# Signifiant

> Signifiant is a VC fund backing Artificial Intelligence and Marketing. See 10 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Minato, Japan
- Total investments: 10
- Last investment: Sep 2021
- Lead investor: 40%
- Fund size: $2.9B
- Last fund: Jun 2019
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/signifiant/
- Website: https://signifiant.jp

Signifiant is a VC fund in Minato focused on Artificial Intelligence and Marketing. Signifiant offers management support for unlisted startups and emerging listed companies, as well as industrial finance business, with the theme of "creating an industry that will be passed on to future generations. The firm believes that the development of post-IPOs and startups is essential for the further expansion of the startup ecosystemin Japan and the evolution of the Japanese industry. Signifiant Style is committed to providing insights into the management of post-IPO startups as well as unlisted startups.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Signifiant. Shizune tracks 3 team members at Signifiant. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/signifiant?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Artificial Intelligence | 4 | 40% |
| Marketing | 3 | 30% |
| SNS | 1 | 10% |
| SaaS | 1 | 10% |
| Fashion | 1 | 10% |

27 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series A | 2 | 20% |
| Series C | 2 | 20% |
| Corporate Round | 2 | 20% |
| Series B | 1 | 10% |
| Series D | 1 | 10% |

6 stages tracked in total.

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Kenji Kobayashi | Joint Representative | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kenji-kobayashi |
| Takafumi Murakami | Co-representative | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/masanori-murakami |
| Yusuke Asakura | Joint representative | 20 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/yusuke-asakura-656e |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Galapagos | Galapagos is a manufacturing company that focuses on results.They trying to create an application that produces results in the application market where only good things are evaluated. | $155.9M | Series A | Sep 01, 2021 |  |
| Galapagos | Galapagos offers a service that uses artificial intelligence to create and refine advertising visuals, under a product called AIR Design. The company also provides development and management for smartphone applications. | $9.8M | Series A | Sep 01, 2021 |  |
| SmartHR | SmartHR provides a cloud-native human resources management platform that offers a suite of tech-enabled human resources management solutions, focusing on employee management and administration, growth, talent management, and employee productivity. Through its comprehensive range of solutions, SmartHR serves a diversified spectrum of businessesincluding large enterprises and SMEs. | $114.2M | Series D | Jun 08, 2021 |  |
| OpenLogi | OpenLogi is a Tokyo based logistics platform focused on SMEs and freelancers. OpenLogi was founded back in December 2013 by Hidetsugu Ito who was previously involved in launching Japanese magazine subscription service Fujisan.co.jp. Based on his experience in discussing and negotiating with logistics companies, he founded OpenLogi to addresslogistics solutions for small e-commerce players. | $241M | Series C | Oct 22, 2020 |  |
| VISITS Technologies | VISITS Technologies is an internet based company.VISITS Technologies developed a unique consensus building algorithm called ideagram (patented),and succeeded for the first time in the world to quantify people's creativity , discerning ability, and the value of the idea itself By utilizing this technology, not only creativity, but alsoquantifying difficult- to- quantify sensual assets, such as senses,skills, and personal connections , Combined with blockchain technology, value transfer becomes possible. | $311.8M |  | Jul 25, 2019 |  |
| SmartHR | SmartHR provides a cloud-native human resources management platform that offers a suite of tech-enabled human resources management solutions, focusing on employee management and administration, growth, talent management, and employee productivity. Through its comprehensive range of solutions, SmartHR serves a diversified spectrum of businessesincluding large enterprises and SMEs. | $878.8M | Series C | Jul 22, 2019 |  |
| 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. | $83M | Series B | Mar 05, 2019 |  |
| OpenLogi | OpenLogi is a Tokyo based logistics platform focused on SMEs and freelancers. OpenLogi was founded back in December 2013 by Hidetsugu Ito who was previously involved in launching Japanese magazine subscription service Fujisan.co.jp. Based on his experience in discussing and negotiating with logistics companies, he founded OpenLogi to addresslogistics solutions for small e-commerce players. |  | Corporate Round | Feb 07, 2019 |  |
| VISITS Technologies | VISITS Technologies is an internet based company.VISITS Technologies developed a unique consensus building algorithm called ideagram (patented),and succeeded for the first time in the world to quantify people's creativity , discerning ability, and the value of the idea itself By utilizing this technology, not only creativity, but alsoquantifying difficult- to- quantify sensual assets, such as senses,skills, and personal connections , Combined with blockchain technology, value transfer becomes possible. |  |  | Jan 30, 2019 |  |
| Folio | FOLIO is a financial Instruments Business Operator . |  | Corporate Round | Jan 17, 2019 |  |

10 of 10 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Globe Advisors](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/globe-advisors) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Archetype Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/archetype-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [DIMENSION](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dimension-0ef6) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [STRIVE](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/gree-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Light Street Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/light-street-capital-management-llc) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Mirai Creation Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mirai-creation-fund) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund
- [General Catalyst](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/general-catalyst-partners) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Signifiant invest in?

Signifiant invests primarily in Artificial Intelligence, Marketing and SNS startups, most often at Series A and Series C stage. Most of the 10 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Japan. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact Signifiant?

Public channels for Signifiant 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 Signifiant?

The team at Signifiant includes Kenji Kobayashi (Joint Representative), Takafumi Murakami (Co-representative) and Yusuke Asakura (Joint representative). 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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