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Top 50 Marketplace Angel Investors in Japan

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

Top 50 Marketplace Angel Investors in Japan

Investor	Marketplace Japan investments
Yu Akasaka	8
Kotaro Chiba	8
Kotaro Chiba	8
Yusuke Sato	6
Hidetoshi Takano	4
Ayataro Nakagawa	4
Kensuke Furukawa	3
Hirofumi Miki	3
Kazuhiro Ishikura	3
Kazuma Ieiri	3
Takaya Shinozuka	3
Naruhisa Nakagawa	3
Shintaro Yamada	3
Richard Chen	2
Uenoyama Katsuya	2
Daisaku Harada	2
Yuzuru Honda	2
Toru Shimada	2
Mamoru Taniya	2
Masaru Tange	2
Keisuke Kogure	2
Naoki Aoyagi	2
Tsunezawa Kahoko	2
Shintaro Tabata	2
Yasuyuki Kin	2
Christine Herron	2
Soichiro Kawai	2
Yusuke Tanaka	2
Soga Takeshi	1
Hisayoshi Mizutani	1
Niklas Eklund	1
David Lloyd	1
Shogo Kawada	1
Kiyohiro Sugashita	1
Toshiro Wakimaru	1
Toshi Yamamoto	1
Hideki Hayashi	1
Tatsuo Sakamoto	1
Kobayashi Toshihito	1
Dan Neary	1
Hiroaki Kitano	1
Richard Chen	1
Will Neale	1
Abdo Achkar	1
Keith Yuki Isobe	1
Kenji Niwa	1
Yoshitsune Ido	1
John Tan	1
Yasumasa Manabe	1
Shohei Sasaki	1

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Investor list

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.

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.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

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

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.

Yusuke Sato is the Co-Representative and Co-Founder of Pulit.

Investment focus

Internet, Content, Food and Beverage
Seed, Funding Round, Angel
Japan, Indonesia, United States

Portfolio highlights

AirX — AirX is a management service company specializing in air transportation agency business and travel arrangement business. The company leverages technology to transform the notion of mobility into an unprecedented experience. It also provides services such as CodeShare, AIROS Skyview, and AIROS Air Loss. AirX will create the movement of the futuresociety, sightseeing and the way of life of helicopter, Empty MaaS, Flying taxi, eVTOL, and Next-generation traffic.AirX was established on February 23, 2015, and is based in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Paytner — yup is providing services to support freelance people's funding.The freelance population in Japan has been shown to continue to increase in many Chosa. While working styles are diversified, they are not able to respond to the development of the working environment, and they will develop their business to change the situation where problemssuch as funding, credit, sexual harassment, and power harassment are accumulated.
Meetscare — Meetscare provides correct information and supports the self-awareness of all people involved in care. The company provides a wealth of information to ensure optimal care and create a mechanism for the realization. Users can make a telephone consultation and web diagnosis and search for free information using the system.Meetscare was founded on2016 and is headquartered in Arakawa, Tokyo.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

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

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.

Investment focus

Internet, Software, Information Technology
Seed, Angel, Funding Round
Japan, Hong Kong, United States

Portfolio highlights

For you — For you is a comprehensive Advertising agency business specializing in SNS.
Meetscare — Meetscare provides correct information and supports the self-awareness of all people involved in care. The company provides a wealth of information to ensure optimal care and create a mechanism for the realization. Users can make a telephone consultation and web diagnosis and search for free information using the system.Meetscare was founded on2016 and is headquartered in Arakawa, Tokyo.
SPORTS CROWN — SPORTS CROWN engages in the development and operation of fantasy sports.

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".

Investment focus

Content, Media and Entertainment, Software
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.

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.

Investment focus

Content, Marketing, Internet
Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

AceRNA — AceRNA contributes to regenerative medicine and drug discovery through the discovery of novel miRNA functions. It began operation in April 2018, with its headquarters in Kyoto in Japan.
Epicbase — Epicbase is an AI-based automatic voice transcription service based on voice recognition technology.
Go Visions — Go Visions engages in the edutainment tech for children and human resources services.

