Top 50 Retail Startup Investors in Japan in April 2025
A list of 50 angel investors and VC (Venture Capital) funds that invest in Retail startups based in Japan. We rank investors based on the number of investments they made in Retail companies from Japan. We update this investor list every month.Top 50 Retail Startup Investors in Japan in April 2025
Mitsubishi UFJ Capital is a venture capital firm focusing on life science, ICT, and high technology investments.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Software, Health Care
- Funding Round, Series A, Series B
- Japan, United States, China
Portfolio highlights
- Ababa — Ababa provides recruitment and employment solutions.
- Emium — Emium creates an infrastructure that will be a driving force in dental care and dental technology.
- RegCell — RegCell aims to generate novel therapeutic technologies through augmenting or controlling the immune system and our goal is to save patients who suffer from autoimmune diseases and cancer .
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
- Instalimb — Instalimb is the world's first 3D printing prosthesis business.
- Penetrator — Penetrator transforms the real estate market with space technology, tackling transaction issues and forming landslide observation systems.
- Umee Technologies — Umee Technologies is an IT firm that offers full-stack development, conversational AI, and psychological analysis engine services.
DBJ Capital Co., Ltd. was founded in June 2010 through the integration of two venture capital firms of the DBJ Group, New Business Investment Co., Ltd. and Intellectual Properties Development & Investment, Inc. We are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Development Bank of Japan Inc.At DBJ Capital, we focus on venture firms which use newtechnologies and business models to grow and compete on the global market, regardless of their industry or scale. To meet the particular needs of each client, we mobilize the entire DBJ Group to arrange the best investment solutions, ranging from growth-spurring equity investment to financing schemes drawing on DBJ's vast networks.We also assist in venture start-ups. Our value enhancement team provides the kind of comprehensive, hands-on support needed to commercialize outstanding intellectual property and technologies developed by firms, research labs, and universities, and to carve out a place for them in the market.DBJ Capital will continue to play in a part in Japan's economic revival - by helping the firms we invest in to grow, and by encouraging the creation of new industries in Japan.
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Investment focus
- Software, Health Care, Medical
- Funding Round, Series A, Series B
- Japan, United States, Australia
Portfolio highlights
- Ababa — Ababa provides recruitment and employment solutions.
- MOSH Japan — MOSH is a web page creation services for individual business owners.
- DigitalArchi — Realizing a revolution in architecture.
Energy & Environment Investment, Inc. (EEI) is Japan’s first venture capital specialized in the clean technology sector. With core members who have rich hands on experience in founding and managing venture companies, we aim to provide risk money and various strategic values to promising venture companies and businesses.
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Investment focus
- Software, Energy, Internet of Things
- Funding Round, Series A, Series B
- Japan, United States, Germany
Portfolio highlights
- YourTrade — ONE KEY TO GLOBAL TRADE
- Aeterlink — Aeterlink is a wireless device maker and developer. They applied their technology to fields such as FA, robots, smart houses, and medicine and developed practical level technologies such as elemental technology that can wirelessly supply power.
- Impact Circle — Impact Circle social investment platform that focuses on providing impact finance and visualization services by creating job opportunities.
Coral Capital is a seed stage venture capital firm in Japan.
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Investment focus
- Software, Information Technology, SaaS
- Seed, Series A, Series B
- Japan, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Lens — Lens ocuses on supporting corporate activities related to governance, risk management, compliance (GRC), and security.
- CoLab — CoLab is a technology company that provides robotics, artificial intelligence solutions, and business consulting services.
- NutmegLabs — NutmegLabs takes care of tourism and leisure by helping with online booking and digitizing the business. It was founded in 2019 and is based in San Francisco, California, United States.
Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. provides commercial printing and related services worldwide. It operates in three segments: Information & Networks, Living Environment, and Electronics. The Information & Networks segment provides commercial printing services for posters, catalogs, pamphlets, flyers, calendars, pop materials, and gifts, as well asoffers design and event services, sales promotion planning, multimedia related activities, and database and network system design and operation services; and publications printing services magazines and books, as well as CDROMs, DVDs, and other electronic publications. It also offers securities, such as stocks, bonds, gift certificates, and product coupons; cards comprising magnetic cards and prepaid cards; and develops and designs IC card systems, IC tag systems, and security management systems. This segment supplies various business form services, including direct mail, integrated slips, data print services, cards, envelopes, catalogs, and sales and maintenance of equipment. The Living Environment segment offers a range of packaging services, such as packaging planning, development, and production; development and production of packaging materials; design and production of packaging related system equipment; filling services; and packaging consulting. It also provides decorative paper/film, wallpaper, flooring materials, interior materials, and exterior materials. The Electronics segment offers display products that include color filters for LCDs, shadowmasks, screens for micro-display rear projection TVs, and functional films; and semiconductor products comprising photomasks, leadframes, printed wiring boards, substrates for semiconductor packages, design of printed wiring boards, LSI circuits, printed wiring, and performance assessment software. The company has a strategic alliance with AU Optronics Corp. Toppan Printing was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Financial Services, Software
- Funding Round, Corporate Round, Series B
- Japan, United States, India
Portfolio highlights
- nat — nat develops iOS application - Scanat and provides consultation service in data strategy.
