Get 250+ investors tailored to your startup

Invest in your industry and stage
Emails & contact info included
Excel and CSV export
Automatically

Trusted by 3,000+ startups

Top 50 Retail Startup Investors in Japan in November 2024

Last updated: Nov 2024 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 November 2024

Investor	Retail Japan investments
Mitsubishi UFJ Capital	4
Mizuho Capital	4
DBJ Capital	3
Headline Asia (formerly Infinity Ventures)	2
SMBC Venture Capital	2
Energy & Environment Investment	2
VOYAGE VENTURES	2
Coral Capital	2
ENEOS	2
Toppan Printing	2
Hakuhodo DY Media Partners	2
KEPPLE Capital	1
ANOBAKA	1
Ardian	1
Niklas Eklund	1
STRIVE	1
Chushin Venture Capital	1
BASE Partners	1
Incubate Fund	1
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation	1
Light Street Capital	1
Hirofumi Miki	1
Makoto Takano	1
Money Forward Venture Partners	1
Tottori Capital	1
KOZOCOM	1
Future Venture Capital	1
MT Partners	1
TD Investment	1
MUFG Bank	1
B Dash Ventures	1
Innovation Network Corporation of Japan	1
KDDI Open Innovation Fund	1
Daiwa Corporate Investment	1
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority	1
SHIKIGAKU	1
JAFCO Group	1
Dai-ichi Life	1
ABC Dream Ventures	1
Yokohama Capital	1
Kewpie Corporation	1
MITSUI SUMITOMO INSURANCE Venture Capital (MSIVC)	1
ECHO TRADING	1
CyberAgent	1
Agribusiness Investment Development	1
Wing Capital Partners	1
Mizuho Bank	1
Mandra Capital	1
Fineseed	1
Kyodo News Digital	1

Find investors that fund startups like yours. Automatically.

Our algorithm will find investors that invest in your industry, stage, and geography.

Investor list

Mitsubishi UFJ Capital is a venture capital firm focusing on life science, ICT, and high technology investments.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Software, Health Care
Funding Round, Series A, Series B
Japan, United States, China

Portfolio highlights

A-Wave — A-Wave is a manufacturing company that develops and markets medical devices, pharmaceuticals, computer software, and hardware.
Tribeau — Tribute is a word-of-mouth app for aesthetic medicine for cosmetic surgeries, cosmetic dermatologists, and orthodontists who are not covered by health insurance.
AI model — AI model specializes in the development and transformation of real-like virtual models for modeling on E-commerce platforms.

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.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Software, Internet
Funding Round, Series A, Series B
Japan, United States, China

Portfolio highlights

THE PHAGE — The phage is a medical device company that focuses on developing AI technology to predict postprandial blood glucose levels.
elleThermo — elleThermo aims to implement Semiconductor-Sensitised Thermal Cells (STCs), an energy conversion technology that can generate electricity from unused waste heat above room temperature.
Good News — Good News is a staffing agency that provides recruitment, public relations, and human resource management 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.

Investment focus

Software, Health Care, Internet
Funding Round, Series A, Seed
Japan, United States, Australia

Portfolio highlights

KAKEAI — KAKEAI, an AIcloud system that improves the status of member management in the middle management layer as its main business.
DoctorMate — DoctorMate is a service that allows you to consult with your doctor about problems at your nursing home.They will reduce the risks and burdens related to medical care from the field of nursing care, and support the creation of a system that allows nursing care providers to concentrate on daily care with peace of mind.
Japan Carbon Cycle Lab — Japan Carbon Cycle Lab is a technology company that focuses on the research and development of CO2 capture and recycling techniques.

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.

