13 Top Japan Venture Capital Firms for Early-Stage Startups [2024]
If you’re looking for Japan venture capital firms to help fund your early-stage startup, here are 15 options to explore.
Japan is known for more than just its cherry blossoms and samurai swords. It is a fascinating blend of ancient traditions and cutting-edge technology. Because of its strong focus on technology and openness to new ideas, it creates a unique environment for startups and venture capital to thrive.
In 2022, venture capitalists in Japan raised a total of ¥616.5 billion ($4.16 billion), with assets under management in this sector increasing by 12% from 2013. This development highlights the vast possibilities that Japan’s venture capital market provides for early-stage businesses.
If you are a startup founder looking for venture capital firms to fund your early-stage startup. Here is our list of top Japan venture capital firms.
13 Early-Stage Japan Venture Capital Firms
1. East Ventures
East Ventures is a renowned Japanese venture capital firm. They are the most active investor in SEA and Indonesia, according to various media. And they were named the most consistent top-performing VC fund globally. They provide multi-stage investments, from seed to growth stage investments. Also, they are committed to achieving sustainable development and bringing positive impacts to society through their initiatives and ESG-embedded practices.
Details of East Ventures
Foundation Year: 2009
Countries of Operation:
- Singapore
- Indonesia
- Japan
Number of Investments: 829
Lead Investments: 257
Number of Exits: 54
Funds raised: $1.1B
Focus of East Ventures
Stage
- Early Stage Startup
- Late Stage Startup
Industries
- AI & ML
- Cybersecurity
- E-Commerce
- Fintech
- Health & Wellness
- Supply Chain & Logistics
- DTC
- Education
- Agriculture
Notable Investments
1. Mercari
URL: mercari.com
Funding Rounds: 7
Total Funding: ¥17.6B
2. RedMart
URL: redmart.com
Funding Rounds: 7
Total Funding: $55.1M
3. Tokopedia
URL: tokopedia.com
Funding Rounds: 11
Total Funding: $2.8B
Contact
Website: https://east.vc/
Email: info@east.vc
2. DCM
DCM is a global venture capital firm in Japan. Since 1996, they have invested in more than 300 technology companies across Asia and the U.S. They also assist entrepreneurs in building companies that will change how institutions and people use and live with technology.
Besides that DCM partner has operational experience and building hyper-growth startups into billion-dollar businesses. They also empower their entrepreneurs with operational guidance, financial resources and a global network of business.
Details of DCM
Foundation Year: 1996
Countries of Operation:
- USA
- China
- Japan
Number of Investments: 742
Lead Investments: 192
Number of Exits: 133
Funds raised: $4.1B
Minimum cheque size: $500,000
Maximum Cheque Size: $2,000,000
Focus of DCM
Stage
- Early Stage Startup
- Seed
Industries
- Internet & Mobile
- Consumer
- Social
- Gaming
- SaaS
Notable Investments
1. SoFi
URL: sofi.com
Funding Rounds: 18
Total Funding: $4.1B
2. Careem
URL: careem.com
Funding Rounds: 7
Total Funding: $771.7M
3. Life360
URL: life360.com
Funding Rounds: 15
Total Funding: $140.2M
Contact
Website: https://www.dcm.com/
Email: businessplan@dcm.com
Phone: (415) 321-1882
3. Strive
Strive is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Tokyo, SEA. They mainly focus on seed to early-stage startups and support from launch to expansion of the business. Also, they defy the existing boundaries as investors and help every aspect of business growth. Besides that, they also provide proactive, hands-on support and become the best Japan venture capital for entrepreneurs
Details of Strive
Foundation Year: 2011
Countries of Operation:
- Japan
- Singapore
Number of Investments: 192
Lead Investments: 53
Number of Exits: 60
Funds raised: 10.2B
Focus of Strive
Stage
- Early Stage Startup
- Seed
Industries
- Transportation
- Travel & Hospitality
- Marketplace
Notable Investments
1. Grab
URL: grab.com
Funding Rounds: 34
Total Funding: $16.5B
2. Galapagos
URL: glpgs.com
Funding Rounds: 2
Total Funding: ¥1.3B
3. Qoala
URL: qoala.app
Funding Rounds: 5
Total Funding: $89M
Contact:
Website: https://strive.vc/en/
Email: info+1@strive.vc
4. ITOCHU Technology Ventures
Itochu Technology Ventures is a well-known Japanese corporate venture fund seeking early-stage startup investment opportunities. They are one of the world’s largest corporations, with offices in over 80 countries.
