistics platform provider. It provides a solution for driver matching and cargo vehicle demands.

Mistletoe is a hub for startups and the overall entrepreneurial ecosystem. It specifically provides learning opportunities for entrepreneurs, facilitates startup communities, invests in and supports startup companies and venture capitals.

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

ULUU — ULUU is an ocean material that replaces plastic and actively benefits the world.
Funderbeam — Funderbeam is a funding and trading platform that connects companies and investors to buy and sell equity stakes. The platform allows the founders to gain exposure, legal support, a funding manager, or an investor network. It also allows the investors to take control of their investments and trade anytime they want.The company was founded in 2013as a global data platform for startup companies.
Craft Health — Craft Health aims to combine all your daily medicines and supplements into a single daily pill, through 3D printing of personalized medicines and supplements. Our technology allows controlled release of each active ingredient as selected by the user.

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 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.
UnaBiz — Based in Singapore, Taiwan and Japan, UnaBiz delivers end-to-end customised IoT solutions worldwide. Simple, cost-efficient & low maintenance
Nanofiber Quantum Technologies — Powering a globally connected quantum future with pioneering nanofiber cavity QED.

Primal Capital, an independent venture capital " incubator bait fund at ", served as the Associate than July 2012 Hiroshi was Sasaki is the venture capital fund that serves as the representative partner. Representative of Sasaki, the seed acceleration program "Incubate Camp" operated by Incubate bait fund is carried out a totalof four times of planning and management than in 2012, They have also engaged in support operations of portfolio companies. - See more at: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/primal-capital#sthash.m2z1DCbt.dpuf

Investment focus

Software, Internet, Task Management
Seed, Funding Round, Pre-Seed
Japan, Spain, Switzerland

Portfolio highlights

Rand App — Rand is a fintech firm that offers banking services, savings, deposits, and account opening.
Degas — Degas develops solutions to improve the productivity of small-scale farmers in Africa.
xCARE — xCARE specializes in the development and commercialization phases of the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.

500 Startups is the most active seed VC in the world. 500 Startups Japan is a $35M regional fund focusing on Japan.

Investment focus

Internet, Software, Human Resources
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Noin — Noin specializes in cosmetics and delivers content that accurately captures trends like videos that solve girls worries.
Trustdock — Trustdock is a platform for identity confirmation API service in Japan. You can outsource KYC / identity confirmation via online API, complying with various laws including criminal profit transfer prevention law, antique sales law, cell phone fraud prevention use law etc. It can be used with any ID service regardless of business type, such asmatching to FinTech, shared eco, etc.
Connected Robotics — Connected Robotics is an information technology company that designs and manufactures robotic arms for enterprises. The company's product, OctoChef, provides cooking services. It caters to individual restaurants, shopping malls, stations, service areas, amusement centers, and large-scale events. The company was founded in 2014 and is basedin Koganei-shi, Japan.

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.

Investment focus

Internet, Information Technology, Media and Entertainment
Seed, Angel, Funding Round
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

Cocoach — Cocoach provides online education service.
Data Viz Lab — Data Viz Lab is a platform that offers data analysis, visualization consulting, and data human resource development support.
ElevationSpace — ElevationSpace offers high quality & well equipped workspaces giving tenants a nurturing environment .

After graduating from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo, he joined Solomon Brothers, where he became the youngest managing director in Asia, where he was in charge of Asian investment. After that, he created one of the largest independent Asuka assets. He also launched Japan's first independent online life insurance company,LifeNet Life Insurance, and inspired Japan's first International.

Investment focus

Apps, Content, FinTech
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
Japan, Singapore, Spain

Portfolio highlights

Revorf — Revorf analyzes data and develops AI-related to infectious diseases and healthcare.
abillion — Find tips for plant-based food & products near you. Join the community to share reviews of restaurants & brands. Raise funds & drive sustainability!
RIMM Sustainability — RIMM Sustainability provides a SaaS platform that enables companies of all sizes to optimise their sustainability management effort. It builds tools for sustainability management, reporting and optimisation.

Oita Venture Capital Co. Ltd. is the investment arm of Oita Bank Ltd. It is a venture capital and private equity firm which specializes in growth capital, buyouts, and turnaround investments. It primarily invests in companies in the Oita region. Oita Venture Capital Co. Ltd. was founded in 1999 and is based in Oita, Japan.

