Top 30 Social Startup Investors in Japan in May 2025

Investor	Social Japan investments
Nissay Capital	2
Shochiku Ventures	1
aucfan Co.,Ltd.	1
ON & BOARD	1
Toyokazu Ichise	1
UNITED	1
Yoshihiro Yamauchi	1
Shinji Senba	1
Venture Labo Investment	1
Kodansha	1
Recruit Strategic Partners	1
Hirofumi Miki	1
Global Brain Corporation	1
KDDI Open Innovation Fund	1
WERU Investment	1
Maezawa Fund	1
Makuake	1
Hiroshi Sawa	1
Shunsuke Ikegami	1
Shunsuke Masaki	1
Spurcle	1
Startup Factory	1
Suzuki Yuto	1
Tetsuya Nagashima	1
Mizuho Capital	1
ANRI	1
Hakuhodo DY Ventures	1
Waseda University	1
Kento Hayashi	1
Taliki	1

Nissay Capital is a venture capital Company specializing in seed, start-up, growth capital, middle stage, and later stage investment.

Investment focus

Health Care, Internet, Information Technology
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan, United States, Ethiopia

Portfolio highlights

CloudLegal — CloudLegal provides AI-powered legal services, combining generative AI with legal expertise to streamline corporate operations.
Blackbox — Blackbox is an entertainment firm that is involved in businesses, including VTuber production, media mix, and live music events.
Knowhere — Knowhere is a company that applies high-performance AI to sports.

Shochiku Ventures is a venture capital firm.

Investment focus

Sales, Space Travel, Manufacturing
Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Castee — Castee provides social collaboration services and also helps with a tool for job requests and overseas projects for creators.
Turing — Turing develops and manufactures fully autonomous vehicles.
Iwaya Giken — Iwaya Giken manufactures and sells gas balloons, airtight cabins, and other space-travel equipment.

Aucfan is the only company in Japan that provides all the eCommerce price data across the big three market, America, China and Japan. The data Aucfan aggregates has reached more than 800millions with last 8 years coverage and Aucfan provides these data through its website Aucfan.com. (www.aucfan.com).The data Aucfan provides both to theconsumers and the retailers include the the price across the major global EC and Auction sites such as Rakuten, the No1 shopping site in Japan, Yahoo! Auction, the No1 Auction site in Japan, and Amazon Japan as well as eBay.com, the No1 EC site in US, and Taobao, the No1 Auction site in China.By visiting the Aucfan.com, buyers and sellers can easily find the price and the value of the product globally.Aucfan currently focuses on the consumer buesinss but Aucfan's next strategy is to expand its business to the BtoB by providing the price data to the EC and retail markets and helping them make the critical judgement for the price setting and purchsing just like the Bloomberg providing the financial informationto the financial brokers and helping them make the business judgement.Aucfan's next ambition is to expand its business globally and as the part of that strategy, Aucfan has already launched the Chinese website in JULY/2010 and plans to open the US site in SEP/2010.

Investment focus

E-Commerce, Marketing, Internet
Funding Round, Series A, Corporate Round
Japan, Indonesia, France

Portfolio highlights

Ginkan — GINKAN is the managing company of SynchroLife, the world's first restaurant recommendation platform where users and can earn cryptocurrency token rewards for dining out and posting restaurant reviews. GINKAN was selected for Plug and Play Japan Batch 1 in the fintech category and we won for best domestic fintech company and won the audienceaward at the Plug and Play Japan Batch 1 EXPO (Demo Day) in September 2018.GINKAN was also selected for Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s MUFG Digital Accelerator’s Batch 4 and won the Grand Prix, Audience Award, and AWS Award in a triple win on their demo day on July 26, 2019.
Yuwaeru — Yuwaeru is a Direct-to-Consumer company
nextProtein — nextProtein is developing a large scale and sustainable insect based source of protein. The bioconversion of fly larvae fed with organic waste generates valuable feed components for fish, livestock and pets.

ON & BOARD is a venture capital firm specializing in early-stage investments.

Investment focus

Seed

Portfolio highlights

KenRi — KenRi is an innovative legal tech company that uses AI to streamline operations
LobbyAI — LobbyAI provides a wide range of services related to artificial intelligence, particularly around database construction and management.

Toyokazu Ichise is a Director of Peace Communication Foundation.

Investment focus

Social, E-Commerce, Sustainability
Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Gab — Gab is a company that works to solve social problems as well as develops and markets ethical products.

UNITED, Inc. is developing the smart phone app and the advertising technology business.

