Top 50 Finance Angel Investors in Japan in December 2024
A list of 50 angel investors that invest in Finance startups based in Japan. We rank investors based on the number of investments they made in Finance companies from Japan. We update this investor list every month.Top 50 Finance Angel Investors in Japan in December 2024
Investor | Finance Japan investments |
---|---|
Nobuhiro Ariyasu | 6 |
Shintaro Yamada | 4 |
Kotaro Chiba | 4 |
Kotaro Chiba | 4 |
Yu Akasaka | 3 |
Daisuke Yanagisawa | 2 |
Ryota Matsuzaki | 2 |
Kazuma Ieiri | 2 |
Yuzuru Honda | 2 |
Jun Nishikawa | 2 |
Hirofumi Miki | 2 |
Osamu Ogasawara | 2 |
Daisaku Harada | 2 |
Ayataro Nakagawa | 2 |
Yusuke Asakura | 2 |
Masahiko Inada | 1 |
Kentaro Sakakibara | 1 |
Kiyoshi Nishikawa | 1 |
Mochio Umeda | 1 |
Tomohiro Kinoshita | 1 |
Toru Shimada | 1 |
Shunsuke Sasaki | 1 |
Teruhide Sato | 1 |
Yamazaki Reijiro | 1 |
Mizuki Inoue | 1 |
Daisuke Takanashi | 1 |
Yuichi Kawasaki | 1 |
Oki Matsumoto | 1 |
Shintaro Tabata | 1 |
Tomokaz Saito | 1 |
Edward Ronkowski | 1 |
Matias de Tezanos | 1 |
Hidetoshi Takano | 1 |
Mamoru Taniya | 1 |
Tatsuo Sakamoto | 1 |
Shuichi Takenaga | 1 |
Koki Yabu | 1 |
Gaku Saito | 1 |
Ryan Collins | 1 |
Amin Azumude | 1 |
Kensuke Furukawa | 1 |
Sagehashi Yuki | 1 |
Yusuke Sato | 1 |
Yoshifumi Seki | 1 |
Taizo Son | 1 |
Shigeru Urushibara | 1 |
Takeshi Natsuno | 1 |
Masaru Sunagawa | 1 |
Takao Ozawa | 1 |
Toshiro Wakimaru | 1 |
Nobuhiro Ariyasu is the CEO at Coach United.
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Investment focus
- Finance, Internet, Content
- Seed, Angel, Funding Round
- Japan, Singapore
Portfolio highlights
- PeopleX — PeopleX encourages and assists employees in their professional development.
- PICK — PICK is a startup that provides a digital transformation platform for the real estate and construction industries.
- Collectest — Collectest specializes in integrating AI into trading card appraisal procedures that show current market pricing and verify authenticity.
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.
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Investment focus
- Internet, Finance, Information Technology
- Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Japan, United States, Kenya
Portfolio highlights
- Autify — AI software testing company aimed at solving the challenges associated with automation testing. We are passionate about making software testing faster and easier, empowering companies to release faster and keep their applications stable.
- 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.
Kotaro Chiba is the founder of ChibaDojo Fund. Kotaro Chiba attended Keio University.
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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.
Kotaro Chiba is the founder of ChibaDojo Fund. Kotaro Chiba attended Keio University.
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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.
During Hosei University student, and intern at Hakuhodo C & D. After joining the Image-net, I do media monetization of EC site as a media planner. Then, new business, engaged in Alliance. Launched a crowdsourcing site "MILLION DESIGNS" of design in the individual, sold to Ransazu Corporation. Established the Eureka Co., Ltd., wasappointed Representative Director CEO.
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Investment focus
- Food and Beverage, Content, Internet
- Seed, Angel, Funding Round
- Japan, Australia, Hong Kong
Portfolio highlights
- Now Do — Now Do provides online growth revolution platform.
- RE — RE specializes in smartphone application design and development.
- Vitalogue Health — Vitalogue Health offers Canvas, a home-based hormone testing service for women.
Daisuke Yanagisawa - Founder & CEO @ KAYAC
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Investment focus
- Finance, Financial Services, Small and Medium Businesses
- Seed, Angel
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Hakki Africa — HAKKI AFRICA provides microfinance services for SMEs.
Ryota Matsuzaki - CEO and Founder @ Kibidango, Inc.
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Investment focus
- Marketing, Financial Services, Finance
- Seed, Funding Round, Angel
- Japan, France, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Skimlinks — Skimlinks is the leading commerce content monetization platform. Its technology automatically monetizes product links in commerce-related content.
- MV.Health — MysteryVibe offers the most advanced & award winning smart sex toys for men, women & couples that elevates their sexual health and wellbeing.
- HCVC — HCVC is an early-stage Venture Capital firm backing hardtech companies worldwide. Beyond its fund, HCVC supports hardtech founders through Hardware Club, a selective global community of 500+ startups with dedicated resources, partnerships and events.
