Top 20 Digital Media Startup Investors in Japan (May 2026)
For AI agents: Short investor table (Markdown), Detailed investor list (Markdown)
| Investor | Relevant Deals | Geography | Stage | Focus | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Vector
VC Fund
|
2 | Japan | Seed, Corporate Round | Media and Entertainment, Marketing, Content | $2.1M–$41M |
|
Goshi Yamaguchi
Angel
|
1 | Japan | Seed, Pre-Seed, Corporate Round | Food and Beverage, Digital Media, Apps | |
|
JIG-SAW
VC Fund
|
1 | Japan | Series A | Content, Marketing, Digital Media | |
|
Shinichi Misawa
Angel
|
1 | Japan | Series A | Content, Marketing, Digital Media | |
|
B Dash Ventures
VC Fund
|
1 | Japan, Taiwan, India | Seed, Series A | Internet, Information Technology, E-Commerce | $840k–$43M |
|
UNITED
VC Fund
|
1 | Japan, Nigeria, United States | Seed, Series A | Internet, Content, Media and Entertainment | $1.5M–$87M |
|
Nissay Capital
VC Fund
|
1 | Japan, United States | Seed, Series A | Health Care, Internet, Medical | $925k–$69M |
|
Kiyoshi Nishikawa
Angel
|
1 | Japan, United States | Seed, Pre-Seed | News, Social Media, Big Data | $680k–$2.7M |
|
Takeshi Natsuno
Angel
|
1 | Japan, United States | Angel, Series A | Financial Services, Music, Venture Capital | $1.6M–$14M |
|
Toyoshi Ryuichiro
Angel
|
1 | Japan | Pre-Seed | Apps, mHealth, Internet | |
|
Nobuhiro Ariyasu
Angel
|
1 | Japan, Singapore | Seed, Angel | Content, Internet, Finance | $2.7M–$70M |
|
Kiyohiro Sugashita
Angel
|
1 | Japan | Seed, Series A | Marketing, Travel, Media and Entertainment | $8.2M–$44M |
|
NetAge
VC Fund
|
1 | Japan | Pre-Seed, Series A | News, Local, Big Data | |
|
GREE
VC Fund
|
1 | Japan, United States, Canada | Seed, Series A | Mobile, Gaming, Internet | $880k–$76M |
|
Incubate Fund
VC Fund
|
1 | Japan, United States, India | Seed, Series A | Software, Information Technology, E-Commerce | $500k–$165M |
|
Wavemaker Partners
VC Fund
|
1 | United States, Singapore, Philippines | Seed, Series A | Software, E-Commerce, Information Technology | $880k–$20M |
|
DFR Asia
VC Fund
|
1 | Japan | Seed | Video, Digital Media, Media and Entertainment | |
|
ANRI
VC Fund
|
1 | Japan, United States, India | Seed, Series A | Health Care, Software, Information Technology | $4.1M–$275M |
|
Richard Lo
Angel
|
1 | Japan | Series A | Content, Marketing, Digital Media | |
|
SEPTENI HOLDINGS Japan
VC Fund
|
1 | Japan, United States | Series A, Corporate Round | Content, Internet, Apps | $38M–$61M |
| Access all 69 investors in Japan Digital Media startups. | |||||
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Investor list
Vector is a Japan-based PR agency that provides PR planning and implementation services for its clients. The agency also offers other services covering areas such as management, finance, accounting, human resources, administration, internal controls, and audits. Vector was founded in 1993.
Show more...Investment focus
- Industry: Media and Entertainment, Marketing, Content
- Stage:Seed, Corporate Round
- Geography: Japan
Investor stats
- Total investments: 74
- Round size: Seed $8.2M–$41M; Corporate Round $2.1M–$27M
- Lead/follow: 31% lead, 69% follow
Portfolio highlights
- Canly — Canly is a cloud based system to reduce management & operating costs in a retail store along with being in the media & advertising business.
- PeaceTecLab — PeaceTecLab is a CtoCsharing service, as its main business.
- Alliance Cloud — Alliance Cloud primarily engages in the Sales Tech and BtoB Sales Outsourcing Business.
Goshi Yamaguchi
Show more...Investment focus
- Industry: Food and Beverage, Digital Media, Apps
- Stage:Seed, Pre-Seed, Corporate Round
- Geography: Japan
Investor stats
- Total investments: 4
- Lead/follow: no public data
Portfolio highlights
- ReadHub — ReadHub is a Information technology , Planning, development and management of Internet media and applications company.
