Thinking of Japan often evokes notions of bleeding-edge tech mixed with deep tradition and culture. The country’s startups, however, haven’t seen the sort of growth that upstart tech companies in other parts of the world have. There are signs that those tides are turning, though, with startup funding increasing along with the number of active domestic venture capital firms. The Japanese government has also promised enthusiastic support to boost the startup ecosystem in an effort to ramp up annual startup investments tenfold to 10 trillion yen ($71.5 billion) by 2027.
2022 was a record year for the Japanese VC market, in stark contrast to global VC investments trending downward. Even in the first quarter of 2023, Japanese VC investment slightly increased owing to active seed and Series A funding deals; but later-stage funding was tough for startups, per a report by KPMG.
Gen Isayama, co-founder and CEO of World Innovation Lab, said this might be because “most of Japan’s startups are early-stage startups that tend to be isolated from periods of economic uncertainty and downturns — a function of being seven to 10 years from the time of the IPO.”
Startups in Japan received 877.4 billion yen ($6.2 billion) in 2022, up from 850.8 billion yen ($6 billion) in 2021, per a recent report by Initial. The amount of funding raised by Japan-based startups was estimated at $625 million in 2013, the report said. To put this in context, startups in New York alone raised $2.9 billion in 2013.
We spoke to investors who actively invest in Japanese startups to get a better understanding of how the startup scene in Japan has changed from before and after the pandemic and their following plans.
The money managers are optimistic despite uncertain macroeconomics, which could have a limited impact on Japan’s startup ecosystem, and geopolitical risks between the U.S. and China, which could benefit Japan. However, they pointed out that later-stage funding would still be challenging for startups in the country in 2023.
“The decline is happening in all markets [in the world] and at all stages … the impact on Japan is somewhat limited, but it is also true that Japan is a smaller market compared to its GDP and should be growing much more,” said the CEO of Sony Ventures Corporation Gen Tsuchikawa.
“There have been two things that have benefited Japan recently. One is that the rising concerns around China have caused investors to look at neighboring Japan as a more predictable alternative,” said James Riney, founding partner and CEO of Coral Capital. “Another is Warren Buffet’s investment in and endorsement of Japan. Many investors seemed to be listening to the Oracle of Omaha and locking in on Japan’s opportunities.”
Although global macroeconomics doesn’t help at this time, Japan is gearing up to accelerate its startup scene.
“We expect the amount of funding to increase with the government’s support,” said Tsuyoshi Ito, CEO of Beyond Next Ventures. “The Japanese government has designated 2022 as the ‘First Year of Startup Creation’ and announced a five-year plan to foster startups, which includes a record amount of approximately 1 trillion yen in startup support measures.”
“Large Japanese corporations have slowed down quite a bit in recent years. Startups and their innovation can help boost the Japanese economy one more time,” said Anis Uzzaman, founder and chief executive of Pegasus Tech Ventures. “… the current government’s initiative can help the country prepare and get ready for the next challenge and give birth to lots of startups.”
We spoke with:
- Gen Isayama, co-founder and CEO, World Innovation Lab (WiL)
- Tsuyoshi Ito, CEO and founding partner, Beyond Next Ventures
- Katsuya Hashizume, executive officer/partner, Beyond Next Ventures
- Gen Tsuchikawa, CEO, Sony Ventures Corporation
- James Riney, CEO and founding partner, Coral Capital
- Anis Uzzaman, founder and CEO, Pegasus Tech Ventures
(Editor’s note: The following surveys have been edited for length and clarity. These answers are strictly limited to Japan and do not encompass all of Asia.)
Gen Isayama, co-founder and CEO of World Innovation Lab
We’re seeing a significant drop in VC funding in Asia’s first quarter this year. How has your VC investment strategy changed along with the market condition?
Our strategy has not shifted per se. Yes, the market is slowing down, but the top companies will always have something to offer. For example, according to the STARTUP DB ranking, the top 10 Japan deals in Q1’23 raised more money (59.2 billion yen) than the top 10 deals in Q1’22 (53.1 billion yen). Even during the VC funding boom, we were strategic and cautious and tried to pursue companies with what we found to be good intrinsic value instead of paying inflated valuations, and we plan on doing that going forward as well.
What caused the lowest funding in Asia since 2021? Do you think the VC funding will continue to decline this year? What are your prospects regarding funding volumes in Asia in 2023 and 2024? Do you expect it will bounce back anytime soon?