Born in 1978 and raised in Fukuoka prefecture, Kazuma founded paperboy&co. inc. (currently GMO Pepabo) and went on to become the youngest CEO ever (at the time) to take a company public in Japan by taking paperboy&co. public on the JASDAQ Japanese stock exchange. After leaving paperboy&co, he continued his startup trail by foundingBASE, CAMPFIRE, and XIMERA. Kazuma also dabbled in the food services industry via the founding of On The Corner (a cafe) and is active in the startup investment scene. He also started the Liverty-house project which attempts to create shared housing for young people in need.
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Investment focus
- Content, Fashion, Recruiting
- Seed, Angel, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Taliki — Taliki is a Coworking Space Operates Social Entrepreneurs Development Support for Intrepreneur Development.
- ONE NOVA — One Nova (ワンノバ) is a lifestyle brand and online platform that offers a range of innerwear products, such as men's boxers.
- Vivid Garden — vivid garden is an Agriculture company.
Yuzuru Honda is a Founder & Global CEO of FreakOut.
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Investment focus
- SNS, Internet, Software
- Seed, Funding Round, Angel
- Japan, Nigeria, Singapore
Portfolio highlights
- NodeFlair — NodeFlair aims to help tech talents make better career decisions through jobs, salaries, reviews, company insights, and more
- AGRI SMILE — AGRI SMILE is a platform that focuses on sharing agricultural technology.
- Tyms — Tyms online accounting software for your business connects you to your bank, accountant, bookkeeper, and other business apps. Start a free trial today. Also available in Nigeria, Ghana, Mauritius and South Africa.
Jun Nishikawa - Co-founder, Executive Vice President, COO @ Eureka
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Investment focus
- Food and Beverage, Media and Entertainment, Mobile
- Seed, Series A, Angel
- Japan, United States
Portfolio highlights
- FamiOne — FamiOne is creating a society that will support the future of couples who want to receive children.
- Misaky Tokyo — Marine plant-based, handmade Japanese sweets. These crystal treats are individually handcrafted, the perfect gift idea! Vegan, gluten-free, and additive-free confectionery, with stunning flavors such as Yuzu, Matcha, and Rose. Supporting artisans in their craft. Japanese luxury sweets with a surprise inside.
- Reiwa Travel — Reiwa Trave is a digital travel agency intended that optimizes overseas travel. The company's platform uses online travel booking tools that provide digitalized contracts along with trip management, thereby enabling its customers' vacation and leisure experiences.
After JTB Co., Ltd. and CYBIRD Co., Ltd. as an initial member of Glee Co., Ltd. is responsible for business development. Currently, he is mainly engaged in venture support in the Internet area, investing in venture and venture capital, and served as management advisor for dozens of companies. Hands-on business development, growth strategydevelopment, financing advice, HR organization design support, partner referral and Recruit Support. He is also engaged in business support for ventures in the healthcare and university venture fields. He served as Digital Health Meetup Advisor, NEDOTCP Mentor and Future 2016 Mentor.
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Investment focus
- Content, Marketing, Internet
- Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- aceRNA Technologies — AceRNA contributes to regenerative medicine and drug discovery through the discovery of novel miRNA functions. It began operation in April 2018, with its headquarters in Kyoto in Japan.
- Epicbase — Epicbase is an AI-based automatic voice transcription service based on voice recognition technology.
- Go Visions — Go Visions engages in the edutainment tech for children and human resources services.
Osamu Ogasahara is the founder, CEO, and president of FGN ABBA Lab.
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Investment focus
- SNS, Content, Fashion
- Angel, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- CAMPFIRE — Campfire engages in the planning, development, and operation of a crowd funding platform.They operate the largest cloud funding platform in Japan [CAMPFIRE (campfire)], which supports "whoever wants to start something."The fee is 5% of the domestic level, and about 15,000 projects have collected about $70million in total from over700,000 people.
Daisaku Harada is the Director of Management Strategy at Mercari. Daisaku attended Chuo University.
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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.
2011 At university, participated in the founding period as a director of Atcole Co., Ltd., and started the web service experience.2012 Founded Peroli Co., Ltd.,
which operates a curation platform for women "MERY" .2014 Founded Peroli
Co., Ltd. Sold to DeNA
2015 Jointly established Tokyo Founders Fund as an angel investor and startedinvesting in startups in Japan and overseas
2019 Appointed outside director of FIREBUG Co., Ltd.
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Investment focus
- Internet, Software, Content
- Seed, Angel, Funding Round
- Japan, Hong Kong, United States
Portfolio highlights
- For you — For you is a comprehensive Advertising agency business specializing in SNS.
- Meetscare — Meetscare provides correct information and supports the self-awareness of all people involved in care. The company provides a wealth of information to ensure optimal care and create a mechanism for the realization. Users can make a telephone consultation and web diagnosis and search for free information using the system.Meetscare was founded on2016 and is headquartered in Arakawa, Tokyo.
