Beyond Next Ventures (BNV) is a Tokyo-headquartered deep-tech venture capital firm founded on August 12, 2014, led by President Tsuyoshi Ito. The firm manages USD 340 million in assets under management — invested exclusively in deep-tech startups — and since 2019 has been backing Indian founders through Beyond Next Ventures India Pvt. Ltd. in Bengaluru.
The thesis is commercialization: BNV partners with researchers and entrepreneurs to turn academic and corporate research breakthroughs into businesses. It calls its founders "exceptional challengers" and supports them from lab to market — financing plus business planning, team building, grant-funding support and shared experimental infrastructure.
India focus and stage
In India, BNV invests in deep-tech startups across healthcare, climate, agri-food and AI, drawing on over a decade of deep-tech investing and ecosystem-building experience in Japan. The firm typically first invests at the seed stage and stays through the entire startup journey, with several portfolio companies having reached IPOs and M&As. Recent India portfolio news includes investments in ARK (Series A for a modular land-based aquaculture system), Kanjin Therapeutics and SCOHIA PHARMA.
Programs and ecosystem
BNV is as much an ecosystem builder as a fund. Its BRAVE accelerator has enabled over 200 innovators to create and finance deep-tech startups toward commercialization, and graduates have raised over 50 billion yen in additional financings since. The INNOVATION LEADERS PROGRAM has trained over 450 individuals in creating and managing research-based startups, with more than 40 alumni now in CXO positions across deep tech. For researchers, the incubation track offers executive-candidate matching, team building, business-plan development support, financial assistance for grant funding, and access to incubation wet-lab facilities including Beyond BioLAB TOKYO. A Startup Careers track lets business leaders co-found deep-tech startups with leading researchers or join seed-to-mid-stage deep-tech startups as CXOs. The firm is recognized by Japan's JST as a business promoter in the university-launched new industry creation program (START).
Credits or perks for portfolio companies beyond this infrastructure are not publicly itemized — the infrastructure itself is the perk.
Why it matters for founders
If you are a scientist-founder in India turning research into a company — in biotech, climate tech, agri-food or AI — BNV is one of the few VCs that treats deep tech as a core discipline rather than a side bet. Reach out for funding advice early; the firm explicitly welcomes researchers and entrepreneurs who are still planning to start.