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Top 50 Hardware Startup Investors in Japan in February 2025

Last updated: Feb 2025 A list of 50 angel investors and VC (Venture Capital) funds 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 Startup Investors in Japan in February 2025

Investor	Hardware Japan investments
Incubate Fund	25
Mitsubishi UFJ Capital	23
Drone Fund	22
Mizuho Capital	20
SMBC Venture Capital	17
UntroD Capital	17
Global Brain Corporation	17
East Ventures	15
DNX Ventures	13
MITSUI SUMITOMO INSURANCE Venture Capital (MSIVC)	13
ANRI	13
UTokyo Innovation Platform	12
Innovation Network Corporation of Japan	12
Real Tech Japan	11
SBI Investment	11
UTEC - The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners	11
DBJ Capital	10
STRIVE	10
Archetype Ventures	9
Nippon Venture Capital	9
KDDI	8
Mirai Creation Fund	8
MIRAISE	8
Genesia Ventures	8
QB Capital	8
UNITED	8
Kotaro Chiba	7
Monozukuri Ventures	7
Kotaro Chiba	7
Coral Capital	7
Daiwa Corporate Investment	7
Monex Ventures	6
SPARX Group	6
Colopl Next	6
Sony Innovation Fund	6
Sumitomo	6
Japan Science and Technology Agency	6
Energy & Environment Investment	6
Nissay Capital	6
MIRAI SOUZOU	6
ITOCHU Technology Ventures	5
Shinsei Corporate Investment	5
Mitsubishi Corporation	5
Japan Finance Corporation	5
B Dash Ventures	5
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation	5
Glocalink	5
Delight Ventures	5
ANOBAKA	5
Airbus Ventures	4

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Investor list

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Kaguoku — Kaguoku develops and provides the AI-based home staging services. It offers a service that uses AI to process interior photos of real estate properties to increase the property's ability to attract customers.
Time Prediction — Time Prediction focuses on development of diagnostic pharmaceuticals, drugs and medical devices for the treatment of neurological diseases.
Mjolnir Spaceworks — Mjolnir Spaceworks desings and manufactures state-of-the-art novel space rockets with efficient engines as well as other space equipments.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Leading Mark — Leading Mark, a rising human resources startup in Japan. Leading Mark is branching out into mid-career and international hiring. It currently has a one-man team in China working to bring the top Japanese-speaking Chinese students to domestic companies. He also touts his startup’s focus on the average job seeker. “We want to make sure that the usersget the info that he or she needs the most,” he says. Large scale, legacy players can sometimes prioritize the needs of the hiring company, and their commission, over the needs of applicants themselves. This leads to frustration and short-circuited careers.
Tensegrity Pharma — Tensegrity Pharma is the developer of a novel drug designed to minimize bottlenecks and provide innovative value to patients.
Neusignal Therapeutics — Neusignal Therapeutics is a medical company that develops therapeutic medicines for dementia and psychiatric illnesses.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

LOMBY — LOMBY is a logistic firm that delivers orders through its robotic machines.
Eight Knot — Eight Knot designs and develops autonomous navigation system for water mobility using robotics & AI.
Proxima Technology — Proxima Technology is an IT company that provides artificial intelligence and deep learning solutions for the manufacturing industry.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Torihada — Torihada is a creative firm specializing in influencer marketing, creating content, and digital marketing.
MOSH Japan — MOSH is a web page creation services for individual business owners.
Gaudi Clinical — Gaudi Clinical is a health care firm that engages in regenerative medicine outsourcing and cell processing contract establishments.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Issin — Issin manufactures bath mats that can measure weight and automatically record daily weight changes on your smartphone.
Hireroo — HireRoo is an online coding test service that checks the skills of engineers through programming tests. It provides problems that correspond to a wide range of levels, from new graduates to mid-career tech leads, engineering managers, and various occupations. They also provide coding test planning and execution services.
Neusignal Therapeutics — Neusignal Therapeutics is a medical company that develops therapeutic medicines for dementia and psychiatric illnesses.