- THE PHAGE — The phage is a medical device company that focuses on developing AI technology to predict postprandial blood glucose levels.
- Industrial-X — INDUSTRIAL-X provides business consulting, structure transformation support, DX human resource development, solution procurement support, and BPO solutions. Their customers inquiries are addressed through online applications.
Website of ENEOS.
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Investment focus
- Energy, Robotics, Solar
- Funding Round, Seed, Series A
- Japan, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Zypp Electric — Zypp Electric is an EV delivery app that operates in the last-mile space. Zypp is working to convert all deliveries for e-commerce, grocery, medicine, and food verticals to go electric with an e-scooter sharing app. Making last-mile delivery more affordable, time-saving, and with zero emission. Zypp, through its continuous efforts to invest andstrategize toward the mission of zero-emission, has become the first EV logistics player to turn into an EBITDA-positive business.
- Umitron — Umitron is a data company for aquaculture. We support fish farmers to increase productivity through data analytics. One of the biggest challenges in aquaculture is increasing feeding cost. We optimize feed amount and timing by using fish behavior analytics and water quality data. Our goal is to "install Sustainable Aquaculture on Earth".
- Sensyn Robotics — Sensyn Robotics they have been developing business solutions that combine robotics technology such as drones with advanced technology. In particular, by promoting automation and generalization, they are proposing new ways to solve business problems, including saving labor and enabling unattended operations. In this way, in addition to helpingtackle the social issues facing Japan, they plan to offer a diverse range of solutions developed in Japan, a front-runner of global challenges, to the rest of the world.
Hakuhodo DY Media Partners is committed to designing media strategies that build value for media and produce more effective communication.
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Investment focus
- Media and Entertainment, Advertising, Content
- Funding Round, Series A, Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Nyle — Nyle is a web consulting company specialized in providing web solutions for internet media businesses.
- BitStar — BitStar accelerates potential of video creators with power of proprietary database and technology.
- Stepdays — stepdays is a media management, Contents production, Consulting, wholesale, retail, and other related businesses.stepdays aim to contribute to the bottom-up of the entire industry.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and its group companies offer a broad range of financial services centered on banking. They are also engaged in the leasing, securities, credit card, investment, mortgage securitization, venture capital and other credit related businesses. The following lists the activities of SMBC, its subsidiaries andaffiliates in the various business segments.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Health Care, Software
- Funding Round, Series B, Series A
- Japan, United States, Singapore
Portfolio highlights
- Ababa — Ababa provides recruitment and employment solutions.
- SALOWIN — SALOWIN is a shared salon where freelance hairdressers can freely provide customer service and service.
- Penetrator — Penetrator transforms the real estate market with space technology, tackling transaction issues and forming landslide observation systems.
Headline is a Venture Capital firm actively on the ground in 7 cities around the world. We invest across categories and geographies, leading rounds at every stage. Once we commit to a team, we go to the ends of the earth to make their success global.
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Investment focus
- Software, Financial Services, Internet
- Series A, Seed, Series B
- Japan, China, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Ryulog — Ryulog is a recruiting company that helps job seekers find international work opportunities and migrate abroad.
- iMotorbike — iMotorbike is the #1 motorbike online E-commerce website in South East Asia, providing a fast, secure, simple and trouble free online experience with a wide variety of product range, setting itself apart from what exists in the market. iMotorbike offers three main categories: motorbikes, parts and accessories. For a complete 360° experience,iMotorbike also enables users the access to services such as insurance and financing. At iMotorbike we always strive to offer our customers the best experience through a complete and efficient online ecosystem for motorbike users, lovers and professionals.
- Driver Technologies — Driver Technologies is a cloud logistics platform provider. It provides a solution for driver matching and cargo vehicle demands.
Voyage Ventures is the venture capital arm of Voyage Group specializing in seed and early-stage investments. The firm seeks to make investments in the internet and mobile internet industry. It invests from JPY1 million ($.01million) to JPY to 10 million ($.12 million) in its portfolio companies. The firm typically invests in Japan, China, and othergrowing Asian markets. Voyage Ventures, Inc., formerly known as EC Navi Ventures Company, was founded on March 25, 2011, and is based in Tokyo, Japan.
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Investment focus
- Software, Internet, Content
- Funding Round, Seed, Series A
- Japan, China, Germany
Portfolio highlights
- pickupon — Pickupon is a company that transcribes important parts of the call
- bravesoft — bravesoft is a software company that operates events and in-house product for contract development and events. The company offering services such as UI / UX design, application consignment development service, appvisor push, and technical research service.
- ventus Japan — ventus is an Media and Entertainment based company.ventus aiming to be an entertainment company that provides technology that all fans can enjoy.
