Top 50 Hardware Angel Investors in Japan in May 2025
A list of 50 angel investors that invest in Hardware startups based in Japan. We rank investors based on the number of investments they made in Hardware companies from Japan. We update this investor list every month.Top 50 Hardware Angel Investors in Japan in May 2025
Investor | Hardware Japan investments |
---|---|
Kotaro Chiba | 7 |
Kotaro Chiba | 7 |
Yusuke Sato | 4 |
Hironao Kunimitsu | 4 |
Ayataro Nakagawa | 3 |
Hirofumi Miki | 3 |
Masao Ito | 3 |
Matsuo Koichiro | 2 |
Kazuhiro Ishikura | 2 |
Mamoru Taniya | 2 |
Narita Shuzo | 2 |
Cheng Tao | 2 |
Yasumasa Manabe | 2 |
Taizo Son | 2 |
Kiyoshi Nishikawa | 2 |
Shigeru Urushibara | 2 |
Junichiro Ueno | 1 |
Yo Shibata | 1 |
Kazuhiko Ishikura | 1 |
Shunsuke Oyu | 1 |
Toru Shimada | 1 |
June Taketani | 1 |
Yuki Sato | 1 |
Yasuhide Uno | 1 |
Ryosuke Matsumoto | 1 |
Yusuke Murata | 1 |
Taiga Matsuyama | 1 |
Kotaro Yamagishi | 1 |
Yoshinori Fukushima | 1 |
Miyajima Yuji | 1 |
Yasuyuki Kin | 1 |
Jun Nishikawa | 1 |
Shuhei Morofuji | 1 |
Teruhide Sato | 1 |
Yu Akasaka | 1 |
Soga Takeshi | 1 |
Kensuke Furukawa | 1 |
Shuuichi Wada | 1 |
Ken Soga | 1 |
Yuki Naito | 1 |
Yasuo Takahata | 1 |
Hitoshi Koide | 1 |
Yoshitsune Ido | 1 |
Masanori Sugiyama | 1 |
Kenji Kasahara | 1 |
Keisuke Wada | 1 |
Takahiro Kamisaki | 1 |
Keisuke Honda | 1 |
Oki Matsumoto | 1 |
Keijiro Yamagata | 1 |
Kotaro Chiba is the founder of ChibaDojo Fund. Kotaro Chiba attended Keio University.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Content, Internet
- 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
- Information Technology, 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.
Yusuke Sato is the Co-Representative and Co-Founder of Pulit.
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Investment focus
- Content, Internet, Food and Beverage
- Seed, Funding Round, Angel
- Japan, Indonesia, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Kaimak — Kaymak is a recruitment platform that focuses on creating a recruitment website, planning a recruitment strategy, and managing candidates.
- 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.
- Driver Technologies — Driver Technologies is a cloud logistics platform provider. It provides a solution for driver matching and cargo vehicle demands.
Hironao Kunimitsu was born in Hyogo, Japan. After graduating from Okayama High School, he spent several years traveling around the world. He visited over 30 countries including the US, China, India, Canada, and others in Central and South America.In 1996 he entered Fudan University in China, and then later went on to study at Santa MonicaCollege in the US. In 2004 he entered Atmovie Inc. where he produced movies and televised dramas, and was appointed company director in the same year. In 2007 he founded gumi Inc., and it started listing on first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in December, 2014.
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Investment focus
- Virtual Reality, Content, Media and Entertainment
- Funding Round, Seed, Angel
- Japan, United States
Portfolio highlights
- 1SEC — 1sec is a virtual influencers in Japan,develop in-house and management. IMPACT to CEKAI in 1 second. Based on the concept of making CEKAI happy in one second, US based in Los Angeles and Japan, based in Tokyo, virtual influencers × AI, fashion & music & The company will develop a number of CEKAI's first and first projects in Japan inthe field of enter teignment.
- Gatari — Gatari is developing an AR audio platform, including the AR camera app Vismuth, which can call avatars in reality.
