About DBJ Capital
DBJ Capital is a venture capital firm founded in 2005. It is primarily based out of Chiyoda City, Japan. As of Aug 2026, DBJ Capital is an active investor, having invested in 153 companies, with 7 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Series A round in Japan based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Life Sciences to Enterprise Applications and High Tech. Most recently it participated in the $***** Series B round of Creattura Overall, DBJ Capital portfolio has seen 29 IPOs and 5 acquisitions including key companies like Gumi, Gengo and ReproCELL. A lot of funds co-invest with DBJ Capital, with names like SMBC Venture Capital sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. DBJ Capital has team of 16 people including 10 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Series A, Seed & 4 more
Portfolio Acquisitions
Deals in last 12 months
DBJ Capital's List of Top Investments
DBJ Capital has a portfolio of 153 companies. Their most notable investments are in KAKEAI and Megakaryo.Their portfolio spans across Japan, United States and Singapore. They have invested in Life Sciences, Enterprise Applications, High Tech and 32 other sectors, across stages such as Series A, Seed and 4 more. Here is the list of top investments by DBJ Capital:
1. Gumi
Developer of mobile online games and blockchain technology solutions. The company creates various content and services using blockchain and XR technologies. It focuses on delivering new experiences through its offerings. The company participates in node operations and explores blockchain interoperability.
Key facts about Gumi
- Founded Year: 2007
- Location: Tokyo (Japan)
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $94M
- Employee Count: 158 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: Icon Ventures, Shinsei Bank and 19 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Post IPO, Jun 04, 2018, $*****
- Highlight: Public
2. Shippio
Shippio is a provider of tech-enabled multi-modal freight forwarding services. It includes management of billing, exports, and imports, trade operations, document storage, sea and air freight, doorstep courier services, warehousing, trucking and fulfillment, international and multi-modal shipping, quotations, and estimates. Its clients include Mobby Ride and Yamashiro.
Key facts about Shippio
- Founded Year: 2016
- Location: Tokyo (Japan)
- Stage: Series C
- Total Funding till date: $46M
- Employee Count: 64 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: 500 Global, Mizuho Bank and 22 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Oct 30, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
3. CesiumAstro
Developer of communication systems for space, air, and ground missions. The company provides full-stack, multi-mission hardware and software products. Offerings include integrated LEO satellites and active phased array payloads. Products support beam steering, dynamic frequencies, and on-orbit reconfigurability. The company’s systems facilitate inter-satellite links, mission-data downlink, and multi-beam connectivity.
Key facts about CesiumAstro
- Founded Year: 2017
- Location: Austin (United States)
- Stage: Series C
- Total Funding till date: $426M
- Employee Count: 478 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: Janus Henderson Investors, Quanta Computer and 23 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Feb 02, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Provider of nuclear fusion reactor technology based on low-energy nuclear reaction technology. It uses core element technology and plant engineering technology to generate energy.
Key facts about Kyoto Fusioneering
- Founded Year: 2019
- Location: Uji (Japan)
- Stage: Series C
- Total Funding till date: $120M
- Employee Count: 72 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings and 34 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Sep 09, 2025, $*****
5. Gengo
Provider of human translation services using proprietary tools. The company uses its proprietary platform that provides the project managers and translators full control over project administration, enables job distribution, and allows crowd management. It operates in the background to highlight potential issues while the translator works and comes with a quality metric tool to objectively mark different linguistic and stylistic errors. The company has also developed an API allowing developers to integrate its translation platform into third-party applications, websites, and widgets.