Investment focus

Financial Services, Software, E-Commerce
Seed, Series A, Series B
Japan, China, United States

Portfolio highlights

At Forest — At Forest is an end-of-life service provider that organizes circular burial services for the deceased.
PICK — PICK is a startup that provides a digital transformation platform for the real estate and construction industries.
RECOTECH — RECOTECH is a ClimateTech firm that collects and shares data to maximize resource value throughout its life cycle, offering circular solutions to organizations and municipalities in Japan and beyond.

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.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Health Care, Software
Funding Round, Series B, Series A
Japan, United States, Singapore

Portfolio highlights

Quanmatic — Quanmatic is an information and technology company that provides algorithms development and solutions to bridge quantum technologies.
Good News — Good News is a staffing agency that provides recruitment, public relations, and human resource management services.
Okuma Diamond Device — Okuma Diamond Device supplies cutting-edge technologies that make diamond semiconductors vital.

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.

Investment focus

Software, Energy, Internet of Things
Funding Round, Series A, Series B
Japan, United States, Germany

Portfolio highlights

OOYOO — OOYOO Co., Ltd. is a DeepTech venture that combines international entrepreneurial spirit, and a 'Made In Japan' excellence, to bring the latest innovations in clean technology to society for a smarter, cleaner, and more mobile world.
Anaphite — A breakthrough nanomaterial
Quantum Flowers & Foods — Quantum Flowers & Foods is a technology firm that develops and creates agricultural business models and technologies.

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.

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.

Coral Capital is a seed stage venture capital firm in Japan.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, Internet
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

Nstock — Nstock is specialized in developing SAAS based applications for ecosystem.
Recustomer — Recustomer is an IT company that develops software for digital payment and provides support for web development.
Okuma Diamond Device — Okuma Diamond Device supplies cutting-edge technologies that make diamond semiconductors vital.

Website of ENEOS.

Investment focus

Energy, Robotics, Solar
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

Zypp Electric — Zypp is building the Largest Same Day Delivery Sustainable Fleet in India & Region providing Lowest cost same day delivery solution for multiple B2B customers by superlative utilization of a vehicle via passion economy. Idea is to disrupt and transform the future of the last mile delivery with right EVs, Battery swapping infrastructure, IOT,AI, ML Tech platform while making it sustainable and affordable for businesses of all types including kiranas to large e-retail customers.
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.
Ubiquitous Energy — Ubiquitous Energy is the world leader in transparent photovoltaics. Its award-winning technology is the world’s only truly transparent solar product. UE technology harvests solar energy and serves as an invisible, onboard source of electricity for a variety of end products. The thin coating can be applied to the surface of windows glass to provideelectricity generation and energy efficiency while remaining visibly indistinguishable from the fully transparent standard windows on the market today. Originally spun out of MIT, Ubiquitous Energy is now producing its highly transparent, efficient solar cells and windows in its production facility in Silicon Valley.

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.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Financial Services, Software
Funding Round, Corporate Round, Series B
Japan, United States, India

Portfolio highlights

Chai — Chai empowers small businesses centered on EC. It provides end-to-end e-commerce services that everyone can enjoy and continue to use in order to unlock the great potential of Japan's many small businesses.
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.

Hakuhodo DY Media Partners is committed to designing media strategies that build value for media and produce more effective communication.

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.

KEPPLE Capital is a venture capital firm that supports the growth of startups.

Investment focus

Retail, Content, Software
Seed, Series A, Series B
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Vesicle — Vesicle is a fruit and vegetable company that provides distribution and delivery of fresh vegetables.
Ascenders — Ascenders is a sports human resources business platform.
LacuS — LacuS is a food technology company, develops and sells complete nutrition ice cream, provides nutritious food option for people of all ages.

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.

Investment focus

Software, Content, Food and Beverage
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, United States, India

Portfolio highlights

JOYCLE — JOYCLE is a waste management company that specializes in trash recycling, disposal, and environmental consulting services.
Livetoon — Livetoon creates intellectual property characters to access various content artificial intelligence.
Nekonome — Nekonome creates a game platform with global character designs, in-game updates, and regular events, providing a personalized gaming experience based on data.

