Top 20 Publishing Startup Investors in Japan in May 2025
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 May 2025
Investor | Publishing Japan investments |
---|---|
IT-Farm | 2 |
Future Venture Capital | 2 |
Drone Fund | 2 |
STRIVE | 1 |
Kiyoshi Nishikawa | 1 |
Fundinno | 1 |
Showa Leasing | 1 |
Himegin Lease | 1 |
NOW Japan | 1 |
Mizuho Capital | 1 |
Nextblue | 1 |
Nippon Venture Capital | 1 |
Shoko Chukin Bank | 1 |
F Ventures | 1 |
Tsuneishi Capital Partners | 1 |
Fuji Startup Ventures | 1 |
Kazuhiro Ishikura | 1 |
CBC Group | 1 |
Iyogin Capital | 1 |
Vector | 1 |
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
- CROSS SYNC — The company was founded in October 2019 by Dr. Takaki, a Japanese intensivist with more than 20-year experience in critical care medicine, from his strong desire of wanting to decrease preventable death and sudden changes in patient conditions while in the ICU. CROSS SYNC’s vision is to provide ICU-level medical treatment anywhere. The mission isto help and assist medical professionals utilizing the power of technology so that they can provide high-quality medical care even in an environment where there is a shortage of specialist physicians, and to ensure the best patient outcomes. As a Yokohama University certified startup, CROSS SYNC develops a variety of AI clinical assistant tools in collaboration with affiliated hospitals, the school of medicine, and the department of health data science. By delivering our AI-based platform to acute care settings all over the world, we aim to create a world without avoidable deaths and preventable acute changes for in-patients.
- EMobi — EMoBi is a transportation company that provides freight transport, and electric vehicle services with reservation facilities.
- 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.
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, Information Technology, Manufacturing
- Funding Round, Seed, Series A
- Japan, United States, Myanmar
Portfolio highlights
- Nagaku — Nagaku is a web magazine that publishes about culture along with web development, PR, marketing, and consulting services.
- Perkup — Perkup is a coworking company that conducts off-site meetings and training camps for organizations.
- Tech Doctor — Tech Doctor is a health monitoring service which provides analysis and insights for self care reducing the need for health care workers.
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
- Redcliff — Redcliff is a drone management company that organizes aerial shows and events for private and public organizations.
- SORA Technology — SORA Technology builds and operates health care and public health infrastructure utilizing drones and their operational management systems.
- Proxima Technology — Proxima Technology is an IT company that provides artificial intelligence and deep learning solutions for the manufacturing industry.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
Nextblue is an early-stage focused VC based in Japan deploying in Japan, EU, and the US. NB fund II is investing in pre-seed, seed and pre-A startups in healthtech, femtech, or female-led startups innovating in the fields of fintech, consumer, and B2B SaaS. We also run our own co-working space in the heart of Tokyo called Nexthub (nexthub.jp)
EUand US startups: Reach out to Vincent at Vincent@nextblue.com
Japan: Kanako at Kanako@nextblue.com
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Investment focus
- Software, Information Technology, Apps
- Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Japan, United Kingdom, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Exactly.ai — Advanced AI artwork creation platform for artists that understands your style, creates inspiring images and streamlines your creative process
- SecureNavi — SecureNavi offers automation tools for the information security management system. It reduces conventional analogue operations using excel and word. For inquiries, telephone numbers and physical addresses are available on their website.
- Fixed Construction — Fixed Construction For Workers
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.
- Awarefy — Awarefy is a mental health tech startup that offers CBT-based apps to maximize well-being.
- Tech Doctor — Tech Doctor is a health monitoring service which provides analysis and insights for self care reducing the need for health care workers.
Shoko Chukin Bank is a financial company offering personal banking services.
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Investment focus
- Software, Information Technology, Robotics
- Debt Financing, Funding Round, Series B
- Japan, Singapore, Canada
Portfolio highlights
- Sanu — SANU is a subscription service that offers a home in nature.
- Mento — UGOKU is a provider of management of personal coaching service.
- RightTouch — RightTouch is a media company that offers customer support with KARTE RightSupport, and media CS Mag for tailored solutions and insights.
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.
Tsuneishi Capital Partners is a company that formulates and operates investment partnerships.
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Investment focus
- Energy, Robotics, Drones
- Seed, Series A
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- UUUO — UUUO is a planning, development, and operation of the UUUO (fish market) connected by smartphone and fresh fish shipment from our own shipping base UUUO Base to each consumption market.
- KAMOMEYA — Kamomeya is an island and live because of inconvenience in transportation and transportation.
- POWERNEXT — POWERNEXT provides electric power supply & demand management, rate calculation, customer management & environmental value trading services.
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 — 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.
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
- ZABoooN — ZABoooN is a shipping company that offers crew labor management, movement management, and ship management services.
- MeetsMore — MeetsMore is a service that matches professionals and users who mainly provide face-to-face services
- Optieum Biotechnologies — Optieum Biotechnologies Inc. is a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company committed to developing innovative scFv antibody-based therapies for the treatment of patients with cancers. Their proprietary platform technology, Eumbody System™, enables to develop and detect a scFv-based product candidates that specifically bind to, and modulate tooptimize the immune-cell function for oncology targets.We are committed to helping patients with severe diseases by bringing life-changing therapies to the patients in need.
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, Internet, E-Commerce
- Funding Round, Seed, Corporate Round
- Japan, Indonesia
Portfolio highlights
- Pick You — Pick You offers a marketplace that facilitates seamless purchase of items directly from popular Instagram users.
- Redcliff — Redcliff is a drone management company that organizes aerial shows and events for private and public organizations.
- CareLink — CareLink is an app that connects people looking for one-time part-time work in nursing and welfare.
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Investors in Japan by industry
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