Top 20 Publishing Startup Investors in Japan in December 2024
A list of 20 angel investors and VC (Venture Capital) funds that invest in Publishing startups based in Japan. We rank investors based on the number of investments they made in Publishing companies from Japan. We update this investor list every month.Top 20 Publishing Startup Investors in Japan in December 2024
Investor | Publishing Japan investments |
---|---|
Drone Fund | 2 |
IT-Farm | 2 |
NOW Japan | 1 |
Fuji Startup Ventures | 1 |
Kazuhiro Ishikura | 1 |
CBC Group | 1 |
Mizuho Capital | 1 |
Nextblue | 1 |
Vector | 1 |
Shinsei Bank | 1 |
Nippon Venture Capital | 1 |
Fundinno | 1 |
Iyogin Capital | 1 |
Shoko Chukin Bank | 1 |
Future Venture Capital | 1 |
STRIVE | 1 |
Kiyoshi Nishikawa | 1 |
F Ventures | 1 |
Showa Leasing | 1 |
Himegin Lease | 1 |
Drone Fund is a venture capital firm that provides supports in IP strategy, innovative planning, and drone policy. It offers capital investment and financing and aims to create a Drone Ecosystem where LPs and startups can benefit from membership within the Drone Fund.
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Investment focus
- Drones, Robotics, Aerospace
- Funding Round, Seed, Series A
- Japan, United States, Canada
Portfolio highlights
IT-Farm is a venture capital firm which specializes in seed, start-up, and early stage companies. It primarily invests in mobile, big-data, connected car, IoT, OTT service, Helth care, Bio Tech and other IT industries. The firm actively invests in SF bay area and Japan, as well as other geometries including Asia and Europe. We support portfoliocompanies, especially on the partnership with Japanese enterprises.
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Investment focus
- Software, Health Care, Medical
- Seed, Series A, Funding Round
- United States, Japan, Germany
Portfolio highlights
- EMobi — EMoBi is a transportation company that provides freight transport, and electric vehicle services with reservation facilities.
- EV Motors Japan — EV Motors Japan provides sales and services for commercial vehicles in the automotive industry.
- Honeycomb — Honeycomb (fka Agilius) is the only place where you can buy a condo/apartment building master policy online in less than 3 minutes at a fraction of the cost! Instant, free, no hassle quotes, online everything and up to 40% savings. With all that we're bringing simplicity and transparency to the real estate insurance space for condoassociations (HOAs), building owners, property managers, and developers everywhere. This is what we do. This is all we do.
Next One for the World.
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Investment focus
- Content, Marketing, Software
- Seed, Funding Round, Series A
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Aracan — Aracan is an e-commerce business that provides online and offline car-sharing services for vehicles.
- GEOFLA — Geofra develops Planning and creation of items that rejuvenate the movement of people in physical areas, regional revitalization initiatives
- HIGHRESO — GPUSOROBAN is a GPU cloud service that enables anyone to perform high-speed calculations on high-end GPUs with ease. Hi-Res, the running business, is the first GPU cloud operator in Japan to be accredited as a "NVIDIA Elite Partner," the program's highest level (CSP Compute field). Furthermore, it received the "Best CSP Partnerof the Year" award at the NVIDIA NPN Partner Award 2022. It is widely used by university research institutes, large corporations, and AI venture firms, with over 100 uses per year.
Fuji Startup Ventures, the venture capital arm of Fuji Media Holdings, specializes in startup to early stage investments.
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Investment focus
- E-Commerce, Social Media, News
- Funding Round, Seed, Series A
- Japan, China, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Tasogare — Tasogare distributes high-quality coffee.
- The ROOM4D — The ROOM4D is a contract data analysis consulting service company.
- PeaceTecLab — PeaceTecLab is a CtoCsharing service, as its main business.
Kazuhiro Ishikura served as the head of the Akatsuki Business Management Department in 2013 and as a corporate auditor of Akatsuki in 2014, contributing to the company's listing on the TSE Mothers and TSE 1st sections. Appointed 3minute CFO in 2015, engaged in business start-up and organizational design, and succeeded in large-scale M & Adeal with Glee. After leaving the company, he became a WARC director in November 2018. Certified public accountant.
