Biotechnology/ Materials/ Energy

Company
Headquarters/ Business/ Capital/ The number of employees

Anaer pharma Science
Tokyo/R&D of new medicine / ¥100M/ 18

INCUBATION ALLIANCE INC
Kobe/ Carbon fiber/ ¥300M/ 23

Exergy Power Systems
Tokyo/ Development of storage battery/ ¥100M/ 20

enechange
Tokyo/ Website of electricity comparison/ ¥1.3B/ 47

ELIIY Power
Tokyo/ Development of lithium-ion battery/ ¥31.5B/ 334

Curadim Pharma
Tokyo/R&D of new medicine / ¥1.3B/ 4

Green Earth Institute
Tokyo/ Green chemicals / ¥200M/ 17

Quantum Biosystems
Tokyo/ DNA sequencing / ¥1.6B/ 22

NExT-e Solutions
Tokyo/ New battery system/ ¥1.6B/ 16

BONAC CORPORATION
Fukuoka/ Development of nucleic acid medicine/ ¥1.4B/ 29

Microwave Chemical
Osaka/ Efficient production of chemical compounds/¥3.6B/ 41

Looop
Tokyo/ Solar power system/ ¥700M/ 220

CONNEXX SYSTEMS
Kyoto/ Energy storage technology/ ¥100M/ 34

iPS Potal
Kyoto/ R&D of new medicine with iPS/ ¥1.6B/ 24

TBM
Tokyo/ LIMEX products (paper alternatives)/ ¥5.1B/ 80

Healthcare/ Others

Company
Headquarters/ Business/ Capital/ The number of employees

amidus
Tokyo/Support for development of new businesses/ ¥10M/ 20

Integrity Healthcare
Tokyo/ Support for doctors’ medical examinations/ ¥500M/ 34

CAPABLE
Kyoto/ Development of precision metal mold/ ¥100M/ 25

Minrevi
Tokyo/ Funeral service/ ¥1B/ 60

Medical Note
Tokyo/ Support for medical institutes’ management

MEDCARE
Tokyo/ Telediagnosis service/ ¥300M/ 18

MEDLEY
Tokyo/ Medical Healthcare/ ?/ 188

Life is Tech!
Tokyo/ IT education for teenagers/ ¥500M/ 600

Renoveru
Tokyo/ Remodeling/ ¥500M/ 198

FiNC
Tokyo/ Support for diet/ ¥2.2B/ 230

22 have already surpassed ¥10B

Among the 108 startups, there’re 22 companies whose market capitalization has already surpassed ¥10B. Here’s the top 10.

(Company/ Estimated company’s value)

1. Preferred Networks/ ¥232.6B (Unicorn)
2. Mercari/ ¥147.9B (Unicorn)
3. sansan/ ¥50.5B
4. Eliily Power/ ¥40.4B
5. Freee/ ¥39.4B
6. BIZRESCH/ ¥333.8B
7. TBM/ ¥29.2B
8. FiNC/ ¥22.5B
9. RakSul/ ¥21.9B
10. BONAC/ ¥21.7B

It can be clearly seen that the list of top startups was dominated by companies working on AI or IT businesses.

Preferred Networks was funded by TOYOTA in 2017 (¥10.5B)

Japan Venture Research, a Tokyo-based research agency, investigated 1,000 unlisted Japanese startup companies about their funding. According to their investigation, in 2016, the total funding of the 1,000 startups reached ¥210B, a 20% increase compared with the year earlier and the highest in history.

It’s still just 2~3% of the amount of investment in startup companies in the U.S. However, since a number of companies (or industries) are in transition, traditional large enterprises like TOYOTA have started funding or cooperating with startups in order to acquire innovative next-generation technologies.

So, the startup environment has begun to change in Japan.