Participated · Series B · Apr 2026

BALLAS operates an industry-leading online platform for sourcing construction materials, aiming to optimize procurement as the starting point for mass-customizing the construction sector. The company positions its platform as the largest in the industry and is advancing AI-related product efforts. BALLAS is led by CEO Masayuki Kimura and is headquartered in Chuo-ku, Tokyo. With the newly raised Series B capital, the company plans to accelerate platform growth and further develop its AI products. The article does not provide revenue, user, or prior funding metrics.

Participated · Series A · Feb 2025

IONATE builds a full-stack hardware and software solution for smart electricity grids. Its Hybrid Intelligent Transformer (HIT) replaces legacy transformers and can detect, analyse, and resolve power disturbances. The Aurora software platform consolidates multiple power system functions into a single device, enabling network efficiency, increased renewables hosting capacity, and AI-enabled control. Founded in 2019, the company has scaled its solution for data centers and is collaborating with energy giant EDP in Portugal and Spain. IONATE has received industry recognition from NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) and is positioning to address a market projected to reach $21 trillion by 2050 as electricity demand rises. The company recently completed a $17M Series A to support continued commercialisation and deployment of its technology. IONATE develops a patented power flow control solution intended to address power quality issues arising from energy decarbonisation. Its technology is designed to boost the reliability and productivity of connected assets, including renewable generation and battery storage. The company plans to scale operations and deploy its solution to electricity distribution grids, renewables generation projects and energy storage assets using the new funding. IONATE has been supported by Edinburgh Innovations and benefited from collaboration with the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering during technology development. The startup says it transformed the initial idea into fully functioning technology in less than three years and aims to commercialise its offering to play a role in the journey to Net Zero. It was recognised by the UK Energy Innovation Centre with the 2022 Future Energy System Award for its impact on the energy systems transition.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2024

Tozero operates a pilot plant in Germany that reclaims lithium and graphite from black mass using a water-based carbonation recovery process that avoids harsh acids and (it says) emits ~70% less than mining. Its pilot currently processes nine tonnes of lithium-ion battery waste per day and delivered its first commercial batch of high-purity lithium in April, nine months after opening the pilot. The company is building toward a first-of-a-kind (FOAK) industrial deployment to enter continuous production and then scale plants it intends to operate itself across Germany, Europe and later North America. Tozero says its process is lean, efficient and protected as a trade secret rather than patented, and the founders emphasize speed, iterative hardware development and process innovation. The startup claims strong customer demand, noting over a billion euros of off-take interest for its material. Tozero was founded in 2022 and positions recycling as critical to meeting projected lithium demand growth and upcoming EU regulatory recovery requirements. Tozero is developing a novel recycling process to recover critical materials such as lithium, nickel and cobalt from lithium-ion batteries. The company intends to return recovered raw materials to the market as fresh battery-grade inputs for battery producers to reduce the battery industry's environmental footprint. Tozero has raised €3.5 million in a pre-seed financing round led by Berlin-based Atlantic Labs, with Verve Ventures, Possible Ventures, angels and founder-investors participating. Notable participants include former VW board member Jochem Heizmann and co-founders of Personio and FINN. With the funding, Tozero will build a prototype plant in Munich, a region where one-third of Europe’s lithium-ion batteries are planned to be produced by 2030. Co-founders Sarah Fleischer and Dr. Ksenija Milicevic Neumann have technical support and advice from Prof. Bernd Friedrich of RWTH Aachen.

Participated · Equity · Jun 2024

MNTSQ provides MNTSQ CLM, a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) SaaS that centralizes contract creation, review, and management and builds a legal knowledge base for enterprises. The CLM leverages machine learning to parse contract documents and automatically detect latent risks, strengthening legal risk management, transparency, and reliability. In April 2024 the company launched an "MNTSQ AI Contract Review" feature to add automated review capabilities and accelerate growth. The service integrates with various enterprise systems to consolidate contract data and streamline workflows. MNTSQ CLM is used by about one in five Japanese companies with revenues over ¥1 trillion, and has been adopted by leading firms across industries. The company says it will pursue joint solution development with its new investors as part of strategic partnerships. MNTSQ completed a new financing that includes debt instruments to support continued expansion. MNTSQ provides MNTSQ CLM, a platform that supports contract creation, review, management, and knowledge capture using proprietary machine‑learning and natural language processing technology. The company was founded in November 2018 and combines know‑how from Nagashima, Ohno & Tsunematsu law firm with its legal ML/NLP expertise. MNTSQ reports that roughly one in five Japanese companies with annual sales over ¥1 trillion use MNTSQ CLM, indicating adoption among large enterprises. The company plans to accelerate product development by integrating large language models and to launch an AI contract‑review offering. MNTSQ aims to improve contract quality and operational efficiency for customers and to expand direct delivery of its services. The company is headquartered in Tokyo (Nihonbashi Horidomecho).

Participated · Seed · Mar 2024

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.