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Investment focus
- Beauty, Content, Fashion
- Seed, Angel, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Neith — Neith is a apparel manufacturer, seller and a whoelseller of water absorbing bralette, lingerie and shorts for women.
- WARC Japan — WARC provides hands-on support for business management departments as well as mergers and acquisition advisory services.
- Vitalogue Health — Vitalogue Health offers Canvas, a home-based hormone testing service for women.
CBC Group imports and exports synthetic resins, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, foods, electronics components, and optical equipments.
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Investment focus
- GovTech, Big Data, Government
- Funding Round, Corporate Round
- Japan, United States
Portfolio highlights
- 3DC — 3DC develops and manufactures a new carbon material, graphene meso sponge (GMS), for electrodes in next-generation batteries, capacitors, fuel cells and other energy storage and generation devices.
- Elephantech — Elephantech is a startup company that aims to drastically innovate the technology for manufacturing electronic circuits, with the vision of achieving faster manufacturing at lower cost by leveraging printing technology.Electronic circuits are literally part of social infrastructures and are embedded everywhere in the world that we live in today.While the number and types of electronic devices being used by humans have been increasing dramatically, driven by advances in semiconductor and telecommunication technology, the technology for manufacturing electronic circuits has not seen any major innovation over the past 50 years.Conventional electronic circuits are manufactured through a process called photolithography, which involves applying metal all over the surface of a substrate and melting the metal off any unrequired areas. However, photolithography has the disadvantage of wasting large amounts of the materials used and driving up the production cost, in addition to being harmful to the environment.Elephantech’s suggested manufacturing method, which is a totally opposite approach to photolithography, involves printing metal only onto the required areas using inkjet printing and enlarging the printed metal by applying plating technology.This approach has enabled Elephantech to manufacture PWBs at significantly lower cost as the amounts of materials required and the number of processes have been reduced. In addition, as this is an on-demand manufacturing solution that does not require any initial cost, it is cost-effective especially for producing prototypes in small quantities, the cost of which can be reduced by at least 80%.We currently possess the best technology in the world for manufacturing PWBs using inkjet printers, the business of which is slated to expand rapidly going forward. Elephantech is committed to accelerating global manufacturing activities by leveraging such technology.
- FiscalNote — The #1 most trusted partner for managing the global issues and policy affairs that present the biggest risks and opportunities to your organization.
Mizuho is the venture capital firm affiliated to Mizuho Bank, the second-largest Japanese bank in terms of assets. The firm has headquarters in Tokyo.The firm has ¥49.6 billion JPY under management, focusing on information technology and biotechnology investments. Over 600 Mizuho companies have gone public. According to Nikkei, Mizuho is thefifth-largest venture capital firm in Japan.Mizuho Capital was formed in 2002 by the merger of Fujigin Capital, Tokyo Venture Capital and IBJ Investment. Three firms were subsidiaries of Fuji Bank, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan respectively.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Software, Internet
- Funding Round, Series A, Series B
- Japan, United States, China
Portfolio highlights
- Lecto — Lecto provides Saas solutions to eliminate the tedious practices behind financial services
- Plott — Plott producing youtube animation platform under Vision “Become a Content holder from YouTube”. In August 2019, the company name was changed from Fabo to Plott. Plott, the new company name, is derived from the plot that you make before writing novels, etc., and the idea that “I want to make content all the time” is put in the company name.
- Upsider — - Vue - Nuxt.js - TypeScript - SCSS
Nextblue is a Tokyo and Berlin based early-stage Venture Capital investing in disruptive and impact-driven startups in Japan and EU
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Investment focus
- Software, Information Technology, Apps
- Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Japan, United States, United Kingdom
Portfolio highlights
- kencko — kencko started with the simple belief that organic fruits and vegetables should be available anytime, anywhere, in any shape or format. kencko is on a mission to reinvent fresh organic fruits and vegetables into convenient products that are hassle-free to consume while preserving all the goodness of freshly harvested produce.
- Bento — Create a beautiful page to show your audience everything you are, create, and sell in one link. Designed in Berlin.
