Top 15 Social Network Angel Investors in Japan

Investor	Social Network Japan investments
Kensuke Furukawa	3
Hironao Kunimitsu	2
Kazuhiro Ishikura	1
Ryo Ishizuka	1
Yuma Umeda	1
Kazuma Ieiri	1
Kentaro Ruichi	1
Hiroaki Kitano	1
Yusuke Sato	1
Masao Ito	1
Ayataro Nakagawa	1
Kamata Tomihisa	1
Otomi Tomohiro	1
Yasuyuki Kin	1
Yuto Nagatomo	1

Kensuke Furukawa was born in June 2, 1981. He graduated Waseda University majoring Political Science and Economics, and in 2000, he launched "Milkcafe", a student community, which has grown to a site with 10 million PV per month. In 2004, he became the CEO of Media Clip, which operates a rental bulletin board service "ShitarabaBBS". After that year, he had transfer "Shitaraba BBS" to Livedoor, and took charge of starting up the Consumer Generated Media sector. In 2006, he joined Recruit, and took charge of starting up a new business at Business development sector. In June of 2009, he left Recruit, and became the CEO of nanapi （formerly Rocket Start), which operates the How-to Site "nanapi".

Investment focus

Content, Media and Entertainment, Software
Seed, Funding Round, Angel
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Plott — Plott producing youtube animation platform under Vision “Become a Content holder from YouTube”. In August 2019, the company name was changed from Fabo to Plott. Plott, the new company name, is derived from the plot that you make before writing novels, etc., and the idea that “I want to make content all the time” is put in the company name.
Now Do — Now Do provides online growth revolution platform.
Neighbor — The creative universe of Fortnite is infinite. To give an example , building fantasy and science fiction worlds, creating simple games and full-scale battle games can all be completed with Fortnite. Is the world of Fortnite, played by 350 million users worldwide, is it real or unreal? We will try to combining the vast world of Fortnite with the real world.

Hironao Kunimitsu was born in Hyogo, Japan. After graduating from Okayama High School, he spent several years traveling around the world. He visited over 30 countries including the US, China, India, Canada, and others in Central and South America.In 1996 he entered Fudan University in China, and then later went on to study at Santa MonicaCollege in the US. In 2004 he entered Atmovie Inc. where he produced movies and televised dramas, and was appointed company director in the same year. In 2007 he founded gumi Inc., and it started listing on first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in December, 2014.

Investment focus

Virtual Reality, Content, Media and Entertainment
Funding Round, Seed, Angel
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

1SEC — 1sec is a virtual influencers in Japan,develop in-house and management. IMPACT to CEKAI in 1 second. Based on the concept of making CEKAI happy in one second, US based in Los Angeles and Japan, based in Tokyo, virtual influencers × AI, fashion & music & The company will develop a number of CEKAI's first and first projects in Japan inthe field of enter teignment.
Gatari — Gatari is developing an AR audio platform, including the AR camera app Vismuth, which can call avatars in reality.
Thirdverse — Thirdverse (formerly known as Yomuneco Inc) is engaged in Virtual Reality content and services planning, development, sales and management.

Kazuhiro Ishikura served as the head of the Akatsuki Business Management Department in 2013 and as a corporate auditor of Akatsuki in 2014, contributing to the company's listing on the TSE Mothers and TSE 1st sections. Appointed 3minute CFO in 2015, engaged in business start-up and organizational design, and succeeded in large-scale M & Adeal with Glee. After leaving the company, he became a WARC director in November 2018. Certified public accountant.

Investment focus

Beauty, Content, Fashion
Seed, Angel, Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Neith — Neith is a apparel manufacturer, seller and a whoelseller of water absorbing bralette, lingerie and shorts for women.
WARC Japan — WARC provides hands-on support for business management departments as well as mergers and acquisition advisory services.
Vitalogue Health — Vitalogue Health offers Canvas, a home-based hormone testing service for women.