UntroD Capital is an R&D-based innovative technology that specializes in social implementation.

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Revorf — Revorf analyzes data and develops AI-related to infectious diseases and healthcare.
Mjolnir Spaceworks — Mjolnir Spaceworks desings and manufactures state-of-the-art novel space rockets with efficient engines as well as other space equipments.
Optieum Biotechnologies — Optieum Biotechnologies Inc. is a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company committed to developing innovative scFv antibody-based therapies for the treatment of patients with cancers. Their proprietary platform technology, Eumbody System™, enables to develop and detect a scFv-based product candidates that specifically bind to, and modulate tooptimize the immune-cell function for oncology targets.We are committed to helping patients with severe diseases by bringing life-changing therapies to the patients in need.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

OptQC — OptQC commercializes cutting-edge optical quantum computing technologies developed by the Furusawa-Endo Laboratory. Because optical quantum computers are more scalable than superconducting and other quantum computing implementations, OptQC's optical quantum computers should reach this scale. They also have benefits like faster processing andreduced power consumption, which makes optical quantum computers a possible long-term pinnacle of quantum technology.
MOSH Japan — MOSH is a web page creation services for individual business owners.
Smart Education — Smart Education, Ltd. (located in Tokyo, Japan, President Daigo Ikeya) launched it’s kid’s music app “Rhythm Book” for smartphones and tablets. It’s in the App Store as an universal app for iPhone, iPad and iTouch. With Rhythm book, kids can learn and feel the rhythm by tapping instruments along with their favorite songs. There are more than 100kid’s songs from TV, cartoons, to choose from and nursery rhymes in English and in Japanese. Stimulate the young mind with genuine and real studio recorded music and sounds. This app is designed to co-play between parents and child. You can purchase more songs via internet and the songs you’ve purchased can be co-owned by the same Apple ID through iCloud.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

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

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Cofactr — Whether managing shortages today or planning for next year, Cofactr is the place to get all the parts you need, when you need them.
Hubble — Cloud-based software specialized for contracts and other legal documents
Upsider — - Vue - Nuxt.js - TypeScript - SCSS

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

NEL — NEL is a creative agency that offers a platform that connects brands and customers through purchases and SNS posts.
Secai Marche — SECAI MARCHE is Farm-Fresh Platform to link farmers and enthusiasm chefs and consumer in all over the world.
Gaudi Clinical — Gaudi Clinical is a health care firm that engages in regenerative medicine outsourcing and cell processing contract establishments.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Pleap — Pleap is a medical engineering company specializing in the development of AI and IoT-based technology solutions tailored for medical institutions. The company's product offerings include "medimo" which is an AI tool that automatically creates medical record manuscripts from medical audio.
Infobox — Infobox is a sales data platform that includes every detail from market research to creating a list of companies and contacting decision-makers.
Optieum Biotechnologies — Optieum Biotechnologies Inc. is a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company committed to developing innovative scFv antibody-based therapies for the treatment of patients with cancers. Their proprietary platform technology, Eumbody System™, enables to develop and detect a scFv-based product candidates that specifically bind to, and modulate tooptimize the immune-cell function for oncology targets.We are committed to helping patients with severe diseases by bringing life-changing therapies to the patients in need.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Issin — Issin manufactures bath mats that can measure weight and automatically record daily weight changes on your smartphone.
BlueWX — BlueWX is a software company that develops predictive content services that supports in forecasting, and weather analysis.
Leading Mark — Leading Mark, a rising human resources startup in Japan. Leading Mark is branching out into mid-career and international hiring. It currently has a one-man team in China working to bring the top Japanese-speaking Chinese students to domestic companies. He also touts his startup’s focus on the average job seeker. “We want to make sure that the usersget the info that he or she needs the most,” he says. Large scale, legacy players can sometimes prioritize the needs of the hiring company, and their commission, over the needs of applicants themselves. This leads to frustration and short-circuited careers.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

