Top 5 Venture Capital Startup Investors in Japan

Last updated: Apr 2024 A list of 5 angel investors and VC funds that invest in Venture capital startups based in Japan. We rank investors based on the number of investments they made in Venture capital companies from Japan. We update this investor list every month.

Top 5 Venture Capital Startup Investors in Japan

Investor	Venture Capital Japan investments
Kakao Investment	1
Kiyoshi Nishikawa	1
Kevin Ryan	1
Headline	1
David Smilow	1

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Investor list

Incorporated in 2015, Kakao Investment is a 100% subsidiary of Kakao which specializes in venture capital investments.Based on Kakao’s philosophy of “Connect Everything”, Kakao Investment seeks to invest and support innovative start-ups that can realize interpersonal connection and the connection of all of us to the things around us. Also KakaoInvestment strives to foster a virtuous circle with in the venture environment by facilitating M&As and IPOs.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Software, Artificial Intelligence
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
South Korea, United States, Japan

Portfolio highlights

NPCx — NPCx provides video game developers, designers, data scientists and programmers.
Klleon — Revolutionizing AI-Human Interactions with Real-Time Digital AvatarsEstablished in 2019, Klleon pioneers a fresh dimension in AI-human relations through its real-time digital avatar video chat. Recognized by industry giants like NVIDIA, AWS, and Microsoft, Klleon's unique technologies facilitate emotionally resonant AI digital avatarinteractions. Features include rapid-response digital human animations and optimized GPT processing, ensuring efficiency in both time and cost. By creating lifelike digital avatars from just a facial snapshot and 30 seconds of voice, Klleon transcends physical, temporal, spatial, and linguistic boundaries. With Klleon, your digital twin can converse globally, anytime, in any language.
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After working at KDD Corporation ï¼ˆCurrently known as KDDI Corporationï¼‰, Kiyoshi Nishikawa next went to work at Arthur D. Little Inc. in the United States, where he became inspired to start his own company. After returning to Japan, he established a Japanese corporation of the worldâ€™s largest Internet company, America On Line, LLC. Later andbased on this experience and the relationships he developed, he founded the first Internet business incubator, NETAGE, Inc. After serving as the President and CEO of NETAGE Group, he later became and still serves as the Chairman of ngi group, inc. Kiyoshi was one of the main entrepreneurs responsible for proposing and realization of â€œShibuya Bit Valley Conceptâ€ and is well known for his various speeches and writings. He is a graduate of the Department of Education at Tokyo University.

Investment focus

News, Social Media, Big Data
Seed, Funding Round, Pre-Seed
Japan, United States

Portfolio highlights

PoliPoli — PoliPoli is a next-generation politics co-creation platform where you can participate like a game. Politicians from all over Japan post their policies in an easy-to-understand manner, and those who sympathize can enjoy working on the "missions" necessary to realize the policies.
Astroscale — Astroscale is the first private company with a vision to secure the safe and sustainable development of space for the benefit of future generations, and the only company solely dedicated to on-orbit servicing across all orbits.
TECHFUND — TechFund is a venture capital firm specializing in incubation and seed stage investments. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

Kevin Ryan is the Founder and CEO of AlleyCorp. He previously worked at MongoDB as a Founder and Chairman. Kevin Ryan attended Yale University.

Investment focus

Real Estate, Software, Health Care
Seed, Series A, Series B
United States, Japan, Canada

Portfolio highlights

OYE — From Latin America to the world, we’re building a community to make emotional wellness part of everyday life.
Everphone — Everphone is the clever way to equip your workforce with smartphones and tablets. It's flexible, safe and cost efficient. everphone reduces your costs while making employees happier and more productive.
Knock — Buy before you sell, for people who are buying and selling homes, we partner with their lenders and agents to provide cash flow and more certainty, convenience, and competitiveness. Partner with Knock Today!

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

Software, E-Commerce, Information Technology
Series A, Series B, Seed
United States, Germany, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

Helcim Inc. — Helcim is a payments company that lets businesses accept credit cards with ease. Helcim focuses on delivering a better payment service by making it easier to sign up, providing smarter payment tools, and making it more affordable to get paid.
Carewell — Are you a caregiver? At Carewell, find the best home health products with discreet packaging & the support you need with guides, articles, and 24/7 service. 30% OFF 1st Autoship!
Prescient AI — Industry-leading marketing & media mix modeling (MMM) & marketing attribution software powered by AI. Get actionable insights in 36 hours.

Mr. Smilow serves as Managing Director of Avenida and is a member of the Investment Committee. Mr. Smilow is a founder of Avenida, where he is responsible for portfolio and risk management. Mr. Smilow has been a sponsor of over a dozen start-up companies and has acquired approximately USD $250 million of real estate assets in the United States andLatin America over the course of his career. Mr. Smilow was the Founder and Chairman of Jefferson National Financial (“JNF”), an insurance company with over USD $2 billion of assets that offers variable annuity and other retirement products. Mr. Smilow oversaw investment activities and strategic planning for JNF, which was sold to Citibank in 2011.In addition, Mr. Smilow was the Founder, Chairman, CEO and CIO of TeleBanc (now E*Trade Bank). Under his direction, Telebanc became the largest Internet bank worldwide before its sale to E*Trade in 1999. Prior to founding TeleBanc, Mr. Smilow was a fixed income portfolio manager and trader at Goldman Sachs and Drexel Burnham Lambert.Mr. Smilow serves or has served on the Board of Directors of nine different companies, as well on the Board of Outward Bound Minnesota, Trust for Public Land Maine, and the Johns Hopkins Second Decade Society. Mr. Smilow has also lectured at Harvard Business School, New York University and Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Smilow received a BA from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.