Investment focus

Media and Entertainment, Content, Information Technology
Funding Round, Seed, Series A
Japan, Nigeria, United States

Portfolio highlights

Precal — Precal is an information technology company that develops applications that are common with pharmacies, pharmacists, and dispensing clerks.
Gab — Gab is a company that works to solve social problems as well as develops and markets ethical products.
FLASH — FLASH is an entertainment and technology startup.

Yoshihiro Yamauchi is a individual investor.

Investment focus

Social, E-Commerce, Sustainability
Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Gab — Gab is a company that works to solve social problems as well as develops and markets ethical products.

Shinji Senba is a Director of Green Innovations Holdings.

Investment focus

Social, E-Commerce, Sustainability
Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Gab — Gab is a company that works to solve social problems as well as develops and markets ethical products.

Venture Labo Investment is venture capital firm that provides financial supports to invested companies at each growth stage.

Investment focus

Financial Services, Internet, Information Technology
Funding Round, Series B, Seed
Japan, Indonesia, South Korea

Portfolio highlights

XDeli — XDeli is a digital application that offers food delivery and meal subsidy service for corporate employees.
Castee — Castee provides social collaboration services and also helps with a tool for job requests and overseas projects for creators.
Batton — Batton is a product-developing company that sells AI-enabled RPA buttons and AI formats that allow papers to be automatically formatted.

Kodansha is the largest publisher in Japan and produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo. The Noma family—relatives of the founder—continues toown KodanshaSource: [Wikipedia] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodansha)

Investment focus

Software, Media and Entertainment, News
Corporate Round, Funding Round, Seed
Japan, Indonesia, United States

Portfolio highlights

MyAnimeList — Welcome to MyAnimeList, the world's most active online anime and manga community and database. Join the online community, create your anime and manga list, read reviews, explore the forums, follow news, and so much more!
SPORTS BULL — SPORTS BULL is an Internet sports media management company.
Animoca Brands KK — Animoca Brands KK supports the global strategy of Web3.0 for Japanese intellectual property and content (IP) holders such as major publishers, brands, education, sports organizations, athletes, artists, and game companies. rice field. Animoca Brands KK builds and provides a platform that utilizes blockchain technology and provides a mechanism forIP / IP holders to have their own ecosystem in Web3.0 and issue NFTs and tokens within it.

Recruit Strategic Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in innovative startups from all around the world. It is a corporate venture capital arm of Recruit Holdings that seeks to invest in education and financial technology, digital healthcare, and infrastructure sectors. It was established in 2008 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Blacklane — Blacklane is the global chauffeur service that offers safety, sustainability, and stress-free travel. Since 2017, the company has been carbon-neutral, combining a five-star guest experience with care for the planet. The customers can book their travels using Blacklane’s mobile app or website.Blacklane was co-founded by Jens Wohltorf and FrankSteuer and is headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
Steady — Home Page Steady Your Income Home Page Steady Your Income Home Page Steady Your Income
ZenBusiness — Start a new business today for $0 or grow your existing business with the ZenBusiness platform. Get to your first dollar faster without the stress.

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

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.

Global Brain Corporation is a venture capital firm that invests in companies from seed or early to pre-IPO startups. Global Brain has invested in 300+ startups from seed/early to pre-IPO startups and achieved 25 IPOs and 61 M&As as a result of providing hands-on support services and resources to its portfolio startups. Global Brain hasmanaged a pure investment fund as well as multiple corporate venture capital funds partnered together with tier 1 public companies of telecom, real estate development, financial service, beverages, agriculture food, logistics, and electronic devices.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Software, Artificial Intelligence
Series A, Series B, Funding Round
Japan, United States, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

10x — 10x provides One-stop service from meal planning to grocery shopping.
Otetsutabi — Otetsutabi is a regional revitalization platform that offers the opportunity for participants to help at accommodations and breweries in rural areas that struggle with seasonal labor shortages. The locals offer transportation expenses and places to stay in return, so participants can travel to the areas with ease.
Japan Culture and Technology — Japan Culture and Technology assists artists and craftspeople in expanding their activities by providing IT support.

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

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.

As a pioneer and innovator in venture capital in Japan for the past 2 decades, we are deeply engaged in developing and supporting entrepreneurs and start-ups by leveraging our strategic position as a conduit between government, business and academia.“WERU” is the first research unit in the field of entrepreneurship in Japan established byprofessors at the graduate school, Waseda University in 1993.　“WERU Investment” is the first venture capital closely associated with university research labs, centers and institutes in japan. WERU Investment provides financial services for institutional investors (e.g. Pension funds and Endowments) as a Japanese discretionary investment manager (DIM) by fully taking advantage of these research resources, accumulated know-how and strong network.