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

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Ashirase — Ashirase is a developer of a walking navigation system for the visually challenged. The company assists visually impaired people in walking independently. This also allows the user to have more attention to spare for audible warnings in their environment. It includes voice input and guidance via a smartphone app. A vibration interface is attachedto their shoes.
Ken Robotec — Ken Robotec is a construction company that provides labor-saving solutions.
MaterialGate — MaterialGate focuses on single-molecule dielectrics, developing technologies for devices with better electronic characteristics.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Newmo — newmo delivers sustainable local public transportation create a user experience (UX) that people may utilize with peace of mind and comfort.
Lazuli — Lazuli is a SaaS platform that enables companies to utilize data for analysis, search, recommendation, marketing & supply chain management.
AI model — AI model specializes in the development and transformation of real-like virtual models for modeling on E-commerce platforms.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Issin — Issin manufactures bath mats that can measure weight and automatically record daily weight changes on your smartphone.
Liminal — Advanced battery inspection and metrology with ultrasound and machine learning
Eureka Robotics — Eureka Robotics develop robotics technologies and products to automate the mundane, so that humans can focus on the creative.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Precal — Precal is an information technology company that develops applications that are common with pharmacies, pharmacists, and dispensing clerks.
Linqmed — Linqmed is a pharmaceutical company that specializes in the research and development of radiopharmaceuticals for cancer treatment.
MOSH Japan — MOSH is a web page creation services for individual business owners.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

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

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Any — any. develops and offers knowledge sharing tool Qast.
YourTrade — ONE KEY TO GLOBAL TRADE
Hubble — Cloud-based software specialized for contracts and other legal documents

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Gecipe — Gecipe is a video service for e-sports players.
Awarefy — Awarefy is a mental health tech startup that offers CBT-based apps to maximize well-being.
Rege Nephro — Rege Nephro is a biotech company that specialized in R&D, production and marketing of renal disease therapeutics.

KDDI Corporation is a Japanese telecommunications operator. It was created in 2000 through a merger of DDI, KDD and IDO and now employs over 15,000 people.The company provides a broad range of services, including fixed-line phone communication, mobile phone and web services, and Internet services. It also has a ownership stake in two Japanesecable television companies, Jupiter Telecommunications (J:COM) and Japan Cablenet (JCN). KDDI's mobile phone and web arm is branded as "au". The company is the current No. 2 in Japan's mobile communications market, trailing NTT DoCoMo and ahead of SoftBank.

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Yuime — Yuime is an HR consulting firm that offers agricultural staffing, contract farming, and recruitment services.
ATOMica — ATOMica is a co-working space and business management company for conference rooms, event venues, circles, and schools. The company uses coworking spaces as HUBs to provide services that maximize individuals' power. It can be used for a variety of purposes, including coworking space, shared office space, meetings, events, and web seminars. Itis also possible to use it only once. They plan and run local communities that bring together a diverse range of people, including students, workers, businesses, universities, and governments.
Secret Double Octopus — Provider of industry-leading FIDO-certified, rotation-based passwordless MFA with the fullest support for enterprise complexity. Click here for more!

The Mirai Creation Fund invests in companies and projects that use the latest technologies and business models, supporting the growth of value in these companies and projects, wherever they are found around the world.

Investment focus

Robotics, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence
Funding Round, Series B, Series A
Japan, United States, Israel

Portfolio highlights

MUSVI — MUSVI is an informartion technology company that provides spatial connectivity solutions, and community platform services.
Triorb — Triorb is a technology company that specializes in robot mobility development with the help of software and hardware solutions.
elleThermo — elleThermo aims to implement Semiconductor-Sensitised Thermal Cells (STCs), an energy conversion technology that can generate electricity from unused waste heat above room temperature.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

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

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Taian — Taian, which specializes in bridal industry services and software. They also provide ''Concept Marry,'' which allows couples to design invites and seating charts that match their wedding theme, as well as display guest information on Oiwaii.
PartnerProp — PartnerProp is a PRM tool with outstanding potential and a wide variety of capabilities that resolves all partner business difficulties.
Conoris Technologies — Conoris Technologies is a staffing agency that offers security check support services for companies.