- SPORTS CROWN — SPORTS CROWN engages in the development and operation of fantasy sports.
Yusuke Asakura is an entrepreneur, a businessman, a venture investor, a scholar and the co-founder of Signifiant Inc. At Signifiant, Yusuke manages a ¥20 billion growth fund “THE FUND” aimed at growth-stage startups.
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Investment focus
- Finance, B2B, Health Care
- Seed, Funding Round, Series A
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Siiibo — Siiibo is a developer of an information platform intended to help private investors and companies to issue and purchase private bonds easily. The company's platform is creating a free, transparent, and fair direct finance that provides opportunities for an advisory to companies, such as support for diversification of funding using smallprivate placement bonds, and for building relationships with investors, enabling the private investors to get familiar with the issuance of corporate bonds.
- Smartround — Smartround is a specialized finance management platform for startups and their investors. For start-ups, for entrepreneurs who are not familiar with finance, simply enter the necessary information according to the guide, prepare appropriate financing round, and prepare a function that can simulate and execute a capital increase. Support informationsharing and communication with shareholders even after the capital increase.
- OVERFLOW — OVERFLOW provides consulting and recruitment services.
Masahiko Inada is the Venture Advisor at DNX Ventures. He was Founder and Chairman at Kabuku Inc. He attended The University of Tokyo.
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Investment focus
- SNS, Content, Finance
- Angel, Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Theoria — Theoria is a marketing team that brings together practical knowledge.
- Recipio Japan — Recipio is a service that can suggest recipes just by entering ingredients the user already has at home. The app can also refine suggestions based on the user's mood, the occasion, and how many people the user is eating with, and more.
- Theoria Japan — Theoria Japan is a specialized Q & A service.
"At early stage of Axive.com, currently EC navi , he tackled started up Sales department, Alliance & Sales strategy and ads product development. He joined Dentsu wonderman next, and performed direct marketing strategy to big communication companies, drink companies and financial institutes. Then, He was back to EC navi again, and workedfor started up West ads sales branch and Mobile site, reconstruction of Sales department and so on.In 2008, He launched Samurai Incubate Inc. specified for early ventures’ management, marketing, sales,human resource,and finance support. His company invests start up ventures and he also holds the posts of external director of some venture companies."
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Investment focus
- Finance, Health Care, Crowdfunding
- Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- IDDK — IDDK specializes in semiconductor technology and optical technology.
- Riham — Anipipo is the funding platform for animation projects. It provides a new way for animation creators to find funding to support the production of their animation, goods, event, and etc. Creators will also be able to utilize Anipipo as a platform to get connected with their fans from all over the world.
- Cardio Intelligence — Cardio Intelligence develops an AI automated diagnostic system.
After working at KDD Corporation (Currently known as KDDI Corporation), Kiyoshi Nishikawa next went to work at Arthur D. Little Inc. in the United States, where he became inspired to start his own company. After returning to Japan, he established a Japanese corporation of the world’s largest Internet company, America On Line, LLC. Later andbased on this experience and the relationships he developed, he founded the first Internet business incubator, NETAGE, Inc. After serving as the President and CEO of NETAGE Group, he later became and still serves as the Chairman of ngi group, inc. Kiyoshi was one of the main entrepreneurs responsible for proposing and realization of “Shibuya Bit Valley Concept†and is well known for his various speeches and writings. He is a graduate of the Department of Education at Tokyo University.
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Investment focus
- News, Social Media, Big Data
- Seed, Funding Round, Pre-Seed
- Japan, United States
Portfolio highlights
- PoliPoli — PoliPoli is a next-generation politics co-creation platform where you can participate like a game. Politicians from all over Japan post their policies in an easy-to-understand manner, and those who sympathize can enjoy working on the "missions" necessary to realize the policies.
- Astroscale — Astroscale is the first private company with a vision to secure the safe and sustainable development of space for the benefit of future generations, and the only company solely dedicated to on-orbit servicing across all orbits.
- TECHFUND — TechFund is a venture capital firm specializing in incubation and seed stage investments. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
Mochio Umeda's visionary insights combined with his firsthand knowledge and experience in Silicon Valley are highly regarded among CEOs of large Japanese IT companies. As an opinion leader in the industry, he plays a key role in introducing the "Silicon Valley high growth mechanism" into the management thinking of those companies inJapan.Mochio is a co-founder of the Pacifica Fund and the founder and president of MUSE Associates, a strategy and business consulting firm to the Japanese IT industry established in Palo Alto, California, in 1997. Before starting MUSE, he was one of the founding directors of Arthur D. Little's Silicon Valley office. Mochio is also a leading commentator on IT industry in the Japanese press, with countless published articles in Japan's primary business publications, including Chuo Koron, Nikkei Business, Nikkei Personal Computing and Foresight. He is the author of the book "How Silicon Valley Changed Me" (Shincho-sha, 2001) and a contributing author of, "A Strategic Planning Roadmap" (Diamond Business Press, 1991) and "The Computer Industry's High Return Revolution" (Diamond Business Press, 1993).Mochio holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Keio University and a Master of Information Science from the University of Tokyo.