Their goal is to invest and help build top information technology companies by leveraging a vast array of resources both internationally and domestically throughout ITOCHU and their group companies. Also, the ITOCHU group has a long track record of funding information technology companies with great success, including NVIDIA, Siebel Systems, Openwave, and Aruba Networks
Details of ITOCHU Technology Ventures
Foundation Year: 2000
Countries of Operation:
- Japan
Number of Investments: 193
Lead Investments: 41
Number of Exits: 22
Funds raised: $336.7M
Minimum cheque size: $5,000,000
Focus of ITOCHU Technology Ventures
Stage
- Early Stage Startup
- Late Stage Startup
- Seed
Industries
- Consumer
- Enterprise
- Internet & Mobile
Notable Investments
1. Box
URL: box.com
Funding Rounds: 14
Total Funding: $1.1B
2. Mercari
URL: mercari.com
Funding Rounds: 7
Total Funding: ¥17.6B
3. TriNetX
URL: trinetx.com
Funding Rounds: 2
Total Funding: $42.5M
Contact
Website: https://www.techv.co.jp/
Phone: +81 2013042910
5. Plug and Play Tech Center
Plug and Play venture capital firm is the ultimate innovation platform. Their mission is to build the world’s leading innovation platform and make it accessible to everyone. They achieve it by connecting entrepreneurs, corporations, and investors.
Also, they’re working with partners to build a system that connects people, invests in startups, and brings together key stakeholders. So far, they have built a unique network of strategic investors, experienced entrepreneurs, and industry leaders who actively support the firm with its successful and expanding investment portfolio
Details of Plug and Play Tech Center
Foundation Year: 2006
Countries of Operation:
- USA
- Canada
- Brazil
- United Arab Emirates
- Netherlands
- Belgium
- Spain
- Switzerland
- Morocco
- Germany
- Turkey
- South Africa
- Italy
- France
- China
- Japan
- South Korea
Number of Investments: 1683
Lead Investments: 139
Number of Exits: 160
Funds raised: $45.5M
Minimum cheque size: $50,000
Maximum Cheque Size: $250,000
Focus of Plug and Play Tech Center
Stage
- Early Stage Startup
- Series A
- Series B
- Series C
Industries
- DTC
- Enterprise
- Fintech
- Food & Beverage
- Healthcare
- InsurTech
- IoT
- Media
- Transportation
- Hardware
- Proptech & Real Estate
- Supply Chain & Logistics
- Climate & Sustainability
- Travel & Hospitality
- Agriculture
- Energy
Notable Investments
1. Verse
URL: verse.me
Funding Rounds: 7
Total Funding: $37.6M
2. Honeyation
URL: joinhoney.com
Funding Rounds: 6
Total Funding: $31.8M
3. Life360
URL: life360.com
Funding Rounds: 15
Total Funding: $140.2M
Contact
Website: https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/
Email: investment@plugandplaytechcenter.com
Phone: +1 408-524-1400
6. Enterprise Ireland
Enterprise Ireland is a government organization. They provide investment support and opportunities for founders looking to build their businesses. Their mission is to accelerate the development of companies to achieve a solid position in the global marketplace, resulting in increased national and regional prosperity. Besides that, they also provide the necessary support to companies to develop, grow, scale, and achieve their global ambition
Details of Enterprise Ireland
Foundation Year: 1998
Countries of Operation:
- Ireland
- Germany
- Hungary
- Denmark
- France
- Netherlands
- Italy
- Sweden
- Spain
- Czechia
- United Kingdom
- Belgium
- Poland
- Brazil
- USA
- Canada
- United Arab Emirates
- Australia
- China
- Japan
- Singapore
- Vietnam
- India
- South Korea
- Saudi Arabia
- Nigeria
- South Africa
- Kenya
Number of Investments: 765
Lead Investments: 163
Number of Exits: 100
Funds raised: €179M
Focus of Enterprise Ireland
Stage
- Early Stage Startup
- Late Stage Startup
- Private Equity
- Seed
Industries
- Life Sciences
- Industrial
Notable Investments
1. Cubic Telecom
URL: cubictelecom.com
Funding Rounds: 8
Total Funding: $122.4M
2. Soapbox Labs
URL: soapboxlabs.com
Funding Rounds: 5
Total Funding: $11.8M
3. AYLIEN
URL: aylien.com
Funding Rounds: 8
Total Funding: $9.3M
Contact:
Website: https://www.enterprise-ireland.com/en/
Email: equitydept@enterprise-ireland.com
Phone: +353 (1) 7272000
7. Salesforce Ventures
Salesforce Ventures is a well-known corporate venture capital firm. They focus mainly on investing in enterprise software. They aim to assist driven entrepreneurs in constructing pioneering companies. Besides that, they have a great enthusiasm for the long-term positive effects of business technology.