QB Capital is make equity investments in venture companies.

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Medteria — Medteria is a medtech startup developing pathology AI. It is the provider of the “Medteria” communication cloud platform for healthcare professionals and medical students.
Power Diamond Systems — Power Diamond Systems is a research and development firm that focuses on diamond semiconductor devices.
Japan Carbon Cycle Lab — Japan Carbon Cycle Lab is a technology company that focuses on the research and development of CO2 capture and recycling techniques.

UNITED, Inc. is developing the smart phone app and the advertising technology business.

Investment focus

Media and Entertainment, Content, Information Technology
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan, Nigeria, United States

Portfolio highlights

Precal — Precal is an information technology company that develops applications that are common with pharmacies, pharmacists, and dispensing clerks.
Gab — Gab is a company that works to solve social problems as well as develops and markets ethical products.
FLASH — FLASH is an entertainment and technology startup.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

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

Startup First. A global VC focused on IoT small lot manufacturing and startup investment. Support to hardware growth from business model to supply chain

Investment focus

Software, Hardware, Internet of Things
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
United States, Japan

Portfolio highlights

REVORN — REVORN is a fragrance AI and DX research and development company. They develop products such as odor sensors that can respond to odor issues and needs. They provide consultation at a range of levels, from identifying issues to developing solutions.
ImaCreate — ImaCreate provides planning, development and operation of VR / AR / MR system.
Edgecortix — At Edgecortix, we automate the design of AI accelerators for on-device deep learning. Our Dynamic Neural Accelerator IP, and performance optimized AI Software & Hardware Co-exploration framework, reduces time to market and brings massive cost savings across multiple industry verticals.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

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

Coral Capital is a seed stage venture capital firm in Japan.

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

STRACT — STRACT is a web platform that provides online platform, dating app, knowledge sharing cloud platform, and casual entertainment services.
HQ — HQ offers next-generation employee benefits platform.
Okuma Diamond Device — Okuma Diamond Device supplies cutting-edge technologies that make diamond semiconductors vital.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Tacoms — CAMEL is a service that allows you to easily manage orders from multiple food delivery / takeout services on a single tablet.
COUNTERWORKS — Counter works is an Information technology company.
Hydro Powtech Japan — Nippon Hydropowtech uses proprietary technology and experience in hydrolysate production to investigate new food applications.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

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

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

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

Colopl Next is the corporate venture capital of is Colopl, Inc, which is a leading Japanese gaming company. Colopl, Inc. is founded with the mission of “Entertainment in Real Life”, and constantly put its customer as first priority.Colopl Next is headquartered in Japan, but invests globally in a variety of internet businesses, with the commitmentto support innovative entrepreneurs.

Investment focus

Virtual Reality, Software, E-Commerce
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
Japan, United States, South Korea

Portfolio highlights

Coopel — Coopel is an RPA that allows beginners to easily automate daily tasks and make work efficient.
Levellr — Levellr software helps creators & brands to build, manage and monetise messaging communities within existing apps, including Discord & Telegram. Our tools, which sit on top of Discord & Telegram, help our customers to acquire powerful-first party data on superfans, build highly engaged communities & generate tangible revenueopportunities, whilst also providing our customers with community strategy & on-going moderation services to ensure their communities thrive.
ChillStack — ChillStack provides information on AI, security, and development.

Sony Innovation Fund is investing in technology-driven transformational companies shaping the future of business, entertainment and society.

