Startup Funding Wrap-up in Japan – Sept 1st-7th

Welcome to #002 of our Weekly Funding Startup Wrap in Japan – Sept 1st to 7th!

In Japan, we had a big week with ¥21.77 billion (~US$145m/A$225.6m).

Let’s have a look what happened:

🇯🇵 Japan – Capital moves:

• MECHANOCROSS Co., Ltd. – Amount not disclosed (Pre-Series A) – Developing mechanochemical organic synthesis technologies. Cumulative funding now approx. ¥1.0b (~US$6.7m/A$10.4m) – PR Times (Japanese only)
• Sakana Dream – ¥1.0b (~US$6.7m/A$10.4m) Series A – Aquaculture and food-tech startup scaling salmon and other seafood production – PR Times (Japanese only)
• NEXTAGE Inc. – ¥200m (~US$1.3m/A$2.1m) Series A (second close) – Expanding large-scale production of premium wasabi – PR Times (Japanese only)
• Fermelanta, Inc. – ¥2.0b (~US$13.4m/A$20.7m) Series A – Scaling synthetic biology manufacturing capacity – The Bridge (Japanese only)
• KG Motors – ¥1.75b (~US$11.7m/A$18.1m) (includes recent ¥360m top-up) Series A closed – Building single-seat micro-EV “mibot” for mass production – The Bridge (Japanese only)
• LayerX – ¥15.0b (~US$100.3m/A$155.4m) Series B – Accelerating enterprise AI agent strategy – – The Bridge (Japanese only)
• Dr.’s Prime – ¥420m (~US$2.8m/A$4.35m) + debt Series A – Matching doctors with hospitals to address emergency “refusal/turn-away” issues – The Bridge (Japanese only)
• Sousou – ¥300m (~US$2m/A$3.1m) Pre-Series A (second close) – Expanding through telecom and payment service partnerships – The Bridge (Japanese only)
• GiPT – Amount not disclosed Pre-Series A – Raised funding from Yamaha Music Entertainment to expand music IP × generative AI platform – The Bridge (Japanese only)
• Ecommit – Amount not disclosed Series B – Partnering with Mercari to expand reuse/recycling supply chains – The Bridge (Japanese only)
• Tenchijin – ¥700m (~US$4.7m/A$7.25m) Series B – Satellite + AI geospatial SaaS, backed by Frontier and ICJ – The Bridge (Japanese only)
• Thirdverse, Co., Ltd. – ¥200m (~US$1.3m/A$2.07m) Strategic growth investment – Expanding Japan IP social VR; actor Masi Oka joins as advisor – The Bridge (Japanese only)
• AMDLab – ¥200m (~US$1.3m/A$2.07m) Seed – Expanding “DDDDbox” (4D-data platform) for computational science – The Bridge (Japanese only)

JP Total Disclosed = ¥21.77 billion (~US$145.0m/A$225.6m) – excluding MechanoCross (exact raise not broken out), GiPT and Ecommit

Headlines out of Japan:

• New portfolio reveal from Antler Residency in Japan – Batch 4 – Refined Robotics, Avete AI, Logistical, SportsEye, Tokuma Labs and KanjuTech – these six companies secured Antler’s¥24m pre-seed investment, along with an additional commitment of up to ¥37.5m from ARC – Antler Japan (via Linkedin)
• “InnovateHer Tokyo 2025” brings together female leaders taking on global challenges – key sessions on AI, fundraising, and social change announced – PR Times (Japanese only)
• Origin Establishes Venture Co-Creation Hub in Fukuoka – PR Times (Japanese only)
• The reason behind the 5.5 billion yen procurement by Commune: “Trust-based management” and large-scale procurement – The Bridge (Japanese only)
• Japan PM Ishiba says he will step down to take blame for July election rout – Nikkei Japan
• Omron automation center to test solutions for India’s manufacturers – Nikkei Japan
• Japan’s $550bn US investment pledge subject to Trump’s whims – Nikkei Japan
• Yen strengthens against dollar after US jobs data disappoints – Nikkei Japan
• Japanese startup brings AI chips to space in bid to rival Nvidia – Nikkei Japan
• Japan’s MUFG Bank eyes AI tie-up to save 200,000 hours a year – Nikkei Japan
• Sakana AI devising unique Japanese AI, CEO says – Nikkei Japan

Sector Spotlight – Major VCs

• DNX Ventures – Japan – B2B-focused VC with offices in Tokyo and Silicon Valley. Its focus is on cross-border growth.
• Global Brain Corporation – One of Japan’s largest independent funds, with assets under management of over US$2.3 billion. It invests across stages, with strengths in deep tech, AI, and enterprise software.
• Incubate Fund – Japan’s most active seed-stage VC. It manages over US$440 million in assets, with notable investments in SmartHR and Ubie. It is known for its hands-on approach.

Have a awesome week ahead!

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