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.

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 Japan — 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.

Born in 1978 and raised in Fukuoka prefecture, Kazuma founded paperboy&co. inc. (currently GMO Pepabo) and went on to become the youngest CEO ever (at the time) to take a company public in Japan by taking paperboy&co. public on the JASDAQ Japanese stock exchange. After leaving paperboy&co, he continued his startup trail by foundingBASE, CAMPFIRE, and XIMERA. Kazuma also dabbled in the food services industry via the founding of On The Corner (a cafe) and is active in the startup investment scene. He also started the Liverty-house project which attempts to create shared housing for young people in need.

Investment focus

Content, Fashion, FinTech
Seed, Angel, Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Taliki — Taliki is a Coworking Space Operates Social Entrepreneurs Development Support for Intrepreneur Development.
ONE NOVA — One Nova (ワンノバ) is a lifestyle brand and online platform that offers a range of innerwear products, such as men's boxers.
vivid garden — vivid garden is an Agriculture company.

Takaya Shinozuka is the President, CEO, and Founder at Reiwa Travel.

Investment focus

Internet, Local, Advertising
Seed, Angel, Series A
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Now Do — Now Do provides online growth revolution platform.
KAUCHE — X Asia creates enjoyable shopping experience.
Luup — Luup is an Internet Company.

Naruhisa Nakagawa is a Founder & Chief Investment Officer at Caygan Capital.

Investment focus

Manufacturing, Beauty, Environmental Consulting
Seed, Series A
Japan, United States, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

Zeigo — Zeigo by Schneider Electric provides sustainability software that is built to simplify and accelerate carbon reduction, lighting the path toward a carbon-free future.
Ecolectro — Ecolectro is solving the biggest challenges in making Green Hydrogen. Our alkaline ion-exchange membranes and polymers make clean fuel and decarbonize industry.
Sniffer Robotics — Comprehensive methane emissions detection and quantification, advanced imagery and analytics; Sniffer Robotics provides advanced solutions that benefit the environment.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

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

Richard Chen is a General Partner at 1confirmation and a Board Director at Hatena Co. Ltd. Before that, he was a Trustee at UC Berkeley Foundation. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business and the University of California, Berkeley.

Investment focus

Mobile, Software, Advertising
Seed, Angel, Series A
United States, Japan, Singapore

Portfolio highlights

Farel — Say farewell to piecing together different vendors, integrations, and clunky software. Farel delivers one seamless, all-in-one, software platform engineered for growing airlines.
Maslo — We make companions that care about people.
Kinnek — Potential customers are looking for reasons to trust your company, and they want third-party sources to vouch for you. Kinnek helps suppliers like you build a world-class online reputation and easily share it. Because when you win more trust, more prospects become loyal customers.

Uenoyama Katsuya - CEO @ PKSHA Technology

Investment focus

Fashion, Software, Advertising
Seed, Angel, Corporate Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Babel — Babel is creating meaningful media for users and expanding globally.
AppBrew(Lips) — AppBrew develops LIPS, a mobile application for users to share and read real reviews on cosmetics, nail care, personal care, hair care, and other related products of different brands. The company was founded in 2016 and is based in Tokyo, Japan.
Neural Pocket — Neural Pocket provides Smart City related services for commercial buildings and urban spaces utilizing AI enabled image recognition technology. The company focuses on business development and co-creation serve its clients. Other applications include solutions for digitalization of factories, warehouses, parking lots and retail stores.

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

Investment focus

Finance, Tourism, Automotive
Seed, Pre-Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

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

Yuzuru Honda is a Founder & Global CEO of FreakOut.