ITOCHU Technology Ventures (ITV), based in Tokyo, is the venture capital arm of ITOCHU Corporation. ITOCHU is one of the world's largest corporations with offices in over 80 countries and operations that cover a broad spectrum of industries. ITV's mission is to invest and help build leading information technology companies by leveraging avast array of resources both domestically and internationally throughout ITOCHU and its group companies. The ITOCHU group has a long history of funding information technology companies with successes including Siebel Systems, NVIDIA, Openwave and Aruba Networks. Current portfolio includes, Box, Fab, Ooyala, WHILL, Tokyo Otaku Mode, etc.
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Investment focus
- E-Commerce, Software, Information Technology
- Funding Round, Series A, Series B
- Japan, United States, Belgium
Portfolio highlights
- Eight Knot — Eight Knot designs and develops autonomous navigation system for water mobility using robotics & AI.
- Aeterlink — Aeterlink is a wireless device maker and developer. They applied their technology to fields such as FA, robots, smart houses, and medicine and developed practical level technologies such as elemental technology that can wirelessly supply power.
- Quollio Technologies — Quollio Technologies is an IT company that specializes in corporate data governance, SaaS, metadata management, and software solutions.
KEPPLE Capital is a venture capital firm that supports the growth of startups.
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Investment focus
- Retail, Content, Software
- Seed, Series A, Series B
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Comvey — Comvey provides a shopping experience that is friendly to people and the earth. It primarily offers a foldable share bag online.
- Carelogy — Carelogy is a medical technology company that offers AI for X-ray image analysis, voice recognition, and facial expressions.
- LacuS — LacuS is a food technology company, develops and sells complete nutrition ice cream, provides nutritious food option for people of all ages.
We are an employee controlled company managing and/or advising more than $125 bn of assets. Our mission is to generate sustainable, long-term returns for our clients, alongside positive social impact that benefits all our stakeholders and society at large.
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Investment focus
- Software, Information Technology, Manufacturing
- Private Equity, Funding Round, Secondary Market
- France, Italy, United States
Portfolio highlights
- HR Path — HR Path is a global consultancy with over 500 consultants across North America, Europe and the Middle East, and is solely dedicated to HR Systems Integration, HR Outsourcing, and HR Business Consulting.Co-founded in 2001 by François Boulet and Cyril Courtin, HR Path provides human capital management technology and is an authorized reseller forsoftware solutions in the French market (SAP and SuccessFactors, HR Access, Oracle HCM, Cegid, Sage, Talentsoft). The company has also developed its own HR software solutions, including BiHRdy (a business intelligence decision-making tool), Pandore (a packaged solution for HR, payroll and time management), and Geef (a talent management system).Headquartered in Paris, the company has operations in 13 countries on five continents, employs more than 500 consultants and generates €60 million in annual revenue through its network of agencies in major cities across France and its foreign subsidiaries.The client portfolio includes several CAC 40-listed companies, but also many small and medium-sized enterprises, intermediate-sized firms, and public sector organizations.
- Sicer — For over 20 years Sicer has been a leader in design, production and distribution of raw materials and semi-worked materials for decorating and producing ceramics
- Infrastrutture Wireless Italiane — INWIT (Italian Wireless Infrastructures) operates in the sector of infrastructures for electronic communications, with an experience that has its roots in the Telecom Italia Group which over 40 years ago was the forerunner of mobile telephony in Italy.INWIT is currently the first Italian Tower Operator for the number of managed sites distributed ina capillary manner throughout the national territory where the transmission apparatuses of all the main national operators are hosted. INWIT contributes significantly to the coverage of wireless telephony services in the Italian territory and will continue to do so in the coming years, increasing its sites also in function of the development of new technologies, starting from 5G. In addition to hosting operators on its towers, INWIT is building DAS (Distributed Antenna System) infrastructures on its own to allow widespread coverage of densely frequented open spaces (historic centers of large cities or other gathering places) or large enclosed spaces intended for commercial, leisure and sport activities (stadiums) or health infrastructures (hospitals).
Yasuyuki Kin
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Investment focus
- Media and Entertainment, Information Technology, Career Planning
- Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Onepair — Onepair is a job consulting and recruiting company. Onepair is to co-creating careers by talking about real-world ace with active ace.
- Strainer Co., Ltd. — Strainer Co., Ltd. is an information distribution platform that conveys corporate information centered on financial data. Although there are not a few media to deliver financial information, the company's strengths are strong to be easily viewed, including financial information of overseas companies.
- LAMILA — LAMILA develops system that improves the creation of retail stores.
Light Street Capital Management is an investment management firm located in Menlo Park, California. The firm invests globally in public and private equity markets with a focus on technology and media sectors. Core areas of investment focus are social media, cloud computing, e-commerce, and sharing economy companies.
