Funded Artificial Intelligence Startups in Japan
Across the 28 most recent AI funding rounds in Japan, the largest disclosed amount is Sakana AI’s $129M (Series B) on 2025-11-20.
Across the 28 most recent AI funding rounds in Japan, the largest disclosed amount is Sakana AI’s $129M (Series B) on 2025-11-20. All other disclosed rounds shown are far smaller, with the next-highest disclosed amounts at $30M (Minna no Code, 2026-04-28) and $19M twice (MW on 2026-06-11; Atom on 2026-05-27), indicating a clear long-tail distribution anchored by a single large outlier.
Date and geography cluster around Tokyo: 20 of the 28 entries list Tokyo as the city (e.g., Kotoba Technologies on 2026-06-24 at $10M; Tier IV on 2026-06-09 at $6M; Mign on 2026-04-08 at $2M). Temporally, the rows span from 2025-11-20 through 2026-06-25 (the most recent entry, Sazo, at an undisclosed amount), with many rounds concentrated between late April and mid-June 2026. Stage disclosure is also uneven: 8 of 28 entries are “undisclosed” by amount, and 10 of 28 entries are labeled “Series Unknown.”
Most recent rounds
28 shownRelated listings
Frequently asked
What’s the largest disclosed AI round in Japan in this list, and how skewed are the disclosed amounts?
Sakana AI’s $129M (Series B) on 2025-11-20 is the only disclosed round shown that reaches the ~$100M range. The next-largest disclosed amounts are $30M (Minna no Code, 2026-04-28) and two $19M rounds (MW on 2026-06-11; Atom on 2026-05-27), so the largest round dwarfs the rest of the disclosed figures.
Is Tokyo over-represented versus other cities, and what does that imply for targeting?
Yes. Tokyo appears on 20 of 28 entries, including Kotoba Technologies ($10M, 2026-06-24), Tier IV ($6M, 2026-06-09), and Pictoria ($2M, 2026-04-28). Non-Tokyo cities still show up (e.g., Nagoya for Sazo; Osaka for Welmo ($4M, 2026-06-18) and CLACK (undisclosed, 2026-04-15)), but Tokyo is the dominant cluster.
Which companies show up at the very end of the timeline, and what does the recency edge look like?
The most recent row is Sazo on 2026-06-25 (undisclosed amount), followed immediately by Kotoba Technologies on 2026-06-24 ($10M) and dodoAI on 2026-06-18 ($2M). Multiple rounds also fall in the late-April to mid-June window, with entries like Sakana AI (2025-11-20) at the older edge and several 2026-06 dates filling the recent side.
How concentrated are rounds by stage labeling (including “Series Unknown”) and what’s the mix?
Stage labeling is mixed, with 10 of 28 entries marked “Series Unknown” (e.g., Tier IV on 2026-06-09 at $6M; Welmo on 2026-06-18 at $4M; Pyrenee on 2026-05-29 as undisclosed). Among labeled rounds, “Seed” appears frequently (e.g., Kotoba Technologies $10M on 2026-06-24; MW $19M on 2026-06-11), while higher stages include identifiable outliers like Sakana AI’s Series B ($129M, 2025-11-20).
Are there small-ticket or amount-disclosure outliers besides the largest round?
Disclosure varies: 8 of 28 entries list an “undisclosed” amount (e.g., Sazo on 2026-06-25; Malme on 2026-06-12; CLACK on 2026-04-15). Among disclosed amounts, the smallest is Minna no Code’s $30K (2026-04-28), which is much lower than other disclosed rounds such as DJ Insight at $190K (2026-06-08) and Greenphard Energy at $750K (2026-06-17).
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