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.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, Biotechnology
Private Equity, Funding Round, Secondary Market
France, United States, Italy

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.
Heathrow Airport Holdings — Heathrow is the UK’s only hub airport. Around 70 million people pass through our terminals every year. 190,000 every day flying in and out of 90 different countries. They serve 86 airlines including the national carriers British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Right in the heart of the business world. A huge part of the UK economy, on the doorstep ofLondon one of the world’s most vibrant cities.
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).

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.

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.

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.

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!

Chushin Venture Capital is a venture capital fund established by Kyoto Chuo Shinkin Bank.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, E-Commerce
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, United States, India

Portfolio highlights

Vieu — Learn about us, our team, our backers and the story behind Vieu.
KOMPEITO — Office de Yasai is an online platform that enables users to order and get vegetables delivered to their offices. The platform’s operations are based in Tokyo, Japan.
Phi — Phi is a social gaming platform that focuses on 'on-chain Identity' using ENS and wallet activity. It allows users to build their web3 cities based on their wallet activities. The platform also offers a variety of features such as Silver Gas Saver, Supersonic Bat, Gold Gas Saver, Hypersonic Bat, Iron Gas Guzzler, and Ethereum Wallpaper.Phi also provides a user guide for its users to understand how to play and access Phi Land, and how to create their Phi Land. The platform is designed to be immersive and interactive, providing a unique gaming experience for its users.

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.

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.

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.

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.
Cellebrite — Cellebrite is a global company known for its technological breakthroughs in the cellular industry.Cellebrite develops advanced mobile data solutions, enabling the extensive use and management of mobile phone data to provide value for two distinct business divisions: mobile lifecycle and mobile forensics. In the mobile lifecycle division,retailers and operators can offer customers unique in-store phone-to-phone content transfer, backup and restore; in-store and remote diagnostics and repair avoidance; application and content delivery; automated BuyBack and secure device Wipe. In the mobile forensics division, our data extraction, decoding, analysis and reporting solutions support law enforcement, military, intelligence, corporate security, and eDiscovery agencies in the successful performance of their duties.

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.

Investment focus

Content, Marketing, Internet
Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

aceRNA Technologies — AceRNA contributes to regenerative medicine and drug discovery through the discovery of novel miRNA functions. It began operation in April 2018, with its headquarters in Kyoto in Japan.
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.

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.

Investment focus

Content, Sports, Apps
Seed, Series A, Series B
Japan, Philippines

Portfolio highlights

BeatFit — BeatFit is a fitness-tech startup based in Japan.
PROGRIT — PROGRIT is an English-related media management company.
Luup — Luup is an Internet Company.

Money Forward Venture Partners operates HIRAC FUND, a seed fund specializing in seed and early-stage startups.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Wellness, Software
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

Crowd Chem — Crowd Chem is an IT company that specializes in software development, data services, and consulting services.
THINKR — THINKR provides advertising, video production, content, UX design, and animation services.
Earth Boat — Earth Boat is an accomodation company that specializes in manufacture, sales, and support services of trailer houses and portable saunas.

Tottori Capital is the provider of management consulting and financial services.

Investment focus

Shipping, Marketing, E-Commerce
Series A, Seed
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.
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.

KOZOCOM is developing business utilizing the latest Internet technology.

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.

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.

Investment focus

Health Care, Information Technology, Manufacturing
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.
Dioseve — Dioseve is providing novel possibilities for all life.
Second Heart — Second Heart is a medical center that offers preventive diabetic care and awareness programs to avoid foot amputations.

MT Partners provides real estate management and financial services.

Investment focus

Apps, Beauty, Energy
Seed, Series A
Japan

Portfolio highlights

aboon — Aboon develops is a coupon application that introduces shops that attract customers. Aboon was founded on 2018 and is based in Yokohama, Japan.
Updater — Minna Electric Power is an Electricity retail service for corporations and individuals company.