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Investment focus
- Software, E-Commerce, Transportation
- Series D, Secondary Market, Series C
- United States, Japan, India
Portfolio highlights
- Clari — Clari is a connected revenue operations platform that uses automation and AI to unlock all the activity data captured in key business systems such as marketing automation, CRM, email, calendar, phone, content management, conversations, and more.Clari automatically aligns that data to accounts and opportunities, to deliver visibility, forecasting,and apply predictive insights, which results in more insight, less guesswork, and more predictable revenue. Clari helps companies by changing their revenue operations to be more connected, efficient, and predictable. Clari's platform is used by hundreds of sales, marketing, and customer success teams at B2B companies such as Qualtrics, Lenovo, Adobe, Dropbox, and Okta to control pipeline, audit deals and accounts, forecast the business, and reduce churn.Clari was founded by Venkat Rangan and Andy Byrne in 2013 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.
- Ambulnz — Ambulnz is an ambulance service provider that utilizes disruptive technology in delivering medical transportation services. It exists to improve the lives of EMTs, make it easier for caregivers to schedule ambulances and provide the best medical transportation service for patients.
- Lumin Digital — Experience disruption-proof digital banking with Lumin Digital's cloud-native platform, offering innovative solutions for financial institutions.
Over the past 25 years, Niklas has an entrepreneur built and internationalized a range of companies in the area of reservation systems, revenue management, online marketing, and web publishing; amongst others he was the CEO and co-founder Bookatable, Livebookings, Infogate, and Epani.Over the past 8 years, Niklas has a direct investor and advisorto investment companies and venture capital companies; amongst others he was a co-founder and general partner at D-Ax (Axel Johnson Group CVC), a venture partner for Wellington Partners Venture Capital. Niklas is currently a general partner for PES Holdings. Investment focus is the Digital Media Sector and Digital Growth Companies, primarily in the Nordic countries and across Europe. Niklas describes himself as a ‘computer software geek and wizard turned businessman’ as he started his career at the age of 15.
His achievements in building internationally successful companies have been recognized by various industry awards.
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Investment focus
- Software, Apps, Internet
- Seed, Series A, Angel
- Sweden, Japan, Denmark
Portfolio highlights
- Savr — Savr is an Investment platform disrupting the Swedish fund industry with a lower fee structure and a new business model.
- PinMeTo — Optimize your time and local presence with an all-in-one local SEO tool. Show up in local search, manage listings, reviews, messages from one dashboard.
- Winnow — Winnow builds artificial intelligence tools to help chefs run more profitable and sustainable kitchens by cutting food waste in half. They develop technology to cut food waste in their operations. Their digital tools provide data to drive improvements in kitchen production processes and reduce environmental footprint.Winnow's mission is toconnect commercial kitchen, create a movement of chefs, and inspire others. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in London, England, United Kingdom.
Incubate Fund is an independent early-stage venture capital that specializes in providing capital to technology startups at the seed stage. The firm built a portfolio of over 300 companies in Asia, taking 12 companies to public and 20 companies to M&A exit since 2010.
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Investment focus
- Software, Information Technology, E-Commerce
- Seed, Funding Round, Series A
- Japan, United States, India
Portfolio highlights
- Kaguoku — Kaguoku develops and provides the AI-based home staging services. It offers a service that uses AI to process interior photos of real estate properties to increase the property's ability to attract customers.
- Time Prediction — Time Prediction focuses on development of diagnostic pharmaceuticals, drugs and medical devices for the treatment of neurological diseases.
- Mjolnir Spaceworks — Mjolnir Spaceworks desings and manufactures state-of-the-art novel space rockets with efficient engines as well as other space equipments.
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!
Makoto Takano is CEO of atomixmedia, inc., publisher and editor-in-chief of Forbes Japan and Rolling Stone Japan since June, 2014. Prior to joining Atomixmedia, Inc., he was Managing Director and President of PIMCO Japan Ltd. Before joining PIMCO in 2001, he was head of marketing at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Makoto's prior experiencealso includes work at Daiwa Securities where he was head of the strategists team at Daiwa Institute of Research. He has published extensively on the capital markets. In 1992, he was awarded Securities Analysts Journal Prize by the Securities Analyst Association of Japan. He has also given lectures on asset management at Waseda University and Kyoto University. He holds master’s and undergraduate degrees in engineering from Waseda University. Makoto serves as Director of Nippon Finance Association and Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation.
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Investment focus
- Content, Sports, Apps
- Seed, Series A, Series B
- Japan, Philippines
MT Partners provides real estate management and financial services.
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Investment focus
- Apps, Beauty, Energy
- Seed, Series A
- Japan
ECHO TRADING provides an array of pet-related goods and services. The Company wholesales pet food and supplies, and operates pet theme park business. Echo Trading also provides pet-related trainings to individuals working in the pet industry in its own school.
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Investment focus
- Content, Pet, Retail
- Seed, Series A
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Petgo — Petgo is a Social Entrepreneurship company. Petgo are engaged in the pet health business mainly for e-commerce. E-commerce mainly provides pet health products such as veterinary drugs for dogs and cats, dietary foods, and supplements as products that help improve pet quality of life. In addition, as other services,Petgo provide marketing support topet-related manufacturers using pet data and medical treatment services through animal hospitals.