Investment focus

SNS, Internet, Software
Seed, Funding Round, Angel
Japan, Nigeria, Singapore

Portfolio highlights

NodeFlair — NodeFlair aims to help tech talents make better career decisions through jobs, salaries, reviews, company insights, and more
AGRI SMILE — AGRI SMILE is a platform that focuses on sharing agricultural technology.
Rensource Energy — Rensource develops, finances, and manages critical energy infrastructure for African enterprises with the objective of powering Africa's economy

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

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

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

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

Masaru Tange graduated from Kyoto University and joined Incs Inc. in 2000 where he started their IT business and strategy consulting group with only 2 members and developed it into the company's main business with a team of 140 consultants with annual revenue of $50M in 5 years. He then founded SHIFT Inc in 2005 in his studio apartment. He wasthe only employee. The business world wasn't very kind to him - he made no revenue for a while but he kept experimenting with the business model listening to the needs of customers. In 2009, he finally found traction in the "software testing industry." In 2014, Masaru successfully IPO'ed the company. Shift now has 500 employees.

Investment focus

Internet, E-Commerce, SaaS
Seed, Series A
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

Timee — Timee is a Planning, development and management of Internet media company.
Smart Shopping — Smartmat is an eco-friendly IoT purchase system for on-demand, no-hassle grocery with cost-effective shipping.
Launchable — Your test results suck. We make them better.

Mr. Keisuke Kogure serves as general partner at Mint.

Investment focus

Beauty, iOS, Legal
Seed, Series A, Angel
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Requpo — Requpo is a brand-new salon reservation app that allows you to book a beauty salon without having to search.
MOVeLOT — MOVeLOT is an AI company that provides skeletal platform and robot planning, development, and production services.
Nagisa — Nagisa develops smartphone applications to facilitate free group chats, calls, and photo and movie sharing services. It was launched in 2010 by Yoshiyuki Yokoyama and is based in Tokyo, Japan.

Naoki Aoyagi is a Senior Vice President at GREE, Inc. and Chief Executive Officer of GREE International, Inc. He joined GREE, Inc. in March 2006 from Deutsche Bank, where he had specialized in tech and media sector IPOs and M&A advisory work. At GREE, Aoyagi oversaw the Company's partnership with KDDI and its IPO before leading thedevelopment of GREE’s global operations, a role he continues today. Aoyagi earned a bachelor's degree in policy management from Keio University in 2002.

Investment focus

Internet, Fashion, Software
Seed, Angel, Series A
Japan

Portfolio highlights

enechain — enechain provides liquidity in Japan’s energy market by brokering OTC transactions of energy.
Parallel — Parallel Inc. develops a parallel SNS which can be used while playing games on smartphones.
Holmes — Holmesis a cloud contract system to consistently carry out the creation, conclusion and management of contracts in the cloud.

Tsunezawa Kahoko

Investment focus

Shopping, Apps, Travel
Seed, Angel, Funding Round
Japan, Germany

Portfolio highlights

Menew — Menew is an online platform that enables users to organize and set menus for family meals. Users can track family preferences and trends; make shopping lists; and get an easy-to-read calendar format for the menus.
Valise — Valise provides insider access & unique experiences to the modern day internationalist. A perfect jump start to who & what is hot in creative capitals. At its core is the Valise Society - a global private members association for innovative leaders of the creative class.
Valise — Valise is a women's travel service platform.

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

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

Yasuyuki Kin

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.

Christine Herron is an early-stage investor and diversity advocate, and co-leads the Intel Capital Diversity Fund while leading investments in early-stage companies. She is responsible for diversity investing across Intel Capital sectors, to support technology companies founded or run by women, underrepresented minorities, LGBTQ, or veterans. AtIntel, Christine's direct portfolio includes 500 Friends (ACQ: Merkle), betaworks, Brit Media, E la Carte, Funders Club, Goldbely, Jelli, Movable Ink, SmartZip, Storenvy (ACQ: OpenSky), Two Bit Circus, and Yummly (ACQ: WHR), and Intel Education Accelerator companies Comprendio, Immersed Games, Sutori, and Vidcode.Previously, Christine was an investor with seed stage venture fund First Round Capital, working with Better Finance, Double Verify, Get Satisfaction (ACQ: Sprinklr), Mint (ACQ: INTU), and Xobni (ACQ: YHOO). At Omidyar Network, she developed the Media and Web 2.0 practice strategy and led deals such as Common Sense Media and Socialtext.At Geocapital Partners, Christine focused on early Internet and network technology, leading Series A funding for AXON Networks (ACQ: 3COM), D-Vision (ACQ: ADSK), FocusVision (MBO), Netcom (IPO: NETC), and ViaGrafix (IPO: VIAX). Christine was also a founder or early employee at GiftWorks (ACQ: FrontStream), Mercury2, and NetObjects (IPO: NETC).Christine earned an MBA from Stanford University and a BA from Columbia University. She is a founding advisor or mentor to 500 Startups, Bullpen Capital, and StartX, and serves on Alonzo King's LINES Ballet Board of Directors. She is active on @christine and a frequent speaker.