Investment focus

Software, Artificial Intelligence, Health Care
Funding Round, Series B, Series A
United States, Japan, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

GEMESYS — Gemesys creates a chip that functions similarly to the human brain in order to overcome processing constraints and empower AI with the hardware it needs to complete its destiny
Congrant — Congrant is a fundraising platform that collects donations and charity for NPOs, social enterprises, and voluntary organizations.
Flower — We enable the energy system of tomorrow by combining pioneering technology with flexible assets, allowing clean energy to power society

Welcome to the official website of Sumitomo Corporation, a leading integrated trading company engaged in diverse businesses based on its global network.

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

44.01 — We offer a permanent CO2 storage solution using the natural power of mineralisation
Zension — Zension is a subscription e-commerce company for consumer tech. Each and every day, we set out to create a new standard for connectivity and access to the best technology tools for all.
Evertrak — Evertrak proudly manufactures in St. Louis, Missouri, home of founders, builders, explorers and entrepreneurs who changed the world.

Japan Science and Technology Agency is an integrated organization of science and technology that implements science and technology policy in Japan. It handles many projects, including the government’s Science and Technology Basic Plan and knowledge creation. The European Sustainability School ESSSR is the owner of Japan Science and TechnologyAgency.Japan Science and Technology Agency undertakes its task in a comprehensive manner. It also works to provide a sound infrastructure of science and technology information and raise awareness and understanding of science and technology-related issues in Japan.Japan Science and Technology Agency is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

Investment focus

Medical, Biotechnology, Health Care
Funding Round, Series A, Series B
Japan

Portfolio highlights

OptQC — OptQC commercializes cutting-edge optical quantum computing technologies developed by the Furusawa-Endo Laboratory. Because optical quantum computers are more scalable than superconducting and other quantum computing implementations, OptQC's optical quantum computers should reach this scale. They also have benefits like faster processing andreduced power consumption, which makes optical quantum computers a possible long-term pinnacle of quantum technology.
Triorb — Triorb is a technology company that specializes in robot mobility development with the help of software and hardware solutions.
RadioNano Therapeutics — RadioNano Therapeutics is developing innovative drugs for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT), a type of radiation therapy that utilizes the nuclear reaction between thermal neutrons and boron-10 (¹⁰B) to destroy cancer cells by releasing alpha particles and lithium nuclei.

Energy & Environment Investment, Inc. (EEI) is Japan’s first venture capital specialized in the clean technology sector. With core members who have rich hands on experience in founding and managing venture companies, we aim to provide risk money and various strategic values to promising venture companies and businesses.

Investment focus

Software, Energy, Internet of Things
Funding Round, Series A, Series B
Japan, United States, Germany

Portfolio highlights

YourTrade — ONE KEY TO GLOBAL TRADE
Advance Composite — Advance Composite is a manufacturing company that develops composite materials and molten metal forging-based products.
Impact Circle — Impact Circle social investment platform that focuses on providing impact finance and visualization services by creating job opportunities.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

HQ — HQ offers next-generation employee benefits platform.
Doctor's Prime — Doctor's Prime is a technology company that provides is a part-time job information service for optimizing the working style of doctors.
Qlay — Qlay is an AI-automated global engineer hiring platform

MIRAI SOUZOU operates as a venture capital firm that invests in institutional lookup and supporting projects. The Company invests in institutional research and development supporting projects, medicine, agriculture, ocean field, and other industries. Innovations and Future Creation conducts businesses in Japan.

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Striemo — Striemo manufactures and develops electric personal mobility. Striemo was founded in 2021 and was headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
ARCS — ARCS specializes in developing assisted reproductive medical devices using robotics and artificial intelligence technology.
Spectronix — Spectronics is a development of new technologies and new applications to bring about innovation, focusing on the future of laser technology.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Eight Knot — Eight Knot designs and develops autonomous navigation system for water mobility using robotics & AI.
Aeterlink — Aeterlink is a wireless device maker and developer. They applied their technology to fields such as FA, robots, smart houses, and medicine and developed practical level technologies such as elemental technology that can wirelessly supply power.
Quollio Technologies — Quollio Technologies is an IT company that specializes in corporate data governance, SaaS, metadata management, and software solutions.