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Investment focus
- FinTech, Finance, Education
- Seed, Funding Round
- Japan, Singapore
Portfolio highlights
- Manabie — Manabie is an Education Technology start-up company on a mission to provide a new style of online & offline merged learning around the world. We provide students with everything they need for efficient learning; high-quality learning materials, great learning environments, personal coaches and more! We believe that our new method of learning,integrating online and offline will dramatically innovate the way students learn.
- Wealthnavi — WealthNavi offers a platform for asset managers which uses risk management algorithm for asset management advice.
Tomohiro Kinoshita - President @ Campanio
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Investment focus
- Finance, Asset Management, Financial Services
- Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- WhatzMoney — WhatzMoney is to realize the best choice of money for everyone from his previous work experience in banking.
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.
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Investment focus
- Internet, Task Management, Marketing
- Seed, Angel, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
Shunsuke Sasaki - Executive officer @ Jiraffe
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Investment focus
- Social Media, Content, SNS
- Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Japan, Myanmar
Portfolio highlights
- Hackazouk — Hackazouk is an HR Tech company that operates Official-Alumni.com, an alumni relationship management system in Japan and the Philippines to help companies stay connected with their alumni.
- bond Japan — Bond Co., Ltd. is a video learning platform specializing in Japanese language studies.
- Linklusion — Linklusion is a system development and management support for microfinance institutions in developing countries
Teruhide Sato is President and Group CEO of netprice.com, Ltd., a global internet and e-commerce business incubator group (Tokyo Stock Exchange 3328). Lead the group to deliver the latest experience in online shopping across Japan, US, Europe and Asia. Strongly believe in the power of entrepreneurship.
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Investment focus
- E-Commerce, Internet, Marketplace
- Seed, Series B, Series A
- India, Japan, Singapore
Portfolio highlights
- Zilingo — Zilingo was founded in 2015 by Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor with a vision to use technology to put fair and efficient business within everyone’s reach. Up until now, the fashion industry has favored a select few - if you had social, human and financial capital, you could get anything done. But we believe the future of fashion belongs to everyone.By using smart, technology-led solutions to bridge the gap between creators and producers, we’re re-imagining the fashion industry to make it accessible, connected and transparent for all. Find out more on business.zilingo.com.
- InnerChef — InnerChef is an Indian food tech company that offers a mobile app for online food discovery and delivery. It allows users to order their favorite dishes which can be delivered within 20 minutes. The company offers ready-to-eat meals, gourmets do-it-yourself recipe kits (InnerChef DIY gourmet), detox cleanses, and healthy eats (InnerChef+) as wellas decadent desserts (Indulge by InnerChef). InnerChef has beverages ranging from cold coffees to thick shakes to fruit juices, all freshly prepared. The company also operates Indulge, a hyperlocal dessert marketplace where home bakers and neighborhood bakeries can offer their products to customers.
- Pipa.Bella — Pipa.Bella currently offers custom-made and ready-made fashion jewelry at affordable prices to over 40,000 customers across India through an innovative online platform and aims to reach to 1.5 lakh customers over the next twelve months. With few branded players in the fashion jewelry segment, Pipa.Bella aims to solve a pain point that many womenface while shopping for jewelry - branded jewelry is either overpriced with high mark-ups, or unbranded jewelry is cluttered and lacks any proper curation or style guidance. Pipa.Bella launches approximately 100 new styles every week that are all priced well between INR 500 - 3000. The demand for fashion jewellery has grown significantly in the last few years due to high prices of gold and silver and is estimated to be a $6 billion market. The brand has hit operational profitability in FY 17-18 and is aiming to be cash flow positive in the next twelve months. Pipa.Bella targets the 22-35-year-old urban woman who is fashion-conscious, social media savvy and is quick to adapt to latest trends. Pipa.Bella derives its name from two European words that describe the company's range of products and customers. A typical "Pipa" woman is bold, edgy and always ready to experiment and a typical "Bella" woman is a classicist, graceful, more conservative. The brand celebrates the different styles that exemplify these two aesthetics through its product range, which consist of earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings, sterling silver jewelry, charms, personalized jewelry, wedding jewelry Pipa.Bella is a recipient of the Google SMB Heroes 2017 Award, Top 25 Startups by Singapore's Javelin Startup-O Victory Fund, and Digital Women in E-Commerce 2017 Award by Shethepeople.tv. The brand has been worn on top Bollywood celebrities and has been featured in International fashion and business publications such as Vogue, Harpers, Femina, Grazia, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Economic Times, and Wall Street Journal.