- Thirdverse — Thirdverse (formerly known as Yomuneco Inc) is engaged in Virtual Reality content and services planning, development, sales and management.
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
- Mepple — Mepple is planning, developing, and operating internet services.
- For you — For you is a comprehensive Advertising agency business specializing in SNS.
- SPORTS CROWN — SPORTS CROWN engages in the development and operation of fantasy sports.
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
- 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.
- Ai-Dounyu.com — Ai-Dounyu.com is a platform that helps organizations looking to integrate AI choose their ideal AI implementation partner for free.
Masao Ito is a Founder & CEO at User Local.
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Investment focus
- Content, Social Media, Information Technology
- Seed, Series A, Angel
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Illusil — Illusil is a service that makes it easier for anyone to generate slide materials and reduces the amount of time needed to do it. Additionally, presentations can be automatically generated from text input by AI, and over 1,000 design templates can be used to build original slides.
- Alyaum — Aryaum supports "regional revitalization through NFT" by offering local governments all around the nation hometown tax and tourism NFT solutions.
- Driver Technologies — Driver Technologies is a cloud logistics platform provider. It provides a solution for driver matching and cargo vehicle demands.
Matsuo Koichiro - Director @ Kokopelli
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Investment focus
- Robotics, Software, Information Technology
- Seed, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Kokopelli — Kokopelli is a Fintech start-up company that develops the management support platform "SHARES" for small and medium-sized businesses and the AI loan screening engine "FAI" (* 2) that enhances credit for financial institutions.
Kazuhiro Ishikura served as the head of the Akatsuki Business Management Department in 2013 and as a corporate auditor of Akatsuki in 2014, contributing to the company's listing on the TSE Mothers and TSE 1st sections. Appointed 3minute CFO in 2015, engaged in business start-up and organizational design, and succeeded in large-scale M & Adeal with Glee. After leaving the company, he became a WARC director in November 2018. Certified public accountant.
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Investment focus
- Beauty, Content, Fashion
- 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.
- WARC — WARC provides hands-on support for business management departments as well as mergers and acquisition advisory services.
- Vitalogue Health — Vitalogue Health offers Canvas, a home-based hormone testing service for women.
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.
Narita Shuzo is a Executive Vice President/COO, CrowdWorks Inc.
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Investment focus
- Task Management, Media and Entertainment, Content
- Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel
- 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.
Tao Cheng currently works as Chief Executive Officer and Founder of popIn.
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Investment focus
- Telecommunications, Content, Internet
- Seed, Angel, Series A
- 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!
- Aidemy — Aidemy is a web service where you can learn AI programming online.
- Girasol Energy — Girasol Energy is an IoT Platform provides innovative PLC technologies that enable wiser PV Plants.
Yasumasa Manabe
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Drones, Big Data
- Seed, Series A, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- For you — For you is a comprehensive Advertising agency business specializing in SNS.
- MoonJapan — MoonJapan is an educational impact startup that offers a variety of programs and thorough assistance.
- Metro Weather — Metroweather is a venture from Kyoto University that develops a high-performance Doppler lidar that measures the direction and speed of wind several tens of kilometers away from minute movements of fine particles in the atmosphere. We aim to contribute to the safety of the sky by completing a three-dimensional wind map, which has never beenrealized,based on years of research at the Kyoto University Research Institute for Sustainable Areas.
Taizo Son is the Co-Founder of VIVITA. Taizo Son attended the University of Tokyo.
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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.
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.
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
- Ecbo cloak — Ecbo cloak is a sharing service that connects "persons who want to store luggage with shops with space to store luggage. Instead of coin lockers, you can pre-order places online online and store your luggage in the open space of stores of various types of business.
- Space Walker — SPACE WALKER specializes in design, manufacture and sale of peripheral components.
- SingulaNet — SingulaNet Ltd provides a total solution using cutting-edge blockchain services.
Junichiro Ueno is the CEO of JuM Design.
