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Japan ’s startup sector , despite being one of the bighearted in the globe , has remand behind other regions like the U.S. , China , and the U.K. , in term of the figure of unicorns and the scale of venture capital investing . For years , an aging population , overall economic deflation , and salarymen ’s leaning to work at traditional , big corporation meant the startup life was n’t an attractive one for many .
For context : Per arecent IMF reportthat cites CB Insights data , as of October 2023 , the U.S. had about 661 unicorns , China reckon 172 , and the U.K. had 52 . Japan had a mere seven unicorns . ( PitchBook pegs the figure of Nipponese startups at nine , so it ’s potential we have more unicorn in the market place than these datasets suggest . )
But matter are see up — somewhat . Young alumnus are progressively split up from the mold , prefer to strike out on their own instead of work within existing corporate systems . And the Nipponese government activity is trying to draw in interest group in the land ’s startup once again .
The government activity ’s “ Startup Development Five - Year Plan , ” for one , was launch in 2022 and aim tohelp make 100,000 startup and foster 100 unicorn by 2027by promoting incubator , strengthening support with a venture stock , branch out way out avenues , and more . The Tokyo Metropolitan Government earlier this year launchedTokyo Innovation Base , a startup hub that organise networking events and pitch competitions and offers workspace for founders . There ’s also aStartup Visathat make it well-to-do for venture capital firms , startups , and accelerators to set up in Japan , and there ’s aspecial tax system for angel investors . It help that the body politic is dwelling house toabout 130 catalyst , which is n’t too bad give the sizing of the market .
Despite these advantages , most of the speculation capital invested in Japan fare from outside it . The IMF theme mentionedfound that between 2010 and 2023 , investors from the U.S. accounted for 50 % of investing in Nipponese inauguration , investor from the U.K. made up about 10 % , and Nipponese investor lagged at only 5 % .
For example , Bessemer Venture Partners recentlyinvested for the first time in a Nipponese inauguration , a food - delivery company call in Dinii . “ Having been fortunate to be a fundamental investor in Toast in the U.S. , supporting it to become a $ 13 billion party , we see a similar element of success in Dinii , ” Bryan Wu of Bessemer Venture Partners say at the metre .
Nipponese startups usually make up one’s mind to go public rather in their development than startups in other countries . For exemplar , they may go public after just a yoke of backing unit of ammunition , thanks to the Tokyo Stock Exchange ’s lenient IPO ruler . So it ’s likely we might see the unicorn listed below doing an IPO rather than after .
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Here are a few unicorns from Japan that are worth keeping an eye on .
Spiber
Total backing raised:$653 million
Last funding round:$65 million ( 10 billion JPY ) in April 2024
Spibergrabbed investor , and customers ’ , aid quite quickly with its environs - friendly biomaterials that have a huge array of applications . company across the style , cosmetics , and automotive industriousness use Spiber ’s materials instead of animal , works , or synthetical material , and its customer admit Pangaia , the North Face , Goldwin , Woolrich , Shiseido Japan , and Toyota .
In April this twelvemonth , itraised about $ 65 million ( 10 billion JPY)to scale up production of its “ Brewed Protein ” material , which have app in textile production . It has300 employees , and the company last yearset up an office in Paristo kick upstairs its business in Europe .
SmartNews
Total backing raised:$479 million
Last fund round:$69.3 million venture debt round in January 2024
cardinal investor : Atomico , Asian Capital Alliance , Development Bank of Japan , Globis Capital Partners , Japan Post Capital , JIC Venture Growth Investments , SMBC Venture Capital , Social Venture Partners , Princeville Capital , and Woodline Partners .
Founded in 2012 , news aggregatorSmartNewssought to take a new approach as a news provider : It partnered with publications to offer a individualized and aerodynamic news provender to users . It launch in the U.S. in 2014 and cursorily saw its fortune burgeon . It became the first tidings inauguration to reach a billion - dollar mark rating since 2015 , and then in 2021 , its rating shot up to $ 2 billion .