Yamazaki Reijiro - Chairman @ Anymarry
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Investment focus
- CRM, Finance, Security
- Angel, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- G-Next — G NEXT is an Information Technology based company.
- earlyworks — Earlyworks Co., Ltd. provides blockchain technology solutions. The Company develops hybrid blockchain product that is fast and secure. Earlyworks offers software and system development, consulting, and security solution services.
Mizuki Inoue - Director @ Kudan
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Investment focus
- CRM, Finance, Security
- Seed, Angel, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Kudan — Kudan has been providing proprietary Artificial Perception technologies based on SLAM to enable use cases with significant market potential and impact on our lives such as autonomous driving, robotics, AR/VR and smart cities
- G-Next — G NEXT is an Information Technology based company.
- earlyworks — Earlyworks Co., Ltd. provides blockchain technology solutions. The Company develops hybrid blockchain product that is fast and secure. Earlyworks offers software and system development, consulting, and security solution services.
Daisuke Takanashi is an angel investor.
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Investment focus
- SNS, Content, Finance
- Seed, Angel, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- VCook — VCook is a website for posting recipes that offer vegan food. They give users the ability to search for and save vegan recipes on VCook. They post and share vegan recipes with everyone.
- Abentry — Abentry is engaged in the SNS business and media advertising business.
- alma — alma is a community platform to learn design.
Yuichi Kawasaki Prior joining SmartNews, I was COO at mixi, Founder & CEO at kamado, Executive Vice President at Hatena. I started my career at Cisco Systems G.K.
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Investment focus
- CRM, Finance, Security
- Angel, Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Blankr — Blankr inc has developed an application called Raidli. Using the app, Vtubers can hold a virtual handshake event.
- earlyworks — Earlyworks Co., Ltd. provides blockchain technology solutions. The Company develops hybrid blockchain product that is fast and secure. Earlyworks offers software and system development, consulting, and security solution services.
- AVA Intelligence — AVA Intelligence is a Internet service development company.
Oki Matsumoto began his career at Salomon Brothers Asia Limited in April 1987. He then joined Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd. in April 1990 and was appointed General Partner of The Goldman Sachs Group, L.P. in November 1994. As a General Partner, he was Co-Head of its Tokyo Branch’s FX & Fixed Income Business and was in charge of FX and fixedincome products and the related risk management. It was in April 1999 that Matsumoto jointly established (the former) Monex, Inc. with Sony Corporation. In August 2004, Matsumoto become the Representative Director and CEO of the Company (former name: Monex Beans Holdings, Inc.) upon its formation through management integration of Monex, Inc. and Nikko Beans Inc. He was named the Representative Director, Chairman and CEO of the Company in February 2011 and then assumed his current position in June 2013.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Cryptocurrency, FinTech
- Angel, Seed, Series A
- Japan, Taiwan, Australia
Portfolio highlights
- Toposware — From pioneering cryptographic research to engineering global-scale distributed systems technologies, Toposware is committed to solving the hardest problems to advance open internet standards.
- WATASHIHA — WATASHIHA is a communication company.
- Space Walker — SPACE WALKER specializes in design, manufacture and sale of peripheral components.
Shintaro Tabata - Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Sales @ Line
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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.
Tomokaz Saito - Corporate Legal Manager @ Mercari
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Investment focus
- Finance, Security, Blockchain
- Angel
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- earlyworks — Earlyworks Co., Ltd. provides blockchain technology solutions. The Company develops hybrid blockchain product that is fast and secure. Earlyworks offers software and system development, consulting, and security solution services.
Edward Ronkowski
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Investment focus
- FinTech, Finance, Financial Services
- Seed, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Wealthnavi — WealthNavi offers a platform for asset managers which uses risk management algorithm for asset management advice.
Matias de Tezanos is the Investor & Board Director at Getaround.
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Investment focus
- Semiconductor, Advertising, Food and Beverage
- Seed, Series A, Series E
- United States, Guatemala, Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Smartround — Smartround is a specialized finance management platform for startups and their investors. For start-ups, for entrepreneurs who are not familiar with finance, simply enter the necessary information according to the guide, prepare appropriate financing round, and prepare a function that can simulate and execute a capital increase. Support informationsharing and communication with shareholders even after the capital increase.
- AutoWeb — AutoWeb operates as an automotive marketing services company that helps automotive retail dealers and manufacturers that sell new and used vehicles through its Internet lead referral and online advertising programs. The company's lead programs include new vehicle lead program that allows consumers to submit requests for pricing andavailability of specific makes and models, used vehicle lead program, which allows consumers to search for used vehicles according to specific search parameters, such as the price, make, model, mileage, year, and location of the vehicle; and finance lead program designed to provide consumers opportunity to obtain vehicle financing and other services. Its consumer-facing automotive Web sites, which include Autobytel.com, Autoweb.com, AutoSite.com, Car.com, CarSmart.com, CarTV.com, and MyRide.com, provide consumers the information and tools to aid them in their automotive purchase decisions, and the opportunity to submit lead requests. The company was formerly known as autobytel.com Inc.AutoWeb was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.
