Rakuten
VC Fund
Tokyo, Japan
Rakuten is a tech company that offers electronic commerce solutions in Japan and internationally. The company operates in three segments such as internet services, finance services, and others. The internet services segment comprises businesses running various e-commerce sites, including Rakuten Ichiba, an internet shopping mall; travel booking sites; portal sites; and e-book businesses as well as businesses for advertising and sale of contents and similar on these sites. Its offerings include e-reading, online travel reservations, online auctions, online marketing, online golf course reservations, portal sites, search engines, integrated internet marketing, online recipe posting and browsing, student recruiting community, online purchase of discount coupons, online shopping, and video on demand services. It is involved in the online sale of books, CDs, and DVDs. The internet finance segment is engaged in providing services related to banking and securities, credit cards, life insurance, and electronic money. This segment provides credit card payment, internet banking, online brokerage, online comprehensive insurance, and face-to-face and online life insurance services as well as credit card transactions on smartphones and tablets. The other segments are involved in the provision of communications services such as next-generation LTE-compatible mobile data communication, telecommunications, internet connection and corporate mobile phone services, and management of a professional baseball team. The company was formerly known as MDM, Inc. and changed its name to Rakuten, Inc. in June 1999. Rakuten, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
- Total investments:
- 88
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 48%
- Fund size:
- $200M
- Last fund:
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Rakuten invests in
Stages Rakuten invests in
Countries Rakuten invests in
Round sizes
Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
| See all 12 contacts → | |||
Round size
- Seed
- $800k–$6M
- Series A
- $2.8M–$16M
- Series B
- $5.3M–$40M
Investment Focus
Industry
- E-Commerce 13 (15%)
- Financial Services 12 (14%)
- FinTech 11 (13%)
- Software 10 (11%)
- Internet 8 (9%)
Stage
- Series A 14 (16%)
- Series B 13 (15%)
- Seed 9 (10%)
- Series C 9 (10%)
- Venture - Series Unknown 8 (9%)
Country
- United States 26 (30%)
- Japan 14 (16%)
- Singapore 5 (6%)
- United Kingdom 3 (3%)
- Germany 2 (2%)
Team
| Name | Title | Investments | Links | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Hiroshi Mikitani
Chairman and President, Chief Operating Officer
|
Chairman and President, Chief Operating Officer | Total investments: 20 | Find email | |
Masatada Kobayashi
Group Managing Executive Officer & Chief Well-Being Officer
|
Group Managing Executive Officer & Chief Well-Being Officer | Total investments: 0 | Find email | |
Masayuki Hosaka
Representative Director and Vice Chairman
|
Representative Director and Vice Chairman | Total investments: 0 | Find email | |
Michael Piechalak
Partner, Rakuten Capital
|
Partner, Rakuten Capital | Total investments: 1 | Find email | |
Saemin Ahn
Managing Partner
|
Managing Partner | Total investments: 3 | Find email | |
| See all 12 team members → | ||||
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Next Gen Solutions for Human-Based Cyber Attacks | $6M / Seed / Jan 26, 2026 | ||
| Rakuten Medical is a biotechnology company developing investigational cancer therapies based on its proprietary Alluminox platform. This platform integrates a drug, a device, and other components to deliver photoimmunotherapy, a treatment that combines a light-activated dye with a targeting agent to selectively destroy cancer cells. Thecompany's lead asset, ASP-1929, is an antibody-dye conjugate currently approved in Japan for treating unresectable locally advanced or recurrent head and neck cancer. Rakuten Medical is conducting global clinical trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of its therapies in combination with other treatments. The company also offers an Expanded Access Program to provide investigational products to patients with serious or life-threatening diseases who lack other treatment options. Rakuten Medical operates in multiple countries and focuses on developing new cancer treatments based on its Alluminox™ platform. | $111.5M / Series F / Jan 07, 2026 | ||
| KINS is a health supplement company. | $3.1M / Venture - Series Unknown / Jul 02, 2024 | ||
| Rakuten Medical is a biotechnology company developing investigational cancer therapies based on its proprietary Alluminox platform. This platform integrates a drug, a device, and other components to deliver photoimmunotherapy, a treatment that combines a light-activated dye with a targeting agent to selectively destroy cancer cells. Thecompany's lead asset, ASP-1929, is an antibody-dye conjugate currently approved in Japan for treating unresectable locally advanced or recurrent head and neck cancer. Rakuten Medical is conducting global clinical trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of its therapies in combination with other treatments. The company also offers an Expanded Access Program to provide investigational products to patients with serious or life-threatening diseases who lack other treatment options. Rakuten Medical operates in multiple countries and focuses on developing new cancer treatments based on its Alluminox™ platform. | $119M / Series E / Mar 06, 2024 | ||