TD Investment is a venture capital arm of TORIDOLL Holdings.

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

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.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Internet, E-Commerce
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, Taiwan, India

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.

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.

Investment focus

Software, Mobile, Internet
Funding Round, Series B, Series A
Japan, United States, Germany

Portfolio highlights

DataMesh — DataMesh empowers conventional enterprises to adopt intelligent design, accelerate service deployment, and execute cost-effective planning processes by leveraging Digital Twin and Mixed Reality technologies.
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.

Investment focus

Software, Task Management, Internet
Funding Round, Series A, Seed
Japan, France, Singapore

Portfolio highlights

GITAI — GITAI is a robotics startup for space development. The company aims to replace astronauts with robots that can work for a long time while being remotely controlled from earth while in low earth orbit space stations to decrease the burden on astronauts, shorten the time it takes to perform work in space, and reduce costs.
COUNTERWORKS — Counter works is an Information technology company.
Nippon Hydropowtech — Nippon Hydropowtech uses proprietary technology and experience in hydrolysate production to investigate new food applications.

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/.

SHIKIGAKU is an organization management theory based on a unique theory focusing on the behavior of thinking.

Investment focus

Retail, Payments, Software
Corporate Round, Seed, Series B
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Paytner — yup is providing services to support freelance people's funding.The freelance population in Japan has been shown to continue to increase in many Chosa. While working styles are diversified, they are not able to respond to the development of the working environment, and they will develop their business to change the situation where problemssuch as funding, credit, sexual harassment, and power harassment are accumulated.
White Seed — White Seed provides a car wash service and polish to realize a coating to bring out the originality of used cars, as well as an e-commerce site that handles cleaning agents, allowing car owners to have their cars cleaned and polished at a low cost.
Treasury — Treasury delivers extensive electronic contract and commercial transaction services.

JAFCO Group is a venture capital firm that primarily invests in domestic and foreign private companies.

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.

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.

Investment focus

Health Care, Renewable Energy, Artificial Intelligence
Funding Round, Series B, Series C
Japan, Tanzania

Portfolio highlights

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.
Rakuten Medical — Rakuten Medical is a privately funded clinical-stage biotechnology company with offices in the USA, Japan, and Germany. Rakuten Medical has been developing new anticancer therapies based on the Photoimmunotherapy platform. Rakuten Medical plans to become a fully integrated biopharma with research, development, and worldwide commercialization oftherapies based on the Photoimmunotherapy platform.Rakuten Medical is committed to conquering cancer and aims to realize a society where cancer patients can lead fulfilling lives.Rakuten Medical was established in 2010 and is based in San Mateo, California.

ABC Dream Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Japanese media firm Asahi Broadcasting Group Holdings.

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.

Yokohama Capital as a venture capital firm conducts investment and rehabilitation support for small and medium-sized companies.

Investment focus

Health Care, Artificial Intelligence, Manufacturing
Funding Round, Series A, Series B
Japan

Portfolio highlights

PURMX — PURMX is a pharmaceutical company that develops RNA nucleic acid medicine for therapeutic effects on intractable diseases.
Nature — Nature offers a product that enables its users to save money by controlling the use of their air conditioners.The product that the company offers is an air conditioner controller that transforms any window-mounted or through-wall AC into a smart one, equipped with infrared, power control, and sensors that, along with a mobile app for voicesensors, enabling users to operate household appliances with just one smartphone to control their ACs. It transforms the operation of room air conditioners (ACs) to improve comfort and efficiency for consumers while reducing energy demand peaks for utilities with simple, inexpensive, and easy-to-install device.The Boston, Massachusetts-based company was incorporated by Mash Ohtsuka and Haruumi Shiode in 2014.
Iwaya Giken — Iwaya Giken manufactures and sells gas balloons, airtight cabins, and other space-travel equipment.