- Orionis Biosciences — Orionis Biosciences is a life sciences company pioneering technological innovation in genome-scale drug discovery and tunable molecular design of novel therapeutic drug modalities.
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.
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Investment focus
- Internet, Information Technology, Human Resources
- Seed, Angel, Funding Round
- Japan, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Kaymak — Kaymak is a recruitment platform that focuses on creating a recruitment website, planning a recruitment strategy, and managing candidates.
- D-Chain — D-Chain offers services related to IT development and production in the Web3 and Web2 fields.
- Rayout — Rayout is a business consulting company that provides creative content development, recruitment videos, and web production services.
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.
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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.
Tatsuo Sakamoto is a Head of Sales, Japan at MOLOCO. He Attended The University of Tokyo.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Education, Recruiting
- Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Bgrass — bgrass is a consultation support platform for women working in the IT industry.
- Cloudbase — Cloudbase is an information technology company that specializes in the fields of cloud services and management.
- Metaverse Creators — Metaverse Creators is a feature-rich virtual platform providing gamers with a wide range of games, creation tools, and avatar editing tools.
Takenaga Shuuichi is an individual investor.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Management Consulting, Marketing
- Seed, Angel, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Morght — Morght is an information technology service company.
- Tagpic — Tagpic offers influencer marketing targeting services such as influencer casting, SNS branding, and talent production.
- H&H Group Japan — H&H Holdingsis a Professional Services company.
Koki Yabu is Founder, President & CEO at Mobcast inc.
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Investment focus
- Content, Finance, Data Mining
- Angel, Pre-Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Mobcast group — mobcast is a sports entertainment company that operates a mobile entertainment platform for smartphones and feature phones. It supports customers with social game and social media services. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in Tokyo, Japan. Currently, it operates as a subsidiary of mobcast Inc.
- SmartApp Japan — Smart Apps is a developer of a blockchain services application designed for smartphones. The company's application uses cryptocurrency technology to offer token issuance, initial coin offering and dApps design support, providing a launchpad for start-up blockchain-related businesses.
Graduated from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Engineering , Graduate School of Engineering 2007 Graduated from the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Engineering
April 2007 Joined Goldman Sachs Securities. He is engaged in a variety of investments, from non-performing loan investment, private equity investment, real estate investment toship investment, in the strategic investment department, which is a proprietary investment team.
May 2010 Moved to Goldman Sachs Investment Partners to become an investor at his own discretion. Participate in a global hedge fund with total assets of over 800 billion yen, and as a hedge fund manager, invest and manage up to 80 billion portfolios in stocks, bonds, foreign exchange, interest rates, CDS, derivatives, loans, etc.
February 2019 Appointed Cryptact Co., Ltd.
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Investment focus
- Finance, Cryptocurrency, Asset Management
- Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Gaia Japan — Gaia is a Financial based Company
Ryan Collins is the Founder & Managing Director of MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia (MMV SEA) & he attended National University of Singapore in 2014.
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Investment focus
- Financial Services, FinTech, Health Care
- Series A, Seed, Series C
- Singapore, United Kingdom, India
Portfolio highlights
- Qoala — Asuransi online yang siap melindungi kamu dan orang tersayang, di mana aja, kapan aja. Premi murah, proses klaim mudah, dan 100% digital!
- Paidy — Paidy is a software platform that allows consumers to buy online without a credit card or pre-registration. It is optimized for mobile and instant-checkout, Paidy allows consumers to buy online and does not require a credit card or pre-registration.Paidy's payment service allows users to make purchases online, and then pay for them eachmonth in a consolidated bill. The company uses proprietary technology to score creditworthiness, underwrite transactions and guarantee payment to merchants. Since many Japanese consumers prefer not to use credit cards for online payments, Paidy’s service can help vendors increase their conversion rates, average order values and repeat purchases.
- Tuio — Tuio is a insurance company that provides digital platform providing house or propety insurance.
Amin Azumude is the Representative Director and Founder of Cryptact.
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Investment focus
- Finance, Cryptocurrency, Asset Management
- Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Gaia Japan — Gaia is a Financial based Company
Kensuke Furukawa was born in June 2, 1981. He graduated Waseda University majoring Political Science and Economics, and in 2000, he launched "Milkcafe", a student community, which has grown to a site with 10 million PV per month. In 2004, he became the CEO of Media Clip, which operates a rental bulletin board service "ShitarabaBBS". After that year, he had transfer "Shitaraba BBS" to Livedoor, and took charge of starting up the Consumer Generated Media sector. In 2006, he joined Recruit, and took charge of starting up a new business at Business development sector. In June of 2009, he left Recruit, and became the CEO of nanapi (formerly Rocket Start), which operates the How-to Site "nanapi".