| Amondz is a jewellery ecommerce platform that provides buyers and sellers with quick access to a production list, price quotations for consumers, and customer support. | $2.3M / Series B / Jun 14, 2022 | ||
| QuEra Computing is a company focused on developing quantum computing technology. They specialize in building large-scale quantum computers using neutral atoms. QuEra uses innovative techniques to manipulate and control qubits for quantum computation, aiming to solve complex problems in fields like chemistry, materials science, and machine learning.Their quantum computers operate on a platform that leverages arrays of neutral atoms that are highly scalable, providing a path toward achieving quantum advantage for practical applications. | $17M / Venture - Series Unknown / Nov 17, 2021 | ||
| AWL is a company that provides the leading edge AI camera solutions company . | $18.2M / Series B / Jun 02, 2021 | ||
| AST SpaceMobile is building the first and only global broadband cellular network in space to operate directly with standard, unmodified mobile devices based on our extensive IP and patent portfolio. The company's team of engineers and space scientists are on a mission to eliminate the connectivity gaps faced by today's five billion mobilesubscribers and finally bring broadband to the billions who remain unconnected. The company was founded on May 31, 2017 and is headquartered in Midland, TX. The listed name for ASTS is AST SpaceMobile, Inc. Class A Common Stock. | $230M / Post-IPO Equity / Apr 07, 2021 | ||
| ShopBack offers a one-stop lifestyle portal that powers smarter purchase decisions for consumers. Today, ShopBack is the dominant player in Southeast Asia’s e-commerce Cashback market, with an established presence in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Taiwan, powering over 1,000 orders per hour.ShopBack enhancesshopping by providing up to 30% Cashback for consumers to boost their purchasing power while providing cost-effective marketing solutions for merchant partners. With over 1,300 merchant partners, including Uber, Expedia, and Lazada, ShopBack constantly strives to bring a smarter shopping experience to the consumers.In October 2015, ShopBack was awarded the winner of the Gold award in the Best Start-up (Growth Stage) category and a Silver award in the Best Innovative Infocomm Products (Consumers) category at the 7th Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) Awards. This is the local start-up’s maiden voyage in industry awards, pitting against more than 300 nominations for the esteemed titles. The company was recently awarded the Emerging Enterprise Award in September 2016, jointly organized by The Business Times (Singapore) and OCBC Bank, which recognizes outstanding small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore. | $30M / Series B / Mar 12, 2020 | ||
| AST SpaceMobile is building the first and only global broadband cellular network in space to operate directly with standard, unmodified mobile devices based on our extensive IP and patent portfolio. The company's team of engineers and space scientists are on a mission to eliminate the connectivity gaps faced by today's five billion mobilesubscribers and finally bring broadband to the billions who remain unconnected. The company was founded on May 31, 2017 and is headquartered in Midland, TX. The listed name for ASTS is AST SpaceMobile, Inc. Class A Common Stock. | $110M / Series B / Mar 03, 2020 | ||
| See all 88 investments → | |||
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FAQ
What does Rakuten invest in?
Rakuten invests primarily in E-Commerce, Financial Services and FinTech startups, most often at Series A and Series B stage. Most of the 88 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
What round sizes does Rakuten invest in?
Rakuten typically joins rounds of $800k–$6M at Seed, $2.8M–$16M at Series A and $5.3M–$40M at Series B. These are whole funding-round sizes, not Rakuten's own check, which is rarely disclosed: the 10th–90th percentile of the confirmed public funding rounds Rakuten took part in.
How do I contact Rakuten?
Public channels for Rakuten include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) 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 Rakuten?
The team at Rakuten includes Hiroshi Mikitani (Chairman and President, Chief Operating Officer), Masatada Kobayashi (Group Managing Executive Officer & Chief Well-Being Officer) and Masayuki Hosaka (Representative Director and Vice Chairman), among 12 team members tracked by Shizune. 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 Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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