• Proxima Technology

  Led · Series A · Nov 2025

  Proxima Technology was established to make advanced mathematical control technologies broadly accessible. Its flagship product, Smart MPC®, fuses model predictive control with machine learning to enable flexible, autonomous optimization of complex systems. The company is now building E-Smart MPC™, an AI controller aimed at factory-automation (FA) environments. With cumulative funding of ¥540 million, Proxima intends to accelerate hiring, deepen product development, and expand sales channels, particularly in the FA sector. A strategic collaboration with Toyota Boshoku will focus on using Smart MPC® to improve production efficiency and advance energy-saving and decarbonization initiatives. Headquartered in Tokyo, the company emphasizes translating cutting-edge control theory into practical, industry-ready solutions. No operating metrics such as revenue or user numbers were disclosed in the article.

• Synspective

  Participated · Series C · Jun 2024

  Synspective develops and operates the StriX series of small SAR satellites (100kg-class) and provides SAR-based data analytics to governments and enterprises. Its SAR sensors use microwaves to enable all-weather, day-or-night observation, and the small-satellite approach reduces weight and costs versus traditional SAR platforms. The company offers analytics products including ground deformation monitoring (LDM), flood-damage assessment, and disaster-damage evaluation. Synspective launched its fourth small SAR satellite, StriX-3, on March 13, 2024, with successful orbit insertion, communications, and antenna deployment. It aims to build a 30-satellite constellation in the late 2020s to enable wide-area, high-frequency Earth observation. Financially, Synspective reported a Series C raise of ¥7.0 billion and cumulative funding of about ¥28.19 billion (281.9億円), and plans to use proceeds for satellite development, manufacture, launch and operations, mass-production facility preparation, and global expansion of its data solutions. Synspective is a Japanese startup that provides satellite data solutions using small Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites. Its SAR data and solutions are used by governments and private companies. The company raised $100M in funding. It intends to use the funds to strengthen SAR satellite and solutions development and manufacturing systems. Synspective is led by co-founder and CEO Motoyuki Arai. Its core technology was developed under the ImPACT program led by the Cabinet Office of the Government of Japan, enabling the company to build small SAR satellites and a constellation to allow frequent observation of areas of interest.

• Diver-X

  Participated · Series A · Jun 2024

  Diver-X researches, develops, and sells XR interface hardware and solutions, with a flagship product ContactGlove — a VR glove controller with haptic feedback using shape‑memory alloy (SMA) and linear vibrators (LRA). The company was founded in March 2021 and builds on hand‑tracking, haptics, and motion‑tracking technologies to target consumer and enterprise XR use cases. Its business model includes six monetization points (technology licensing, solutions, consumer products, OEM, and hardware‑anchored B2B and B2C software), and the firm reports revenue from all but the hardware‑anchored B2C software channel. Operating metrics disclosed include cumulative XR interface shipments in the several‑thousand range and an overseas sales mix above 30%, with primary markets in North America, Europe, and Korea. Customers span social VR users (e.g., VRChat), VTubers/productions, manufacturing, and medical segments. Diver‑X plans to accelerate HID R&D and manufacturing and expand manufacturing‑sector solutions and finished products using its core technologies.

• Cuebus

  Participated · Series B · Feb 2024

  Cuebus offers CUEBUS, a linear-motor-driven, unit-structured urban multi-story robotic warehouse system that can be flexibly and immediately installed from large warehouses to narrow urban sites. Its modular unit design keeps initial investment low, making adoption feasible for small and medium-sized companies. Cuebus says the system improves logistics productivity and helps address labor shortages through automation. The company is developing hardware, software, and applications with the goal of making CUEBUS a platform for living-area logistics. As of the latest disclosed figures, Cuebus has raised a cumulative ¥390M.

• Iwaya Giken

  Participated · Equity · Dec 2023

  Iwaya Giken designs, develops and manufactures high‑altitude gas balloons and airtight cabins intended for balloon‑based space sightseeing. The company positions its offering as a transformative ‘journey’ that expands awareness rather than merely traveling to space. It aims to enable broad public access to a near‑space experience via tethered or free‑flying high‑altitude balloon systems. The firm is headquartered in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and is led by CEO Keisuke Iwaya. Financially, the company reported a new ¥400M financing in December 2023 and said this brought its fundraising for the fiscal year to ¥970M. Since its seed round in August 2020, cumulative funding totals about ¥2.0B. Iwatani Giken designs, develops and manufactures high-altitude gas balloons and airtight pressurized cabins aimed at offering stratospheric sightseeing flights. The company was founded in April 2016 by Keisuke Iwatani, who studied aerospace engineering at Hokkaido University. Its test program has carried more than 35 staff in an experimental cabin for flight training and data collection, and it runs near-monthly tethered flight training at various sites. In February 2022 the company completed a 30m manned tethered flight test in Soma, Fukushima, and on July 23, 2023 executed a manned flight test that reached a maximum altitude of 6,072m with a flight distance of 26.35km and flight time of 131 minutes. Financially, the company has raised a total of about ¥1.6 billion to date, including a prior ¥400M round disclosed in June 2022 and the recent ¥570M round. Iwaya Giken (岩谷技研) is a passenger-technology development company based in Sapporo, Hokkaido, led by CEO Keisuke Iwaya. The company designs and develops high-altitude gas balloons and airtight passenger cabins aimed at enabling “NearSpace” travel experiences. Its stated mission frames space travel as a journey that expands people’s consciousness and perspective rather than merely transporting people outside the atmosphere. The company announced a third-party allotment financing on November 30, 2021. Following this round, Iwaya Giken has raised a cumulative total of about ¥600 million since its seed round. The firm is focused on continuing development of passenger systems and flight hardware for balloon-based NearSpace journeys.

No current team members are available.