About NOW
NOW is a venture capital firm founded in 2011. It is primarily based out of Shibuya, Japan. As of Jul 2026, NOW is an active investor, having invested in 31 companies, with 2 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Seed round in Japan based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to Retail and Consumer. Most recently it participated in the $***** Seed round of Sinumy Overall, NOW portfolio has seen 3 IPOs, namely Nulab, Wunderbar and Yutori. A lot of funds co-invest with NOW, with names like Mitsubishi UFJ Capital sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. NOW has team of 9 people including 3 partners.NOW's List of Top Investments
NOW has a portfolio of 31 companies. Their most notable investments are in Nulab and You.JAPAN.Their portfolio spans across and Japan. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, Retail, Consumer and 13 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A stages. Here is the list of top investments by NOW:
1. Nulab
Nulab provides cloud-based collaboration tools. The products offered by the company include Cacoo, backlog, type talk. The features of the product include integration, real-time collaboration, templates, In-app messaging, project management, version control, file-sharing, and compatibility. It provides solutions to industries such as industries, retail, health care, manufacturing & finance.
Key facts about Nulab
- Founded Year: 2004
- Location: Fukuoka (Japan)
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $5M
- Employee Count: 124 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: Shinsei Corporate Investment, XTech Ventures and 1 Other
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Mar 03, 2020, $*****
- Highlight: Public
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2. 10X
Developer of software platforms for grocery and retail business operations. This technology provides digital infrastructure for online ordering, inventory management, and pricing strategies. The system integrates artificial intelligence to assist with customer interactions and price optimization for physical retail stores. These tools facilitate the transition of traditional retail workflows into digital environments to improve operational efficiency.
Key facts about 10X
- Founded Year: 2017
- Location: Chuo City (Japan)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $14.6M
- Employee Count: 51 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: DCM Ventures, Global Brain and 8 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Apr 28, 2025, $*****
3. Nanameue
nanameue develops mobile applications. Apps developed by the company are SlideStory and Himabu. Slidestory is a video creation tool and HIMABU is a social community for students.
Key facts about Nanameue
4. Sinumy
Sinumy Corporation is a startup that has developed patented technology for personal authentication of a smartphone owner in sleep mode. They aim to provide a seamless experience with their virtual authentication gate technology.
Key facts about Sinumy
- Founded Year: 2018
- Location: Osaka (Japan)
- Stage: Seed
- Total Funding till date: $4.1M
- Employee Count: 6 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, JFC and 12 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Seed, Jul 29, 2026, $*****
Online retailer offering multi-category fashion products for men & women. The product offering includes apparel, footwear, belts, sunglasses, jewelry, socks, scarves, masks, raincoats, handbags, and more of different colors, styles, and brands.
Key facts about Sixty Percent
- Founded Year: 2018
- Location: Tokyo (Japan)
- Stage: Seed
- Total Funding till date: $3.1M
- Investors: Global Brain, Yamato Holdings and 5 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Seed, Feb 07, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
NOW's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
NOW has invested in 31 companies over the last 8 years, with an average of 2 new investments annually in the last 5 years. In 2025, it made 3 investments, while as of Jul 2026, it has made 2 investments in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Sinumy and most recent follow-on round was in Ageless.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 2 | 0 | 2 |
2025 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
2024 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2023 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
2022 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2020 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2019 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
2018 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
NOW's Investments by Stage
NOW has made 10 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $1.42M and 3 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $3.43M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 10 |
Series A | 3 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
NOW's Investments by Sector
NOW has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Business Services, Consumer, Enterprise Applications, HealthTech and Retail. Notably, it has invested in 17 Tech companies, 12 Consumer (B2C) companies, 11 Enterprise (B2B) companies and at least 9 companies focusing on Software.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Business Services | 4 |
Consumer | 3 |
Enterprise Applications | 3 |
HealthTech | 2 |
Retail | 2 |
Others | 6 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
NOW's Investments by Geography
NOW has made most investments in Japan (13).NOW's recent investments
NOW has made 2 investments in 2026 so far - Sinumy and Tohakusha.Here are the most recent investments by NOW:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jul 29, 2026 | Japan | Seed | 4355 | [+8] | |
Jan 13, 2026 | Japan | Seed | 7052 | ||
Aug 07, 2025 | Japan | Series A | 2002 | [+5] | |
Jun 25, 2025 | Japan | Series A | 3006 | [+5] | |
Feb 27, 2025 | Japan | Seed | 9063 | [+5] |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in NOW's Portfolio
3 of NOW's portfolio companies have become public. Yutori got listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), in Dec 2023 at marketcap of $26.4M and Nulab got listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) at marketcap of $47.3M.Here are NOW's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dec 27, 2023 | - | - | 9094 | |
Jun 28, 2022 | Mar 03, 2020 | Series A | 7280 | |
- | Jun 25, 2025 | Series A | 7647 |
Team profile of NOW
NOW has a team of 9 members including 3 Partners located in United Kingdom. NOW's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of all team members in NOW:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | United Kingdom | - | ||
Partner | - | - | ||
Partner | - | - | - |
Co-investors of NOW
Over the past 8 years, 62 investors have co-invested in NOW's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before NOW: Reazon, F Ventures and 2 others have invested in rounds before NOW. There is 1 company where Reazon has invested before NOW and 1 company where F Ventures has invested before NOW.
- Top Co-investors of NOW: 41 investors entered a company along with NOW. These include investors like Mitsubishi UFJ Capital (2 companies).
- Invested after NOW: A total of 17 investors have invested in NOW's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Vector (1 company), Brave group (1 company) and All About (1 company).
Recent News related to NOW
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Tobosho raises funds in pre-Series A round - Mitsubishi UFJ Capital participatesTHE BRIDGE•Jan 15, 2026•MUFG Bank, NOW, GENDA, ANRI and 1 other
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Tohakusha raises funds in pre-series A round; Mitsubishi UFJ Capital participatesExcite Japan•Jan 13, 2026•NOW, GENDA, ANRI, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and 2 others
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Climatetech startup Newtral raises $600,000 to scale global sustainability platformIndian Startup News•Oct 07, 2025•Newtral, NOW, PedalStart, Now Foods
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Wunderbar Inc., operator of IP marketing platform "Skettt," raises a total of approximately 500 million yen in Series A fundingStartup Log•Jun 25, 2025•GENDA Capital, co.jp, NOW, i-nest capital and 4 others
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Nagaku's clothing repair service secures ¥140 million in funding.Startup Log•Feb 27, 2025•NAGAKU, Beta Venture Capital, Future Venture capital, Asahi Media Lab Ventures and 6 others
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Thirdverse, a VR game developer, raises 1.2 billion yenSogyo Techo•Dec 01, 2023•Thirdverse, B Dash Ventures, Shinsei Corporate Investment, NOW and 3 others
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Japanese collaboration software startup Nulab banks $5mTech in Asia•Mar 03, 2020•Nulab, XTV, Shinsei Corporate Investment, XTech Ventures and 1 other