- stepdays — stepdays is a media management, Contents production, Consulting, wholesale, retail, and other related businesses.stepdays aim to contribute to the bottom-up of the entire industry.
Asukanet is a digital photo processing service provider company.
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Investment focus
- Artificial Intelligence, Retail, Robotics
- Series A, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- AWL — AWL is a company that provides the leading edge AI camera solutions company .
- Unirobot — Unirobot is a Development, manufacture, sale of next generation social robot.Development of general embedded software incidental to the above.Research and development on Personal AI (communication of natural language processing,.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation offers a broad range of financial services centered on banking. They are also engaged in leasing, securities, credit card, investment, mortgage securitization, venture capital, and other credit-related businesses. The following lists the activities of SMBC, its subsidiaries, and affiliates in the various businesssegments.It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. As of the year 2009, SMBC was the second largest bank in Japan in terms of assets.
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Investment focus
- Financial Services, Finance, Energy
- Debt Financing, Funding Round, Post-IPO Debt
- Japan, United States, India
Portfolio highlights
- AdaniConneX — AdaniConneX is the largest Hyperscale Data Center provider. Avail the maximum uptime, highest energy efficiency, full scalability and security to your business and customers.
- Adani Green Energy — Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL) is developing a renewable portfolio of 25 GW by 2025 which includes wind power, solar power, and hybrid power projects.
- GreenCell Mobility — GreenCell Mobility offers clean, cost-effective, and on-demand shared e-mobility solutions.The company is incubated to be a leading pan-India shared electric mobility player, by leveraging proven global experience, developments in e-mobility technology, and the Government of India’s strong push for electrification of transportation in India. Itis backed by EverSource Capital, the fund manager of the Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF).GreenCell Mobility was founded in 2019 in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Tottori Capital is the provider of management consulting and financial services.
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Investment focus
- Shipping, Marketing, E-Commerce
- Series A, Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- ByWill — ByWill creates and distributes environmental value while eventually becoming carbon neutral.
- Vesicle — Vesicle is a fruit and vegetable company that provides distribution and delivery of fresh vegetables.
- Vivid Garden — vivid garden is an Agriculture company.
KOZOCOM is developing business utilizing the latest Internet technology.
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Investment focus
- Fruit, Retail, Wholesale
- Series A
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Vesicle — Vesicle is a fruit and vegetable company that provides distribution and delivery of fresh vegetables.
JAFCO Group is a venture capital firm that primarily invests in domestic and foreign private companies.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Software, Health Care
- Funding Round, Series B, Series C
- Japan, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Parallel — Parallel is the hangout app where you can enjoy games, videos, music, and more with friends.
- Blue Laser Fusion — Blue Laser Fusion is a commercial fusion company. Blue Laser Fusion is a laser startup to commercialize laser fusion by inventing its own laser and fusion reactor.
- Nanofiber Quantum Technologies — Powering a globally connected quantum future with pioneering nanofiber cavity QED.
ABC Dream Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Japanese media firm Asahi Broadcasting Group Holdings.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Social Media, Content
- Funding Round, Series A, Seed
- Japan, Singapore
Portfolio highlights
- At Forest — At Forest is an end-of-life service provider that organizes circular burial services for the deceased.
- Rei-Frontier — Rei-Frontier Inc. is the Japanese company which provides the mobile application using augmented reality technology. Rei-Frontier Inc. is based in Tokyo, Japan and was founded in 2008.
- Sentient.io — We provide a secure AI & Data platform with ready-made AI models for easy adoption and turnkey AI solutions for Enterprises on your digitalisation journey.
Agribusiness Investment Development is a venture capital firm that offers agriculture investment for agricultural corporations. It was established in 2002 and is based in Tokyo, Japan.
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Investment focus
- Food and Beverage, Food Processing, B2B
- Series A, Series B, Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Ukka — Ukka is a Creating the ideal form of food and agriculture.
- Vesicle — Vesicle is a fruit and vegetable company that provides distribution and delivery of fresh vegetables.
- Best Beer Japan — Best Beer Japan provides a barrel tracking software for craft beer and barrel sharing. The company was founded in 2018.
Mandra Capital is an investment holding company focused on early stage and growth opportunities in internet, materials, pharmaceuticals and technologies. - See more at: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/mandra-capital-2#sthash.OUzqU6qX.dpuf
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Investment focus
- Software, FinTech, Information Technology
- Series A, Seed, Funding Round
- China, United States, Japan
Portfolio highlights
- RomDefi — Our company is engaged in the development of software in the field of blockchain technology. We are currently working on nft game Rich Hens.
- Order Handler — Order Handler is a E-commerce Start Up based in Shanghai.