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Investment focus
- Content, Media and Entertainment, Social Media
- Seed, Funding Round, Angel
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Plott — Plott producing youtube animation platform under Vision “Become a Content holder from YouTube”. In August 2019, the company name was changed from Fabo to Plott. Plott, the new company name, is derived from the plot that you make before writing novels, etc., and the idea that “I want to make content all the time” is put in the company name.
- Tohakusha — Tohakusha is a creative agency that offers design, production and sale of digital content and EC websites, and content creation services.
- 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.
Sagehashi Yuki
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Investment focus
- Content, FinTech, Finance
- Angel, Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- DariaMe — DariaMe is a web media planning, development and operation, planning and production of various contents, online consultation service.
- BrainCat — BrainCat is a Japanese company that specializes in developing FinTech platforms. It has developed a social fund service “Gojo”. BrainCat was established on June 29, 2016.
- Kepple — Kepple Accounting is a start-up accounting and tax services.
Yusuke Sato is the Co-Representative and Co-Founder of Pulit.
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Investment focus
- Internet, Content, Food and Beverage
- Seed, Funding Round, Angel
- Japan, Indonesia, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Kaymak — Kaymak is a recruitment platform that focuses on creating a recruitment website, planning a recruitment strategy, and managing candidates.
- Paytner — yup is providing services to support freelance people's funding.The freelance population in Japan has been shown to continue to increase in many Chosa. While working styles are diversified, they are not able to respond to the development of the working environment, and they will develop their business to change the situation where problemssuch as funding, credit, sexual harassment, and power harassment are accumulated.
- Meetscare — Meetscare provides correct information and supports the self-awareness of all people involved in care. The company provides a wealth of information to ensure optimal care and create a mechanism for the realization. Users can make a telephone consultation and web diagnosis and search for free information using the system.Meetscare was founded on2016 and is headquartered in Arakawa, Tokyo.
Yoshifumi Seki is the Senior Researcher and Co-Founder at Gunosy.
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Investment focus
- Finance, Security, Logistics
- Seed, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Sozi — The core members of Sozi are information technology experts. I have been involved in communication and web service development in the information society. On the other hand, each is familiar with many contents such as manga, anime, and illustrations .
- Tokyo — Tokyo provides consistently-designed signage and projector installation, as well as maintenance company support. All customers need is “product selection” considering installation. This is a service that does not take time and effort!
- Smartround — Smartround is a specialized finance management platform for startups and their investors. For start-ups, for entrepreneurs who are not familiar with finance, simply enter the necessary information according to the guide, prepare appropriate financing round, and prepare a function that can simulate and execute a capital increase. Support informationsharing and communication with shareholders even after the capital increase.
Taizo Son - Co-Founder @ VIVITA
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Investment focus
- Financial Services, Information Technology, Water
- Seed, Series A, Funding Round
- Japan, United States, Singapore
Portfolio highlights
- LIFT99 — LIFT99 is a coworking hub and network of startup founders in Tallinn, Estonia, and Kyiv, Ukraine. In 2018, we launched our Skillsharing Platform for founders around the world.
- Smartround — Smartround is a specialized finance management platform for startups and their investors. For start-ups, for entrepreneurs who are not familiar with finance, simply enter the necessary information according to the guide, prepare appropriate financing round, and prepare a function that can simulate and execute a capital increase. Support informationsharing and communication with shareholders even after the capital increase.
- AnotherBall — AnotherBall is a blockchain startup that combines entertainment and blockchain.
Shigeru Urushibara - President & CEO @ UL Systems
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Investment focus
- Artificial Intelligence, Task Management, Social Media
- Series A, Seed, Angel
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- EmbodyMe — Making the unimaginable, imaginable with AI
- Space Walker — SPACE WALKER specializes in design, manufacture and sale of peripheral components.
- SingulaNet Ltd — SingulaNet Ltd provides a total solution using cutting-edge blockchain services.