Investment focus

E-Commerce, Personalization, Social Media
Seed, Series A, Series B
United States, Japan

Portfolio highlights

Roominate — Playing with the W77 online game site can certainly produce crazy jackpots to riches
Soldsie — With Soldsie, you can seamlessly drive traffic from your social media pages to your website, increasing conversions and boosting sales. Customize your link in
Tokyo Otaku Mode — The ultimate online destination for fans of Japanese pop culture.

Soichiro Kawai - CEO @ ReBoost

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Villio — Villio provides talent experience SaaS which helps companies with human resource development and recruitment of talented engineers.
HarvestX — HarvestX manufactures fully automatic robots which contributes to the shortage of agricultural human resources and stable food production
SPeak Corporation — SPeak Corporation operates JPort Match that is involved in direct recruiting service. It is a global career platform for budding new talents.

"Shin"ichiro joined Yahoo Japan in April 2013. From July 2013, he joined YJ Capital. He has served as COO of YJ Capital since January 2015. Prior to Yahoo! Japan, Shin was General Director of Dream Incubator Vietnam from 2007 to 2012, managing US$50 million private equity funds in Vietnam. He was formerly a Project Manager at DreamIncubator Japan. He started his career at Future Architect as a system engineer.Shin received his bachelor's degree in Policy Management from Keio University.

Investment focus

Tourism, Consulting, E-Commerce
Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

TakeMe Co., Ltd. — TakeMe aims to provide an “One-stop Inbound destination service” by enabling tourist to easily find, communicate with, and pay with smartphones via QR code at In-Travel destinations. TakeMe, is the country’s largest inbound service platform in Japan, which lets tourists find, communicate with, and pay with QR code at our affiliated shops,restaurants and tourist attractions. Since our launch in 2015 as JapanFoodie, we have expanded our merchant base to tens of thousands beyond food and restaurants, to include travel, lodging, shopping and events, providing every tourist with the best experience as your best local guide and friend.

Soga Takeshi

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.

Hisayoshi Mizutani - President & CEO @ vivit

Investment focus

E-Commerce, Health Care
Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Elaly — Elaly Technology makes life better for people around the world.We aim to make the value of money and the experience gained from it flatter.As many people as possible will use technology to realize a happier life, independent of the money economy.
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!

Over the past 25 years, Niklas has an entrepreneur built and internationalized a range of companies in the area of reservation systems, revenue management, online marketing, and web publishing; amongst others he was the CEO and co-founder Bookatable, Livebookings, Infogate, and Epani.Over the past 8 years, Niklas has a direct investor and advisorto investment companies and venture capital companies; amongst others he was a co-founder and general partner at D-Ax (Axel Johnson Group CVC), a venture partner for Wellington Partners Venture Capital. Niklas is currently a general partner for PES Holdings. Investment focus is the Digital Media Sector and Digital Growth Companies, primarily in the Nordic countries and across Europe. Niklas describes himself as a ‘computer software geek and wizard turned businessman’ as he started his career at the age of 15. His achievements in building internationally successful companies have been recognized by various industry awards.