- Bento — Discover the people and stories behind the coolest projects, and share how you've built yours.
Vector is a Japan-based PR agency that provides PR planning and implementation services for its clients. The agency also offers other services covering areas such as management, finance, accounting, human resources, administration, internal controls, and audits.
Vector was founded in 1993.
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Investment focus
- Software, Marketing, Media and Entertainment
- Funding Round, Seed, Corporate Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- NEL — NEL is a creative agency that offers a platform that connects brands and customers through purchases and SNS posts.
- Aplaca.Lab — Aplaca.Lab is a driver substitution platform that provides an unprecedented new driving experience. They released a driving agency application for providing comfortable driving experiences. It enables driving agencies to optimize their resources and clients' safety, prevent accidents, and receive assistance in areas with limited transportationoptions.
- Essen — Essen is a technological company that specializes in mobility and data analysis, as well as using data to improve transportation.
We provide online services and English-speaking support, allowing you to make transactions anytime, anywhere.
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Investment focus
- Finance, Internet, Task Management
- Funding Round, Series A, Series C
- Japan, United Arab Emirates
Portfolio highlights
- TAQA — TAQA is a utilities and energy company that engages in power, water, and oil and gas operations. It is an international company listed in Abu Dhabi and operates in 11 countries across four continents.The company's interests lie in conventional and alternative power generation, water desalination, oil and gas exploration and production,pipelines, and gas storage. TAQA was founded in 2005 and operates in Canada, Ghana, India, Iraq, Morocco, the Netherlands, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
- PeaceTecLab — PeaceTecLab is a CtoCsharing service, as its main business.
- Mirfa International Power & Water Company — Mirfa International Power & Water Company is a renewable energy startup that delivers power and water solutions. A combined-cycle gas turbine power plant, a modular reverse osmosis plant, and three multi-stage flash desalination units comprise the company's power and water plant. It has a gross installed power capacity of 1.7 gigatonnes(GW) and a gross water desalination capacity of 53 million imperial gallons per day (MIGD). It aims to deliver a futuristic power generating plant with a net power capacity of 1600 megawatts to address the country's power issues.
Nippon Venture Capital ("NVCC"), established in 1996 as one of the few largest Japanese independent venture capital firms, is destined to undertake the unprecedented task of providing full-range venture capital services in cooperation with major Japanese business leaders and leading companies, which have supported and nurtured various newbusinesses on their own, as well as proactively developing new venture enterprises.
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Investment focus
- Software, Health Care, Information Technology
- Funding Round, Series A, Seed
- Japan, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Gecipe — Gecipe is a video service for e-sports players.
- Rege Nephro — Rege Nephro is a biotech company that specialized in R&D, production and marketing of renal disease therapeutics.
- Renalys Pharma — Renalys Pharma is a private, late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical firm in Japan dedicated on developing new therapies that address unmet needs in the management of renal illness in Japanese and Asian patients.
Fundinno is an equity investment crowdfunding platform.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Content, Health Care
- Equity Crowdfunding, Product Crowdfunding, Funding Round
- Japan, France
Portfolio highlights
- EBRU — EBRU is a manufacturer and seller of earphones and ear monitor audio products that include custom artwork on the products.
- Meiten Kan — Meiten Kan engages in the food delivery service industry.
- Human Potential Lab — Human Potential Lab is a company that supports individual skills development and corporate organizational change. Focusing on mental health and well-being, the company's programs are based on brain science, bioscience, psychology, and technology.
Iyogin Capital is an investment firm that supports venture companies.
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Investment focus
- Task Management, Information Technology, Manufacturing
- Funding Round, Series B, Series A
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- ByWill — ByWill creates and distributes environmental value while eventually becoming carbon neutral.
- Diver-X — Diver-X is a provider of revolutionary virtual reality experience through its products.
- ZABoooN — ZABoooN is a shipping company that offers crew labor management, movement management, and ship management services.
Shoko Chukin Bank is a financial company offering personal banking services.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Software, Artificial Intelligence
- Debt Financing, Funding Round, Series B
- Japan, Singapore, Canada
Portfolio highlights
- Live Search — Live Search provides the real estate industry with online room availability management, property photography, and floor plan services.