Details of Salesforce Ventures
Foundation Year: 2009
Countries of Operation:
- USA
- United Kingdom
- Australia
- Japan
Number of Investments: 820
Lead Investments: 148
Number of Exits: 138
Funds raised: $1.3B
Minimum check size: $1,000,000
Maximum check size: $2,000,000
Focus of Salesforce Ventures
Stage
- Early Stage Startup
- Late Stage Startup
- Seed
Industries
- Cloud
- SaaS
- Enterprise
- Healthcare
- Productivity
- Fintech
- Cybersecurity
- Automation
Notable Investments
1. Zoom
URL: zoom.us
Funding Rounds: 9
Total Funding: $276M
2. DocuSign
URL: docusign.com
Funding Rounds: 20
Total Funding: $536.2M
3. Infor
URL: infor.com
Funding Rounds: 4
Total Funding: $4B
Contact
Website: https://salesforceventures.com/
8. HAX
HAX is a well-known hard tech venture capital firm with residency programs for pre-seed funding. Startups apply to HAX with an initial prototype, customer insight, and vision. Then, they invest and build alongside their founders, fundamentally inflecting their technical progress with their team of engineers and investment partners. Founders should think of HAX as an extension of their engineering, business development, fundraising, design, and marketing teams.
As startups reach critical milestones, they support fundraising strategy and investor introductions. They also continue to invest, to the tune of over $25 million USD per year globally, and just raised an additional $100M in capital to support the later-stage growth of our startups.
Details of HAX
Foundation Year: 2012
Countries of Operation:
- China
- Japan
- USA
Number of Investments: 573
Lead Investments: 10
Number of Exits: 13
Funds raised: $5,000,000
Maximum Cheque Size: $250,000
Focus on HAX
Stage
- Early Stage Startup
- Seed
Industries
- Deep Tech & Hard Science
- Robotics
- Industrial
- Infrastructure
Notable Investments:
1. Riot Games
URL: riotgames.com
Funding Rounds: 5
Total Funding: $21M
2. Roadie
URL: roadie.com
Funding Rounds: 4
Total Funding: $62M
3. AiSight
URL: aisight.de
Funding Rounds: 4
Total Funding: $3.5M
Contact
Website: https://hax.co/
Email: makeit@hax.co
9. Cyber Agent Capital
CyberAgent Ventures is a Japanese venture capital firm. They are leading global innovation jointly with unicorn startups. They invest in venture companies with high potential in Internet-related businesses, led by entrepreneurs with excellent management and leadership. They have headquartered in Tokyo. They also have a presence in South Korea, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam and invest in startups in those countries..
Details of Cyber Agent Capital
Foundation Year: 2006
Countries of Operation:
- China
- South Korea
- Thailand
- Japan
- USA
- Taiwan
- Vietnam
- Indonesia
Number of Investments: 396
Lead Investments: 87
Number of Exits: 46
Funds raised: $185.8M
Focus of Cyber Agent Capital
Stage
- Early Stage
- Seed
Industries
- Fintech
- Entertainment
- SaaS
- AI & ML
- Education
- AR & VR
- Consumer
- Proptech & Real Estate
- DTC
- IoT
- Healthcare
- Marketplace
Notable Investments:
1. Sansan
URL: sansan.com
Funding Rounds: 9
Total Funding: $120.5M
2. Paidy
URL: paidy.com
Funding Rounds: 12
Total Funding: $397.9M
3. Tokopedia
URL: tokopedia.com
Funding Rounds: 11
Total Funding: $2.8B
Contact
Website: https://www.cyberagentcapital.com/
Phone: +81 363863933
10. Globis Capital Partners
Globis Capital Partners (GCP)is a renowned venture capital firm in Japan. They prefer to invest in the technology, media, consumer services, and education technology sectors. They are known for their combination of local business presence. With a combination of local business presence through Globis Group and Western VC experience, they have established new VC standards in Japan, with hands-on and in-depth industry understanding.
Details of Globis Capital Partners
Foundation Year: 2006
Countries of Operation:
- Japan
Number of Investments: 191
Lead Investments: 68
Number of Exits: 36
Funds raised: $1.5B
Focus of Globis Capital Partners
Stage
- Early Stage Startup
- Late Stage Startup
- Seed
Industries
- Consumer
- Enterprise
- Internet & Mobile
Notable Investments
1. Mercari
URL: mercari.com
Funding Rounds: 7
Total Funding: ¥17.6B
2. Uzabase
URL: uzabase.com
Funding Rounds: 3
Total Funding: ¥774M
3. Akatsuki Games Inc.
URL: games.aktsk.jp
Funding Rounds: 1
Total Funding: ¥1.4B
Contact
Website: https://www.globiscapital.co.jp/en/
Email: info-gcp@globis.co.jp
Phone: +81 3-5275-3870
11. White Star Capital
White Star Capital is a well-known international venture capital fund and multistage technology investment platform that invests in North America, Europe, and Asia. They back extraordinary entrepreneurs around the world, leveraging their enormous experience and networks to help them scale their businesses. Operating from New York, London, Montreal, Toronto, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, their presence, perspective, and people allow them to work closely with founders to help them scale worldwide from Series A onward.