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Investment focus
- Wellness, Psychology, Virtual Reality
- Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- xCura — xCura alleviating pain and anxiety of people with the help of technology and product therapy VR.
Yo Shibata is the Co-Founder of tailor inc. He previously worked at Spotlight, inc. as a Founder and CEO. Yo Shibata attended The University of Tokyo.
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Investment focus
- Apps, Gaming, Content
- Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Japan, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Regain — Regain provides remote on-demand physical rehabilitation treatment solutions and video tutorials through the internet. It was launched by Hiroki Watanabe.
- ENDROLL — ENDROLL is a startup that develops and provides entertainment content using XR. Company Profile
- 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.
Kazuhiko Ishikura is based out of Tokyo, Tokyo and is the Co-Founder and Director of SDF Capital. Kazuhiko previously worked at 3minute Inc. as a Director. Kazuhiko Ishikura attended Aoyama Gakuin University.
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Investment focus
- Beauty, Content, Fashion
- Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Neith — Neith is a apparel manufacturer, seller and a whoelseller of water absorbing bralette, lingerie and shorts for women.
- WARC — WARC provides hands-on support for business management departments as well as mergers and acquisition advisory services.
- Vitalogue Health — Vitalogue Health offers Canvas, a home-based hormone testing service for women.
Shunsuke Oyu is the co-founder of Connehito Inc.
Started an online Q&A platform “mamari” which is the largest platform for moms in Japan. Connehito was acquired by one of the telecom giant KDDI in 2016.
Selected as a “Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia” at consumer technology department. Angel-investing 50+ companies globally.
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Investment focus
- Content, Internet, Media and Entertainment
- Seed, Angel, Funding Round
- Japan, Singapore, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Tohakusha — Tohakusha is a creative agency that offers design, production and sale of digital content and EC websites, and content creation services.
- Ai-Dounyu.com — Ai-Dounyu.com is a platform that helps organizations looking to integrate AI choose their ideal AI implementation partner for free.
- Neighbor — Neighbor is a metaverse game developer that specializes in Fortnite.
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
June Taketani is an individual investor.
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Investment focus
- CRM, E-Commerce, Home Decor
- Seed, Angel
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Cosic — KAREN, operated by ASHBERY, provides 3D interior coordination services according to personal preferences and lifestyle. Features of the service are the simplicity of use and the high quality of KAREN output. This is because users only have to upload photos of their rooms and pick three of their favorite interior photos on KAREN, and they arecommitted to securing the interior coordinator.The company was founded in 2018 and is based in Japan.
- SOELU — SOELU is an online yoga studio where you can take lessons from popular instructors at home for women only. Even if you can't attend yoga classes, the instructor will guide you through the screen, so you can continue online at home!
Engineer since 10 years old. Electronics, Mechanical, Web, iOS Android
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Investment focus
- Sports, Internet, Recruiting
- Seed
- Japan
Yasuhide Uno - Executive Chairman @ ALMEX Japan
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Investment focus
- CRM, Internet, Task Management
- Seed, Funding Round
- Japan
Ryosuke Matsumoto is the Founder / CEO at Kankak. Ryosuke Matsumoto attended Chuo University.
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Investment focus
- Art, Reservations, Software
- Seed, Angel, Series A
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- 6curry — 6curry is a brand that creates a new community around “curry”, one of the world's best Japanese foods. The concept is to mix many people and ideas like curry made by mixing various ingredients and spices. Original menu development, weekly events are held in the central kitchen, open only to members. We design and produce communication bornfrom food, such as event catering for over 500 people and communication proposals within the company.
- TRiCERA — TRiCERA is a contemporary art global platform management company.
- Vivid Garden — vivid garden is an Agriculture company.
In 1999, he founded SaaS startup (towards financial institutions). After exited, he joined the NIF Ventures (now Daiwa Corporate Investment) in 2003, and mainly dealt with investment for internet-related startups and fund management. In 2010, founded Incubate Fund as one of co-founder and general partner, and works on investment and incubation inmedia, gaming, digital health, and frontier-tech areas. He won #1 prize of Forbes JAPAN’s MIDAS LIST 2017.