Investment focus

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

Portfolio highlights

Synfini — Synfini, Inc., a privately held Menlo Park, California-based company, is a pioneer in agile chemistry. Its advanced, automated molecular discovery platform is transforming drug discovery through integrated neuro-symbolic AI, discovery-focused robotic automation, and world-class chemistry data. The patented Synfini platform includes automatedchemical synthesis technologies from SRI International. As a commercial enterprise Synfini will provide accelerated molecular discovery to drug hunters and pharmaceutical companies worldwide.
Novity — Novity offers predictive maintenance, exceptional accuracy, and cold-start prognostics solutions for the chemical, oil, and gas industries.
Cinderelax — Cinderelax is a makeup video app through which individuals can learn makeup.

The Maezawa Fund is a joint-stock company that invests in entrepreneurs and organizations whose business themes are “solving social issues” and “pursuing hobbies,” and is based on Yusaku Maezawa’s personal assets. It was established for the purpose of investing 100 million yen.

Investment focus

Laser, Beauty, Social
Seed, Funding Round
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

YUKASHIKADO — Yukasikado is developing a business on the axis of nutrition that supports the health of the body.
ARIGATO BANK — Arigato Bank offers financial services, with a focus on solving social issues.
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.

Makuake is a operation of various support services centered on the cloud funding platform "Makuake".It is a product production support project utilizing R & D technology.

Investment focus

E-Commerce, Manufacturing, Food and Beverage
Product Crowdfunding, Equity Crowdfunding, Seed
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

Now Do — Now Do provides online growth revolution platform.
Wakaze — Wakaze is a Japanese sake brewing startup.
Minimal - Bean to Bar Chocolate — Minimal - Bean to Bar Chocolate is a Chocolate startup

Joined Fujitsu Limited in 1991, after working at Osaka City University's Faculty of Science. He has a wide range of business experience, from programming to new business development, such as developing Internet services. After that, engaged in IT-related new business development at Sojitz Corporation, and at a major business investmentcompany, engaged in business investment in venture companies, creation of business plans for companies, launching new services, and M & A. In 2008, he became an outside director of eLicense Corporation. In 2009, he was appointed Representative Director of Data Section Co., Ltd. after developing a trend analysis service utilizing big data. Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers on December 24, 2014. Outside director of Japan Data Exchange, Inc. Currently, he is an outside director of Solid Intelligence Co., Ltd. In June 2018, he became chairman.

Investment focus

Social, Big Data, Analytics
Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Datasection — Datasection is a social big data company that provides various big data analysis tools for its clients. It specializes in marketing research, data provision and processing, image analysis, overseas SNS, and data utilization and optimization. Datasection was founded in 2000.

Shunsuke Ikegami is an angel investor.

Investment focus

Social, Cooking, Big Data
Seed, Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

CoCooking — CoCooking uses food and cooking to create ample opportunity for dialogue and thought, fostering creativity, diversity, and well-being of individuals and communities.
Datasection — Datasection is a social big data company that provides various big data analysis tools for its clients. It specializes in marketing research, data provision and processing, image analysis, overseas SNS, and data utilization and optimization. Datasection was founded in 2000.

Mr. Masaki joined Mitsui Ventures in May 2008 as Venture Partner, and since has been focused on investments in retail and service sector. Previously, he worked at Fujita Corporation, a large operator of restaurants and retail chain, where he was responsible for store development and merchandising in Tokyo area. After several successfulyears at Fujita, he took a position with Service Business Division of Mitsui & Co., Ltd., in charge of developing new business utilizing the franchise method.

Investment focus

Social, E-Commerce, Sustainability
Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Gab — Gab is a company that works to solve social problems as well as develops and markets ethical products.

Spurcle is a venture capital firm.

Investment focus

Sustainability, Artificial Intelligence, Agriculture
Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Gab — Gab is a company that works to solve social problems as well as develops and markets ethical products.
ForestFolks — ForestFolks Provider of forest management and conservation services aimed at protecting forestry and the environment.The company exploits and successfully employs the forest's CO2 absorption potential and conserves and recovers forest resources and biodiversity, allowing for regulatory compliance and supporting environmental protection.
Zip Infrastructure — Inquiry : https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfDmxd1TpPP331TY4VoRsvn0yWX3Ca5Jd-bfBiuPwvpD2SKtA/viewform

Startup Factory is a startup fund that provides one-stop support to startups.

Investment focus

Video, Content, Film Production
Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

HARTi — HARTi produces iconic artists worldwide. they are always on the lookout for partners who will bring art to expand the business.
Gab — Gab is a company that works to solve social problems as well as develops and markets ethical products.
HA-LU — HA-LU is a Short Drama Label that aims to produce authentic "Youth 2.0 IP Contents" for the next generation.