- Pan For You — Pan For You is a Food & Beverage Company. We deliver delicious bread from all over the world with our unique freezing technology and propose a lifestyle where you can enjoy freshly baked bread anytime.
- ZAZA — ZAZA is focus to make the world where people can respect each other even thought they have a different culture and belief.
JIG-SAW (San Jose) offers neqto, an all-in-one solution for IoT. As an all-in-one, fully managed solution for IoT, neqto provides: hardware, embedded and edge software, communication mechanisms, and cloud. Through neqto, easy and secure bidirectional communication for transmitting, collecting, and controlling things and systems via IoT is madepossible.With their core competencies in monitoring services, cloud technologies, mobile communication modules, embedded systems, and IoT equipment they hope to support and accelerate the automation and decentralization of the next generation of technology companies.
Show more...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.
Shinichi Misawa - Director @ Zappallas
Show more...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.
B Dash Ventures does seed to late stage tech investments in Japan, Asia Pacific, and the U.S. LPs include Japan's largest technology companies and financial institutions including NTT Docomo, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, GREE, NEC BIGLOBE, Fuji Television, and the Japanese government. B Dash Ventures also operates an incubation space inpartnership with Mori Building Co. and holds the invitation-based B Dash Camp conference.
Show more...Investment focus
- Industry: Internet, Information Technology, E-Commerce
- Stage:Seed, Series A
- Geography: Japan, Taiwan, India
Investor stats
- Total investments: 70
- Round size: Seed $840k–$41M; Series A $1.6M–$43M
- Lead/follow: 27% lead, 73% follow
- Last fund: May invest from a new fund soon — last raise in 2020
Portfolio highlights
- Tané — Crypto builders incubator. Nurture the soil for Web3.
- Thirdverse — Thirdverse (formerly known as Yomuneco Inc) is engaged in Virtual Reality content and services planning, development, sales and management.
- microverse — Microverse offers NFT-related services such as content creation, distribution, and customer service.
UNITED, Inc. is developing the smart phone app and the advertising technology business.
Show more...Investment focus
- Industry: Internet, Content, Media and Entertainment
- Stage:Seed, Series A
- Geography: Japan, Nigeria, United States
Investor stats
- Total investments: 33
- Round size: Seed $1.5M–$38M; Series A $27M–$87M
- Lead/follow: 30% lead, 70% follow
Portfolio highlights
- nat — nat develops iOS application - Scanat and provides consultation service in data strategy.
- HOMMA — Inspired Modern Living. Homes to elevate healthy urban lifestyles. Design. Build. Technology.
- ventus Japan — ventus is an Media and Entertainment based company.ventus aiming to be an entertainment company that provides technology that all fans can enjoy.
Nissay Capital is a venture capital Company specializing in seed, start-up, growth capital, middle stage, and later stage investment.
Show more...Investment focus
- Industry: Health Care, Internet, Medical
- Stage:Seed, Series A
- Geography: Japan, United States
Investor stats
- Total investments: 147
- Round size: Seed $925k–$55M; Series A $14M–$69M
- Lead/follow: 27% lead, 73% follow
- Last fund: May invest from a new fund soon — last raise in 2019
Portfolio highlights
- Todoker — Todoker is a baggage delivery convenient service providing company.
- LUCA Science — LUCA Science develops innovative treatments intended for mitochondrial and related diseases.
- Beer and Tech — Beer and Tech operates a website for the Phalaenopsis or foliage plant HitoHana. Norihisa Morita and Yoshiaki Ito founded it in 2014, with its headquarters in Saitama in Japan.
After working at KDD Corporation （Currently known as KDDI Corporation）, 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 world’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 “Shibuya Bit Valley Concept†and is well known for his various speeches and writings. He is a graduate of the Department of Education at Tokyo University.
Show more...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.
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.
Show more...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.
Toyoshi Ryuichiro - CEO @ Misoca
Show more...Investment focus
- Industry: Apps, mHealth, Internet
- Stage:Pre-Seed
- Geography: Japan
Investor stats
- Total investments: 2
- Lead/follow: 0% lead, 100% follow
Portfolio highlights
- ReadHub — ReadHub is a Information technology , Planning, development and management of Internet media and applications company.
- Everyplus — Every Plus is a Nursing care facility recreation planning and dispatch service.
