# Kenji Niwa

> Kenji Niwa is a seed investor in San Francisco Bay Area backing FinTech and Software. See 13 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States
- Total investments: 13
- Last investment: Jun 2021
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenjiniwa/

Kenji Niwa is a seed investor in San Francisco Bay Area focused on FinTech and Software. Founder CEO at Firstcard. Entrepreneur and Investor.

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $120k–$21M |
| Pre-Seed | $510k–$3M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FinTech | 2 | 15% |
| Software | 2 | 15% |
| Marketplace | 2 | 15% |
| Subscription Service | 2 | 15% |
| Information Technology | 2 | 15% |

38 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 8 | 62% |
| Pre-Seed | 3 | 23% |
| Series A | 1 | 8% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 8 | 62% |
| Japan | 1 | 8% |
| Singapore | 1 | 8% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Firstcard | Firstcard provides a secured credit card and mobile app that helps users build credit with deposits and spending tracking tools. | $3M | Pre-Seed | Jun 01, 2021 |  |
| 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. | $17M | Series A | Dec 21, 2020 |  |
| 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. | $500K | Seed | Apr 14, 2020 |  |
| 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. | $1M | Seed | Oct 02, 2019 |  |
| StaffAny | StaffAny is a computer software company that specializes in providing technical software solutions for timesheets scheduling, payslips, and human resources. Its platform focuses on workforce management solution for companies that engage in hourly workers. The company was founded in 2018 and headquartered in Singapore. | $747K | Seed | Aug 18, 2019 |  |
| Anyplace | Anyplace is a marketplace that provides flexible housing to digital nomads and millennials. Its mission to free people to live wherever they feel inspired to go by providing modern, dependable, turn-key living and accommodations anyplace in the world. | $2.5M | Seed | Jun 03, 2019 |  |
| 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. | $7M | Seed | Jan 29, 2019 |  |
| Zypsy | Zypsy is an award-winning design team for founders. Providing brand, product, engineering execution, and investments, where design can unlock outsized outcomes. The company’s vision is to design tomorrow’s most valuable companies with today’s most exceptional people..The founding team brings experience from IDEO, Meta, Fantasy, Microsoft, andSaatchi & Saatchi. Since its inception, Zypsy has collaborated with over 40 startups and launched more than 40 new ideas to market; clients collectively report more than $2B in valuation gains.In 2023, Zypsy introduced Design Capital, an investment program that exchanges intensive design services-for-equity (8–10 weeks, up to ~$100k). Zypsy also manages Zypsy Capital, its venture fund that invests cash in founders, with design support available on a “hands-if” basis—hands-on when useful, hands-off when not. | $480K | Seed | Nov 06, 2018 |  |
| HeyDoctor | Waiting rooms suck. Enjoy quick, affordable and efficient healthcare right in your pocket. You can start a visit right now and be done in 5 minutes. No insurance necessary. | $120K | Seed | Aug 20, 2018 |  |
| Substack | Substack offers a platform that enables writers to publish and monetize subscription-based newsletters. The company provides tools for content creation, email distribution, subscription management, and audience analytics. Writers retain ownership of their work and can set their own subscription prices, while readers receive content directly intheir inboxes. Substack also supports podcasting and discussion threads, expanding its services beyond traditional text-based publishing. The platform is used by journalists, authors, and creators who seek a direct relationship with their audience without relying on traditional media channels. Through its ecosystem, Substack facilitates independent publishing and helps writers build sustainable businesses around their content. | $2M | Seed | Apr 30, 2018 |  |

10 of 13 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [East Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/east-ventures) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [VentureSouq](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/venturesouq) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [1984 Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/1984-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [CyberAgent Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/cyberagent) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [EFG Hermes](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/efg-hermes) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [ANOBAKA](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kvp) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

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## FAQ

### What does Kenji Niwa invest in?

Kenji Niwa invests primarily in FinTech, Software and Marketplace startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 13 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Kenji Niwa's check size?

Kenji Niwa typically joins rounds of $120k–$21M at Seed and $510k–$3M at Pre-Seed. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Kenji Niwa participates in.

### When did Kenji Niwa last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Kenji Niwa closed in Jun 2021. Shizune tracks 13 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### 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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