We are facing increasing uncertainty around the world. The rise in geopolitical risks, such as the Ukraine invasion and all-time high U.S.-China tensions, as well as increasing interest rates and uncertainty about economic stability, are all leading people and firms across the board to be more cautious about how they deploy their money.
However, according to CNBC, there is speculation that some of the central banks in Asia-Pacific have already reached the end of their interest rates tightening cycle and might be heading toward holding or cutting the interest rates in the second half of the year. In our experience, this would positively impact the stock markets, which would then translate into improving IPO prospects and potentially more activity in the later-stage deals.
How does the investment trend in Japan differ from other regions like the U.S. and Europe?
Japan’s market is slightly more isolated than that of the U.S. For example, 2022 was a record year for the Japanese VC market. This is due to the fact that the Japanese VC market is less mature, which affects the supply and demand dynamics of funding.
Supply: Domestic VCs are still being actively set up in Japan. For example, according to Initial Inc., a Japanese startup information platform, the number of VC funds investing in Japanese startups has grown by nearly 40% over the last three years as of January 2023.
Demand: Most of Japan’s startups are early-stage startups that tend to be isolated from periods of economic uncertainty and downturns — a function of being seven to 10 years removed from the time of the IPO.
While there might be a short-term fall in funding due to geopolitical risks and spillover effects from [the Federal Reserve] raising interest rates, we are generally optimistic about the direction of the Japanese market.
Are deals competitive in terms of deal sourcing and/or valuations? How does it now differ from unrealistic valuations in 2020-2022?
In our experience, deals have become more competitive in seed and early rounds as the prospect of the stock market is ambiguous, and investors appear to be reluctant to invest in later-phase companies.
Valuations of seed to early phase companies have not come down due to the influx of funds into those phases, and dry powder, which was raised during 2021-2022, is still abundant.
The biggest drop among all rounds year to year was in late-stage growth rounds. What does your firm prefer now? Are you focusing on more early- or late-stage startups?
Although we have adopted a multistage strategy, we are focusing more on early- to mid-stage startups and making follow-on investments for good assets in their later phase financing rounds.
What advice would you give your portfolios to survive the current challenging market?
Focus on preserving the runway, making your operations sustainable, and meeting the milestones needed for the next round. Communicate proactively with your investors and ask them for the help they promised at the time of investment.
What is the most important thing you look for in startups and founders when you invest? What should founders prepare before they pitch for fundraising?
It depends on the stage. For earlier investments, we want to know not only why the idea would work but also why your team can best execute it. We also like companies that make the world a better place, and we love founders who have a global mindset and ambition to expand to new markets. For later stages, we also need to see solid traction metrics.
How does your firm prefer to be pitched? Are you open to cold pitches?
We are always open to talking to interesting founders. The best way is probably to look up our investor bios on our website to see who covers which sector and to reach out to the investor directly.
What sectors does your firm keep an eye on?
B2B SaaS, fintech, insurance tech, automation and productivity, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, developer tools, health tech and sustainability
How do you expect to see the Japanese government’s startup plans successfully adapted in five years? What are the current problems and solutions in the Japanese startup ecosystem?
The Japanese startup ecosystem is still in the process of addressing some of the challenges pertaining to the following:
- Talent: lack of investment professionals and a relatively small number of entrepreneurs.
- Funding: lack of major limited partner players that are present in other ecosystems, e.g., pension funds; domestic VC funds are still being actively established.
- Non-monetary support: founders need active mentoring, e.g., the presence of incubators, as well as assistance with overseas expansion, etc. The government cannot address all these challenges on its own, but the five-year plan is a good first step in the right direction.
Is there anything you’d like to comment on that we didn’t ask?
We are very bullish on Japan’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and are happy to help both overseas founders and fellow investors become active participants in it.
Tsuyoshi Ito, CEO/founding partner, and Katsuya Hashizume, executve officer/partner, Beyond Next Ventures
We’re seeing a significant drop in VC funding in Asia’s first quarter this year. How has your VC investment strategy changed along with the market condition?
According to “Japan Startup Finance 2022,” compiled by Initial, the amount of funding in 2021 was about 850.8 billion yen (~$6 billion), and in 2022 it will be 877.4 billion yen (~$6.2 billion), showing an increasing trend, and we do not have the impression that it will decrease significantly in 2023.
