For founders in Japan researching ANOBAKA funding, understanding how to get funding from the firm means meeting one that wears its philosophy in its name: anobaka roughly translates as "fools", and the firm's slogan is "Empowering Mad Dreams" — the idea that startup success comes more from courage than talent, even in a conservative society. Based in Tokyo, ANOBAKA is a seed-stage venture capital firm led by CEO and Partner Hirokazu Nagano.
Investment thesis: how ANOBAKA funding works
ANOBAKA is a sector-agnostic seed investor focused on founders chasing seemingly illogical, outsized ambitions. Its roots run deep: Nagano helped establish KLab Ventures in December 2011 with SBI Investment, became its president in April 2012, and later led the unit as KVP, which invested in more than 80 startups in five years. In December 2020, Nagano led a management buyout of the VC unit from mobile games company KLab — taking a 70% stake — and rebranded it as the independent ANOBAKA. The thesis stayed constant through the spin-out: back fledgling, pre-product-market-fit teams and add value far beyond capital.
Sectors and stages
The firm focuses on seed-stage startups, with an emphasis on AI, software and internet businesses aiming to become global leaders. Its geography spans Japan, the United States and India. What distinguishes the pitch is hands-on support: development consulting by the firm's own engineers, sales support, and international marketing support for portfolio founders.
Fund size and cheque size
ANOBAKA's current fund size is not publicly disclosed. The predecessor funds under KVP give the shape of its cheques: a debut fund of JPY1.7 billion (about $16.4 million), a second fund that had raised JPY2.8 billion against a JPY3.5 billion target, and typical deployments of JPY10-50 million per company. At the spin-out, ANOBAKA was expected to launch a new fund targeting several billion yen.
Notable portfolio
Across its KVP history, the firm invested in more than 80 startups with at least eight exits. The firm does not headline individual portfolio names on its English-language pages, so this profile does not claim specific companies — the track record to evaluate is the volume of seed bets and the exit count.
Partners
The firm is led by Hirokazu Nagano, CEO and Partner, who joined KLab in B2B solution sales, moved into new business development in the president's office, and has been investing in ventures since 2011. His public bio notes 17 venture investments personally before building the KVP portfolio of 80+ companies.
Programmes run
Rather than a batch accelerator, ANOBAKA offers portfolio support as its programme: engineering-led development consulting, sales support, and international marketing support — an investor that staffs real product and go-to-market help around its cheques.
How to apply for funding
Founders can reach the firm through the inquiry form on its official website — the contact page at anobaka.jp carries an English-language form (with a personal-information handling policy to accept before sending). The firm's Tokyo office is at Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza B, Toranomon, Minato-ku. Given the firm's seed focus and small team, a concise pitch with a clear product story and the scale of the "mad dream" is the right shape for first contact.
Why it matters for founders
ANOBAKA is a rare independent Japanese seed VC with a decade-plus investing lineage and a genuine engineering bench behind its cheques. With typical deployments of JPY10-50M and hands-on product and sales support, it suits early AI, software and internet founders in Japan — and increasingly India and the US — who want an investor that does more than wire money.