Investment focus

Manufacturing, Task Management, Biotechnology
Funding Round, Series A, Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

TMH — TMH is a repair of various parts for semiconductor, liquid crystal, and solar manufacturing equipment.
GEXVal — GEXVal is to help patients and families fighting against orphan and intractable diseases
Better Place — Better place vision is to create a world in which kind people can continue to be kind, as well as a society in which people can work in their own way without worrying about money.

Kiyoshi Ayabe is the President and Founder of KIYO Learning.

Investment focus

Content, Education, E-Learning
Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

KIYO Learning — KIYO Learning offers a commuting course, an online course to acquire qualifications for business people.

DeNA provides a social game platform, social games, e-commerce, and other Web services for mobile devices and PCs. Its current flagship business is its mobile social games platform Mobage which offers first, second, and third-party games on multiple localized player networks worldwide.

Investment focus

E-Commerce, Health Care, Education
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, United States, India

Portfolio highlights

Tané — Crypto builders incubator. Nurture the soil for Web3.
Buzzreach — Buzzreach is a Tokyo-based MedTech Company.
Neighbor — The creative universe of Fortnite is infinite. To give an example , building fantasy and science fiction worlds, creating simple games and full-scale battle games can all be completed with Fortnite. Is the world of Fortnite, played by 350 million users worldwide, is it real or unreal? We will try to combining the vast world of Fortnite with the real world.

Narita Shuzo is a Executive Vice President/COO, CrowdWorks Inc.

Investment focus

Task Management, Media and Entertainment, Content
Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

MIL — MIL is a marketing company it can be used for a wide range of video marketing such as video commerce , O2O measures , recruitment videos , and landing videos.
Morght — Morght is an information technology service company.
MiL Inc — Emerging products for healthcare food brands Producing food retailing and wholesale recipe development Restaurant management Catering media operation.

AgFunder invests in impactful companies that can positively transform the world's food system. Founded in 2013, AgFunder manages a portfolio of over 50 companies across four funds from offices in Silicon Valley and Singapore. Through its media platform AFN, it has built a global ecosystem of over 90,000 subscribers.

Investment focus

Agriculture, AgTech, Food and Beverage
Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
United States, United Kingdom, India

Portfolio highlights

Varaha — Varaha generates carbon credits through its tech solutions.
Neatleaf — Sustainable agriculture with optimal yields through data-driven understanding and comprehensive automation for everyone.
Umaro Foods — Umaro Foods specializes in developing a plant-based protein source from ocean-farmed seaweed.

F Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Japan.

Investment focus

Internet, Information Technology, Human Resources
Seed, Funding Round, Pre-Seed
Japan, Hong Kong

Portfolio highlights

DENDOH — DENDOH specializes in branding and promotion business using AR technology and 3D design.
Tripi — Tripi provides travel media and digital marketing services, as well as the accommodation gift service.
microverse — Microverse offers NFT-related services such as content creation, distribution, and customer service.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Hogetic Lab — Hogetic Lab specialize in DCaaS, AI development, and Data human resources training.
Smart Shopping — Smartmat is an eco-friendly IoT purchase system for on-demand, no-hassle grocery with cost-effective shipping.
OriCiro Genomics — DNA amplification | OriCiro Cloning Kit - OriCiro Genomics, Inc.

Leave a Nest thrives to achieve global happiness by enhancing everyday life through science and education for future generation.

Investment focus

Health Care, Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology
Seed, Corporate Round, Funding Round
Japan, Singapore, Malaysia

Portfolio highlights

ARK — ARK is a manufacturer of special wards that designs and delivers a sustainable aquaculture solution.
Robopreneur — Robopreneur brings the future by empowering robotics capabilities for use in human's environment to become human's partner and enhance sustainable lifestyles.
Crown Digital — Crown Digital harnesses the future-ready power of robotics and Artificial Intelligence to open doors with cutting-edge solutions for the not-so-distant future.

Cool Japan Fund was founded in November 2013 as a public-private fund with the aim of supporting and promoting the development of demand overseas for excellent Japanese products and services.Cool Japan Fund aims to commercialize the “Cool Japan” and increase overseas demand by providing risk capital for businesses across a variety of areas,including media & content, food & services, and fashion & lifestyle.