However, there is a possibility that investment by institutional investors in the middle and later stages will decrease, as is the case overseas. For new investments, we carefully select businesses that will make a significant change in society and excellent management teams who can involve people inside and outside the company, including investors, to be able to raise funds even in this environment.
What caused the lowest funding in Asia since 2021? Do you think the VC funding will continue to decline this year? What are your prospects regarding funding volumes in Asia in 2023 and 2024? Do you expect it will bounce back anytime soon?
As mentioned above, the decline in funding in Asia is mainly due to China and India. Regarding Japan, we expect the amount of funding to increase with the government’s support. The Japanese government has designated 2022 as the “First Year of Startup Creation” and announced a five-year plan to foster startups, which includes a record amount of approximately 1 trillion yen (~$7.1 billion) in startup support measures.
In addition to human resource development, the creation of overseas entrepreneurship development centers, and the attraction of overseas entrepreneurs and investors, the government plans to implement measures and revise laws and regulations to allocate funds from government funds, private assets and banks to startups.
How does the investment trend in Japan differ from other regions like the U.S. and Europe?
Unfortunately, Japan has fewer unicorn companies than other countries, and the startup investment is only about 1 trillion yen (~$7.1 billion). Also, as a percentage of GDP, it is 0.08%, which is an order of magnitude lower than its neighbors South Korea and China (0.23% in China and 0.22% in South Korea), according to the Startup Ecosystem Survey by the Cabinet Office and the World Bank. However, this is a growth opportunity and has the potential to be on par with other countries.
The overwhelming difference in investment trends in Japan compared to the U.S., Europe and other countries is the overwhelmingly low amount of middle- and later-stage funding. Approximately 90% of Japanese fundraising is done at the seed/early stage, and the percentage at the later stage is less than 10%. In Europe and the U.S., the figure is about half, which is why support such as that provided by the Japanese government as described above is being provided.
The winning formula in Japan is a high level of science and R&D capability that has produced several Nobel Prizes. For this reason, we focus on “deep tech startups,” and many of the unicorns in Japan are deep tech startups.
Are deals competitive in terms of deal sourcing and/or valuations? How does it now differ from unrealistic valuations in 2020-2022?
We invest primarily in deep tech, including medical devices, digital health, drug discovery biotech, agrifood tech and climate tech. The background of soaring valuation is mainly IT startups, led by SaaS, and middle- and later-stage financing. Therefore, we have yet to see a significant impact in the areas where we invest.
The biggest drop among all rounds year to year was in late-stage growth rounds. What does your firm prefer now? Are you focusing on more early- or late-stage startups?
Since our fund was launched, we have focused on seed- and early-stage startups in deep tech startups, including companies with researchers in academia. Approximately 90% of our new investments are in seed and early stage, and we actively make follow-on investments in companies in which we have made initial investments.
What advice would you give your portfolios to survive the current challenging market?
We advise our portfolios to thoroughly think through their business strategy with an eye toward future funding. For companies that have been in R&D for a long time, we advise them to synchronize the timing of fundraising with easily visible milestones, such as the first customer acquisition and the start of product sales, to raise the necessary amount of funds, and if they cannot increase the required amount of funds, to thoroughly reduce costs and focus on the business. Deep tech startups cannot proceed with their business if they do not raise funds, so we always consider business strategies in unison with an eye on the next financing round.
What is the most important thing you look for in startups and founders when you invest? What should founders prepare before they pitch for fundraising?
We meet many researchers to invest in deep tech startups. While the research details are essential to the researchers who will be founders, we expect them to tell a story about the impact of their research on society and their big vision. The same is true for entrepreneurs.
How does your firm prefer to be pitched? Are you open to cold pitches?
Pitches are always welcome, as we are delighted to meet with entrepreneurs and researchers considering founding a business. Our mail address is delorean@beyondnextventures.com.
What sectors does your firm keep an eye on?
We are mainly focused on the digital health and agrifood tech areas, where COVID-19 has accelerated innovation, including the rapid penetration of telemedicine. In addition, there is a growing focus on mental health, diabetes and other lifestyle-related diseases, as well as specific conditions such as cancer, heart disease and stroke, and digital health and data health utilizing AI, IoT and 5G as solutions to these issues.
Japan is an attractive country from the perspective of foreign digital therapeutics startups, as it has a better public insurance system than other countries. In the agrifood tech sector, significant countries worldwide have established clear policies for building sustainable food systems. This policy drive has led to a focus on new food ingredients that address issues such as protein shortages and food loss, as well as new agricultural materials that reduce the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. We are also focusing on areas such as biotechnology, space and climate tech.
