Participated · Series D · May 2026

Pixie Dust Technologies commercializes technologies derived from University of Tsukuba research that control waves for applications in healthcare and spatial acoustics. Its healthcare products include the ultrasonic scalp-care device SonoRepro and the gamma-wave sound care device kikippa, while its spatial and acoustics offerings include communication tools for the hearing impaired such as VUEVO and VUEVO Display. The company reports over nine years of activity, during which it has pursued more than 108 R&D themes and filed 238 domestic and 38 international patent applications, with 43 domestic and 5 international patent registrations. Pixie Dust says it will use the new funding to expand sales channels, grow its customer base, continue R&D, develop new products, pursue global expansion, and repay interest-bearing debt. With this financing the company intends to move from R&D and development phases into a full business expansion phase and accelerate growth.

Participated · Series A · Feb 2026

Founded in May 2023 and headquartered in Misawa, Aomori Prefecture, MiRESSO is building a beryllium manufacturing and sales business based on an innovative low-temperature purification process originally spun out of QST research. The company targets the critical need for a stable domestic supply of beryllium, an essential neutron-multiplying material for commercial fusion reactors, while also offering its purification method as a technology platform for recycling and refining a wider range of mineral resources. MiRESSO is constructing the BETA (Beryllium Testing plant in Aomori) pilot plant on Pacific Metals’ site in Hachinohe, aiming to begin production during fiscal 2027. Over roughly three years since inception, the startup has raised about ¥4.48 billion in equity and approximately ¥6.68 billion when government grants are included. Funds from the latest round will accelerate pilot-plant build-out, secure raw-material supply, and enhance product quality to establish a new beryllium supply chain in Japan.

Participated · Series C · Aug 2025

Pale Blue designs, develops, and manufactures propulsion systems for small satellites, having demonstrated water‑based thrusters in space multiple times. The company was founded in 2020 and is headquartered in Kashiwa, Chiba. Its core product line focuses on reliable, scalable thrusters for global satellite operators, and it is expanding its portfolio to include Hall thrusters. Pale Blue plans to strengthen production and quality-management systems, establish a production‑technology development site, and scale hiring to meet growing demand. The company will continue R&D and space demonstrations to broaden its product lineup and validate new propulsion technologies. The recent Series C fundraise will support these commercialization and production efforts. Pale Blue is a University of Tokyo–spawned space startup based in Kashiwa, Chiba that researches, develops, and manufactures propulsion systems for small satellites. Its core products are an ultra‑small water ion thruster and a water Hall thruster, both using water as the propellant. The ultra‑small water ion thruster is an electric propulsion system for orbit control and orbital transfers offering higher fuel efficiency than chemical thrusters; the water Hall thruster uses a water‑Hall plasma acceleration effect to achieve high specific impulse with low power consumption. These thrusters are intended for small‑satellite orbit control and attitude control. Pale Blue aims to reduce small‑satellite operating costs, expand launch opportunities, and ultimately apply its technology to deep‑space missions such as lunar or Martian exploration. The company plans to continue development and manufacturing, pursue in‑space demonstrations, establish a production‑technology development base, and strengthen its organization. Pale Blue is a Tokyo-based small-satellite thruster developer focused on water-based propulsion, notably its Resistojet steam thruster. The company tested its Resistojet in orbit in March on a 6U cubesat called Star Sphere, using jets of steam for maneuvering. Pale Blue is building a 2,000-square-meter factory to mass-produce Resistojet thrusters sized for satellites under 10 kilograms and announced $7.5 million in funding in October to start production for customers including Yonsei University. Under a multiphase Japanese government SBIR-3 grant worth up to $27 million, Pale Blue aims to develop water-plasma propulsion and to scale its technology to service spacecraft up to 500 kilograms. The company plans to demonstrate water-fed ion and Hall-effect thrusters, which use electricity and magnetic fields to accelerate propellant, with a demo targeted around 2027–2028 and prototypes due by September 2025 for the first grant phase. Pale Blue positions water as a lower-cost, safer propellant alternative to xenon, though it acknowledges water cannot yet match xenon's thrust performance.

Participated · Series D · Jul 2025

SkyDrive develops electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and is targeting a commercial service launch in 2028. The company is working to obtain type certification for its aircraft and to build mass-production capabilities ahead of that launch. SkyDrive says recent funding from Resona Asset Management will strengthen its business foundation and accelerate aircraft development. The firm positioned the investment as a crossover placement by a public-equity-focused institutional investor, signaling confidence in its growth trajectory. SkyDrive cites Japan’s July 2026 “Japan Growth Strategy” and increased public-private focus on aviation and space as supportive context for its plans. The company intends to use the capital to drive sustainable enterprise value toward its 2028 commercialization goal.

Participated · Series A · Jun 2024

Quollio Technologies develops and provides Quollio Data Intelligence Cloud, a metadata-management DX platform that centralizes definitions, quality states, lineage, and generation background to support enterprise data governance. The platform collects metadata from data warehouses, BI tools, and ELT pipelines, visualizing an organization’s overall data assets and usage. It is designed for data scientists and analysts as well as business users and DX teams, with flexible permissioning and workflow automation to address departmental silos. The company positions the product to tackle falling data quality and reliability issues that arise as cloud data warehouses proliferate. Quollio plans product development including integration with generative AI and will strengthen product and support hiring to raise customer satisfaction. Financially, the company completed a ¥750 million Series A and has a cumulative funding total of ¥1 billion.