- Simple Form — Simple Form provides real-time information on all domestic corporations necessary for financial institutions. We will accelerate the time-consuming and labor-intensive research work of corporations and take on the role of new financial underpinnings.
- Pathfinder — Pathfinder is a research and development company that provides MaaS and delivery vehicle application development services.
Future Venture Capital Co., Ltd. is a venture capital firm specializing in early stage investment. The firm invests in diversified investment in a broad range of industrial sectors. It seeks to invest in Japan. The firm prefers to be the lead investor in its portfolio companies. Future Venture Capital Co., Ltd. was founded in 1998 and is based inKyoto, Japan with offices in Tokyo, Aomori, Iwate, Yamagata, Kanazawa, Mie, Sakai, Kobe, and Ehime.
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Investment focus
- Health Care, Manufacturing, Information Technology
- Funding Round, Seed, Series A
- Japan, United States, Myanmar
Portfolio highlights
- Flucle — Flucle provides company rule building and risk mitigation, cloud advisor, human resource development, training & labor management services.
- CoCooking — CoCooking uses food and cooking to create ample opportunity for dialogue and thought, fostering creativity, diversity, and well-being of individuals and communities.
- Second Heart — Second Heart is a medical center that offers preventive diabetic care and awareness programs to avoid foot amputations.
STRIVE focuses on investing in early-stage (Seed to Series A) internet and mobile companies. It seeks out companies in Japan, Southeast Asia, and India with top-notch management teams and strong market potential. It is not tied to strategic investments for GREE Inc. and leverages its pan-Asia expertise for guiding its portfolio in an engaged,hands-on role.
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Investment focus
- Software, Internet, E-Commerce
- Seed, Series A, Funding Round
- Japan, India, Indonesia
Portfolio highlights
- Asuene — Asuene involves in clean power retail business, retail SaaS business, etc.
- YOUTRUST — YOUTRUST is a startup to operate YOUTRUST a referral recruitment platform for side-job change.
- Testsigma — Powerful cloud-based test automation platform that lets you automate tests for web, mobile, desktop apps, and APIs in minutes. Sign up now!
After working at KDD Corporation (Currently known as KDDI Corporation), Kiyoshi Nishikawa next went to work at Arthur D. Little Inc. in the United States, where he became inspired to start his own company. After returning to Japan, he established a Japanese corporation of the world’s largest Internet company, America On Line, LLC. Later andbased on this experience and the relationships he developed, he founded the first Internet business incubator, NETAGE, Inc. After serving as the President and CEO of NETAGE Group, he later became and still serves as the Chairman of ngi group, inc. Kiyoshi was one of the main entrepreneurs responsible for proposing and realization of “Shibuya Bit Valley Concept†and is well known for his various speeches and writings. He is a graduate of the Department of Education at Tokyo University.
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Investment focus
- News, Social Media, Big Data
- Seed, Funding Round, Pre-Seed
- Japan, United States
Portfolio highlights
- PoliPoli — PoliPoli is a next-generation politics co-creation platform where you can participate like a game. Politicians from all over Japan post their policies in an easy-to-understand manner, and those who sympathize can enjoy working on the "missions" necessary to realize the policies.
- Astroscale — Astroscale is the first private company with a vision to secure the safe and sustainable development of space for the benefit of future generations, and the only company solely dedicated to on-orbit servicing across all orbits.
- TECHFUND — TechFund is a venture capital firm specializing in incubation and seed stage investments. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
F Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Japan.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Software, Service Industry
- Seed, Funding Round, Pre-Seed
- Japan, Hong Kong
Portfolio highlights
- Bgrass — bgrass is a consultation support platform for women working in the IT industry.
- Blankr — Blankr inc has developed an application called Raidli. Using the app, Vtubers can hold a virtual handshake event.
- Tripi — Tripi provides travel media and digital marketing services, as well as the accommodation gift service.
Showa Leasing engages in the leasing of machine tools, construction machinery, medical equipment, and commercial equipment. The company was founded on April 2, 1969 and its headquarters are located in Chuo-ku, Tokyo.