Ryo Ishizuka is the co-founder and CEO of Mercari, a hassle-free peer-to-peer mobile marketplace app. After founding the company in Japan and following its successful launch, Ryo leads Mercari's international expansion as the company grows globally. Prior to founding Mercari, Ryo was the Chief Architect at RockYou, a Silicon Valley startupbacked by Sequoia. At RockYou, he was responsible for developing the core infrastructures to support its rapidly growing traffic, serving more than 20 billion PVs per month. He later served as COO at RockYou Asia to lead its Asian expansion. Born in Japan and raised in the US, Ryo has spent his life constantly moving and building bridges between the two countries.

Investment focus

SNS, Beauty, Content
Seed, Series A
United States, Japan

Portfolio highlights

DOTsfty — Teatis is a plant-based sugar-blocking superfood powder for diabetic consumers.
Flyp — Grow resale business with easy access to inventory and free automation tools. Join 10,000+ resellers today.
HOMMA — Inspired Modern Living. Homes to elevate healthy urban lifestyles. Design. Build. Technology.

Yuma Umeda

Investment focus

Gift, Internet, Software
Seed, Angel, Series A
Japan

Portfolio highlights

XMart — Xmart is a Costs can be reduced by simply sending invoices for one month.
AGRI SMILE — AGRI SMILE is a platform that focuses on sharing agricultural technology.
Another works — Another works is a internet platform & the industry's first service that allows you to directly approach the talent you are interested in from a database of a variety of ready-to-work and multi-tasking personnel. You can also use the performance fee for free.

Born in 1978 and raised in Fukuoka prefecture, Kazuma founded paperboy&co. inc. (currently GMO Pepabo) and went on to become the youngest CEO ever (at the time) to take a company public in Japan by taking paperboy&co. public on the JASDAQ Japanese stock exchange. After leaving paperboy&co, he continued his startup trail by foundingBASE, CAMPFIRE, and XIMERA. Kazuma also dabbled in the food services industry via the founding of On The Corner (a cafe) and is active in the startup investment scene. He also started the Liverty-house project which attempts to create shared housing for young people in need.

Investment focus

Content, Fashion, FinTech
Seed, Angel, Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Taliki — Taliki is a Coworking Space Operates Social Entrepreneurs Development Support for Intrepreneur Development.
ONE NOVA — One Nova (ワンノバ) is a lifestyle brand and online platform that offers a range of innerwear products, such as men's boxers.
vivid garden — vivid garden is an Agriculture company.

Ruichi Kentaro is an Angel Investor.

Investment focus

Content, Video Games, Social Network
Seed
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Graffity — Graffity to provide AR experiences globally and enrich life more conveniently and invent the AR entertainment experience and provide it globally.

Hiroaki Kitano is the SVP at Softbank Mobile. He attended Waseda University.

Investment focus

Health Care, Information Technology, Fitness
Seed, Angel, Debt Financing
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

GPx — GPx is a biotech company that revolutionizes remote chronic disease management with bloodless blood tests. It is dedicated to transforming the standard of care of cardiorenal diseases and enabling patients to better understand their condition, much like the continuous glucose monitor has transformed diabetes care.The company was founded in 2020and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Epistra — Epistra accelerates research and development in life sciences.
Activaid — Activaid owns and operates a social data platform for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. It allows patients to support and exchange information within the patient community with the same disease; provide information necessary for new drug development and matching to clinical trials that suits them; and improve medical treatment. YasuakiHasebe founded Activaid in 2018. It has its headquarters in Tokyo in Japan.

Yusuke Sato is the Co-Representative and Co-Founder of Pulit.

Investment focus

Internet, Content, Food and Beverage
Seed, Funding Round, Angel
Japan, Indonesia, United States

Portfolio highlights

AirX — AirX is a management service company specializing in air transportation agency business and travel arrangement business. The company leverages technology to transform the notion of mobility into an unprecedented experience. It also provides services such as CodeShare, AIROS Skyview, and AIROS Air Loss. AirX will create the movement of the futuresociety, sightseeing and the way of life of helicopter, Empty MaaS, Flying taxi, eVTOL, and Next-generation traffic.AirX was established on February 23, 2015, and is based in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
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.
Meetscare — Meetscare provides correct information and supports the self-awareness of all people involved in care. The company provides a wealth of information to ensure optimal care and create a mechanism for the realization. Users can make a telephone consultation and web diagnosis and search for free information using the system.Meetscare was founded on2016 and is headquartered in Arakawa, Tokyo.