Investment focus

Software, Apps, Internet
Seed, Series A, Angel
Sweden, Japan, Denmark

Portfolio highlights

Savr — Savr is an Investment platform disrupting the Swedish fund industry with a lower fee structure and a new business model.
PinMeTo — Optimize your time and local presence with an all-in-one local SEO tool. Show up in local search, manage listings, reviews, messages from one dashboard.
Winnow — Winnow builds artificial intelligence tools to help chefs run more profitable and sustainable kitchens by cutting food waste in half. They develop technology to cut food waste in their operations. Their digital tools provide data to drive improvements in kitchen production processes and reduce environmental footprint.Winnow's mission is toconnect commercial kitchen, create a movement of chefs, and inspire others. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in London, England, United Kingdom.

David Lloyd - General Manager, UK, Netherlands & Nordics @ Alibaba Group

Investment focus

E-Commerce
Pre-Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Kuai Commerce — Kuai Commerce is a next-generation solution for ambitious brands looking to sell directly to Chinese Gen Z consumers through the power of social commerce. Our tech-enabled services provide market entry and brand acceleration options for emerging category-leaders who otherwise would find the complexity of China prohibitively challenging

Shogo Kawada is Co-founder and Adviser of DeNA, a global Internet company focused on a social games platform, social games, e-commerce and other Web services for mobile devices and PCs.

Investment focus

Software, SaaS, Media and Entertainment
Seed, Funding Round, Angel
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

Voicy — Voicy is a mobile platform that recruits both media personalities and news organizations; the entertainers read the news so users can get the latest info from their favorite voices.
sunblaze — sunblaze is a android-based smartphone users begin to experience stability issues after one to two years of use. For example, their device may get slower or they encounter unexpected app crashes. These stability issues also lead to security vulnerabilities.SUNBLAZE OS features essential functions only, meaning it does not have any unnecessaryfunctions. This allows the system to be more stable and secure, and users are able to use it for a longer period of time.
Spider Labs — Spider Labs offers solutions to help fight ad fraud and ensure data security.

Mr. Sugashita joined Polaris as Advisor in May 2011. He is Director and CEO of Sugashita Partners, Ltd since 1998 and provides consulting services to financial institutions and ventures in and outside of Japan. Prior to that position, he was CEO of Lazard Japan Asset Management from 1991 to 1998. His business career also includes positions at DaiwaSecurities and Merrill Lynch Securities, Tokyo Branch. On the academic front, Mr. Sugashita received a BA in Economics from Ritsumeikan University and since 2009 is Special Advisor for the Dean of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.

Investment focus

Marketing, Travel, Media and Entertainment
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

G NEXT — G NEXT is an Information Technology based company.
Fun — Fun is a sightseeing entertainment company that makes the world even more of a fun place.
Tabinaka — Tabinaka is a Japanese booking & reservation platform for overseas tours and travel activities.

Toshiro “Tosh” Wakimaru is the Chief Operating Officer of MedPeer, Inc. , Tokyo, Japan since May 2010. Medpeer is the “Medical Doctor Exclusive” SNS in Japan that has just successfully gone to the market in 2014.Prior to the current job, Tosh had been actively working for Price Waterhouse Consulting, Japan LLP (now IBM Japan, Ltd.) aftergraduating from the Boston University School of Management in 1996. While there he completed numerous projects in corporate strategy, operation improvement, and new business development focusing on the retail, service, and healthcare industries with a secondment to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Investment focus

Task Management, Food and Beverage, SNS
Seed, Funding Round
Japan, India

Portfolio highlights

Clear — Clear, Inc. operates sake subscription service “SAKELIFE".
Cub McPaws — Buy comfortably fashionable kids clothes (4 - 12 years) online in India from Cub Mcpaws at best prices. Gorgeous dresses, jumpsuits, t-shirts, shirts & bottom wear for boys and girls | Free Shipping | COD
Smartround — Smartround is a specialized finance management platform for startups and their investors. For start-ups, for entrepreneurs who are not familiar with finance, simply enter the necessary information according to the guide, prepare appropriate financing round, and prepare a function that can simulate and execute a capital increase. Support informationsharing and communication with shareholders even after the capital increase.