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Investment focus
- Printing, Publishing, Photography
- Series A
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- CAMELOVE — Cameloveis a Camera equipment rental subscription service.
Himegin Lease engages in venture capital business and centering on leasing business of machinery and equipment.
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Investment focus
- Drones, Content, Robotics
- Seed, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- KAMOMEYA — Kamomeya is an island and live because of inconvenience in transportation and transportation.
- Setsuro Tech — Seturotech Co., Ltd. is a biotechnology venture company established on February 22, 2017 by Tatsuya Takemoto (PI: Principal Investigator) of the University of Tokushima as a venture from Tokushima University. In 2015, Takemoto and Masakazu Hashimoto (Osaka University) developed a simple and highly efficient method for producing genetically modified(genome-edited) mice using CRISPR / Cas9, and filed a patent application for the technology. The technology is called fertilized egg electroporation (GEEP method), a technology that introduces molecules required for genome editing by CRISPR into fertilized eggs at high throughput by the power of electricity (electroporation). Using this technology, Seturotech will start from the production and sale of genetically modified mice, and will become a fundamental company providing all genetically modified animals, anticipating the future use of genetically modified animals in industry.
Investors by industry
Biotech
Proptech
Gaming
FinTech
Health Care
Community
Google
Marketplace
Climate
Consumer
Artificial intelligence
Impact
Energy
Hardware
EdTech
Sustainability
Venture Capital
Clean Energy
B2B
Real Estate
Publishing
Payments
Big Data
Retail
Organic Food
Web3
Education
Finance
Food and Beverage
Video Games
Infrastructure
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Photography
Beauty
Medical
Wellness
Social Media
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Construction
Art
Local
Legal
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eSports
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Mobile
Internet
Enterprise Software
Franchise
Email
Travel
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Biotechnology
Recruiting
Hospitality
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Platforms
Cannabis
Medical Device
Social
Automotive
Crowdfunding
Wine And Spirits
CleanTech
Mobile Apps
Transportation
InsurTech
Enterprise
LGBT
Fashion
Oil and Gas
Life Science
Film
Theatre
Non Profit
Renewable Energy
SaaS
Sporting Goods
Social Impact
Restaurants
Software
Celebrity
Cryptocurrency
Agriculture (agtech)
Media (entertainment)
Facebook
Blockchain
Investors by country
India
Germany
South Korea
United Kingdom
Australia
Canada
New Zealand
Ireland
United States
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Spain
Sri Lanka
China
Middle East
Africa
Indonesia
Europe
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Brazil
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France
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Togo
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Rwanda
Russian Federation
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Taiwan
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Sweden
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Poland
Thailand
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Portugal
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Dominican Republic
Belize
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United Arab Emirates
Azerbaijan
Iraq
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Bahamas
Namibia
Nigeria
Jamaica
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Luxembourg
Bolivia
Isle of Man
Kenya
Albania
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Argentina
Grenada
Jordan
Romania
Kazakhstan
Cayman Islands
Cambodia
Cameroon
Cyprus
Latvia
Oman
Austria
Switzerland
Colombia
Guatemala
Marshall Islands
Investors in Japan by industry
Restaurants
Real Estate
Financial Services
CleanTech
Transportation
Big Data
Payments
Finance
Food and Beverage
Wine And Spirits
Video Games
Medical
Cryptocurrency
Medical Device
Wellness
Social Media
Digital Media
Manufacturing
Platforms
Art
Music
Mobile
Android
Blockchain
Software
Legal
Local
Venture Capital
Construction
Social Network
Enterprise Software
Sports
Fitness
eSports
Hospitality
Automotive
Travel
InsurTech
FinTech
Recruiting
Biotechnology
Enterprise
Consumer
Health Care
Biotech
Energy
EdTech
Climate
Sustainability
Proptech
Crowdfunding
SaaS
Marketplace
Hardware
Gaming
Social
Fashion
Beauty
B2B
Life Science
Sporting Goods
Publishing
Photography
Education
Renewable Energy
Community
Retail
Mobile Apps
Web3
Clean Energy
Social Impact
Impact
Artificial intelligence
Internet
Infrastructure
Agriculture (agtech)
Media (entertainment)
Oil and Gas