.
Details of White Star Capital
Foundation Year: 2007
Countries of Operation:
- USA
- Singapore
- United Kingdom
- France
- Japan
- China
Number of Investments: 161
Lead Investments: 65
Number of Exits: 19
Funds raised: $690.4M
Minimum cheque size: $1,000,000
Maximum Cheque Size: $6,000,000
Focus of White Star Capital
Stage
- Seed
- Late Stage Startup
- Series A
- Series B
Industries
- Healthcare
- Internet & Mobile
- Fintech
- SaaS
- Marketplace
- DTC
- Mobility
- Productivity
Notable Investments
1. Dfns
URL: dfns.co
Funding Rounds: 2
Total Funding: $14.6M
2. Unacast
URL: unacast.com
Funding Rounds: 7
Total Funding: $51.1M
3. Dollar Shave Club
URL: dollarshaveclub.com
Funding Rounds: 7
Total Funding: $163.5M
Contact
Website: https://whitestarcapital.com/
Email: info@whitestarcapital.com
Phone: (239) 272-6030
12. World Innovation Lab (WiL)
World Innovation Lab (WiL) is an established venture capital from governments and global corporations. They prefer to invest in companies that are ready to scale and enter new markets. They also help US founders to expand into the Japanese market and support Japanese startups to expand globally. Their vision is to be the intermediary between corporates and startups in key hubs across the globe – starting with Japan and the US.
Besides that, they also support their corporate investors in evolving their own innovation capabilities through executive training, strategic advisory, and partnerships with leading startups.
.
Details of World Innovation Lab (WiL)
Foundation Year: 2013
Countries of Operation:
- USA
- Japan
Number of Investments: 148
Lead Investments: 43
Number of Exits: 21
Funds raised: $1.8B
Minimum cheque size: $5,000,000
Maximum Cheque Size: $30,000,000
Focus of World Innovation Lab (WiL)
Stage
- Early Stage Startup
- Late Stage Startup
Industries
- Enterprise
- SaaS
- Fintech
- InsurTech
- Automation
- Productivity
- Cloud
- Cybersecurity
- Developer Tools
- Climate & Sustainability
- Healthcare
Notable Investments
1. Mercari
URL: mercari.com
Funding Rounds: 7
Total Funding: ¥17.6B
2. Wise
URL: wise.com
Funding Rounds: 13
Total Funding: $1.7B
3. Doctor On Demand
URL: doctorondemand.com
Funding Rounds: $31.5M
Total Funding: $235.7M
Contact
Website: https://wilab.com/
Email: contact@wilab.com
13. Scrum Ventures
Scrum Ventures is well known early-stage Japan venture firm. They have a powerful network in Asia. They help startups and corporations innovate together. From their base in Silicon Valley, they prefer to invest in entrepreneurs who are innovating in different industries.
Furthermore, they are uniquely positioned to assist portfolio companies seeking to expand internationally and accelerate their expansion in Asia. Recently, they launched Scrum Studios, including innovative corporations such as Panasonic, Nintendo, and Dentsu
Details of Scrum Ventures
Foundation Year: 2013
Countries of Operation:
- USA
- Japan
Number of Investments: 159
Lead Investments: 2
Number of Exits: 14
Funds raised: $5.2M
Minimum cheque size: $500,000
Maximum Cheque Size: $5,000,000
Focus of Scrum Ventures
Stage
- Early Stage Startup
- Seed
Industries
- SaaS
- InsurTech
- Fintech
- Healthcare
- Deep Tech & Hard Science
- Robotics
Notable Investments
1. ExaWizards
URL: exawizards.com
Funding Rounds: 4
Total Funding: ¥6.2B
2. Origin
URL: origin.io
Funding Rounds: 3
Total Funding: $12.3M
3. Chariot
URL: chariot.com
Funding Rounds: 2
Total Funding: $6M
Contact
Website: https://scrum.vc/
Email: contact@scrum.vc
Phone: (415) 722-9424
This is our list of Japanese venture capitalists willing to invest in your startup. You must understand that getting funds in the early stage will be hard. So, you have to be well prepared from MVP to equity. Make sure you cover it all. You can also discuss everything with an expert if you want.
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