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Nobuhiro Ariyasu is the CEO at Coach United.
Show more...Investment focus
- Industry: Content, Internet, Finance
- Stage:Seed, Angel
- Geography: Japan, Singapore
Investor stats
- Total investments: 38
- Round size: Seed $2.7M–$70M
- Lead/follow: 5% lead, 95% follow
Portfolio highlights
- Now Do — Now Do provides online growth revolution platform.
- Todoker — Todoker is a baggage delivery convenient service providing company.
- Seibii, Inc. — Transforming traditional car maintenance, repair, after-parts installation, road service industry of Japan by leveraging Technology.
Mr. Sugashita joined Polaris as Advisor in May 2011. He is Director and CEO of Sugashita Partners, Ltd since 1998 and provides consulting services to financial institutions and ventures in and outside of Japan. Prior to that position, he was CEO of Lazard Japan Asset Management from 1991 to 1998. His business career also includes positions at DaiwaSecurities and Merrill Lynch Securities, Tokyo Branch. On the academic front, Mr. Sugashita received a BA in Economics from Ritsumeikan University and since 2009 is Special Advisor for the Dean of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.
Show more...Investment focus
- Industry: Marketing, Travel, Media and Entertainment
- Stage:Seed, Series A
- Geography: Japan
Investor stats
- Total investments: 11
- Round size: Seed $8.2M–$44M
- Lead/follow: 0% lead, 100% follow
Portfolio highlights
- G NEXT — G NEXT is an Information Technology based company.
- Fun — Fun is a sightseeing entertainment company that makes the world even more of a fun place.
- Tabinaka — Tabinaka is a Japanese booking & reservation platform for overseas tours and travel activities.
netage, inc. is a venture capital firm specializing in startup and incubation investments. They invests in internet business. netage is located in Tokyo, Japan.
Show more...Investment focus
- Industry: News, Local, Big Data
- Stage:Pre-Seed, Series A
- Geography: Japan
Investor stats
- Total investments: 2
- Lead/follow: 0% lead, 100% follow
Portfolio highlights
- JX Press — The JX PRESS Corporation is Japan’s“virtual news agency.”JX PRESS’s “FASTALERT” service provides breaking news bulletins for urgent information on accidents, natural disasters, and other incidents detected by AI to all six of the major television broadcast stations in Japan, including NHK, and the majority of the 100+ local broadcast stations.FASTALERT works with more companies than any other service that utilizes information gathered from social networking sites for news reporting in Japan.The version offered to ordinary consumers, an app called “NewsDigest,” is the biggest news bulletin app in Japan, boasting over 1 million downloads. It is gaining popularity because of its ability to use AI to automatically detect and deliver news bulletins on information worth reporting. Alongside FASTALERT, it is also gaining more widespread use by news reporters as a standardized service for information.Stakeholders in the JX PRESS Corporation include KYODO NEWS, the leading news agency in Japan, two of the leading commercial broadcast stations (TV Asahi and Fuji TV), and the Nikkei Group. We are a new kind of news agency that provides computerized news reporting to all of the major media groups in Japan.Bloomberg - This Media Startup Is Beating the Competition With a Newsroom Run by Robots https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-27/the-airline-geek-trying-to-build-a-media-giant-with-no-reporters
- Oceans — Oceans Inc. was incorporated on September 16th, 2010 as an internet service company with the expressed goal of making the Internet more useful, more local, more here and now. Specialists from the fields of user interface, user experience, creative, programming and monetization gathered to make this possible. Currently, these development and serviceoperations professionals operate Eyeland(http://eyeland.in), a popular local communications platform.
Gree is a Japanese internet media company that provides mobile social networking, and mobile technology services for its users. Gree shares development and operational expertise across all its studios as Gree always works to create new game models for its customers.
Show more...Investment focus
- Industry: Mobile, Gaming, Internet
- Stage:Seed, Series A
- Geography: Japan, United States, Canada
Investor stats
- Total investments: 47
- Round size: Seed $880k–$69M; Series A $4.5M–$76M
- Lead/follow: 26% lead, 74% follow
- Last fund: May invest from a new fund soon — last raise in 2016
Portfolio highlights
- Oasys — Oasys is an eco-friendly blockchain built for the gaming community, offering the best user experience with fast transactions and zero gas fees.
- AppBrew(Lips) — AppBrew develops LIPS, a mobile application for users to share and read real reviews on cosmetics, nail care, personal care, hair care, and other related products of different brands. The company was founded in 2016 and is based in Tokyo, Japan.