Shinsei Corporate Investment supports the creation and development of the business.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Internet, Education
Funding Round, Series A, Series B
Japan, India, Belgium

Portfolio highlights

Leading Mark — Leading Mark, a rising human resources startup in Japan. Leading Mark is branching out into mid-career and international hiring. It currently has a one-man team in China working to bring the top Japanese-speaking Chinese students to domestic companies. He also touts his startup’s focus on the average job seeker. “We want to make sure that the usersget the info that he or she needs the most,” he says. Large scale, legacy players can sometimes prioritize the needs of the hiring company, and their commission, over the needs of applicants themselves. This leads to frustration and short-circuited careers.
Okuma Diamond Device — Okuma Diamond Device supplies cutting-edge technologies that make diamond semiconductors vital.
Tokyo Artisan Intelligence — Tokyo Artisan Intelligence develops od purely domestic AI high-speed code generation tools as part of deep learning and hardware research. Their objectives are to contribute to the development of new computational technology and its application in society, particularly by providing experts through the training of doctoral students.

Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) is a global integrated business enterprise that develops and operates businesses across virtually every industry including industrial finance, energy, metals, machinery, chemicals, living essentials, and environmental business. MC's current activities are expanding far beyond its traditional trading operations asits diverse business ranges from natural resources development to investment in retail business, infrastructure, financial products and manufacturing of industrial goods.

Investment focus

Software, Internet, Logistics
Corporate Round, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, United States, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

Ample — Ample is a new energy delivery solution for electric vehicles. It uses Modular Battery Swapping to deliver 100% charge to any EV in a few minutes.
Mangrove Lithium — Mangrove Lithium is a ground-breaking refining platform that redefines the industry standard for battery grade lithium refining
Preferred Networks — Preferred Networks (PFN) was established in March 2014 in Tokyo with the goal to develop practical, real-world applications of deep learning, robotics and other latest technologies. PFN is currently focused on three priority areas – transportation systems, manufacturing and bio-healthcare – and also exploring the use of deep learning in personalrobots, plant optimization, materials discovery, sports analytics and entertainment. PFN has a U.S. subsidiary in Burlingame, California.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

AIONA — AIONA uses AI to produce high-quality products and provides everyone with access to knowledge.
Hagino — Hagino is a recruitment company that provides paid employment services for the hotel and lodging industries.
Tryeting — TRYETING provides an AI platform that integrates various types of software. One of the strengths of the company is materials informatics, a field that applies the techniques of informatics, such as AI and big data, to materials. This approach can significantly speed the development of new materials.

B Dash Ventures does seed to late stage tech investments in Japan, Asia Pacific, and the U.S. LPs include Japan's largest technology companies and financial institutions including NTT Docomo, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, GREE, NEC BIGLOBE, Fuji Television, and the Japanese government. B Dash Ventures also operates an incubation space inpartnership with Mori Building Co. and holds the invitation-based B Dash Camp conference.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Internet, Media and Entertainment
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, Taiwan, United States

Portfolio highlights

Newmo — newmo delivers sustainable local public transportation create a user experience (UX) that people may utilize with peace of mind and comfort.
Yosemite — Yosemite is a wellness company that provides health and wellness products, supplements, skincare, and personal care items.
Qlay — Qlay is an AI-automated global engineer hiring platform

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Shriram Finance — Shriram Finance: Your choice for FD, FIP, General & Life Insurance, Personal, Business, and Vehicle Loans, along with easy BBPS and UPI payment services. India's leading NBFC for diverse financial needs.
Preferred Networks — Preferred Networks (PFN) was established in March 2014 in Tokyo with the goal to develop practical, real-world applications of deep learning, robotics and other latest technologies. PFN is currently focused on three priority areas – transportation systems, manufacturing and bio-healthcare – and also exploring the use of deep learning in personalrobots, plant optimization, materials discovery, sports analytics and entertainment. PFN has a U.S. subsidiary in Burlingame, California.
Grenergy Renovables — Entwicklung von Photovoltaik und Speicher Projekten und Speicher Projekten mit Grenergy. Willkommen bei Grenergy