Toshi Yamamoto is an entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley as CEO of ChatWork Japan and US.In 2000, Toshi bootstrapped a business of web marketing and software sales, and made it profitable for the past 12 years.In 2012, Toshi decided to drive all the resources to focus on its own service, ChatWork, set up a US office and moved to SiliconValley. Toshi changed the company name from EC studio to ChatWork at that time.Toshi has also written three books that have been ranked as #1 of all books on Amazon.co.jp.

Investment focus

Apps, Beauty, Health Care
Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

emol — emol is an application that records emotions and talks with AI robots.emol provide personalized mental and productivity training based on mental data to promote employee well-being and increase employee engagement.

Hideki Hayashi

Investment focus

Drones, Robotics, Consulting
Seed, Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Re-abroad —
GenerativeX Co — GenerativeX provides AI app development, consulting, and generative model development.
Smart Robotics Japan — Smart Robotics is a development and sales of robot-related products development of robots, drones, and IOT devices (hardware and software).

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

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

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

Born in 1977, his family was originally a rice farmer in Kameyama City, Mie Prefecture. He was involved in the development of online games at Community Engine Co., Ltd., from the Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University. After he became a director of the Company in 2003, he moved to Beijing to establish a subsidiary and became CEO. Hereturned to Japan in February 2007. He served as Technical Director of ONE-UP Co., Ltd. in May 2010, and moved to Aiming in June 2011. He was appointed Chief Technology Officer in May 2013 and listed on TSE Mothers in April 2015. In September 2017, he founded ukka Co., Ltd. and assumed the position of President.

Investment focus

Art, Real Estate, Construction
Seed, Angel, Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

TRiCERA — TRiCERA is a contemporary art global platform management company.
Otetsutabi — Otetsutabi is a regional revitalization platform that offers the opportunity for participants to help at accommodations and breweries in rural areas that struggle with seasonal labor shortages. The locals offer transportation expenses and places to stay in return, so participants can travel to the areas with ease.
sketchbook — Baby’s Fun is a baby food kit and infant food kit manufacturing company. The company's food kit offers pre-cut ingredients, enabling customers to reduce food waste.

Dan Neary is a Vice President of Asia Pacific at Meta. He attended DePaul University.

Investment focus

News, Events, Travel
Seed, Funding Round
Japan, Singapore

Portfolio highlights

e27 — e27 is Asia's largest Tech media platform. We cover the latest news on emerging and disruptive businesses across the region. e27 also organizes world-class events like Echelon.
Voyagin — Voyagin is the tours and activities marketplace in Asia with a mission to help travelers discover and book the best travel experiences across Asia. Its website features over 1,800 things to do including tickets to museums and shows, cultural activities, romantic dinners, adventure experiences, and private guides bookable in English, Japanese, andChinese in over 50 destinations in Asia, in advance or in destination via its mobile optimized website. The Voyagin team believes that "travel in Asia is broken." Guests end up sightseeing because unique experiences are hard to find and insecure to book; hosts end up spending time and money on websites which are hard to update and mostly out of date. They also believe that an "experience is more than just an activity; it's about meeting people, trying something new and seeing the world from a different perspective." In hopes to differentiate themselves, they traveled around Asia to find and curate the best experiences and hosts.Launched in 2012, Voyagin provides a trusted platform for tours and activities providers (hosts) in Asia to list their experiences; its team of community managers work with each host to curate their activities both online and during the experience, ensuring their quality. Backed by its 100% satisfaction guarantee, multilingual customer support, and verified reviews from actual guests, Voyagin is the best place for travelers visiting Asia to discover and book their next local experience.Voyagin was founded in 2011 as FindJPN, a marketplace for authentic activities in Japan. FindJPN changed its name to Voyagin in December 2012 when they expanded into Asia.

Hiroaki Kitano is the SVP at Softbank Mobile. He attended Waseda University.