Investment focus

E-Commerce, Content, Education
Funding Round, Series C, Series B
Japan, United States, Taiwan

Portfolio highlights

DAIZ — DAIZ produces and sells plant-based meat, 'Miracle Meat' which uses germinated soybeans by the proprietary 'Ochiai Germination Method.' Also, DAIZ engages in research & development of raw materials and drug discovery from germinated soybeans.
Pizza 4P's — Pizza 4P's is Vietnam-based Japanese Italian pizza restaurant. Always the best with our mission of "Delivering Wow, Sharing Happiness"
JumpStart Coffee — JUMPSTART COFFEE is Indonesia first fully automated self serve coffee shop, serving freshly brewed coffee anywhere you are, anytime you want, in just under 1 minute. Equipped with the newest technology and beautiful wood design, we seek to give you the ultimate convenience of drinking coffee.

En-Japan provides solutions for the improvement of employees and organizations. The company works within the recruitment field and manages six recruiting websites and a briefing site for management and HR professionals. En-Japan was founded in January 2000 and is based in Shinjuku, Yamanashi, Japan.

Investment focus

Task Management, Recruiting, Marketing
Series A, Funding Round, Corporate Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

RevComm — RevComm is the startup company developing Voice x AI-enabled cloud services .
ONLY STORY — ONLY STORY is a manager matching platform.
Baseconnect Japan — Baseconnect Co., Ltd. connects people from all over the world and spends one-tenth the time it takes for people to “know”.

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 B, Series A
Japan, United States, China

Portfolio highlights

Parallel — Parallel Inc. develops a parallel SNS which can be used while playing games on smartphones.
Swell — Swell is an information technology company that specializes in providing web and digital platforms.
GenerativeX Co — GenerativeX provides AI app development, consulting, and generative model development.

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

Task Management, Software, 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.

Hideto Fujino - President, Cheif Investment Officer @ Rheos

Investment focus

Reservations, Travel, Real Estate
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

HOMMA — Inspired Modern Living. Homes to elevate healthy urban lifestyles. Design. Build. Technology.
Address Japan — ADDress is a provider of co-living spaces in both urban and rural areas, enabling people to live in a range of luxurious residences at fixed prices.
Unito — Unito offers people a friction-free lifestyle by pursuing optimization of living.

Hikaru Kashida is a data scientist and is currently working at Mercari Inc., Japan.

Investment focus

Consulting, E-Learning, Communities
Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

rocketa — Rocketa is a news curation and social media platform.
alma — alma is a community platform to learn design.
Meetcareer — Meetcareer provides online counseling services for career planning.

Toru Shimada is a Senior Executive Officer and Director of Rakuten. Mr. Shimada is a Director of Rakuten Baseball, Inc., and Head of Asia Regional Headquarters Office of the Company.Mr. Shimada joined Rakuten in 2004. Prior to joining Rakuten, Mr. Shimada was founder and Director of INTELLIGENCE, LTD from 1989 to 2004. Prior to INTELLIGENCE, LTD.Mr. Shimada worked at RECRUIT CO., LTD. from 1987 to 1989.

Investment focus

Task Management, Manufacturing, Content
Seed, Angel, Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Neith — Neith is a apparel manufacturer, seller and a whoelseller of water absorbing bralette, lingerie and shorts for women.
Now Do — Now Do provides online growth revolution platform.
Abentry — Abentry is engaged in the SNS business and media advertising business.

Kips is a venture fund focused on investing in early-stage startups in Japan.

Investment focus

Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology, Software
Seed, Series A, Series B
Japan

Portfolio highlights

ecommit — Ecommit is a venture company that creates new environmental businesses with reuse and recycling as the main axis
One Act — One Act Inc. is a global startup engaged in system development and software development. Headquarter based in Japan, having business centers in France and India too. We are developing and managing web service "PieceX", the world's first source code marketplace with dynamic pricing by AI. By trading software components on a globalscale, PieceX allows Seller companies to earn new income from the source code itself and Buyer companies to save 90% on software development time and costs by purchasing guaranteed, ready-to-use source codes. PieceX creates a place where anyone in the world can rapidly develop new services.
Co-LABO MAKER — Co-LABO MAKER is a service that matches research equipment that can be used on an hourly or daily basis and organizations.

Gaku Nakamura - Co-Founder and CEO @ RareJob

Investment focus

Sports, Education, Information Technology
Pre-Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

SPORNIA — SPORNIA is an editor of sports knowledge technology.We provide support for athletes using content and monetization using emerging media such as SNS and YouTube.

Investors by industry

Media (entertainment)

EdTech

Consumer

Climate