How do you expect to see the Japanese government’s startup plans successfully adapted in five years? What are the current problems and solutions in the Japanese startup ecosystem?
Many policy funds will likely flow into Japanese startups in the future. We hope that this will be realized in a big way. Especially for deep tech startups, it is essential that the government policy and the direction of the startups are aligned. For example, this year, the government will provide approximately 100 billion yen (~$715 million) in grants for deep tech startups.
The challenges faced by Japanese startups include the following:
- A shortage of domestic management talents.
- Limited access to overseas markets (including a lack of networks with overseas partners and investors).
- A challenging fundraising environment.
Still, creating decacorn company success stories that will be recognized worldwide is necessary. Once a successful case is made, foreign investors will take notice, entrepreneurs will become enthusiastic about becoming the next successful case, and the government will provide further support. In the end, as we have seen in other countries, the overwhelming success stories produce talent and create an ecosystem, so it is necessary to develop such examples.
Gen Tsuchikawa, CEO, Sony Ventures Corporation
We’re seeing a significant drop in VC funding in Asia’s first quarter this year. How has your VC investment strategy changed along with the market condition?
We’re always mindful of the market conditions in Asia and the other markets we have a presence in, like the United States, Europe, Israel and India. However, our strategy is not impacted by short-term swings, as we believe innovation will continue to drive value across all of the markets we invest in.
Our strategy has always been to be selective and take our time to assess the companies we are considering an investment. I will say with recent developments in the market, we are prioritizing spending a great deal of time with all of our current companies to ensure they have the resources they need to continue their work.
What caused the lowest funding in Asia since 2021? Do you think the VC funding will continue to decline this year? What are your prospects regarding funding volumes in Asia in 2023 and 2024? Do you expect it will bounce back anytime soon?
The decline is happening in all markets and at all stages. In terms of the numbers, the impact on Japan is somewhat limited, but it is also true that Japan is a smaller market compared to its GDP and should be growing much more.
How does the investment trend in Japan differ from other regions like the U.S. and Europe?
Japan’s startup market is still very small compared to its GDP, and valuations are affected. But we continue to see healthy investing activity. 2022 was on par with 2021, and we are not seeing the kind of weakness we see in other markets. In fact, Japan’s downside resiliency is quite strong.
Are deals competitive in terms of deal sourcing and/or valuations? How does it now differ from unrealistic valuations in 2020-2022?
We see all markets moving to a more investor-friendly market. Obviously, there are exceptions, like in large language model related AI companies or with companies that have exceptional positioning.
The biggest drop among all rounds year to year was in late-stage growth rounds. What does your firm prefer now? Are you focusing on more early- or late-stage startups?
We are not leaning toward one stage over another and are still very much looking for early-stage, mid-stage and late-stage investment opportunities. Each of our specific funds caters to different stages. We have two specific funds for investments in early-stage companies, with one of those focusing specifically on early-stage environmental investments. The other two funds focus on mid- and late-stage investments, with one being the Sony Innovation Fund 3 L.P. (SIF3) that closed in January.
What advice would you give your portfolios to survive the current challenging market?
It is very hard to generalize the advice, since it is going to depend on the situation surrounding the specific company. Investors need to spend time and be on top of such conditions.
What is the most important thing you look for in startups and founders when you invest? What should founders prepare before they pitch for fundraising?
Overall, we look for companies of all stages that have the potential to redefine their industries in areas such as entertainment, health tech, fintech and deep tech.
More specifically, scalability is one of the most important factors we look at with every startup we consider and partner with. We want to ensure that the startups we work with have a viable product or service that can continue to scale despite outside factors such as market conditions.
In preparation for a meeting with Sony Ventures, founders should clearly lay out how they will scale their product or service, share why that ability to scale is stable and give a vision of the company and how we can make the world a better place.
How does your firm prefer to be pitched? Are you open to cold pitches?
We have approximately 30 investors covering each of the regions and industries we invest in, and you can find the members on our website. Please contact us through our website, and our team will get in touch.
What sectors does your firm keep an eye on?
Since our inception, we have been interested in looking at opportunities in entertainment tech, deep tech, health tech and fintech. We are also carefully assessing opportunities in areas such as web3, which is in a very down market, and generative AI, which comes at a very high valuation. We also consider other areas, including environmental, agritech, food tech and SaaS.
