JapanPlatform
Asia · Pop. 124M · #15 startup ecosystem by EV
1 Overview
* C→Unicorn and Unicorn→Decacorn rates are derived from current counts (no founding-cohort data); the four mid-funnel rates use Dealroom's cohort tracking.
2 Latest quarter
Japan's latest quarter in venture capital
VC raised by Japan-headquartered companies in the quarter shown, against the quarter before and the same quarter a year earlier.
Latest complete quarter
Loading VC raised by Japan-headquartered companies…
3 Largest rounds
Largest funding rounds in Japan
A live treemap of $40M+ rounds from the Dealroom API. Each cell is one round into a company headquartered in Japan, grouped by Dealroom sector.
Largest rounds in Japan - 2024–2026
4 Startup hubs
Inside Japan: 8 startup hubs, 900 universities
Hubs are sized by combined enterprise value; universities by the startup founders they produced. Hover any point for its numbers; the lists rank hubs by EV and universities by founders.
5 VC investment
How much venture capital flows into Japan
VC investment into Japan-headquartered, VC-backed companies, broken down by round size, company location, sector and funding stage.
6 Deep Tech focus
Deep Tech in Japan
Deep Tech companies took $2.2B of VC in 2025, 32% of Japan's total and 5.9× the 2016 figure. Japan has 543 VC-backed deep tech startups worth $117B combined, with 5 unicorns. The section compares Japan with East Asia and the world on the same lens. About Deep Tech on Dealroom.
Deep Tech took $2.2B of Japan's $7.0B VC in 2025
Deep Tech VC into Japan-headquartered companies grew 5.9× from 2016 to 2025, against 3.6× for all VC. The peak year was 2025 at $2.2B. The current year is to date.
- Deep Tech
- Other VC
Deep Tech was 32% of Japan's VC in 2025, below both East Asia and the world
Each line is the share of the year's VC capital that went to deep tech companies. East Asia is the China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong total. The world and East Asia lines follow the year's largest deep tech rounds, so a handful of deals move them. The current year is to date.
- Japan
- East Asia
- World
Japan ranks 3rd of 5 East Asia countries on the deep tech share of VC
China put $185B into deep tech since 2021, 20 times Japan's $9.0B. Japan has 543 VC-backed deep tech startups, the 2nd-largest pool in the region, and 5 deep tech unicorns. The current year is to date.
Deep Tech share of VC, 2021–2026
East Asia countries, 2021–2026
| Country | Deep Tech VC 2021–2026 | Rounds | VC-backed deep tech startups | Deep Tech unicorns | VC per startup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | $185B | 4,866 | 2,956 | 184 | $63M |
| South Korea | $11B | 783 | 534 | 12 | $21M |
| Japan | $9.0B | 903 | 543 | 5 | $17M |
| Hong Kong | $1.6B | 76 | 89 | 3 | $18M |
| Taiwan | $880M | 61 | 109 | 6 | $8M |
Greater Tokyo holds 82% of Japan's deep tech VC since 2016; in East Asia it ranks 7th of 26 hubs
Bubble area is deep tech VC into companies headquartered in the hub. Tsuruoka ($678M) and Osaka–Kobe ($360M) follow Greater Tokyo inside Japan. In East Asia, Beijing ($40B) and Shanghai ($27B) lead since 2021.
Japan · since 2016
- 1. Greater Tokyo1,410 rounds$11B
- 2. Tsuruoka8 rounds$678M
- 3. Osaka–Kobe142 rounds$360M
- 4. Nagoya53 rounds$351M
- 5. Fukuoka57 rounds$296M
- 6. Kyoto77 rounds$295M
East Asia · since 2021
- 1. Beijing587 rounds$40B
- 2. Shanghai488 rounds$27B
- 3. Shenzhen503 rounds$16B
- 4. Hefei47 rounds$9.9B
- 5. Seoul533 rounds$9.5B
- 6. Hangzhou223 rounds$7.3B
Deep Tech is 8% of Japan's VC-backed startups and 34% of those that raised $100M+
Each row counts companies headquartered in Japan that reached the stage; bars are scaled to the first row of each column. 36% of VC-backed deep tech startups raised $10M or more, against 15% across all Japan startups. 63 VC-backed deep tech startups have exited.
| Stage | Deep Tech startups | All Japan startups | Deep Tech share of the stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Startups founded since 1990 | |||
| VC-backed | |||
| Raised $10M+ | |||
| Raised $50M+ | |||
| Raised $100M+ | |||
| Unicorns |
Japan's deep tech startups are worth $117B combined, 22% of the country's startup value
Combined enterprise value sums the latest valuation of every deep tech startup headquartered in Japan at the end of each year, listed companies included. It was $5.4B at the end of 2016 and $89B at the end of 2025. East Asia's deep tech startups are worth $3.3T, so Japan holds 4% of the region's deep tech value.
The label above each column is the deep tech share of the combined value of all Japan startups that year.
