When perusing the Japanese startup space, you will quickly discover that there are a significant number of venture capital firms and startup accelerators. Before partnering or doing business with any of them, you’ll need to carry out your own due diligence. Coincidentally, Gloture can help with that.
In this article, we’ll briefly outline our top five picks of Japanese startup accelerators and VC firms, including a short introductory description of each.
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OPEN NETWORK LAB
This startup accelerator is similar to VC firm groundbreakers like TechStarts and Y Combinator. Based in Tokyo, Open Network Lab was established by the trio of kakaku.com, Netprice.com and Digital Garage. Their objective is to provide funding and mentorship to startups coming from abroad.
MOVIDA JAPAN
Movida Japan is owned by Taizo Son, the younger brother of Masayoshi, the owner of Softbank. The company objective is to develop a robust ecosystem for Japanese startups to grow. They primarily deploy their resources into the following sectors:
- Smartphones
- Digital content distribution
- Social media
- Cloud-related innovations
- Social Curations
- Smart robots
- Education
Established in May 2009 and based in Tokyo, Movida Japan has so far made ¥5million in investments. Those investments were made in exchange of convertible bonds.
SAMURAI INCUBATE
Samurai Incubate is a leading startup Venture Capital firm in Japan. The company was founded in 2008 with the sole aim of supporting startup business that focus on management, finance, human resources, sales, and marketing. Along with the support they provide startups, Samurai Incubate serves as an external director for some companies.
Samurai Incubate is the first startup accelerator with branches spread across both Tokyo and Tel-Aviv. They’ve empowered over 120 startups, including 30 Israeli firms. Their first branch opened outside of Japan was in Tel-Aviv in 2014.
Plus, they have a really cool sounding name.
DOCOMO INNOVATION VILLAGE
Branching from the telecommunications network, Docomo Innovation Village is a startup accelerator that primarily focuses on Japan-based companies. Their major area of concern is promoting any businesses, services or technology connected to the field of mobility. Docomo Innovation Village has a reputation for maintaining follow ups with startups until they have achieved stability.
CYBERAGENT VENTURES
CyberAgent Ventures is a subsidiary of CyberAgent Inc and it is a leading Japanese VC firms. They specialize in empowering startups and companies that are still in the incubation stage. The firm’s objective is to invest in the following areas:
- Mobile application
- Mobile application developers
- E-commerce
- Mobile gaming
- Online shopping
- Advertising
- Social media
- Online education
- Mobile Internet
- Online jobs
- Internet
- Offline-to- online sectors
- Fintech
- Internet-related sectors
The company prefers to deploy resources into East and South East Asian countries such as Taiwan, China, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand.
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