# Top 50 Payments Startup Investors in Japan in June 2026 ## Incubate Fund - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 6 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Information Technology, E-Commerce 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. ## Ceres - Type: VC Fund - Location: Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 6 - Stages: Seed, Corporate Round - Focus: Cryptocurrency, Content, Internet Ceres is a company providing internet marketing services and is engaged in the planning, development, and operation of smartphone media. ## Kotaro Chiba - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 5 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Internet, Drones, Travel Kotaro Chiba is the founder of ChibaDojo Fund. Kotaro Chiba attended Keio University. ## SMBC Venture Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 5 - Stages: Series A, Series B - Focus: Information Technology, Health Care, Software 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. ## East Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 5 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Information Technology, Internet East Ventures is an early stage venture capital (VC) focused on Southeast Asia, Indonesia & Japan. Success cases include Tokopedia, Traveloka, and Mercari. ## JAFCO - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 5 - Stages: Series A, Series B - Focus: Information Technology, Software, Artificial Intelligence Since its founding in 1973, JAFCO has always worked with leading-edge entrepreneurs. The total capital commitments of its investment funds in Japan and overseas have exceeded 1 trillion yen and the number of portfolio IPOs to date has reached over 1,000. In addition to venture investment, JAFCO also carries out buyout investment and commit to thecreations of innovative technologies and services worldwide. As entrepreneurs’ closest partner in bringing their visions to life, JAFCO provides support in areas of HR, marketing/ sales, and back-office operations, in addition to providing financing. ## ANRI - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Health Care, Information Technology ANRI is a Japanese venture capital firm that mainly invests in seed and early-stage startups. ## SBI Investment - Type: VC Fund - Location: Minato, Chiba, Japan - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Series B, Series A - Focus: Information Technology, Software, Financial Services 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. ## Coral Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Software, Information Technology, SaaS Coral Capital is a seed stage venture capital firm in Japan. ## Nissay Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Health Care, Information Technology, Medical Nissay Capital is a venture capital Company specializing in seed, start-up, growth capital, middle stage, and later stage investment. ## Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Debt Financing, Post-IPO Debt - Focus: Financial Services, Energy, Information Technology 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. ## Saison Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: Singapore, Central Region, Singapore - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed - Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Information Technology They invest in Seed to Series A companies across emerging markets. Although they have a sector agnostic fund mandate, they particularly like to work with founders that are building ecosystems with the potential to distribute financial services to the unbanked. ## Genesia Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Information Technology, Software, Health Care 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. ## D4V - Type: VC Fund - Location: Minato, Chiba, Japan - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Financial Services, Apps D4V (Design for Ventures) is a Tokyo-based early-stage venture capital firm that invests in disruptive, consumer and enterprise technology startups. ## Global Brain Corporation - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Series A, Series B - Focus: Software, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence 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. ## DNX Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: San Mateo, California, United States - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Software, Information Technology, SaaS DNX Ventues is an early stage VC firm focusing on B2B Startups that are shaping industries and transforming the way we live and work. ## VOYAGE VENTURES - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Internet, Content Voyage Ventures is the venture capital arm of Voyage Group specializing in seed and early-stage investments. The firm seeks to make investments in the internet and mobile internet industry. It invests from JPY1 million ($.01million) to JPY to 10 million ($.12 million) in its portfolio companies. The firm typically invests in Japan, China, and othergrowing Asian markets. Voyage Ventures, Inc., formerly known as EC Navi Ventures Company, was founded on March 25, 2011, and is based in Tokyo, Japan. ## Yuzuru Honda - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: SNS, Internet, Software Yuzuru Honda is a Founder & Global CEO of FreakOut. ## Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series A, Corporate Round - Focus: Banking, FinTech, Payments Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group primarily conducts commercial banking through the following financial services such as leasing, securities, consumer finance, system development, and data processing. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. ## SoftBank Group - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series B, Series A - Focus: Software, Mobile, Advertising SoftBank Group provides venture funding and strategic support to exceptional entrepreneurs building disruptive enduring businesses. They are a small team of experienced entrepreneurs and investors who take an "active" approach to helping their companies reach their full potential. They manage $600 million across three funds and investacross a company’s lifecycle, from early to growth stages. Through their close ties to a number of Asia’s leading mobile, internet and technology companies – including strategic partners SoftBank Corp, Yahoo! Japan and Alibaba Group – SoftBank Capital offers unique expertise to businesses seeking to address the Asian market. Since 1995, SoftBank Capital has partnered with internet pioneers such as Criteo, Gilt Groupe, OMGPOP (Zynga), betaworks, BuzzFeed, Buddy Media (Salesforce.com), Huffington Post (AOL), Associated Content (Yahoo!), Danger (Microsoft), Geocities (Yahoo!), E*Trade and Yahoo!. ## Mizuho Financial Group - Type: VC Fund - Location: Otemachi, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series A, Post-IPO Debt - Focus: Financial Services, Finance, FinTech Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. is a bank holding company which manages and engages in ancillary operations related to the management of its legally–owned subsidiaries as defined by the Japanese Banking Act. Its activities include streamlining group management functions, creating synergies across various business fields and capabilities, andleveraging the defining strengths and characteristics of the Mizuho group. ## Osamu Ogasawara - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Angel - Focus: SNS, Content, Fashion Osamu Ogasahara is the founder, CEO, and president of FGN ABBA Lab. ## Canal Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: Toyosu, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series A, Seed - Focus: Information Technology, Apps, Internet Canal Ventures is a corporate venture capital firm of the Nihon Unisys Group that invests in seed early phase startups. ## AG Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: Shiba, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series A, Seed - Focus: Finance, Software, Internet AG Capital is an investment firm that provides investment and property management solutions for middle-size businesses. The company was founded on December 12, 1985 and its headquarters are located in Minato-ku, Tokyo. ## DeNA - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: E-Commerce, Content, Internet DeNA provides a social game platform, social games, e-commerce, and other Web services for mobile devices and PCs. Its current flagship business is its mobile social games platform Mobage which offers first, second, and third-party games on multiple localized player networks worldwide. ## DG Daiwa Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: Marunouchi, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: FinTech, Software, Internet DG Daiwa Ventures invests in start-up companies with next-generation technology and provides business development support. It is focused on blockchain, xR, AI, security, and BioHealth, as they are likely to be at the foundations of future businesses. In addition to the five core technologies, the fund will also focus on IoT technologies, whichoften overlap or serve as an application layer. ## Recruit Strategic Partners - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series A, Seed, Series B - Focus: Software, E-Commerce, FinTech Recruit Strategic Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in innovative startups from all around the world. It is a corporate venture capital arm of Recruit Holdings that seeks to invest in education and financial technology, digital healthcare, and infrastructure sectors. It was established in 2008 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. ## Mizuho Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series A, Series B - Focus: Information Technology, Software, Internet 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. ## Monex Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: Minato, Chiba, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Financial Services, FinTech Monex Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Japan that finances seed and early stage investments in startup companies. ## Shunsuke Oyu - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Content, Internet, Media and Entertainment Shunsuke Oyu is the co-founder of Connehito Inc. Started an online Q&A platform “mamari” which is the largest platform for moms in Japan. Connehito was acquired by one of the telecom giant KDDI in 2016. Selected as a “Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia” at consumer technology department. Angel-investing 50+ companies globally. ## GMO VenturePartners - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Software An investment that restructures the value and quality.Supplying big capital is not an essential value of our firm.We have a strong attitude to input and drive critical thinking behind a new startup.After the problem is clarified and solution become established in the world,people could not imagine the society without that solution.An investment that innovates this world.We will become a real partner to execute the strategy together.INVENTION OF THE ESSENCE ----we will keep on doing it. ## Cherubic Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: Taipei, T'ai-pei, Taiwan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel - Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, E-Commerce Cherubic Ventures is an early stage focused venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley and Greater China. ## Kazuma Ieiri - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Series A - Focus: Content, Fashion, FinTech 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. ## Money Forward - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Accounting, Financial Services Money Forward provides online personal accounting for individuals, allowing them to easily manage their daily expenses by integrating with their bank passbooks and credit purchase history with information scraped from their web bank and credit accounts. The service is also available for desktop, as well as iOS and Android platforms. The companyalso announced that it will launch a cloud-based accounting service for individual and corporate users, and it will also start publishing an online newsletter. ## FreakOut Holdings - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series A, Seed, Series B - Focus: Software, Internet, Information Technology We are spread out into global with our mission "Give people work that requires a person" through our freak'in technology. ## Shintaro Yamada - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Internet, Finance, Content 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. ## Mitsubishi UFJ Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series A, Series B - Focus: Information Technology, Software, Health Care Mitsubishi UFJ Capital is a venture capital firm focusing on life science, ICT, and high technology investments. ## MIRAISE - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Consulting 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! ## ANOBAKA - Type: VC Fund - Location: Shibuya, Kanagawa, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Software, Information Technology 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. ## Yusuke Tanaka - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Tourism, Consulting, E-Commerce "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. ## Kyokuto Securities - Type: VC Fund - Location: Kayabacho, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: FinTech, InsurTech, Insurance Kyokuto Securities is a Japanese financial company focusing on securities dealing and securities brokerage. ## Masaru Sunagawa - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Artificial Intelligence, SNS, Music After joining Mitsubishi Corporation, he studied at Harvard Business School. After graduating, he joined Globespan Capital Partners, an independent United States VC, and worked as a director of investment. He started LocationValue after the company's representative in Japan. Joined Google after selling the company to NTT DOCOMO. He served asDirector of Product Development for Google Maps and General Manager for Android. He left Google in February 2018 and started Smartround Co., Ltd. in May. ## Anthemis - Type: VC Fund - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Software digitally native finance ## Sony Innovation Fund - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series A, Series B - Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Software, Health Care Sony Innovation Fund is investing in technology-driven transformational companies shaping the future of business, entertainment and society. ## PKSHA SPARX Algorithm Fund - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Human Resources, Information Technology PKSHA SPARX Algorithm Fund focuses on start-ups and projects that have machine intelligence, AI-related and robotics technology. ## Venture Labo Investment - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series B, Seed - Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Internet Venture Labo Investment is venture capital firm that provides financial supports to invested companies at each growth stage. ## Yu Akasaka - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Content, Food and Beverage, Apps 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. ## Kobe University Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: Kobe, Kyoto, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series A, Series B, Seed - Focus: Medical, Sales, Health Care Kobe University Capital is create new indstry academia cllabration and technology transfer models. ## Mizuho Bank - Type: VC Fund - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Debt Financing, Post-IPO Debt - Focus: Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Software Mizuho Bank is a commercial bank that began operation on July 1, 2013, with its headquarters in Tokyo in Japan. It offers corporate and investment banking services to major corporations, financial institutions, and public sector entities. It also provides current and ordinary, deposits at notice, time, and specified deposits, deposits for tax,nonresident deposits in yen, foreign currency deposits, negotiable time deposits and loans by bill, loans on a deed, and overdrafts as well as discounts for bank acceptances, commercial papers, and documentary bills. Moreover, it offers investment banking and custodial, syndication, bond administrative, real estate finance, acquisition finance and corporate restructuring, project, and asset finance services, settlement and asset management services. It operates as a subsidiary of Mizuho Financial Group. ## Komura Fujio - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Content, Ethereum, Marketing Komura Fujio # About Shizune Shizune.co is an investor database. Core features: - 48,091 startup investors (angels, VCs, accelerators, and others) - Email, phone, LinkedIn (for intros), socials, and other contact data - Updated daily from public funding news - CSV and Excel export The User can access the full database FOR FREE after signing up: shizune.co