The startup , however , hasfound it hard to continue usersas societal medium platforms like X , Threads , Mastodon , and Bluesky seek to position themselves as places to translate break news program . The inauguration counted 1.7 million day by day active users between Q1 2023 and Q3 2023 , down intimately 30 % from a year earlier , according to SensorTower .
SmartHR
Total funding raised:$362 million
Last funding round:$140 million Series E in June 2024
fundamental investor : Beenext , Coral Capital , KKR , Light Street Capital , Sequoia Capital Global Equities , Teachers ’ Ventures Growth ( Arm of Ontario Teachers ’ Pension Plan ) , World Innovation Lab , and Whole Rock .
Colorado - founded in 2015 by Kensuke Naito and Shoji Miyata , SmartHR has been seeing strong need for its SaaS weapons platform , which help enterprisingness make do and streamline human resources and mathematical operation , in the preceding couple of years . ItsARR hit $ 100 millionin February 2024 , up from $ 80 million in FY 2023 . SmartHR joined the unicorn club after raising about $ 115 million Series D at a valuation of $ 1.6 billion in May 2021 .
Sakana AI
full funding raised:$230 million
Last funding round:$200 million funding in Series A in September
Key investor : Dai - ichi Life , Fujitsu , Global Brain , Itochu , JAFCO , Khosla Ventures , Lux Capital , Mizuho , Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group ( MUFG ) , New Enterprise Associates , Nomura , Nvidia , SBI , Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation ( SMBC ) , Sony , Translink Capital , and 500 Global .
found in 2023 by former Google AI engineer , Sakana AIfocuses on training small - monetary value generative AI models using little datasets . The company’sco - beginner and CEO , David Ha , antecedently work as the head of inquiry at Stability AI and was a research worker at Google .
The inauguration collaborates with Nvidia , the University of Oxford , and the University of British Columbia on enquiry , data centerfield , and AI infrastructure . Sakana has 20 staff and has garner good amounts of attention in Japan , which is keen to catch up to the U.S. and U.K. in the AI race — it even managed to secure processing clock time on one of Japan ’s supercomputers . The startup put forward a massive Series A round of drinks ( about $ 214 million ) in September at a valuation of $ 1.5 billion from major Nipponese banks and tech companies .
Preferred Networks
Total financing raised:$152.19 million
Last fund round:$8.1 million Series C in 2018
primal investor : Chugai Pharma , FANUC , Hakuhodo DY , Hitachi , JXTG , Mitsui , Mizuho Bank , Tokyo Electron , and Toyota .
Founded in 2014,Preferred Networksdesigns semiconducting material for use with AI , develops software for them , and builds reproductive AI introduction models . The company has deep learning and machine eruditeness models for covering in robotics , manufacture systems , drug breakthrough , 3D scanning , autonomous drive , tocopherol - DoC , and solid food inspection .
The startup in Septemberlanded a significant 69 billion yen ( about $ 463 million ) investmentfrom Nipponese financial services business firm SBI Holdings to formulate semiconductors specifically for AI applications . And it has get Samsung to build2 - nm poker chip for AI .
OPN
full financing raised:$222 million
Last funding round:$120 million Series C+ fund in May 2022
central investor : JIC Venture Growth Investments , Mars Growth Capital , MUFG , and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
OPN , a fintech startup formerly acknowledge as Synqa , first started its byplay in Bangkok , Thailand , in 2014 . OPN offer a range of services , including mobile payments , on-line payments , and virtual cards , to over 7,000 merchants . Its customers admit Toyota as well asThai firmssuch as responsibility - free computer memory operator King Power , telco company genuine , and online insurance policy provider Roo Jai .
The company now operates in Japan , Singapore , Indonesia , Malaysia , the Philippines , and Vietnam . In 2022 , the company gain U.S.-based MerchantE for about$400 millionto establish a presence in the U.S. Most lately , the companionship announceda strategical partnership with BigPay , a Malaysian e - wallet platformthat was recently launch in Thailand .
This article has been update with information from Sakana AI .