Investment focus

Health Care, Information Technology, Fitness
Seed, Angel, Debt Financing
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

GPx — GPx is a biotech company that revolutionizes remote chronic disease management with bloodless blood tests. It is dedicated to transforming the standard of care of cardiorenal diseases and enabling patients to better understand their condition, much like the continuous glucose monitor has transformed diabetes care.The company was founded in 2020and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Epistra — Epistra accelerates research and development in life sciences.
Activaid — Activaid owns and operates a social data platform for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. It allows patients to support and exchange information within the patient community with the same disease; provide information necessary for new drug development and matching to clinical trials that suits them; and improve medical treatment. YasuakiHasebe founded Activaid in 2018. It has its headquarters in Tokyo in Japan.

Investment focus

Software, SaaS, Information Technology
Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel
United States, Japan

Portfolio highlights

Farel — Say farewell to piecing together different vendors, integrations, and clunky software. Farel delivers one seamless, all-in-one, software platform engineered for growing airlines.
Maslo — We make companions that care about people.
Kinnek — Potential customers are looking for reasons to trust your company, and they want third-party sources to vouch for you. Kinnek helps suppliers like you build a world-class online reputation and easily share it. Because when you win more trust, more prospects become loyal customers.

Founder (Grabyo, Fonix). Investor.

Investment focus

FinTech, Financial Services, Software
Seed, Pre-Seed, Funding Round
United Kingdom, Italy, Japan

Portfolio highlights

qomodo — Qomodo is an "all-in-one" payment methods aggregator, allowing physical commercial operators to safeguard and expand their cash flow and offer Buy Now Pay Later payments to customers, in addition to one-time payments. Qomodo focuses on merchants providing services for essential yet often unforeseen expenses, which typically involve ahigher transaction value.
Verisian — Verisian accelerates drug time to market with the industry's first platform offering real study traceability (CDISC, SDTM, ADaM, TFLs)
SAPI — SAPI enables platform companies to offer business loans to their merchants, earning a revenue share while growing their ecosystem.

Abdo Achkar is the Founder & CEO at Sowlutions.

Investment focus

B2B, SaaS, Artificial Intelligence
Seed, Pre-Seed, Series B
United States, Japan, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

One Act — One Act Inc. is a global startup engaged in system development and software development. Headquarter based in Japan, having business centers in France and India too. We are developing and managing web service "PieceX", the world's first source code marketplace with dynamic pricing by AI. By trading software components on a globalscale, PieceX allows Seller companies to earn new income from the source code itself and Buyer companies to save 90% on software development time and costs by purchasing guaranteed, ready-to-use source codes. PieceX creates a place where anyone in the world can rapidly develop new services.
Ur My Type — Ur My Type is an app that uses personality types to make dating and finding friends online more meaningful.
Leasecake — Leasecake is an online/mobile location management solution. It is your sole source of truth for all lease related information, as well as services contracts, business licenses, and more. Leasecake provides proactive notifications for events like renewal notices, rent increases, and certificate of insurance expirations. It's user-friendly,cost-effective, and makes it easier to collaborate across departments and team members.

Keith Yuki Isobe is an Investor and Managing Director (#VentureCapital | Digital Garage Group TSE4819 ). Most recently, he served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Geniee International Group, President and COO at Adstars and President Director at Geniee Technolody Indonesia (TSE6562 A Member of SoftBank Group). Prior to that, he was BoardDirector and CFO of MEDCARE, a Next-Unicorn HealthcareTech and Board Director of Waseda M&A Partners, a Startup Programmatic M&As. Contact Email Addresses: yuki-isobe@garage.co.jp (DG Ventures at Digital Garage TSE4819)

Investment focus

Advertising, SaaS, Information Technology
Seed, Series A, Series C
United States, Japan, India

Portfolio highlights

Adskom — ADSKOM is an Advertising Technology company with dedicated mission to empower digital advertising industry with programmatic advertising platforms and insightful business services. With technology & business team in Indonesia, Singapore & USA we strive to deliver effective digital advertising solution for you
MEDCARE — Medcare is a medical service corporation.
WASEDA M&A PARTNERS — APAC Startup-focused M&A and Financial Consulting Firm (Founders are all graduates of Waseda Business School, Waseda University)

Founder CEO at Firstcard. Entrepreneur and Investor.