How do you expect to see the Japanese government’s startup plans successfully adapted in five years? What are the current problems and solutions in the Japanese startup ecosystem?
The activity is still in a nascent stage, but the discussion is around all avenues related to strengthening the venture ecosystem, so I am pretty confident we will come out of this stronger.
Is there anything you’d like to comment on that we didn’t ask?
One of the Asian markets we are excited about is India, where we are seeing exciting growth in areas like health tech, fintech and social commerce. This market is of interest to us as we look for future investment opportunities, and we have a team on the ground supporting our current investments there and they are pursuing new ones.
James Riney, founding partner and CEO, Coral Capital
We’re seeing a significant drop in VC funding in Asia’s first quarter this year. How has your VC investment strategy changed along with the market condition?
It hasn’t changed for us. We continue to invest in one to two companies every month. We don’t think too much about short-term fluctuations as we look at decade-long time horizons. It’s important to invest throughout cycles.
What caused the lowest funding in Asia since 2021? Do you think the VC funding will continue to decline this year? What are your prospects regarding funding volumes in Asia in 2023 and 2024? Do you expect it will bounce back anytime soon?
The decline in funding in Asia is not Asia-specific. The capital markets are global, and a lot of capital coming into Asia was from elsewhere, so it is natural that Asia would also be affected. The rising concerns around China have also played a role. Many investors are choosing to pause investments in China and see what happens. With that said, Japan, essentially the Galapagos Islands, saw venture investment in 2022 actually slightly increase YoY.
How does the investment trend in Japan differ from other regions like the U.S. and Europe?
There have been two things that have benefited Japan recently. One is that the rising concerns around China have caused investors to look at neighboring Japan as a more predictable alternative. Another is Warren Buffet’s investment in and endorsement of Japan. Many investors seemed to be listening to the Oracle of Omaha and locking in on Japan’s opportunities.
Are deals competitive in terms of deal sourcing and/or valuations? How does it now differ from unrealistic valuations in 2020-2022?
Since Japan has always been a black box for foreign investors, we were not as affected by the crossover funds and others that were bidding up valuations. So while prices have come down, they were rarely as high as what we heard about in other markets.
The biggest drop among all rounds year to year was in late-stage growth rounds. What does your firm prefer now? Are you focusing on more early- or late-stage startups?
We’ve historically mainly focused on the early stage. However, late-stage valuations are arguably very attractive now. There are great companies that can be invested at more reasonable prices. So we’ve been taking this opportunity to lead more later-stage rounds recently.
What advice would you give your portfolios to survive the current challenging market?
Healthy growth. Rule of 40. Cash is king.
What is the most important thing you look for in startups and founders when you invest? What should founders prepare before they pitch for fundraising?
We look at all the obvious things that investors look at, like strength of team, market size, timing, etc. But many of our investments also fit into one of these two themes:
- Japan category leader: Clear reasons why a local player would dominate a certain market (regulatory, structural, or other inherent entry barriers).
- Japan advantage: Clear reasons why a global category leader would come from Japan (e.g. robotics, biotech, manufacturing, etc.).
How does your firm prefer to be pitched? Are you open to cold pitches?
Seventy percent of the companies we invest in are inbound, many of which are through our website. We’re very open to cold pitches!
What sectors does your firm keep an eye on?
We’re sector agnostic. We invest in everything from SaaS to fusion energy.
How do you expect to see the Japanese government’s startup plans successfully adapted in five years? What are the current problems and solutions in the Japanese startup ecosystem?
We very much welcome the government’s focus on startups as a way to grow the economy. My hope is that the tax issues around stock options and cryptocurrency, M&A incentives and hurdles for foreign investors are addressed.
Is there anything you’d like to comment on that we didn’t ask?
Japan is an overlooked country. We kind of like it that way. But we’re open to speaking with folks interested in investing in Japan, so feel free to reach out.
Anis Uzzaman, founder and CEO, Pegasus Tech Ventures
We’re seeing a significant drop in VC funding in Asia’s first quarter this year. How has your VC investment strategy changed along with the market condition?
We run a special model known as “VC as a service.” We manage corporate venture capital funds for major corporations around the world. We invest in more than 30 startups a year that bring strategic value to our corporate partners. The CVC funds we manage have not slowed down at all, as most of our investments are strategic and we have a long-term vision for collaboration with the startups.