Mr. Takeshi Natsuno serves as the Chairman of Japan Operations at Great Wall Club. Mr. Natsuno is a Professor of KEIO University. He served as a General Manager of Consumer Services Division and Manager of Distribution Platform Business Development Division at Pia Corporation since April 2012 and served as its Chief of Sales Promotion Bureau sinceApril 2010. He joined DoCoMo in 1997. He served as the Managing Director of Multimedia Services, Products & Services Division for NTT DoCoMo Inc. until June 23, 2009 and served as its General Manager of i-Mode Planning Division since July 2001, Senior Vice President from June 21, 2005 to June 23, 2009, Executive Officer and General Manager Multimedia Service Division since June 2005. At NTT DoCoMo, he developed the business strategy of all of NTT DoCoMo’s multimedia-related services, including i-mode strategic alliances with global application/content providers and key Internet players. He served as Vice President of Hyper Net Co., Ltd. since June 1996. He started his career with Tokyo Gas. He held key executive positions with HyperNet. He has been a Director of Dwango Co. Ltd., since December 1, 2008. He has been a Outside Director at Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. since June 2008. He has been a Director at Pia Corporation since April 2010. He serves as a Director of D.L.E Co. Ltd. He has been a Director of Gree, Inc. since September 2009 and Trans Cosmos, Inc. since 2008. He serves as a Director of GREE Ventures, Inc. He serves as a Member of Advisory Board at Great Wall Club. He served as an Independent Non-Executive Director of SBI Holdings Inc. from June 27, 2008 to June 28, 2012. He served as a Director of Hyper Net Co., Ltd. since June 1996. He is the Author of i-mode Strategy, published in 2000, a la i-mode, published in 2002, Keitai-no-Mirai, published in 2006, Iccho-yen kaseida otokono shigotojutu, and Google ni izonshi Amazon wo maneru bakakigyou published in 2009. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Economics from Waseda University, Japan in 1988 and an Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1995.
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Investment focus
- Financial Services, Music, Venture Capital
- Angel, Funding Round, Series A
- Japan, United States
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
- Confidence — Confidence ensures that the entertainment industry's cutting-edge manufacturers will be able to fulfil their objectives in the future.
After joining Mitsubishi Corporation, he studied at Harvard Business School. After graduating, he joined Globespan Capital Partners, an independent United States VC, and worked as a director of investment. He started LocationValue after the company's representative in Japan. Joined Google after selling the company to NTT DOCOMO. He served asDirector of Product Development for Google Maps and General Manager for Android. He left Google in February 2018 and started Smartround Co., Ltd. in May.
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Investment focus
- Artificial Intelligence, SNS, Music
- Seed, Angel, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Flyle — Flyle provides a cloud based platform for product management helping customers to improve productivity & creativity in product development.
- Sustainable Lab — SusLab is a data bank that uses AI technology to support SDG and ESG development goals and investments.
- Paytner — yup is providing services to support freelance people's funding.The freelance population in Japan has been shown to continue to increase in many Chosa. While working styles are diversified, they are not able to respond to the development of the working environment, and they will develop their business to change the situation where problemssuch as funding, credit, sexual harassment, and power harassment are accumulated.
Takao is the former CEO of YJ Capital. He is also the President of Shopping Company at Yahoo Japan. Prior to Yahoo, he founded Bizseek, Inc. in 1999 which was acquired by Rakuten, Inc. in 2001. He joined Rakuten after the acquisition and was the Corporate Officer in charge of auctions. During his career in Rakuten, he was engaged in projects suchas formation of Rakuten Eagles. He left Rakuten in 2006 and founded Ozawa Research Institute where he enhanced business in areas such as investments to start-up companies and consulting. In 2011, he founded Crocos, Inc. which was sold to Yahoo Japan in 2012. As an angel investor, he invested/founded companies like nanapi, Appgrooves, STARFESTIVAL, Crocos, Netage and many others.
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Investment focus
- E-Commerce, News, B2B
- Seed, Series A, Angel
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Tokyo — Tokyo provides consistently-designed signage and projector installation, as well as maintenance company support. All customers need is “product selection” considering installation. This is a service that does not take time and effort!
- Astroscale — Astroscale is the first private company with a vision to secure the safe and sustainable development of space for the benefit of future generations, and the only company solely dedicated to on-orbit servicing across all orbits.
- Driver Technologies — Driver Technologies is a cloud logistics platform provider. It provides a solution for driver matching and cargo vehicle demands.
Toshiro “Tosh” Wakimaru is the Chief Operating Officer of MedPeer, Inc. , Tokyo, Japan since May 2010. Medpeer is the “Medical Doctor Exclusive” SNS in Japan that has just successfully gone to the market in 2014.Prior to the current job, Tosh had been actively working for Price Waterhouse Consulting, Japan LLP (now IBM Japan, Ltd.) aftergraduating from the Boston University School of Management in 1996. While there he completed numerous projects in corporate strategy, operation improvement, and new business development focusing on the retail, service, and healthcare industries with a secondment to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
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Investment focus
- Task Management, Food and Beverage, SNS
- Seed, Funding Round
- Japan, India
Portfolio highlights
- Clear — Clear, Inc. operates sake subscription service “SAKELIFE".
- Cub McPaws — Buy comfortably fashionable kids clothes (4 - 12 years) online in India from Cub Mcpaws at best prices. Gorgeous dresses, jumpsuits, t-shirts, shirts & bottom wear for boys and girls | Free Shipping | COD
- Smartround — Smartround is a specialized finance management platform for startups and their investors. For start-ups, for entrepreneurs who are not familiar with finance, simply enter the necessary information according to the guide, prepare appropriate financing round, and prepare a function that can simulate and execute a capital increase. Support informationsharing and communication with shareholders even after the capital increase.
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