Reports
These are the main public sources on Japanese venture funding. We summarise them in our own words. For the full charts and text, read the originals.
| Report | Publisher | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Japan Startup Finance 2026 H1 Half-year review of Japanese startup funding, exits and new funds. Japanese. | Speeda (INITIAL) | Jul 2026 |
| Japan Startup Finance 2025 (English summary) Annual figures for 2025: totals excluding debt, median round, investor mix, fund formation. | Speeda (INITIAL) | Jun 2026 |
| Japan Startup Finance 2025 full report Full downloadable report with sector, stage and fund breakdowns (free registration). | Speeda (INITIAL) | Jan 2026 |
| H1 2026 Startup Investment Trends Independent count that splits equity from debt and grants. Japanese. | STARTUP DB | Jul 2026 |
| VC Investment Trend Survey What Japanese VC firms report investing each quarter, by stage and sector. | Venture Enterprise Center (VEC) | Quarterly; FY2025 prelim. Jun 2026 |
| Fast-growing Startup Market in Japan Deck aimed at foreign institutional investors, available in English. | Japan Venture Capital Association (JVCA) | Dec 2025 |
| JIC investment record Government-backed LP: fund commitments, capital paid in and downstream startup investment. | Japan Investment Corporation (JIC) | As of Mar 2026 |
| JIC VC fund portfolio List of private VC funds JIC has committed to. | Japan Investment Corporation (JIC) | Updated 2026 |
How our numbers compare
Jan to Jun 2026. Other sources count every startup round they can find, including small ones, and keep adding rounds from registry filings for months afterwards. We count every Japanese startup round, but only equity with a disclosed figure goes into our totals. Rounds that are undisclosed, cumulative-only, disputed or mix in debt are listed but not added.
| Metric | The Raising Sun | INITIAL | STARTUP DB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equity raised | ¥193.1B (155 rounds) | ¥377.9B | ¥443.3B |
| Total incl. debt | ¥288.5B | n/a | ¥503.3B |
| Companies funded | 352 | n/a | 1,061 |
| Median round | ¥520M | ¥62.4M (2025) | ¥100M |
| Rounds of ¥5B+ | 8 (¥67.7B) | 9 (¥78.0B) | n/a |
| New funds | 9 (¥47.0B) | 79 (¥139.3B) | n/a |
By value we capture about half of the equity INITIAL records and nearly 90% of rounds of ¥5B or more. By number of funded companies we have about a third of what STARTUP DB counts. The gap is mostly small rounds: many are never covered in the news, and others show up only later in registry filings, which we don't buy. Some gaps are about timing and method. INITIAL books Sakana AI at ¥31B in H1 from registry filings, but the company disclosed about ¥12B of new money in 2026. Turing and Starlight Engine announced in July, so we count them in H2. Our median is higher because we still miss many small rounds, and those with no disclosed amount can't be counted.
Sources: Speeda/INITIAL, as of 22 Jul 2026, excluding debt; STARTUP DB preliminary figures, Jul 2026. Our data as of 17 Oct 2026, by announcement date.