# Top 45 Gaming Angel Investors in Japan in May 2026 ## Yu Akasaka - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 6 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Food and Beverage, Content, Internet During Hosei University student, and intern at Hakuhodo C & D. After joining the Image-net, I do media monetization of EC site as a media planner. Then, new business, engaged in Alliance. Launched a crowdsourcing site "MILLION DESIGNS" of design in the individual, sold to Ransazu Corporation. Established the Eureka Co., Ltd., wasappointed Representative Director CEO. ## Yusuke Sato - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 5 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Internet, Content, Food and Beverage Yusuke Sato is the Co-Representative and Co-Founder at Pulit. ## Kotaro Chiba - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 5 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Internet, Content, Software Kotaro Chiba is the founder of ChibaDojo Fund. Kotaro Chiba attended Keio University. ## Hironao Kunimitsu - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 4 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Content, Media and Entertainment, Virtual Reality 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. ## Ryosuke Matsumoto - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 4 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Series A - Focus: Art, Reservations, Software Ryosuke Matsumoto is the founder and CEO of Community Factory Inc.Ryosuke is born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1981. He joined launching of the publication venture company, and ran a cafe while he was attending Chuo University in Tokyo. Since he joined launching the social media venture company in 2004, he has been in social media business. In2006, Ryosuke founded Community Factory Inc. which specialized in planning and operating social media and blog services.Community Factory started to specialize in social application for mobile from 2009, and Community Factory draw investments of around 4.5 million US dollars from venture capitals and mixi inc. then the biggest social media in Japan. DECOPIC, Community Factory's one of the apps for smartphone, has been downloaded 6 million times in the 6 months since its release, and it is rapidly gaining users mainly in Asian countries.In Sep 2012, Ryosuke and other stock holders sold Community Factory to Yahoo Japan Corp., and he remains as CEO of Community Factory. ## Nobuhiro Ariyasu - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 4 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Content, Internet, Finance Nobuhiro Ariyasu is the CEO at Coach United. ## Hidetoshi Takano - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Internet, Information Technology, Media and Entertainment Joined Intelligence in 1999. Established Key Players Inc. in 2005. Consultation with more than 3,000 managers and career counseling for more than 10,000 individuals. In addition, we have invested in more than 55 outside directors, advisors and angels in Silicon Valley and Bangladesh in Japan. Over 100 lectures on careers, entrepreneurship andstartups. ## Jun Nishikawa - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel - Focus: Media and Entertainment, Mobile, Content Jun Nishikawa - Co-founder, Executive Vice President, COO @ eureka, Inc. ## Ayataro Nakagawa - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Internet, Software, Information Technology 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. ## Naruhisa Nakagawa - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Manufacturing, Beauty, Environmental Consulting Naruhisa Nakagawa is a Founder & Chief Investment Officer at Caygan Capital. ## Yusuke Tanaka - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Tourism, Consulting, E-Commerce "Shin"ichiro joined Yahoo Japan in April 2013. From July 2013, he joined YJ Capital. He has served as COO of YJ Capital since January 2015. Prior to Yahoo! Japan, Shin was General Director of Dream Incubator Vietnam from 2007 to 2012, managing US$50 million private equity funds in Vietnam. He was formerly a Project Manager at DreamIncubator Japan. He started his career at Future Architect as a system engineer.Shin received his bachelor's degree in Policy Management from Keio University. ## Kazuma Ieiri - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Content, Fashion, Recruiting 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. ## Soga Takeshi - Type: Angel - Location: Nerima, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Music, Mobile, Content Soga Takeshi ## Hiroaki Kitano - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Debt Financing - Focus: Health Care, Information Technology, Fitness Hiroaki Kitano is the SVP at Softbank Mobile. He attended Waseda University. ## Goshi Yamaguchi - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Corporate Round - Focus: Food and Beverage, Digital Media, Apps Goshi Yamaguchi ## Hirofumi Miki - Type: Angel - Location: Shibuya, Kanagawa, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed - Focus: Content, Marketing, Internet After JTB Co., Ltd. and CYBIRD Co., Ltd. as an initial member of Glee Co., Ltd. is responsible for business development. Currently, he is mainly engaged in venture support in the Internet area, investing in venture and venture capital, and served as management advisor for dozens of companies. Hands-on business development, growth strategydevelopment, financing advice, HR organization design support, partner referral and Recruit Support. He is also engaged in business support for ventures in the healthcare and university venture fields. He served as Digital Health Meetup Advisor, NEDOTCP Mentor and Future 2016 Mentor. ## Komura Fujio - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Content, Ethereum, Marketing Komura Fujio ## Ken Soga - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Music, Mobile, Content Ken Soga is an individual investor. ## Chikako Morimoto - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Human Resources, Employment, Information Technology Chikako Morimoto - External Counsel @ Traimmu ## Shunsuke Oyu - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Content, Internet, Media and Entertainment Shunsuke Oyu is the co-founder of Connehito Inc. Started an online Q&A platform “mamari” which is the largest platform for moms in Japan. Connehito was acquired by one of the telecom giant KDDI in 2016. Selected as a “Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia” at consumer technology department. Angel-investing 50+ companies globally. ## Kensuke Furukawa - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Content, Media and Entertainment, Software 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". ## Koki Yabu - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Angel, Pre-Seed - Focus: Content, Finance, Data Mining Koki Yabu is Founder, President & CEO at Mobcast inc. ## Dai Tamesue - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Angel, Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Apps, Sports, Health Care Dai Tamesue is the Chief Marketing Officer of Miekuru. ## Shintaro Yamada - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed - Focus: Internet, Finance, Information Technology During his years at Waseda University, Shintaro worked at Japan’s biggest e-commerce mall, Rakuten, Inc. On August 1st 2001, Shintaro established “Unoh Inc.” after graduating university. At Unoh he was responsible for designing and developing several web services, one of which was the online magazine subscription . Services provided by Unohinclude planning, development and management of the film enthusiast community site “Movie Life” (acquired by PIA Corporation) as well as “Sugu.CC” , “NeoAd” (both acquired by GMOAP) and the photo sharing site “Photozou” (acquired by Digital Garage).In 2009 Unoh entered into social gaming, creating multiple successful social games. Among these games, “Machitsuku!” has been its biggest hit with over 5 million users. On August 3rd 2010, Unoh joined Zynga and Shintaro became General Manager of Zynga Japan. He resigned on January 2012. After traveling around the world, He established the new company “Mercari, Inc.” on February 2013 and released the resale shopping app “Mercari” on July 2013 in Japan.He is a true Internet geek, spending a lot of time on the Internet and boasts around 180,000 followers on Twitter. ## Takashi Nagao - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: SNS, Video, Brewing Takashi Nagao ## Tomohito Ebine - Type: Angel - Location: Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Series A - Focus: Home Services, Information Technology, Consulting Tomohito Ebine is non-executive Director at Owls Co., Ltd. ## Kino Nobukuni - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Food and Beverage Kino Nobukuni ## Shuuichi Wada - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Series A - Focus: Reservations, Content, Social Media Shuuichi Wada - CTO @ alu Japan ## Chiba Hisayoshi - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Food and Beverage Chiba Hisayoshi is the Director and COO at Noin. ## Shota Horii - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Information Technology, Internet, Art Shota Horii ## Yo Shibata - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed - Focus: Apps, Gaming, Content Yo Shibata is a Co-Founder of Funds Inc. ## Takashi Mitachi - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: SNS, Brewing, Employment Takashi Mitachi joined BCG in 1993 and is the head of BCG’s Japan operations. He leads the Strategy practice in Japan and is also a core member of the Financial Institutions, Marketing and Sales, and Organization practice areas.Takashi has led projects for Japanese and multinational clients in a wide range of financial and consumer industries.He has also written a book, The BCG Way – the Art of Strategic Insight, which focuses on how to develop capabilities to generate strategic insight.Before joining BCG, Takashi worked for 14 years at Japan Airlines, where his positions included manager of the corporate planning