# Tier IV

> Tier IV is a VC fund in Tokyo backing Software and Autonomous Vehicles. See 4 investments, round sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
- Total investments: 4
- Last investment: Dec 2025
- Lead investor: 50%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tier-iv-inc/
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/tier_iv_japan
- Website: https://tier4.jp/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TierIV/

Tier IV is a federated academic startup embracing research and development of intelligent vehicles.Founded in December 2015, Tier IV has led the development of open-source software for self-driving technology, also known as Autoware, and applied it for the proof of concept of last-mile driverless mobility and logistics. Tier IV aspires to achieve“Democratization of Intelligent Vehicles”, where any individuals and organizations can contribute to a grander vision of future intelligent vehicles, leading to a better society in which all the people receive new spatio-temporal values.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Tier IV. Shizune tracks 7 team members at Tier IV. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/tier-iv?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 3 | 75% |
| Autonomous Vehicles | 3 | 75% |
| Information Technology | 2 | 50% |
| Automotive | 1 | 25% |
| Transportation | 1 | 25% |

9 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Corporate Round | 2 | 50% |
| Seed | 1 | 25% |
| Series B | 1 | 25% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Japan | 2 | 50% |
| Taiwan | 1 | 25% |
| Turkey | 1 | 25% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Akimichi Degawa | CEO | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/akimichi-degawa |
| Christian John | President | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/christian-john |
| kazuya takeda | President & CEO | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kazuya-takeda |
| Naoki Sato | Auditor | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/naoki-sato-d318 |
| Satoshi Sakaguchi | Director and CFO | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/satoshi-sakaguchi |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Round size | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Turing Drive | Turing Drive promotes reliable autonomous driving, emphasizing human-machine interaction to enhance mobility efficiency, lower costs, and improve user experience. Our mission is to create practical autonomous driving. |  | Corporate Round | Dec 16, 2025 |  |
| eve autonomy | eve autonomy is an autonomous transportation service that offers logistics solutions utilizing the latest technology for society. | $6.7M | Series B | Mar 12, 2025 |  |
| Leo Drive | Leo Drive is a technology company that specializes in mapping, localization, simulation, perception, planning, hardware, integration, and full-stack autonomy for software-defined vehicles. LeoDrive.ai was founded in 2015 that develop software, hardware, and algorithm products for autonomous vehicles. | $920K | Seed | Oct 20, 2022 |  |
| OPTIMIND | Optima India is a Tech Venture company from Nagoya University. Optima India develops business focusing on the area of the delivery plan, "Which vehicle, which destination, in which order, which order will you go," using combinatorial optimization, machine learning, statistics, and other technologies. | $13.6M | Corporate Round | Jun 01, 2018 |  |

4 of 4 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Terrada Warehouse](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/terada-warehouse) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Yamaha Motor](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/yamaha-motor-co) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

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## FAQ

### What does Tier IV invest in?

Tier IV invests primarily in Software, Autonomous Vehicles and Information Technology startups, most often at Corporate Round and Seed stage. Most of the 4 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 Tier IV?

Public channels for Tier IV 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 Tier IV?

The team at Tier IV includes Akimichi Degawa (CEO), Christian John (President) and kazuya takeda (President & CEO), among 7 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 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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