Since 2015, he is on the Japan Venture Capital Association (JVCA) as General Manager of planing department and Chairperson of Fund Eco-System Committee and Director of LP Relationship department.
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Investment focus
- Nursing and Residential Care, Software, Artificial Intelligence
- Series A, Seed, Series B
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- KOMPEITO — Office de Yasai is an online platform that enables users to order and get vegetables delivered to their offices. The platform’s operations are based in Tokyo, Japan.
- Ark Edge Space — Ark Edge Space provides design, manufacturing & operational services for micro-satellites along with software solutions and consulting.
- Woodstock — Woodstock is an investment app that allows to invest in US stocks.
Taiga Matsuyama graduated form Waseda University, Matsuyama has been engaged in venture company support for more than ten years in Tokyo, after experience as a consultant at Accenture.Matsuyama became one of the board member of NetAge, Inc (IPO 2006), start-up incubator known by having invested in MIXI – Japanese top SNS and support severalstart-up companies.He also has contributed to the activity for create the start-up eco-system in Tokyo through the NPO Organization BVA (Bit Valley Association). Currently he has established Kronos Fund with angel investors, venture capital fund for investment in emerging early-stage companies.Kronos Fund has invested in more than 20 companies.
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Investment focus
- Software, Artificial Intelligence, Telecommunications
- Seed, Angel, Series A
- Japan, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Shippo — Shippo is the best multi-carrier shipping software for e-commerce businesses. Find the best shipping rates, integrate with e-commerce platforms, print shipping labels, track package delivery, and verify addresses with either our shipping API or web app.
- 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.
- Spectra Japan — Spectra is a Provision of services for artists and fans company.
Kotaro Yamagishi is the Director at GREE. Additionally, Kotaro Yamagishi has had 4 past jobs including Vice President at GREE.
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Investment focus
- Robotics, Aerospace, Space Travel
- Series A, Series B
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- 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.
- Modulus Discovery — Modulus is dedicated to accelerating the discovery of new medicines for patients and their families through the innovative synthesis of computational intelligence, biological inspiration, and global integration.
Yoshinori Fukushima - CEO @ LayerX
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Investment focus
- Internet, Marketing, Media and Entertainment
- Seed, Angel, Series A
- Japan, Singapore
Portfolio highlights
Miyajima Yuji is a Founder & CEO at Mobile Factory.
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Investment focus
- Content, Blockchain, Consulting
- Seed, Angel, Corporate Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
Yasuyuki Kin
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Investment focus
- Media and Entertainment, Information Technology, Career Planning
- Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Onepair — Onepair is a job consulting and recruiting company. Onepair is to co-creating careers by talking about real-world ace with active ace.
- Strainer Co., Ltd. — Strainer Co., Ltd. is an information distribution platform that conveys corporate information centered on financial data. Although there are not a few media to deliver financial information, the company's strengths are strong to be easily viewed, including financial information of overseas companies.
- LAMILA — LAMILA develops system that improves the creation of retail stores.
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.
Shuhei Morofuji is the CEO of Reapra Japan.He Previously worked at SMS Japan as the Founder and CEO.Shuhei Morofuji attended Kyushu University in 1997.
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Investment focus
- SNS, Robotics, Aerospace
- Angel, Series A
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- 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.
- SMS Japan — The corporate website of SMS Co., Ltd. We disclose a wide range of information, including company overview, investor relations, and sustainability.
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, FinTech
- Seed, Series A, Series B
- India, Japan, Indonesia
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.
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.
Soga Takeshi
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Investment focus
- Music, Mobile, Content
- Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- UNIVRS — UNIVRS is a popular market and entertainment platform.
- SAKELOGY — SAKELOGY is a platform enables restaurants and retailers to easily create cloud-based sake menus.
- Best Beer Japan — Best Beer Japan provides a barrel tracking software for craft beer and barrel sharing. The company was founded in 2018.