- Keo Technology Group — Keo Technology Group is an ed-tech startup that aims to create innovative solutions for the education industry. Through its many products, Keo Plus and Dash, we are on a mission to transform career discovery and upskilling through providing an inclusive ecosystem built and sustained by the students, teachers, and supporters. Backed by AminoCapital(early-investors of Chime Bank, Zoom, Webflow) and Mandra Capital, we are a team of curious, ambitious, and bold individuals with a common vision: Learn and Redefine. We promote a culture of life-long learning and positive transformation, hoping to empower everyone to achieve their daring dreams. Dash is our skill-sharing marketplace. We believe that everybody has skills that can empower others. Dash seeks to make education more fun through a unique incentive scheme built on common prosperity. Start earning as a teacher, student, investor, or supporter; learn and earn without boundaries!
Kyodo News Digital distributes news and builds systems in the digital field such as news sites and signage.
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Investment focus
- Retail, Security, Artificial Intelligence
- Series A
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- AWL — AWL is a company that provides the leading edge AI camera solutions company .
Orient Corporation specializes in the sales and distribution of construction materials and information equipment.
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Investment focus
- Retail, Product Design, Management Consulting
- Series A
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- LINK-US — Link Us is Contract sales of various devices applying ultrasonic combined vibration and powerful ultrasonic technology
Mizuho Bank is a commercial bank that began operation on July 1, 2013, with its headquarters in Tokyo in Japan. It offers corporate and investment banking services to major corporations, financial institutions, and public sector entities. It also provides current and ordinary, deposits at notice, time, and specified deposits, deposits for tax,nonresident deposits in yen, foreign currency deposits, negotiable time deposits and loans by bill, loans on a deed, and overdrafts as well as discounts for bank acceptances, commercial papers, and documentary bills. Moreover, it offers investment banking and custodial, syndication, bond administrative, real estate finance, acquisition finance and corporate restructuring, project, and asset finance services, settlement and asset management services. It operates as a subsidiary of Mizuho Financial Group.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Software, Internet
- Debt Financing, Funding Round, Series A
- Japan, Singapore, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Verkor — Verkor is a battery cell manufacturer whose goal is to increase the production of low-carbon batteries to fulfill the growing demand for electric vehicles. The company focuses on the development of low-carbon batteries with a carbon footprint that is many times smaller than standard batteries. This reduces the logistics footprint, includingemissions, and provides businesses with batteries that are very inexpensive and use carbon-free electricity.
- avatarin — avatarin develops next-generation mobility and human augmentation platforms.
- AALTO HAPS — The AALTO Zephyr, the most persistent High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) on the planet, is leading the world into The Stratospheric Age. Flexible, scalable, and adaptable. Zephyr makes this new and exciting age real, not just for some, but for everyone.
TD Investment is a venture capital arm of TORIDOLL Holdings.
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Investment focus
- Retail, Parking, Automotive
- Series A, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Akippa — Akippa is a Osaka based parking space reservation app company.
- On The Slope — On the way to Sakano deliver vegetables grown without the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, aiming to spread agriculture with low environmental impact. We want to make agriculture sustainable and reach a sustainable society.
MUFG Bank is Japan's largest bank. ; MUFG
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Investment focus
- Energy, Renewable Energy, Financial Services
- Debt Financing, Post-IPO Debt, Funding Round
- Japan, India, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Verkor — Verkor is a battery cell manufacturer whose goal is to increase the production of low-carbon batteries to fulfill the growing demand for electric vehicles. The company focuses on the development of low-carbon batteries with a carbon footprint that is many times smaller than standard batteries. This reduces the logistics footprint, includingemissions, and provides businesses with batteries that are very inexpensive and use carbon-free electricity.
- Battery Smart — Battery Smart provides advanced Li-ion batteries to e-rickshaws. Battery Smart develops a retrofittable 48V Li-ion twin battery system that is compatible with all major electric rickshaw (e3w) models.
- Zenobe Energy — Discover Zenobe. Our vision: enable the transition to zero-carbon, non-polluting power and transport systems through the innovative use of battery storage.
B Dash Ventures does seed to late stage tech investments in Japan, Asia Pacific, and the U.S. LPs include Japan's largest technology companies and financial institutions including NTT Docomo, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, GREE, NEC BIGLOBE, Fuji Television, and the Japanese government. B Dash Ventures also operates an incubation space inpartnership with Mori Building Co. and holds the invitation-based B Dash Camp conference.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Internet, Media and Entertainment
- Seed, Funding Round, Series A
- Japan, Taiwan, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Newmo — newmo delivers sustainable local public transportation create a user experience (UX) that people may utilize with peace of mind and comfort.
- Yosemite — Yosemite is a wellness company that provides health and wellness products, supplements, skincare, and personal care items.