Key facts about Gengo
- Founded Year: 2008
- Location: Shibuya (Japan)
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $24.4M
- Employee Count: 897 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: IRIS, 500 Global and 18 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Apr 21, 2015, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
DBJ Capital's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
DBJ Capital has invested in 153 companies over the last 21 years, with an average of 7 new investments annually in the last 10 years. In 2025, it made 12 investments, while as of Aug 2026, it has made 6 investments in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Arrowsmith and most recent follow-on round was in Creattura.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 4 | 2 | 6 |
2025 | 9 | 3 | 12 |
2024 | 8 | 5 | 13 |
2023 | 12 | 5 | 17 |
2022 | 9 | 3 | 12 |
2021 | 7 | 1 | 8 |
2020 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
2019 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
2018 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
2017 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
DBJ Capital's Investments by Stage
DBJ Capital has made 32 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $5.99M, 19 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $2.09M and 18 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $10M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Series A | 32 |
Seed | 19 |
Series B | 18 |
Conventional Debt | 3 |
Series C | 3 |
Others | 2 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
DBJ Capital's Investments by Sector
DBJ Capital has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Enterprise Applications, High Tech, Life Sciences, Business Services and Consumer. Notably, it has invested in 92 Tech companies, 83 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 42 Software companies and at least 32 companies focusing on Consumer (B2C).Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Enterprise Applications | 22 |
High Tech | 15 |
Life Sciences | 13 |
Business Services | 10 |
Consumer | 7 |
Others | 69 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
DBJ Capital's Investments by Geography
DBJ Capital has made most investments in Japan (73), followed by United States where it has made 4 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Japan | 73 |
United States | 4 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
DBJ Capital's recent investments
DBJ Capital has made 6 investments in 2026 so far. Creattura and Arrowsmith are the latest among them.Here are the most recent investments by DBJ Capital:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aug 07, 2026 | Japan | Series B | 7754 | ||
Jun 22, 2026 | Japan | Series A | 5700 | [+2] | |
May 29, 2026 | Japan | Series B | 7297 | ||
Apr 30, 2026 | Japan | Seed | 5123 | ||
Feb 02, 2026 | United States | Series C | 7416 | [+5] |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in DBJ Capital's Portfolio
29 of DBJ Capital's portfolio companies have become public. GVA TECH got listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), in Dec 2024 at marketcap of $16.7M and Hmcomm got listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) at marketcap of $20.9M.Here are DBJ Capital's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dec 26, 2024 | - | - | 5424 | |
Oct 28, 2024 | - | - | 4618 | |
Jul 02, 2024 | May 06, 2011 | Series A | 8486 | |
Dec 01, 2022 | Feb 27, 2015 | Series B | 5435 | |
Jun 24, 2022 | - | - | 8245 |
Acquired companies in DBJ Capital's Portfolio
5 companies from DBJ Capital's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Gengo in Jan 2019 by Lionbridge for $*****.Here are DBJ Capital's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jan 16, 2019 | - | - | 5797 | |
Jul 17, 2017 | Jul 04, 2013 | Seed | 1302 | |
Nov 30, 2016 | Feb 17, 2017 | Series A | 1551 | |
Mar 01, 2016 | - | - | 4093 | |
Jun 19, 2009 | - | - | 1644 |
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Team profile of DBJ Capital
DBJ Capital has a team of 16 members including 10 Partners and 1 Principal located in Japan. DBJ Capital's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of top team members in DBJ Capital:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | Tokyo | - | - | |
Partner | Tokyo | - | - | |
Partner | Tokyo | - | - | |
Partner | Japan | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | ||
Partner | - | - | ||
Partner | - | - | ||
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | Tokyo | - | - | |
Principal | Japan | - | - |
Co-investors of DBJ Capital
Over the past 21 years, 450 investors have co-invested in DBJ Capital's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before DBJ Capital: Coral Capital, Nissay Capital and 95 others have invested in rounds before DBJ Capital. There are 3 companies where Coral Capital has invested before DBJ Capital and 3 companies where Nissay Capital has invested before DBJ Capital.
- Top Co-investors of DBJ Capital: 161 investors entered a company along with DBJ Capital. These include investors like SMBC Venture Capital (19 companies).
- Invested after DBJ Capital: A total of 192 investors have invested in DBJ Capital's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include JIC Venture Growth Investments (6 companies), Global Brain (5 companies) and SBI Investment (5 companies).
Recent News related to DBJ Capital
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Additional procurement of Series C for private used car sales "Kababa", investment by Nagoya TV Ventures, etc.THE BRIDGE•Jun 12, 2026•Resona Capital, Higo Bank, DBJ Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and 7 others
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Oceanic Constellations Raised Approximately JPY 2 Billion in Series B RoundTHE BRIDGE•Feb 13, 2026•Coral Capital, Astart, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, Globis Capital Partners and 5 others
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Oceanic Constellations Raises 2 Billion Yen to Build a Marine Network Using USVsSogyo Techo•Jan 16, 2026•Oceanic Constellations, Globis Capital Partners, Japan Post, DBJ Capital and 1 other
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Japan Cyber Defense raises 1 billion yen in seed roundStartup Log•Nov 11, 2025•MPower Partners, Cyber Defense Research Institute, DBJ Capital
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Ageless, Inc. Conducts 560 Million Yen Series A Funding Round, Led by DBJ CapitalStartup Log•Aug 07, 2025•DBJ Capital, Ageless, Ageless, Kiraboshi Capital and 1 other
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J-CAT secures ¥1.13 billion in Series B fundingStartup Log•May 15, 2025•Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, J-CAT, DBJ Capital, Joyance Partners and 2 others
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Cancer drug developer LinkMed secures ¥1.5B in Series B funding.Startup Log•Jan 14, 2025•, JIC Venture Growth Investments, Axil Capital, DBJ Capital and 1 other
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Tradem, Series A raises 410 million yenPR TIMES•Nov 15, 2024•TRADOM, DBJ Capital, Nippon Steel, W Fund and 3 others
