Participated · Equity · Feb 2026

Rapidus was founded in August 2022 and is led by CEO Atsuyoshi Koike. The company is developing advanced logic chip manufacturing at its IIM-1 facility in Chitose, Hokkaido, with plans to begin 2nm mass production by fiscal 2027. Rapidus works with IBM on process development and with IMEC in Belgium on broader R&D, and NEDO is involved in design projects alongside Fujitsu and IBM Japan. It was initially backed by eight major Japanese companies — Toyota, Sony, NTT, NEC, SoftBank, Denso, Kioxia, and MUFG — and early confirmed customers include Fujitsu and Tenstorrent. The government has become a major backer through sizeable R&D support and a February 2026 investment that left it with 11.5% of voting rights and a golden share veto. Rapidus is positioning itself as an alternative foundry offering small-volume, quick-turnaround services, but faces challenges securing steady customer orders and improving yields given competitors like TSMC and Samsung began 2nm volume production in 2025.

Participated · Series A · Feb 2026

Quali is a medical-robotics company focused on creating robots that support and enhance microsurgical procedures, a field that demands extremely delicate and highly skilled work under a microscope. By inheriting technology cultivated within the Sony Group’s medical robotics research, the startup is engineering products aimed at improving surgical precision, safety, and overall patient quality of life. The company’s overarching goal is to enable broader access to microsurgery by reducing the skill barrier for surgeons and facilitating the social implementation of advanced surgical technologies. Funds from its recent Series A round will be directed toward accelerating product development and clinical readiness of its microsurgery support robots. Quali positions its technology as a solution to the shortage of experienced microsurgeons and aims to integrate its systems into clinical settings worldwide. The firm’s current financial highlight is the ¥1.8 billion it secured in Series A equity financing, although no revenue or user metrics have yet been disclosed.

Participated · Series C · Feb 2026

Founded in 2017, CesiumAstro designs and manufactures full-stack, software-defined communications payloads, processors, and complete small satellites. Its core Element platform combines modular, in-house-built hardware with AI that optimizes signals in real time, allowing operators to reconfigure missions after launch. The technology has been flight-proven on eight SpaceX launches and targets dense low-Earth-orbit constellations as well as defense applications. By integrating payloads, satellites, and processors under one roof, the company aims to shorten upgrade cycles and reduce costs compared with legacy providers. With fresh capital, CesiumAstro will scale U.S. manufacturing, open a 270,000-square-foot headquarters near Austin, and increase hiring in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. The firm also plans to accelerate launches of its Element satellites, advance its AI capabilities, and pursue additional defense contracts through at least 2027.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2025

iSpace builds and operates robotic lunar landers aimed at transporting scientific and commercial payloads to the Moon. Although it has flown two missions, the company has yet to achieve a successful soft landing. Management is now focused on Mission 3 (target launch 2027) and Mission 4 (target launch 2028), which incorporate hardware upgrades intended to improve landing reliability. The firm recently secured new contracts, including a ¥6.4 B deal with JAXA for a lunar water-sensing satellite, a $22 M payload agreement with Magna Petra for Mission 3, and an $8 M delivery contract with the Taiwan Space Agency for Mission 4. Financially, iSpace reported first-quarter FY2025 net losses of ¥2.88 B ($19.2 M), nearly double the prior-year period, and ended the quarter with ¥26.4 B ($175.6 M) in cash—of which ¥15 B ($99.8 M) came from short-term loans. To fund upcoming missions and offset widening losses, the company is turning to the equity markets for additional capital. Proceeds are earmarked for ¥4.8 B to Mission 3 development, ¥9.5 B to Mission 4 work, and ¥4 B for general working capital.

Participated · Series B · Sep 2025

Tenchijin merges satellite big data with proprietary AI algorithms to deliver insights that make invisible ground-level risks and value visible. Its core product, the water-utility digital-transformation service “Uchū Suidokyoku,” launched in April 2023 and has already been adopted by numerous municipalities, surpassing 50 cumulative contracts by September 2025. Beyond water infrastructure, the company is extending its technology stack to agriculture and renewable-energy applications and is even developing its own satellites to build an end-to-end data platform. The newly raised funds will be directed toward hiring engineers, enhancing satellite-data analysis and water-resource-monitoring algorithms, expanding domestic and international sales networks, and strengthening its multi-satellite cloud data infrastructure. Branding and market-awareness initiatives are also planned. Headquartered in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi district, Tenchijin positions its mission as “optimizing human civilization through space big data.” Including the latest round, its total funding—equity and debt—now stands at roughly ¥1.9 billion.