However, as you mentioned, the general VC investments in Asia have slowed down quite a bit. We are seeing down rounds happening at many startups. We are also seeing struggles in fundraising by startups all over Asia.
What caused the lowest funding in Asia since 2021? Do you think the VC funding will continue to decline this year? What are your prospects regarding funding volumes in Asia in 2023 and 2024? Do you expect it will bounce back anytime soon?
I guess the pandemic caused fear and uncertainty among investors in 2021, slowing down the whole startup investment ecosystem. 2023 started with the fallouts of two major startup banks: Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank. The failures of these banks have caused major dents to the overall global startup ecosystem, including the startup ecosystem in Asia.
We are recently hearing that the world will encounter a recession in the second half. With the layoffs ongoing at Big Tech companies, the hope of major recovery looks dim at this time. The public market needs to show signs of recovery for the private market to show confidence. They are tightly integrated and will rebound together as investors gain back confidence in the economy once again.
How does the investment trend in Japan differ from other regions like the U.S. and Europe?
The investments in the U.S. and Europe are larger in size and bold, whereas the investments in Japan are relatively smaller in size. The U.S. and European startups target the global market in most cases and therefore need a lot of capital infusion. The Japanese startups mostly target the domestic/local market and therefore do not require a large amount of capital infusion. The scale of the deal and the startup ecosystem in the U.S. and Europe is a few folds bigger than that of Japan and Asia.
Are deals competitive in terms of deal sourcing and/or valuations? How does it now differ from unrealistic valuations in 2020-2022?
The deals are a lot less competitive today compared to what it was in 2020-2022. Many startups are unable to raise capital at all. Some of them are just relying on the leftover cash they have in their banks to run payroll.
Many of the startups that are out of cash are raising at major down-round valuations. With a lot of late-round startups waiting in the queue for possible IPO, the overall startup market is not looking good at all.
The biggest drop among all rounds year to year was in late-stage growth rounds. What does your firm prefer now? Are you focusing on more early- or late-stage startups?
You are absolutely right that we are seeing the highest slowdown in the later round/final stage startups. We have focused on Series B and later rounds as Pegasus traditionally. We are still trying to stick to round B and later stages. Recently, we have been able to invest in many pre-IPO startups as many of them are waiting for IPO and out of cash stock and doing major down rounds.
What advice would you give your portfolios to survive the current challenging market?
They need to plan well and budget their finances well during the current situation. They need to make sure that they have a conservative budget that can give them the biggest bang for their buck.
All unnecessary marketing spending has to stop as well at this time.
Fundraising has been difficult recently. So, they need to get super creative to convince the top investors to still invest in their startups. They need to be able to give confidence to the investors that they will be able to survive through the current situation and still shine.
Communicating and setting up the right expectation for the company employees will be important during these difficult times. It will also be important to communicate the current company strategy for the survival of the investor and customers so that everyone’s expectations remain balanced.
What is the most important thing you look for in startups and founders when you invest? What should founders prepare before they pitch for fundraising?
We look for the best people working in the startups. The people make the highest difference. So, I want to test their patience level and also try to understand how flexible they can be. Flexibility, patience and endurance are some of the qualities required for a startup founder to be successful.
Founders should know the problem they are trying to resolve through the startup well. They should also know about their competitors and the formula to defeat them well. The founders need to be creative and flexible as the company might need to change direction based on the market response.
How does your firm prefer to be pitched? Are you open to cold pitches?
We would like to be approached by people who have creative ideas and the right vision of how they can still survive in today’s tough economy with their ideas and dreams. We are open to cold pitches and people can send me their business plans and pitch decks at uzzaman@pegasusventures.com.
What sectors does your firm keep an eye on?
Health care, clean tech, AI, big data, automotive, space tech, chemical and fintech are some of our main interest areas.
How do you expect to see the Japanese government’s startup plans successfully adapted in five years? What are the current problems and solutions in the Japanese startup ecosystem?
I feel that this scheme announced and initiated by the Japanese government is going to help the country a great deal. Japanese large corporations have slowed down quite a bit in recent years. Startups and their innovation can help boost the Japanese economy one more time. Currently, the country does not have enough startup infrastructure to grow and support lots of startups inside the country. But the current government initiative can help the country prepare and get ready for the next challenge and give birth to lots of startups.
Is there anything you’d like to comment on that we didn’t ask?
I want all startups to not give up hope. Make the best use of capital more effectively during these hard times. Have strong plans in place to convince investors even during these tough times.