- Bankers Holding — Bankers Holding controls the bankers group companies that provide financial services via internet.
Incubate Fund is an independent early-stage venture capital that specializes in providing capital to technology startups at the seed stage. The firm built a portfolio of over 300 companies in Asia, taking 12 companies to public and 20 companies to M&A exit since 2010.
Show more...Investment focus
- Industry: Software, Information Technology, E-Commerce
- Stage:Seed, Series A
- Geography: Japan, United States, India
Investor stats
- Total investments: 180
- Round size: Seed $500k–$45M; Series A $11M–$165M
- Lead/follow: 23% lead, 77% follow
- Last fund: Likely still investing — raised $2.3B in 2021
Portfolio highlights
- Cerby — Collaborate without chaos. Cerby helps your team be productive while protecting your brand. Secure unmanageable applications. Only with Cerby.
- CYBO — CYBO provides products and services to understand cells deeply and to harness them widely.
- Bondy — Bondy is an HR Tech automation platform that specializes in connecting different HR processes.
Wavemaker Group is a cross-border venture capital firm founded in 2003 and one of the most active early-stage investors across multiple funds.
Show more...Investment focus
- Industry: Software, E-Commerce, Information Technology
- Stage:Seed, Series A
- Geography: United States, Singapore, Philippines
Investor stats
- Total investments: 270
- Round size: Seed $880k–$3.5M; Series A $2.5M–$20M
- Lead/follow: 31% lead, 69% follow
- Last fund: Likely still investing — fund raised in 2022
Portfolio highlights
- MFast — MFast operates as a fintech platform. MFAST is a brand under Digital Payment Solution Joint Stock Company - DigiPay JSC.
- Pi-xcels — Eco-friendly NFC digital receipts solution for actionable shopper data and enhanced customer journeys. No App, Just Tap. With one-tap convenience, Pi-xcels unlocks omni-channel marketing opportunities and boosts performance for retailers with our customer intelligence platform.
- Serve Robotics — Why move a 2-pound burrito in a 2-ton car? Meet Serve, the future of sustainable, self-driving delivery.
DFR is a digital media venture studio. DFR conceives, builds, and assumes ownership and execution responsibility for new ventures from inception. DFR is the first company in the world to deploy the emerging studio model in Asia, and the first venture studio dedicated exclusively to digital media.
Show more...Investment focus
- Industry: Video, Digital Media, Media and Entertainment
- Stage:Seed
- Geography: Japan
Investor stats
- Total investments: 1
- Lead/follow: 0% lead, 100% follow
ANRI is a Japanese venture capital firm that mainly invests in seed and early-stage startups.
Show more...Investment focus
- Industry: Health Care, Software, Information Technology
- Stage:Seed, Series A
- Geography: Japan, United States, India
Investor stats
- Total investments: 155
- Round size: Seed $4.1M–$47M; Series A $12M–$275M
- Lead/follow: 24% lead, 76% follow
- Last fund: Likely still investing — fund raised in 2022
Portfolio highlights
- EX-Fusion — EX-Fusion develops the first commercial laser based nuclear fusion reactor for power generation.
- YourTrade — YourTrade helps cross-border e-commerce companies to resale rejected goods and backlogged inventory from overseas sales through local sales channels.It also provides services such as collection and inspection of returned items, as well as resale through local sales channels.
- Carnot — LLM, Autonomous Agent
Richard Lau serves as Head of Wealth and Personal Banking Risk at Hang Seng Bank.
Show more...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.
Septeni Holdings started as a recruitment consulting company and become an internet advertising company in the year 2000. The company was established in October 1990 and is based in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Show more...Investment focus
- Industry: Content, Internet, Apps
- Stage:Series A, Corporate Round
- Geography: Japan, United States
Investor stats
- Total investments: 7
- Round size: Series A $38M–$61M
- Lead/follow: 0% lead, 100% follow
Portfolio highlights
- Sproot — Sproot engages in the media and entertainment business.
- Hosty Japan — Hosty is a Real Estate Platform.
- ORIGINAL LIFE — ORIGINAL LIFE is a wedding media tech company.Original Life is looking for friends to contribute to the evolution of the industry with consumer insights and technology !
Digital Media Investor funding in Japan at a glance
Stats across 40 deals from 69 investors.
Access all 69 investors in Japan Digital Media startups.
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