# Innovation Engine

> Innovation Engine is a VC fund backing Software and Information Technology. See 38 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
- Total investments: 38
- Last investment: Oct 2025
- Lead investor: 21%
- Fund size: $191M
- Last fund: Aug 2019
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovation-engine-inc-
- Website: http://www.innovation-engine.co.jp/e/top.htm

Innovation Engine is a VC fund in Tokyo focused on Software and Information Technology. Innovation Engine has been is promoting investment to create and grow promising business areas created from technology.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Innovation Engine. Shizune tracks 4 team members at Innovation Engine. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/innovation-engine?utm_source=investor_profile

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Series A | $663k–$71M |
| Series C | $3.1M–$85M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 7 | 18% |
| Information Technology | 7 | 18% |
| Artificial Intelligence | 6 | 16% |
| Medical | 4 | 11% |
| Robotics | 4 | 11% |

92 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Funding Round | 16 | 42% |
| Series A | 7 | 18% |
| Series C | 4 | 11% |
| Series B | 3 | 8% |
| Venture - Series Unknown | 3 | 8% |

8 stages tracked in total.

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Japan | 35 | 92% |
| Spain | 1 | 3% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Jun Nakai | Venture Partner | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jun-nakai |
| Mutsunori Sano | President and CEO | 1 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mutsunori-sano |
| Rob Haddad | Founder & CEO | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/rob-haddad |
| Satoshi Konno | Executive Partner | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/satoshi-konno-a24e |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CoA Nexus | CoA Nexus develops and operates a skillshare matching platform for human resource research and development. | $2M | Series A | Oct 29, 2025 |  |
| bestat | bestat is a developer of platforms for 3D data creation, management, and utilization using AI and offers digital twins services. | $663K | Series A | Oct 20, 2025 |  |
| Openverse Global | Openverse operates as a Layer 0 hub, providing a foundational framework for decentralized applications and services. | $8M | Series B | Sep 17, 2025 |  |
| Drone Show Japan | Drone Show Japan company specializes in drone shows for events, aerial photography, and workshops. | $3.5M | Series A | Sep 04, 2024 |  |
| Ranimaru | Ranimaru is pet service providing company that offers pet sitting, care of your pet dog in events, professional course about pet sitting. | $1.9M | Series A | Jun 10, 2024 |  |
| Asilla | Asilla develops and provides AI specialized in image and video analysis. Its services, the Vehicle recognition AI, recognizes the manufacturer and model from the image of the vehicle. It also has a censorship service that detects inappropriate images that can not be released, including copyrights and obscene expressionsAsilla was founded in 2015and is based in Tokyo, Japan. | $3.1M | Series C | Jan 18, 2024 |  |
| Astroscale | Astroscale is one of the few companies in the world proposing to aid in the removal of orbital debris through the provision of End of Life (EOL) and Active Debris Removal (ADR) services. In addition to providing a technical solution, Astroscale is helping to define the business case for this service and are working with national space agencies,international institutions, non-profit organizations, insurance companies and satellite operators to develop norms, regulations and incentives that contribute to the responsible use of space. | $109M | Series F | Nov 25, 2021 |  |
| Bravesoft | bravesoft is a software company that operates events and in-house product for contract development and events. The company offering services such as UI / UX design, application consignment development service, appvisor push, and technical research service. | $6.3M | Venture - Series Unknown | Oct 05, 2021 |  |
| Ispace Technologies | Ispace Technologies is a space resource exploration company founded in 2013 to develop micro-robots that will locate the resources necessary to extend human life into outer space. Their main focus is to locate, extract, and deliver lunar ice to customers in cis-lunar space.Ispace manages the technological and business development operations ofTeam HAKUTO in the Google Lunar XPRIZE Competition. Team Hakuto is a front runner in the $30M competition to land a privately funded robot on the Moon and was one of only three teams to win a $500,000 Milestone Prize in mobility.Ispace utilizes 3D printed and commercially off the shelf products (COTS) for rapid prototyping while maximizing structural mass efficiency and shortening the developmental life cycle. Their micro-robots are able to explore larger areas of the Moon faster, at a fraction of the cost of large robots. | $46M | Series C | Aug 04, 2021 |  |
| LisB | LisB provides cloud service development, smartphone, tuplet, PC application development web system. | $170.1M |  | Jun 02, 2021 |  |

10 of 38 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Mitsubishi UFJ Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mitsubishi-ufj-capital) — VC Fund, 12 deals together
- [MITSUI SUMITOMO INSURANCE Venture Capital (MSIVC)](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mitsui-sumitomo-insuarance-venture-capital) — VC Fund, 6 deals together
- [Kaga Electronics](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kaga-electronics) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Mizuho Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mizuho-capital) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [SMBC Venture Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/smbc-venture-capital) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Miraidoa](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/future-venture-capital) — VC Fund, 3 deals together

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## FAQ

### What does Innovation Engine invest in?

Innovation Engine invests primarily in Software, Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence startups, most often at Funding Round and Series A stage. Most of the 38 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Japan. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Innovation Engine's check size?

Innovation Engine typically joins rounds of $663k–$71M at Series A and $3.1M–$85M at Series C. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Innovation Engine participates in.

### How do I contact Innovation Engine?

Public channels for Innovation Engine include LinkedIn and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### Who are the partners at Innovation Engine?

The team at Innovation Engine includes Jun Nakai (Venture Partner), Mutsunori Sano (President and CEO) and Rob Haddad (Founder & CEO). The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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