- Qlay — Qlay is an AI-automated global engineer hiring platform
Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) is a public-private partnership aimed at promoting innovation and enhancing value.Leveraging the rich history of Japanese technological prowess, INCJ aims to provide financial, technological and management support in order to promote the creation of next-generation businesses through “openinnovation,” or the flow of technology and expertise beyond the boundaries of existing organizational structures.INCJ will draw on funding as well as management and technological expertise from the public and private sectors. INCJ is actively reviewing various investment opportunities in areas of green energy, electronics, IT and biotechnology to infrastructure-related sectors such as water supply. Each investment will be thoroughly vetted to ensure it meets the exacting standards of INCJ's Innovation Network Committee, which will make the final investment decisions.INCJ is capitalized at 280 billion yen, with the Japanese government injecting 266 billion yen and 26 private corporations (refer to details in Appendix below) providing a further 14 billion yen. The government will also provide guarantees up to a total of 1,800 billion yen for INCJ investments, giving it an investment capability of approximately 2,000 billion yen. INCJ will be established for a period of 15 years.
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Investment focus
- Manufacturing, Software, Robotics
- Funding Round, Series B, Series A
- Japan, United States, United Kingdom
Portfolio highlights
- Cloudian — Cloudian provides exabyte-scale storage for your capacity-intensive workloads: S3-compatible storage for on-prem, hybrid cloud, and multi-cloud.
- Seajacks — Cadeler is a global leader in offshore wind farm construction, maintenance, and decommissioning.
- Vehicle Energy Japan — Vehicle Energy Japan specializes in development, manufacturing and sales of automotive lithium-ion batteries.
KDDI Open Innovation Fund is a corporate venture capital fund that will support promising startup companies. Total size of the fund is JPY10 billion. This is the first corporate venture capital fund established by KDDI. The fund will be managed by Global Brain Corporation (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO, Yasuhiko Yurimoto),which has a strong track record in the venture capital business. By combining KDDI’s know-how and assets with Global Brain’s investment and management support capabilities, we will work together to accelerate cooperative activities with promising startup companies. Through this fund, as well as "KDDI ∞ Labo," a startup incubation program currently inviting a second round of applications, we will continue to support the growth of the next startup companies.
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Investment focus
- Software, Mobile, Internet
- Funding Round, Series B, Series A
- Japan, United States, Germany
Portfolio highlights
- MOSH Japan — MOSH is a web page creation services for individual business owners.
- Thinkr — THINKR provides advertising, video production, content, UX design, and animation services.
- Turing — Turing develops and manufactures fully autonomous vehicles.
Daiwa Corporate Investment is a private investment firm of Daiwa Securities Group that has been engaged in overseas VC investments by taking advantage of an extensive business network in Japan and foreign countries, long experience and professional knowledge, and by supporting the growth of a number of overseas portfolio companies and their stockexchange listings.
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Investment focus
- Software, Task Management, Internet
- Funding Round, Series A, Seed
- Japan, France, Singapore
Portfolio highlights
- Tacoms — CAMEL is a service that allows you to easily manage orders from multiple food delivery / takeout services on a single tablet.
- COUNTERWORKS — Counter works is an Information technology company.
- Hydro Powtech Japan — Nippon Hydropowtech uses proprietary technology and experience in hydrolysate production to investigate new food applications.
Dai-ichi Life is a private insurance company that provides life insurance and pension products services. It is the second-largest private life insurance company in Japan as measured by total assets as of March 31, 2014.Founded on September 15, 1902, Dai-ichi Life was the oldest mutual insurance company in Japan until it was demutualized andlisted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on April 1, 2010.As of March 31, 2014, total assets were ¥37.7 trillion (USD$366.3 billion) on a consolidated basis. Based in Tokyo, Dai-ichi Life has approximately 67,000 employees and 1,345 sales offices throughout Japan. It also has overseas life insurance businesses in Vietnam, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, and India as well as offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai.
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Investment focus
- Health Care, Renewable Energy, Artificial Intelligence
- Funding Round, Series B, Series C
- Japan, Tanzania
Portfolio highlights
- ARCH — ARCH provides research, development, operation, and support systems for gynecology and fertility treatment solutions
- COMICSMART — Comic Smart is animation production business that develops exclusive manga and anime content.
- Clean Energy Connect — Clean Energy Connect is into offering green energy solutions. It invests in its own generation capacity for a stable electricity supply by not harming nature.
Accord Ventures is a venture capital firm that believes in and supports the potential of Asian entrepreneurs. It has invested in more than 50 startups in Japan, the United States, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, and new technologies that bring new value to society, such as IoT, AI, and fintech, with a focus on platform businesses that utilize ITtechnology. And new services are supported.
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Investment focus
- Internet, Software, Artificial Intelligence
- Seed, Series A, Funding Round
- Japan, United States, Malaysia
Portfolio highlights
- Mawari — Our mission is to unlock new perspectives with real-time immersive technology powered by a decentralized network of global resources
- Openrec — Openrec is a live-streaming platform that focuses on game commentary and online event business.
- Thinkfree — Thinkfree Office is a private, secure online office suite. Discover an office with flexible deployment options and MS Office compatibility.
Gogin Capital provides financial services and invests in insurance companies.
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Investment focus
- Pharmaceutical, Medical, Legal
- Seed, Series A, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Tradom — Tradom is a company that offers the "Tradam Foreign Exchange Solution," an AI solution for managing foreign exchange risk.
- SALOWIN — SALOWIN is a shared salon where freelance hairdressers can freely provide customer service and service.