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.
- Now Do — Now Do provides online growth revolution platform.
- 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.
Shuuichi Wada - CTO @ alu Japan
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Investment focus
- Reservations, Content, Social Media
- Seed, Angel, Series A
- Japan
Ken Soga is an individual investor.
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Investment focus
- Content, Service Industry, SNS
- Seed, Series D
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- iiba — Iiba is a geospatial platform that specializes in providing location information related to child-rearing.
- Jiraffe — jiraffe focusses on Internet service planning, development, and management.
- Mono.un — Mono.un provides users with opportunities to meet authors and collaborate on tales and specializes in bringing exciting experiences full of stories of Japanese culture to the world.
Yuki Naito - CEO,President @ Drecom
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Investment focus
- Manufacturing, Internet, SNS
- Seed, Pre-Seed, Series B
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- 1SEC — 1sec is a virtual influencers in Japan,develop in-house and management. IMPACT to CEKAI in 1 second. Based on the concept of making CEKAI happy in one second, US based in Los Angeles and Japan, based in Tokyo, virtual influencers × AI, fashion & music & The company will develop a number of CEKAI's first and first projects in Japan inthe field of enter teignment.
- Fools — Fools is a footwear manufacturing company.
- Interstellar Technologies Japan — Interstellar Technologies is a rocket development, manufacturing and launch service.
Yasuo Takahata - President @ DesignOne Japan, Inc.
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Investment focus
- Task Management, SNS, Recruiting
- Seed, Angel, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Waaq — Waaq is an actively recruiting members who want to change the work environment in Japan.
- M&A Cloud — M & A is a Match Platform for Small & Medium Venture Companies
- Asia Educasion Labo —
Hitoshi Koide
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Investment focus
- Finance, Hardware, Software
- Seed, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- pickupon — Pickupon is a company that transcribes important parts of the call
- Crediation — Crediation is a digital finance provider that provides small and medium-sized businesses with complete access to financial services to build their enterprises by providing seamless mobile lending experiences. is a stock finance facility focused on helping business owners receive the capital they need to refill their enterprises through convenient,inexpensive, and sustainable loans.
Yoshitsune Ido
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Robotics, Software
- Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Morght — Morght is an information technology service company.
- BionicM — BionicM develops high-performance robot prostheses that enhance mobility for people with disabilities.BionicM has been conducting research on innovative technologies since 2015 at the University of Tokyo's Information Systems Engineering Laboratory (JSK) under the guidance of Professor Inaba and utilizing the world's most advancedrobotics research. In 2016, we were adopted by the Japan Science and Technology Agency as part of "Program for Creating STart-ups from Advanced Research and Technology" (START), and in 2018, the company was established as a joint-stock company.
- Dots for — Welcome to Dots for Inc.
He graduated from Kansai University in 1988. He was enrolled in Ljoma while he was in college. 2002 Vice President of Practice (now index lights). In 2004, he became president of zappallas. Listed on the TSE Mothers in the second year of his appointment, and in 2010 he was listed in part of the TSE. In 2011 he became the CEO of enish. Listed on apart of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Thereafter, he served as outside directors such as Nikkatsu and JibannetHD.
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Investment focus
- Software, Internet, Media and Entertainment
- Seed, Angel, Series A
- Japan
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 .
- STUDIO — The easiest and quickest tool to turn any idea into a website. No code. All creative freedom.
- STUDIO Japan — STUDIO is a development and operation of the next-generation design tool.
Born in 1975, Kenji Kasahara grew up in Osaka Prefecture. He graduated from the Department of Economics at the University of Tokyo.
Inspired by the case studies of IT business he studied in a university seminar on management strategy and by the rapid rise of Internet business in Silicon Valley in the USA, he started up “Find Job !”, an online jobinformation site, in 1997. In 1999 Kasahara established eMercury, Inc. (mixi, Inc.) and assumed the post of representative director.