Kewpie engaged in manufacturing, wholesaling, transportation, and warehousing of food products. The company's business center is in China but also expanded in Europe and the United States. Also, strengthen the domestic seasonings business and cut vegetables main future, they will focus on the egg market for business and rush to monetize ofoverseas business. Has been "馳名 trademark" for the first time by the Chinese government as a Japanese food manufacturer.

Investment focus

Retail, Fitness, Wellness
Series A, Series B, Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

FiNC Technologies — FiNC combines data analysis, rich content, and social elements to help users log, understand, manage, and improve their health and wellness.
Office de Yasai — Office de Yasai is an online platform that enables users to order and get vegetables delivered to their offices. The platform’s operations are based in Tokyo, Japan.
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.

MSIVC is a venture capital firm that invests in Japanese and global startups scaling to IPO. It focuses on startups in verticals of Fintech, SaaS, Healthcare, AI, E-Commerce, Foodtech, and Environment etc.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, Food and Beverage
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan, United States, India

Portfolio highlights

AssetHub — AssetHub is an AI-powered 3D modeling tool that enables game developers to create and edit 3D assets 100 times faster, enabling mass production of content and combining AI with manual work, enabling faster prototyping and editing.
Drone Show Japan — Drone Show Japan company specializes in drone shows for events, aerial photography, and workshops.
Okuma Diamond Device — Okuma Diamond Device supplies cutting-edge technologies that make diamond semiconductors vital.

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.

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.

CyberAgent, Inc. is mainly engaged in the integrated net business.The Company operates in five business segments. The Integrated Net Business segment is engaged in the advertisement agency business, the smart phone media business, as well as the sale of advertisements for smart phone. The Media Related segment is engaged in the social gamebusiness, the operation of mobile media and personal computer business. The Ameba Related segment is engaged in the operation of Websites Ameba and Ameba Pigg.

Investment focus

Education, Advertising, Health Care
Funding Round, Series A, Seed
Japan, South Korea

Portfolio highlights

AWL — AWL is a company that provides the leading edge AI camera solutions company .
DiNA — CLOUD SERVICE SUPPORT
Call Doctor — Call Doctor offers visit requests, online medical treatment, and medical consultation. In a contemporary world where the need for medical care is evolving, the company seeks to provide the appropriate medical treatment to the appropriate people at the appropriate time. The Call Doctor app is used to request house calls, online physicals, andmedical consultations to receive safe and secure medical care.

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.

Investment focus

Food and Beverage, Food Processing, B2B
Series A, Series B, Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

REVORN — REVORN is a fragrance AI and DX research and development company. They develop products such as odor sensors that can respond to odor issues and needs. They provide consultation at a range of levels, from identifying issues to developing solutions.
Vesicle — Vesicle is a fruit and vegetable company that provides distribution and delivery of fresh vegetables.
Manpuku Holdings — Manpuku Holdings is a food and beverage company that specializes in sushi, yakiniku, fried chicken, bento, and rice balls.

Wing Capital Partners is a venture capital firm.

Investment focus

Virtualization, Virtual Reality, Telecommunications
Series C
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Oryzae — Oryzae attempts to alleviate social challenges through ancient Japanese fermenting processes.
ATOMica — ATOMica is a co-working space and business management company for conference rooms, event venues, circles, and schools. The company uses coworking spaces as HUBs to provide services that maximize individuals' power. It can be used for a variety of purposes, including coworking space, shared office space, meetings, events, and web seminars. Itis also possible to use it only once. They plan and run local communities that bring together a diverse range of people, including students, workers, businesses, universities, and governments.
Vesicle — Vesicle is a fruit and vegetable company that provides distribution and delivery of fresh vegetables.

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.

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.

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

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!

Fineseed is a Healthcare business Internet media business Sports Education business

Investment focus

Retail, Content, Media and Entertainment
Series A
Japan

Portfolio highlights

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.