Masao Ito is a Founder & CEO at User Local.

Investment focus

Content, Information Technology, Social Media
Seed, Series A, Angel
Japan

Portfolio highlights

Illusil — Illusil is a service that makes it easier for anyone to generate slide materials and reduces the amount of time needed to do it. Additionally, presentations can be automatically generated from text input by AI, and over 1,000 design templates can be used to build original slides.
Cloudbase — Cloudbase is an information technology company that specializes in the fields of cloud services and management.
Driver Technologies — Driver Technologies is a cloud logistics platform provider. It provides a solution for driver matching and cargo vehicle demands.

2011 At university, participated in the founding period as a director of Atcole Co., Ltd., and started the web service experience.2012 Founded Peroli Co., Ltd., which operates a curation platform for women "MERY" .2014 Founded Peroli Co., Ltd. Sold to DeNA 2015 Jointly established Tokyo Founders Fund as an angel investor and startedinvesting in startups in Japan and overseas 2019 Appointed outside director of FIREBUG Co., Ltd.

Investment focus

Internet, Software, Information Technology
Seed, Angel, Funding Round
Japan, Hong Kong, United States

Portfolio highlights

For you — For you is a comprehensive Advertising agency business specializing in SNS.
Meetscare — Meetscare provides correct information and supports the self-awareness of all people involved in care. The company provides a wealth of information to ensure optimal care and create a mechanism for the realization. Users can make a telephone consultation and web diagnosis and search for free information using the system.Meetscare was founded on2016 and is headquartered in Arakawa, Tokyo.
SPORTS CROWN — SPORTS CROWN engages in the development and operation of fantasy sports.

Dr. Kamada earned his Ph.D. at the University of Tokyo. In 1984, he pursued his journey to establish his own business that focused on information appliances and mobile software, namely ACCESS Co., Ltd.. With great success, the company entered the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Market in 2001. He left ACCESS Co., Ltd. in 2011, and founded TomyK Ltd.in 2012 where he supports startups possessing revolutionary business ideas that revitalize the Japanese economy.

Investment focus

Fitness, Medical, Genetics
Seed, Angel
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

Activaid — Activaid owns and operates a social data platform for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. It allows patients to support and exchange information within the patient community with the same disease; provide information necessary for new drug development and matching to clinical trials that suits them; and improve medical treatment. YasuakiHasebe founded Activaid in 2018. It has its headquarters in Tokyo in Japan.
Genomelink — Genomelink is a platform where people discover more with their DNA data and help businesses build, market and do research with it. The best founders in consumer genomics with real experience in the industry for many years, including M3, Inc. ($13B valued Meditech in Japan), a founding member of the Japanese version of 23andMe, and leadbioinformatician and software engineer at a joint-venture between Illumina and Sony. Raised $4M for Seed Round from Berkeley SkyDeck, SONY, and top-tier Japanese VCs. Supported by Illumina Accelerator, Carlos Bustamante Lab at Stanford University among others.
MinD in a Device — MinD in a Device Co., Ltd. is a university-launched venture that aims to port human consciousness to devices (machines and computers) in the medium to long term based on long-term research results on consciousness. As the first step toward realization, we will evolve and deepen the "generation model" considered to be the source ofconsciousness, and promote the development of next-generation AI and social implementation.

Otomi Tomohiro - CEO @ Tyrus

Investment focus

Health Care, Travel, Content
Seed, Angel, Funding Round
Japan

Portfolio highlights

CUICIN — Quickin is changing the travel experience with the digital transformation.
HANOWA — HANAWA is a matching platform between freelance dental hygienists and dental clinics.
Magic Shields — Magic Shields is a manufacturer and seller of floors, nursing care, and welfare products.

Yasuyuki Kin

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.

Yuto Nagatomo - President, CEO, and Founder @ Cuore Co., Ltd.

Investment focus

SNS, Sports, Content
Funding Round, Seed, Angel
Japan

Portfolio highlights

MIL — MIL is a marketing company it can be used for a wide range of video marketing such as video commerce , O2O measures , recruitment videos , and landing videos.
Now Do — Now Do provides online growth revolution platform.
SAURUS JAPAN —