Glocalink provides seed funding and comprehensive support for emerging science & technology entrepreneurs. Members of Glocalink have extensive experiences of bringing laboratory technologies to the market. On top of seed funding, we will provide comprehensive supports for overcoming all the hurdles that science / technology entrepreneursface.

Investment focus

Health Care, Robotics, Task Management
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan, Singapore

Portfolio highlights

MOVeLOT — MOVeLOT is an AI company that provides skeletal platform and robot planning, development, and production services.
ExtraBold — ExtraBold specializes in the development of 3D printers.
ProfilePrint — Helping agribusinesses buy and sell better, ProfilePrint is powered by a patented digital food identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) technology. ProfilePrint synthesises complex molecular data of ingredient samples into digital fingerprints, rapidly predicting its identity and quality.

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

Investment focus

Software, Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology
Seed, Series A, Series B
Japan, United States, South Korea

Portfolio highlights

OptQC — OptQC commercializes cutting-edge optical quantum computing technologies developed by the Furusawa-Endo Laboratory. Because optical quantum computers are more scalable than superconducting and other quantum computing implementations, OptQC's optical quantum computers should reach this scale. They also have benefits like faster processing andreduced power consumption, which makes optical quantum computers a possible long-term pinnacle of quantum technology.
Zaimo.ai — Zaimo's AI-driven SaaS budget planning and management software sounds like AI integration can bring significant advantages in automating tasks like tracking expenses, forecasting future spending patterns, and offering personalized budgeting suggestions.
PartnerProp — PartnerProp is a PRM tool with outstanding potential and a wide variety of capabilities that resolves all partner business difficulties.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Hagino — Hagino is a recruitment company that provides paid employment services for the hotel and lodging industries.
Aimytech — Aimytech is a developer of buyer enablement tools that provides business negotiation and sales support cloud services.
Argos — Argos provides the online insurance medical treatment service.

Operating in service of deeptech entrepreneurs.

Investment focus

Software, Aerospace, Information Technology
Series A, Series B, Seed
United States, France, Japan

Portfolio highlights

Jiko — Jiko is a financial technology company that offers a new way to store and move money, designed to create a fluid and rewarding banking experience for all. In September of 2020, Jiko became the first Fintech to acquire a national bank, in addition to being a licensed broker dealer. Prior to that accomplishment, Jiko spent 4 years developing afull-stack technology infrastructure that merges payment rails with real-time, 24/7 principal trading capabilities. This innovative combination is the backbone for Jiko’s transparent and rewarding model, which doesn’t use deposited funds for it's own investment purposes. Instead, customer’s funds are transparently invested in U.S. government-backed Treasury Bills (T-Bills), enabling cutting edge features such as virtual cards, tokenized bank account numbers, automated investments in T-Bills, and cashback on debit purchases. This model is made available to individuals through a mobile banking app, and to business partners through it's API platform. Jiko is a creative and hard-working team with cross-functional expertise in technology, trading, payment, and creative fields. The team is headquartered in Berkeley, California, with offices in New York City and Reykjavik, Iceland. Since its inception in 2016, Jiko has raised over $50M from trusted investors such as Upfront Ventures, Wafra Inc., Radicle Impact, NYCA Partners, and Anthem Ventures among others.
Bifrost AI — Build AI in a day instead of a year, at a fraction of the price, with the Bifrost synthetic data engine.
Eureka Robotics — Eureka Robotics develop robotics technologies and products to automate the mundane, so that humans can focus on the creative.

Investors by industry

Artificial intelligence