department at the head office in Tokyo. He holds an MBA with high distinction (Baker Scholar) from Harvard Business School and a BA in American literature from the University of Kyoto. ## Toshiro Wakimaru - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Task Management, Food and Beverage, SNS Toshiro “Tosh” Wakimaru is the Chief Operating Officer of MedPeer, Inc. , Tokyo, Japan since May 2010. Medpeer is the “Medical Doctor Exclusive” SNS in Japan that has just successfully gone to the market in 2014.Prior to the current job, Tosh had been actively working for Price Waterhouse Consulting, Japan LLP (now IBM Japan, Ltd.) aftergraduating from the Boston University School of Management in 1996. While there he completed numerous projects in corporate strategy, operation improvement, and new business development focusing on the retail, service, and healthcare industries with a secondment to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. ## Yusuke Inagaki - Type: Angel - Location: Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Marketing, Advertising, Cloud Computing Prior to establishing UZABASE, Yusuke Inagaki was the project manager of the Technology Integration Division at ABeam Consulting, where he actively developed and constructed the entire company's system strategies. Inagaki was also involved in the design and construction of large-scale databases for financial institutions. With his richexperience and knowledge in systems technology, Inagaki co-founded UZABASE with Yusuke Umeda and Ryosuke Niino in 2008, and assumed the role of Co-CEO for UZABASE and CEO for NewsPicks in 2017. ## Josh Buckley - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Financial Services Josh Buckley is the CEO of Product Hunt. ## Hiroaki Watatani - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Content, Software, Logistics Hiroaki Watatani is the president of ASAKASHINKAN GROUP. ## Naoki Yamada - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Information Technology, Software, Sports Naoki Yamada ## Hayama Takashi - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: SNS, Beauty, Medical Hayama Takashi - Outside Director @ Eco Style ## Sota Horiuchi - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Content, Food and Beverage Sota Horiuchi (Tokyo) joined KKR in 2008. He has been involved with the investments in Intelligence, Panasonic Healthcare and Pioneer DJ. Prior to joining KKR, he was an associate at McKinsey & Company, based in Germany and Japan. He was involved in supporting a number of companies in developing their business strategy, including new marketentry and management improvement projects. He holds a B.A. with High Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in Law from the University of Tokyo. ## Masaru Tange - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Internet, E-Commerce, SaaS Masaru Tange graduated from Kyoto University and joined Incs Inc. in 2000 where he started their IT business and strategy consulting group with only 2 members and developed it into the company's main business with a team of 140 consultants with annual revenue of $50M in 5 years. He then founded SHIFT Inc in 2005 in his studio apartment. He wasthe only employee. The business world wasn't very kind to him - he made no revenue for a while but he kept experimenting with the business model listening to the needs of customers. In 2009, he finally found traction in the "software testing industry." In 2014, Masaru successfully IPO'ed the company. Shift now has 500 employees. ## Yusuke Umeda - Type: Angel - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Sports, Communities, Food Processing Yusuke Umeda - Chairman @ NewsPicks USA, LLC ## Nobuyuki Nakagawa - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Angel - Focus: Apps, Mobile, Mobile Apps Nobuyuki Nakagawa - President and CEO @ Mynavi ## Masayuki SHOBAYASHI - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Fitness, Software, Mobile Apps Masayuki SHOBAYASHI ## Tsuyoshi Ide - Type: Angel - Location: Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Pre-Seed - Focus: Food Processing, Food and Beverage Tsuyoshi Ide is the Chairman, President, and CEO of Daiz Energy. ## Koji Yamada - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Software, Logistics, Food Delivery Participated in the management of a student venture company while attending Keio University's Faculty of Policy Management. After graduation, he worked at Accenture Co., Ltd. for consulting services for companies in different industries such as media, apparel, finance and entertainment. In 2012, founded boundary spanner Co., Ltd. He alsoserved as a project manager for JAPAN CON-TECH FUND and a director of the Japan Home Party Association. # About Shizune Shizune.co is an investor database. Core features: - 48,091 startup investors (angels, VCs, accelerators, and others) - Email, phone, LinkedIn (for intros), socials, and other contact data - Updated daily from public funding news - CSV and Excel export The User can access the full database FOR FREE after signing up: shizune.co