Energy, Transportation and Robotics took 48% of Japan's deep tech VC since 2021
Left: deep tech VC by the industry of the company since 2021; a company with two industries counts in both. Right: the same capital by round stage. Series C and later rounds took 58% of the capital.
By industry
By round stage
Sakana AI, Preferred Networks and Spiber lead Japan's deep tech startups by valuation
The 12 most valuable VC-backed deep tech startups headquartered in Japan that have not exited, with the latest valuation Dealroom holds and total funding raised. Below, the 10 largest deep tech VC rounds since 2024: Spiber $314M, Preferred Networks $182M and Sakana AI $170M.
Sakana AIEnterprise Software · Tokyo · founded 2023$2.6Bvaluation$335Mraised
Preferred NetworksSemiconductors · Tokyo · founded 2014$2.0Bvaluation$540Mraised
SpiberFashion · Tsuruoka-Shi · founded 2007$1.2Bvaluation$791Mraised
Genki RoboticsRobotics · Tokyo · founded 2025$1.0Bvaluation$50Mraised
TELEXISTENCERobotics · Tokyo · founded 2017$680Mvaluation$197Mraised
MujinRobotics · Tokyo · founded 2011$636Mvaluation$281Mraised
Interstellar TechnologiesSpace · Hiroo · founded 2013$456Mvaluation$311Mraised
EdgecortixSemiconductors · Tokyo · founded 2019$400Mvaluation$185Mraised
Kyoto FusioneeringEnergy · Tokyo · founded 2019$395Mvaluation$128Mraised
Terra MotorsEnergy · Tokyo · founded 2010$320Mvaluation$203Mraised
AI Medical ServiceHealth · Tokyo · founded 2017$252Mvaluation$115Mraised
Ark Edge SpaceSpace · Tokyo · founded 2018$246Mvaluation$123Mraised
Largest deep tech rounds since 2024
| Company | Round | Stage | Date | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spiber | $314M | Series D | May 2025 | Cool Japan Fund, The Carlyle Group |
| Preferred Networks | $182M | Series D | Sept 2025 | Investors not disclosed |
| Sakana AI | $170M | Series A | Sept 2024 | Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, NEA, 500 Global +15 |
| Mujin | $159M | Series D | Dec 2025 | NTT, Qatar Investment Authority, Mitsubishi HC Capital, Salesforce Ventures |
| Sakana AI | $135M | Series B | Nov 2025 | Factorial Capital, Fundomo, Geodesic Capital, In-Q-Tel +9 |
| Preferred Networks | $131M | Series C | Dec 2024 | SBI Group, Development Bank of Japan, Mitsubishi, Sekisui House +1 |
| Interstellar Technologies | $114M | Series F+ | Jan 2026 | Woven Capital, B Dash Ventures, Nomura Real Estate Development, SBI Group +1 |
| Edgecortix | $100M | Series B | Aug 2025 | Aero X Ventures, Global Hands-On VC, NTT Finance, Pacific Bays Capital +2 |
| Terra Motors | $80M | Series E | Aug 2025 | Investors not disclosed |
 AvanStrate | $78M | Growth | May 2024 | Vedanta Resources |
Source: Dealroom Next Gen API (aggregate, timeseries, entities, transactions), shared authenticated client, retrieved 6 October 2026.
Method
VC rounds are Dealroom is_vc_round rounds, by the year of the round and the headquarters of the company. Startups are companies founded since 1990 that are not closed, not Mature and not Outside Tech. Sector membership is the Deep Tech technology tag. Combined enterprise value is the sum of the latest valuations of those startups at the end of each year. Deep Tech VC by hub groups the platform's city names into metros (Greater Tokyo: Tokyo, Yokohama, Hiroo…; Tsuruoka: Tsuruoka-Shi; Osaka–Kobe: Osaka, Suita-Shi, Kobe…). The funnel counts companies by total funding raised to date; "VC-backed" is Dealroom's label. East Asia is China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
7 Founder origins
Where Japan's unicorn founders build
42 founders born in Japan are behind 21 unicorns; 19% of those were built in the US. Origins are resolved from biography and education history, not current address. Compare with the other origin countries in Asia, ranked by founders or per 1M inhabitants.
8 Location comparison
Unicorns, decacorns and centicorns — Japan in a global comparison
Companies count where they were founded or are headquartered. Values are per 1M people or totals, as a share of the US (US = 100%) or absolute; bars scale to the largest value in each column. Hover any value for the per-1M rate and absolute count.
9 Patent intelligence
Japan startup IP portfolio: 1.5M patent families
Granted patent families assigned to startups headquartered in Japan. Aggregated across the country's hub-level filings — Bay Area, Boston, etc. roll up under the United States row, the same way Tokyo and Osaka roll up under Japan.
10 Sector concentration
Where Japan punches above its weight
Sectors in which Japan's share of the global unicorn pool is bigger than its overall share. A 5× over-index means Japan is 5× more represented in that sector than in the global average. Source: top-hub aggregation across the 18 simplified sectors.
More data
Explore Dealroom data →Get the full Japan ecosystem on Dealroom
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