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Investment focus
- Aerospace, Information Technology, Robotics
- Seed, Pre-Seed, Series B
- Japan, United States
Portfolio highlights
- AgeWell Japan — Age Well Japan is a conference and festival aimed at understanding Japan's super-aged society and defining new values for the future. The purpose of the gathering is to bring together young people and the elderly to exchange ideas.
- ONE — One is a Japanese startup. It primarily creates and operates consumer apps, some of which have been sold to publicly traded Japanese corporations.This runs the BeReal exchange application "BeMatch."
- Nicoli — Nicoli is a company that creates content and advertisements that increase happy time for parents and children .
After graduating from Kyoto University, Future Venture Capital Co., Ltd., CyberAgent Investment: through the (now Cyber Agent Ventures), established Selene Venture Partners (now representative partner). Then, has engaged in incubation activities of Internet ventures, including the establishment of the Corporation Pokerabo. The established:(typical current partner), you are doing investment and incubation activities with a focus on social apps field incubator fund bait in 2010.
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Investment focus
- Robotics, Software, Human Resources
- Seed, Series A, Funding Round
- Japan, The Netherlands
Portfolio highlights
- Gatebox — It is a research laboratory beyond dimension" which is researching and developing to realize "a world where you can live with a character". Therefore, Gatebox Co., Ltd. refers to itself as "Gatebox Lab" and conducts research and development beyond dimension in the area of Akihabara day and night. Dreaming that day,coming to meet beyond dimension.
- ZABoooN — ZABoooN is a shipping company that offers crew labor management, movement management, and ship management services.
- Ark Edge Space — Ark Edge Space provides design, manufacturing & operational services for micro-satellites along with software solutions and consulting.
After independence, in addition to financial support for start-ups, we have provided total support for start-up management operations in the seed period, which has no management staff, such as formulating capital policies and business plans. He also has more than tens of debt financing a year. Familiar with the finances of listed companies fromstartups. In order to produce startups that flourish from Japan to the world, we will always incorporate them into growth support from the perspective of startups.
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Investment focus
- SaaS, Retail, Content
- Seed, Series C
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Waaq — Waaq is an actively recruiting members who want to change the work environment in Japan.
- Sollective — Sollective is an invite-only freelancer network where companies can directly hire talent inside and outside of Japan. Sollective connects freelancers and companies that are ready to work together to maximize each's potential and lead the business to success.
- COUNTERWORKS — Counter works is an Information technology company.
Keisuke Honda is the Founder & CEO of Now Do.
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Investment focus
- FinTech, Financial Services, Software
- Series A, Seed, Series B
- United States, Japan, United Kingdom
Portfolio highlights
- Unite — We started Unite because we saw a problem.Two problems, in fact. A problem faced by marketplace sellers like you, who see high- quality traffic on your pages but have no way of retargeting shoppers who don’t end up purchasing, leaving potential sales on the table. And a problem faced by the marketplaces where you sell, which win by helping youdrive sales but aren’t equipped to offer you the sorts of online advertising tools like retargeting pixels, audience creation, and campaign management platforms that big brands have been using for years.That’s where we come in. Understanding these constraints and sharing the frustration faced by both sellers and marketplaces over lost revenue and lost customers, we created the perfect platform to put the industry’s most powerful advertising technology capabilities in the hands of people like you, building them into the marketplaces where you already sell. The result? Higher traffic and higher conversion rates. In other words, higher sales.Today, thousands of sellers across the Internet are using Unite to advertise like a big brand and drive sales. It’s time to join them.
- Krave Mart — Krave Mart is a quick-commerce startup offering the delivery of groceries and other products in 10 minutes.
- AnotherBall — AnotherBall is a blockchain startup that combines entertainment and blockchain.
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.
Keijiro Yamagata is the Co-Representative of Scale Out and a Private Investor.
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Investment focus
- Wellness, Psychology, Virtual Reality
- Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- xCura — xCura alleviating pain and anxiety of people with the help of technology and product therapy VR.
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