- Any — any. develops and offers knowledge sharing tool Qast.
After JTB Co., Ltd. and CYBIRD Co., Ltd. as an initial member of Glee Co., Ltd. is responsible for business development. Currently, he is mainly engaged in venture support in the Internet area, investing in venture and venture capital, and served as management advisor for dozens of companies. Hands-on business development, growth strategydevelopment, financing advice, HR organization design support, partner referral and Recruit Support. He is also engaged in business support for ventures in the healthcare and university venture fields. He served as Digital Health Meetup Advisor, NEDOTCP Mentor and Future 2016 Mentor.
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Investment focus
- Content, Marketing, Internet
- Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Epicbase — Epicbase is an AI-based automatic voice transcription service based on voice recognition technology.
- Go Visions — Go Visions engages in the edutainment tech for children and human resources services.
- Ai-Dounyu.com — Ai-Dounyu.com is a platform that helps organizations looking to integrate AI choose their ideal AI implementation partner for free.
Investment focus
- Energy, Retail, Renewable Energy
- Series A
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Trende — TRENDE is an online renewable energy retailer selling electricity to residential customers in Japan via its Ashita Denki (https://ashita-denki.jp/) and Hot Denki (https://hotdenki.jp) service websites. TRENDE expects its Ashita Denki and Hot Denki services to accelerate the widespread adoption of solar power in Japan. Atwhich point, the company aims to leverage blockchain technology to create a peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace for producers and consumers of renewable energy. Investors include Tokyo Electric Power, Itochu, Idemitsu Showa Shell and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA). The company is led by serial entrepreneurs, Jeffrey Char and Tadatoshi Senoo and takes an environmentally responsible approach to provide consumers with clean and affordable energy. For more information, please visit http://trende.jp/.
BASE Partners is an independent venture capital organization organized by members who are professionals in each field such as managers, entrepreneurs, engineers, designers and accountants, and who are also entrepreneurs at the same time.Early and middle, mainly in the seed stage before and after the establishment. Up to the stage, we invest inall entrepreneurs and their challenges, and we also provide hands-on management support to startups that lack resources, experience and networks as well as funding.
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Investment focus
- Manufacturing, Task Management, Content
- Seed, Funding Round, Series A
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Sabu — Sabu is an online work agency that offers back-office operations, web production, and outsourcing services for the dental care industry.
- Utill — Utill is anything that expands the possibilities of not only production but also our own services
- Vesicle — Vesicle is a fruit and vegetable company that provides distribution and delivery of fresh vegetables.
Yoshikazu Azuma - Representative Director and CEO @ TWO
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Investment focus
- Retail, Security, Marketing
- Series A, Funding Round
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- AWL — AWL is a company that provides the leading edge AI camera solutions company .
- W Tokyo — W TOKYO is a content production company that offers the latest and highest quality solutions by multiplying its own original content and solutions, centered on women, using the know-how cultivated in the Tokyo Girls Collection as a weapon .
ANOBAKA is a Tokyo-based venture capital firm with rich group resources to add value to seed-stage startups. ANOBAKA actively invests in and supports startups aiming to be a global leader in the innovative Internet business and promising to greatly grow up in the future. ANOBAKA's investment focuses on fledgling seed-stage startups. Inaddition to investment financing, ANOBAKA provides founders with a variety of business support such as development consulting by our engineers, sales support, and international marketing support.
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Investment focus
- Software, Content, Food and Beverage
- Seed, Funding Round, Series A
- Japan, United States, India
Portfolio highlights
- Hagino — Hagino is a recruitment company that provides paid employment services for the hotel and lodging industries.
- DrumRole Co — DrumRole Co is a process management services provider for the small factories and manufacturing industry.
- Nicoli — Nicoli is a company that creates content and advertisements that increase happy time for parents and children .
Chushin Venture Capital is a venture capital fund established by Kyoto Chuo Shinkin Bank.
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Investment focus
- Retail, Travel, Home Decor
- Series A, Series B
- Japan
Portfolio highlights
- Atmoph — A smart digital window that opens to beautiful scenery from around the world. By simply putting it on your desk or hanging it on the wall, Atmoph Window will open up a whole new world before you.
- AlphaNavi Pharma — AlphaNavi Pharma specializes in the research and development of new drugs.
- On The Slope — On the way to Sakano deliver vegetables grown without the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, aiming to spread agriculture with low environmental impact. We want to make agriculture sustainable and reach a sustainable society.
Money Forward Venture Partners operates HIRAC FUND, a seed fund specializing in seed and early-stage startups.
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Investment focus
- Information Technology, Wellness, Software
- Seed, Funding Round, Series A
- Japan, United States
Portfolio highlights
- SALOWIN — SALOWIN is a shared salon where freelance hairdressers can freely provide customer service and service.
- Find — Find is a software company that provides cloud development and operation services.
- Crowd Chem — Crowd Chem is an IT company that specializes in software development, data services, and consulting services.
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