Suzuki Yuto

Investment focus

SaaS, Social, Content
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Gab — Gab is a company that works to solve social problems as well as develops and markets ethical products.
Aidemy — Aidemy is a web service where you can learn AI programming online.
Bizibl Technologies — Bizibl Technologies provides SaaS services for recruitment events.

Tetsuya Nagashima - Director COO @ Gunosy

Investment focus

Social, E-Commerce, Sustainability
Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Gab — Gab is a company that works to solve social problems as well as develops and markets ethical products.

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

Quemix — Quemix is an IT company specialized in providing quantum computing solutions.
Plainer — Plainer is an IT company that provides software development, data management, and SaaS solutions.
Unito — Unito offers people a friction-free lifestyle by pursuing optimization of living.

ANRI is a Japanese venture capital firm that mainly invests in seed and early-stage startups.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, Health Care
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
Japan, United States, India

Portfolio highlights

iiba — Iiba is a geospatial platform that specializes in providing location information related to child-rearing.
AiCAN — AiCAN provides system planning and development, data analysis, IT, and consulting services related to child welfare.
Asusola — Asusola engaged in the renewable energy power generation business

Hakuhodo DY Ventures is a corporate venture capital firm.

Investment focus

Media and Entertainment, Artificial Intelligence, Task Management
Funding Round, Series B, Series D
Japan, Australia, United States

Portfolio highlights

Castee — Castee provides social collaboration services and also helps with a tool for job requests and overseas projects for creators.
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.
Recustomer — Recustomer is an IT company that develops software for digital payment and provides support for web development.

Waseda University is a Tokyo-based private university that offers various degree programs. As the second private university to be founded in Japan, Waseda University is considered to be one of Japan's most prestigious universities, consistently ranking amongst the top universities in Japanese university rankings. The University has manynotable alumni in Japan, with seven Prime Ministers of Japan and many CEOs, including Tadashi Yanai, the CEO of UNIQLO and wealthiest man in Japan.Waseda University's main campus is located in the Nishi-Waseda district of Shinjuku. Apart from the main campus in Shinjuku, It has other campuses around the country, including Toyama Campus and Nishi-Waseda Campus in Shinjuku; Nihonbashi Campus in Chuo-ku; Higashifushimi Campus in Nishitokyo; Tokorozawa Campus in Tokorozawa; Honjo Campus in Honjo, Saitama; and Kitakyushu Campus in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka.The university has more than fifty thousand students and staff, comprising 13 undergraduate schools, 23 graduate schools, and other research and affiliated institutes, and is one of the 13 universities in the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's ""Global 30"" Project. It has partnerships with more than 600 universities and tertiary institutions, with many international students studying abroad at Waseda University each year.Established in 1882 as the Tōkyō College by Okuma Shigenobu, the school was renamed Waseda University in 1902 after the founder's hometown village.

Investment focus

Social, FinTech, Big Data
Series A, Seed, Series B
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Zuva KK — Zuva KK provides an information platform dedicated to overseas startups based on the project.
ZAISAN Net — ZAISAN Net is the well-known leading AI-Fintech startup in Japan, specializing in handling time-series of data like stock price movements. Institutional investors benefit from ZAISAN Net’s AI forecast signals and alerts while consumers have access to Kabuto-yohou, the stock forecast from wall-street in Japan, which is already popular and has beenintroduced on World Business Satellite, TV program similar to CNN.
SymBio Pharmaceuticals — SymBio Pharmaceuticals Limited operates as a biopharmaceutical company. It offers Symbenda medicine for treating low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and chronic lymphatic leukemia in Singapore. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

Kento Hayashi - President & CEO @ Datasection

Investment focus

Social, Big Data, Analytics
Series A, Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Fabeee — "Fabeee" meant to support customers with the challenge of new manufacturing and with all efforts. The line between offline and online is no longer there, and manufacturing is about to change. We will fundamentally change the definition of manufacturing and support customers from various angles.
Datasection — Datasection is a social big data company that provides various big data analysis tools for its clients. It specializes in marketing research, data provision and processing, image analysis, overseas SNS, and data utilization and optimization. Datasection was founded in 2000.

Taliki is a Coworking Space Operates Social Entrepreneurs Development Support for Intrepreneur Development.

Investment focus

Cooking, Retail, Children
Seed, Angel, Series A
Japan

Portfolio highlights

AiCAN — AiCAN provides system planning and development, data analysis, IT, and consulting services related to child welfare.
Gab — Gab is a company that works to solve social problems as well as develops and markets ethical products.
CoCooking — CoCooking uses food and cooking to create ample opportunity for dialogue and thought, fostering creativity, diversity, and well-being of individuals and communities.