aStart Co.

Founder

Kazumasa Watanabe

Last edited by

#Employee

#Fund

AUM (JPY)

¥12,600,000,000

Approved Date

Jun 30, 2023

Asset Class

Private Equity

Catalogue

Company Name Japanese

株式会社エースタート

Description English

Tokyo-based venture capital firm targeting technology ventures in fintech, meditech, ai, autonomous vehicle, eletric vehicle, and aerospace sectors

Description Japanese

東京を拠点とするベンチャーキャピタルで、フィンテック、メディテック、AI、自動運転車、電気自動車、航空宇宙分野の技術ベンチャーを対象にする。

EMDB

Founded Year

2015

Style

Venture Capital

Last edited time

Jun 26, 2025 09:21 AM GMT+0

Founder BIO

After graduating from Kyoto University, he joined the Recruit Group, where he built his career mainly in the recruitment department (now Recruit), while also self-studying and supporting venture IPOs. After leaving the company, he participated in management at Next Japan, where he achieved IPO in 2004 as CFO. After the company went public, he became the CEO. He retired in 2007 and began consulting and investing in ventures. In 2010, he became the CFO of Ride On Express. In 2013, he went public for the second time, and then listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (now the Prime Market). In 2015, he founded A-Start and became its CEO. In the same year, he began managing a tech venture fund. In 2019, he launched Japan's first "space venture investment fund." He is an entrepreneur with a wide range of experience, including as an entrepreneur, president of a listed company, CFO who led two IPOs, and investor.

Geography

Japan

Reviewed By

Hidekazu Ishida

URL