# Top 20 Mobile Apps Angel Investors in Japan in May 2026 ## 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. ## Kotaro Chiba - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Internet, Content, Software Kotaro Chiba is the founder of ChibaDojo Fund. Kotaro Chiba attended Keio University. ## Yusuke Sato - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Internet, Content, Food and Beverage Yusuke Sato is the Co-Representative and Co-Founder at Pulit. ## Masahiko Inada - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Angel, Seed - Focus: SNS, Content, Finance Masahiko Inada is the Venture Advisor at DNX Ventures. He was Founder and Chairman at Kabuku Inc. He attended The University of Tokyo. ## Komura Fujio - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Content, Ethereum, Marketing Komura Fujio ## 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. ## Soichiro Kawai - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Media and Entertainment, Information Technology, Internet Soichiro Kawai - CEO @ ReBoost ## Takashi Shibayama - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Music, EBooks, Gaming Takashi Shibayama ## 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. ## Shoji Kodama - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Series B - Focus: Real Estate, Internet, Construction Shoji Kodama - President @ Laxus Technologies ## Hidetoshi Takano - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 1 - 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. ## Masao Ito - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel - Focus: Content, Social Media, Information Technology Masao Ito is a Founder & CEO at User Local. ## Masayuki SHOBAYASHI - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Fitness, Software, Mobile Apps Masayuki SHOBAYASHI ## Nobuyuki Idei - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Corporate Round - Focus: Information Technology, Manufacturing, Internet Nobuyuki Idei has served as our independent director since June 2007.Being an experienced director, Nobuyuki Idei currently also serves as director of Accenture, director of FreeBit Co, Ltd., director of Lenovo Group, and chairman of the National Conference on Fostering Beautiful Forests in Japan.Nobuyuki Idei is the founder and chief executiveofficer of Quantum Leaps Corporation, a specialist consultancy that advises private and public institutions on the changing role of technology in the 21st century.Nobuyuki Idei is also the founder and chairman of the board of Asia Innovators’ Initiative, a private non-profit organization that he established in 2011 to serve as a catalyst for social innovation in Asia by bringing together a diverse range of individuals and promoting knowledge sharing.Nobuyuki Idei was chairman and chief executive officer of Sony Corporation from 2000 to 2005, chief corporate advisor from 2005 to 2007, and chairman of the advisory board from 2007 to 2012.Prior to that, Nobuyuki Idei held a range of leadership positions at Sony including general manager of the audio division, senior general manager of the home video group, and president and representative director.Nobuyuki Idei has also served in a number of other advisory positions including as counselor to the Bank of Japan, member of Japan’s national IT Strategy Council, and vice-chairman of Nippon Keidanren.Nobuyuki Idei received a bachelor of science degree in economics and politics from Waseda University in Tokyo. ## Nobuyuki Nakagawa - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Angel - Focus: Apps, Mobile, Mobile Apps Nobuyuki Nakagawa - President and CEO @ Mynavi ## Naoki Aoyagi - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Series A - Focus: Internet, Fashion, Software Naoki Aoyagi is a Senior Vice President at GREE, Inc. and Chief Executive Officer of GREE International, Inc. He joined GREE, Inc. in March 2006 from Deutsche Bank, where he had specialized in tech and media sector IPOs and M&A advisory work. At GREE, Aoyagi oversaw the Company's partnership with KDDI and its IPO before leading thedevelopment of GREE’s global operations, a role he continues today. Aoyagi earned a bachelor's degree in policy management from Keio University in 2002. ## 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. ## Yasuyuki Kin - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed - Focus: Media and Entertainment, Information Technology, Career Planning Yasuyuki Kin ## Shogo Kawada - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Software, SaaS, Media and Entertainment Shogo Kawada is Co-founder and Adviser of DeNA, a global Internet company focused on a social games platform, social games, e-commerce and other Web services for mobile devices and PCs. ## Koichiro Yoshida - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Internet, Software, Virtual Reality Founder and CEO at CrowdWorks. # 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