Investment focus

Marketplace, Software, Information Technology
Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
United States, Japan, Singapore

Portfolio highlights

Cloosiv — Cloosiv is an ordering platform that allows users to order in advance from their favorite coffee shop, skip the queue, and get rewards from the platform to save time and money.
Firstcard — All-in-One Student Credit Builder. Build credit. Earn cashback. Grow your deposit.
Oxygen — Oxygen is a digital banking platform. It is the first and only challenger in the US that offers both personal and business banking. The bank of the 21st-century economy, serving consumers, small businesses, and freelancers.Available on iOS and Android, Oxygen users enjoy no monthly fees, no paperwork, early direct deposit, simple transfers,cashback rewards, savings accounts, as well as retail and travel benefits. Businesses can easily control their finances with solutions that are elegant, simple, and secure.

Yoshitsune Ido

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 — Dots for is a technology that aims to improve the lives of rural residents by providing them with digital services.

John Tan - Founder @ Controlled Commodity

Investment focus

Software, Internet, Travel
Seed, Pre-Seed
Singapore, United States, Japan

Portfolio highlights

Glints — Explore internships, graduate jobs & career development resources on Glints. Do what you love on our career discovery & development platform.
Voyagin — Voyagin is the tours and activities marketplace in Asia with a mission to help travelers discover and book the best travel experiences across Asia. Its website features over 1,800 things to do including tickets to museums and shows, cultural activities, romantic dinners, adventure experiences, and private guides bookable in English, Japanese, andChinese in over 50 destinations in Asia, in advance or in destination via its mobile optimized website. The Voyagin team believes that "travel in Asia is broken." Guests end up sightseeing because unique experiences are hard to find and insecure to book; hosts end up spending time and money on websites which are hard to update and mostly out of date. They also believe that an "experience is more than just an activity; it's about meeting people, trying something new and seeing the world from a different perspective." In hopes to differentiate themselves, they traveled around Asia to find and curate the best experiences and hosts.Launched in 2012, Voyagin provides a trusted platform for tours and activities providers (hosts) in Asia to list their experiences; its team of community managers work with each host to curate their activities both online and during the experience, ensuring their quality. Backed by its 100% satisfaction guarantee, multilingual customer support, and verified reviews from actual guests, Voyagin is the best place for travelers visiting Asia to discover and book their next local experience.Voyagin was founded in 2011 as FindJPN, a marketplace for authentic activities in Japan. FindJPN changed its name to Voyagin in December 2012 when they expanded into Asia.
Rocket Academy — Selective and comprehensive online software engineering bootcamp in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

Yasumasa Manabe

Investment focus

Information Technology, Drones, Big Data
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Miraikikai — Miraikikai is a start-up originating from Kagawa University with a mission to create intelligent mobile robots for professional-use.Their robots products, designed based on field reseach to provide the high quality and the best cost effective solution, are achieved with mechanical design and control technology backed by the latest researchachievements and years of experience.
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.
XTREME-D Inc. — XTREME-D, formerly known as XTREME-Design Inc., is well-known in Japan for architecting technical computing in the cloud. The award-winning company develops and sells XTREME-DNA, a cloud-based, virtual, supercomputing-on-demand service. XTREME-DNA was launched to cut costs and make it easy to build HPC clusters in just in 10 minutes.XTREMEDEISIGN Inc. was founded in February 2015 by Naoki Shibata. And it is based in Tokyo.

Shohei Sasaki - CFO @ LeapMind

Investment focus

Content, Fashion, Consulting
Seed, Angel
Japan

Portfolio highlights

yutori — Yutoriis a Startup to expand the D2C business and influencer brand.
Meetcareer — Meetcareer provides online counseling services for career planning.

Investors by industry

Media (entertainment)

EdTech

Consumer

Climate