Top 5 Digital Media Angel Investors in Japan (May 2026)

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

Industry: News, Social Media, Big Data
Stage:Seed, Pre-Seed
Geography: Japan, United States

Investor stats

Total investments: 12
Round size: Seed $680k–$2.7M
Lead/follow: 8% lead, 92% follow

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.

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Mr. Takeshi Natsuno serves as the Chairman of Japan Operations at Great Wall Club. Mr. Natsuno is a Professor of KEIO University. He served as a General Manager of Consumer Services Division and Manager of Distribution Platform Business Development Division at Pia Corporation since April 2012 and served as its Chief of Sales Promotion Bureau sinceApril 2010. He joined DoCoMo in 1997. He served as the Managing Director of Multimedia Services, Products & Services Division for NTT DoCoMo Inc. until June 23, 2009 and served as its General Manager of i-Mode Planning Division since July 2001, Senior Vice President from June 21, 2005 to June 23, 2009, Executive Officer and General Manager Multimedia Service Division since June 2005. At NTT DoCoMo, he developed the business strategy of all of NTT DoCoMo’s multimedia-related services, including i-mode strategic alliances with global application/content providers and key Internet players. He served as Vice President of Hyper Net Co., Ltd. since June 1996. He started his career with Tokyo Gas. He held key executive positions with HyperNet. He has been a Director of Dwango Co. Ltd., since December 1, 2008. He has been a Outside Director at Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. since June 2008. He has been a Director at Pia Corporation since April 2010. He serves as a Director of D.L.E Co. Ltd. He has been a Director of Gree, Inc. since September 2009 and Trans Cosmos, Inc. since 2008. He serves as a Director of GREE Ventures, Inc. He serves as a Member of Advisory Board at Great Wall Club. He served as an Independent Non-Executive Director of SBI Holdings Inc. from June 27, 2008 to June 28, 2012. He served as a Director of Hyper Net Co., Ltd. since June 1996. He is the Author of i-mode Strategy, published in 2000, a la i-mode, published in 2002, Keitai-no-Mirai, published in 2006, Iccho-yen kaseida otokono shigotojutu, and Google ni izonshi Amazon wo maneru bakakigyou published in 2009. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Economics from Waseda University, Japan in 1988 and an Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1995.

Investment focus

Industry: Financial Services, Music, Venture Capital
Stage:Angel, Series A
Geography: Japan, United States

Investor stats

Total investments: 6
Round size: Angel $1.6M–$14M
Lead/follow: 0% lead, 100% follow

Portfolio highlights

ZUU — ZUU is a Japan-based company that supports financial advisors with related consultancies and manages monetary websites. It also supports the asset management and asset advisor business of executives with finance and IT.
Zuu Online — ZUU online is a Tokyo-based financial media which provides original insights on financial market news,the latest business trend and personal finance advice
Confidence — Confidence ensures that the entertainment industry's cutting-edge manufacturers will be able to fulfil their objectives in the future.

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Shinichi Misawa - Director @ Zappallas

Investment focus

Industry: Content, Marketing, Digital Media
Stage:Series A
Geography: Japan

Investor stats

Total investments: 4
Lead/follow: no public data

Portfolio highlights

Kudan — Kudan has been providing proprietary Artificial Perception technologies based on SLAM to enable use cases with significant market potential and impact on our lives such as autonomous driving, robotics, AR/VR and smart cities
DoubleL — Doublel is a general trading company of pop culture that develops Japanese manga, anime, and games internationally. The company was founded in 2014 and based in Tokyo, Japan.

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Richard Lau serves as Head of Wealth and Personal Banking Risk at Hang Seng Bank.

Investment focus

Industry: Content, Marketing, Digital Media
Stage:Series A
Geography: Japan

Investor stats

Total investments: 1
Lead/follow: 0% lead, 100% follow

Portfolio highlights

DoubleL — Doublel is a general trading company of pop culture that develops Japanese manga, anime, and games internationally. The company was founded in 2014 and based in Tokyo, Japan.

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