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PE/VC/Angel investor list in Japan

Japan has a large tech-savvy domestic market. This is both the luck and the demon for start-ups. Japanese entrepreneurs are too focused on the local market. They can succeed easily but can not grow internationally. Online marketplace Mercari is the first successful unicorn in Japan however they failed to continue their success in the US market. To tackle this Japanese government launched J-startup program to help local startups grow in overseas markets. Japanese Venture Capital funds and Angel Investors are highly risk aversive and usually prefer to invest in domestic-market focused start-ups. In terms of available funds to invest, Japan is a promising market. Japanese start-ups received $3.5 billion investment in 2018 while that amount was $586 million in 2012. Sansan, Japan Taxi, Folio, Freee are among the major start-ups that received venture capital. Fintech, Healthtech and AI are the hottest industries. Softbank and its $100 billion Vision Fund with its massive investments in global start-ups such as Uber, WeWork have changed the investment landscape in Japan. Long established conglomerates like KDDI, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Tokyu Corporation followed suit and began to invest in tech startups.