Pre-Seed Startup Fundraising in Japan, Featuring Japan Angels, and more
日本でプレシードラウンドの資金調達を準備している起業家ですか？
Are you a founder preparing to raise your pre-seed round in Japan?
This event offers a practical, data-informed look at how early-stage fundraising actually works in the Japanese startup ecosystem. As Japan continues to grow as a major venture market in Asia, pre-seed funding remains highly relationship-driven and selective. Founders often underestimate how investors evaluate teams, traction, and risk at the first-check stage and how different expectations can be compared to other global markets.
In this session, experienced early-stage investors and ecosystem leaders will share how Japanese VCs and angels think at the pre-seed stage, what they look for before metrics, how founders should approach equity and fundraising structure, and what common mistakes slow or block early funding rounds.
You’ll hear about what works and what doesn’t when seeking VC funding in Japan, the common traps to avoid, and how to identify investors suited to your startup’s pre-seed stage and sector.
Learn expert tips, big pitfalls to avoid, what investors are looking for, how equity works, and more. After the Q&A session, you'll have the chance to network with other founders and investors.
Venue: Tokyo Innovation Base, 3-8-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0005
Date & Time: March 4th 2026 from 6 PM JST
Agenda:
-Welcome & FI Introduction
-Speakers Introduction
-Panel Discussion
-Q&A Session
Featured Speaker:
Colin Magne - Partner at Inovexus and a Founder at Japan Angels investor, with 5+ years as a full-time angel investor and IPO experience as a General Manager. A long-time Bitcoin/crypto investor (10+ years), he backs high-impact deep tech across sustainability, Web3, AR/VR, gaming, and future-focused innovation.
Evan Burkosky - is the CEO of Kimaru.ai, an AI decision intelligence platform that augments ERP and Excel workflows with autonomous decision agents. Kimaru helps companies simulate operational risks like tariffs, accelerate execution of purchase orders and BOM planning, and track every decision for auditing, governance, and continuous improvement over time.
Koki Tanaka - is a Japan-based VC at Incubate Fund, with a background spanning Accenture, Founding HR Corp, and Tokio Marine. He focuses on the intersection of technology and social change, supporting startups reshaping how people think, work, and live.
Moderator:
- Erdinc Ekinci - Founder, Investment Lead of Co-capital.vc, Co-Founder, CEO of Openfor.co, Managing Director of Founder Institute Japan/Korea/Taiwan
Who Should Attend?
- Pre-seed and soon-to-raise startup founders building in Japan
- First-time founders seeking clarity on early-stage fundraising
- Founders planning to raise capital from Japan-based investors
- Angel investors and early-stage venture capitalists
- Accelerators, incubators, and startup ecosystem operators
What You Will Learn:
- How pre-seed fundraising actually works in Japan, beyond theory and pitch decks
- What Japanese angels and early-stage VCs look for at the first check stage
- Typical pre-seed round structures, timelines, and investor expectations
- How to approach equity, valuation, and ownership at the pre-seed stage
- Common fundraising mistakes founders make in Japan and how to avoid them
- How to identify and engage the right investors for your stage and sector
About Ecosystem Organization:
- Founder Institute: Founder Institute is an equity warrant-based non-funding accelerator that supports determined founders who already have some scalable ideas and are committed to entrepreneurship. At this stage, founders validate their ideas, build a strong founder mindset, and learn through structured programs, mentorship, and accountability. Founder Institute helps turn raw ideas into real startup foundations.
- Founder Capital: Founder Capital is a venture capital firm focused on investing in FI’s best-performing pre-seed full-time founders who have already demonstrated traction. This layer supports founders who are building full-time, executing consistently, and showing early signs of market validation. It provides capital, strategic guidance, and long-term partnership to help founders scale with confidence.
- Openfor.co: It is an entrepreneurial talent development company and non-equity venture/ecosystem builder supporting individuals and organizations starting from individual-level; detects high-potential people with our proprietary system, developing and featuring personal stories to launching a digitally productized personal brands, content creation and visibility with our 700K audience reach, to turning it into a business, and monetization to all the way up to launching a company. All-in-one platform with a marketplace, education, back-office support, content creation, and global reach, combining early visibility with hands-on operational support. Meanwhile, as an ecosystem builder, we work with more later-stage startups, larger enterprises, and governments, building and operating complex multinational 7-8 figure programs. It all boils down to this: we are on a mission to make the venture ecosystem accessible, making the world a more entrepreneurial place.
本イベントでは、日本のスタートアップエコシステムにおける初期段階の資金調達が実際にどのように機能しているかを、実践的かつデータに基づいた視点で考察します。日本がアジアの主要ベンチャー市場として成長を続ける中、プレシード資金調達は依然として人的ネットワークに依存し、選別的な性質を強く保っています。創業者たちは、投資家が最初の資金提供段階でチーム・実績・リスクをどのように評価するか、またその期待値が他国市場と比べていかに異なるかを過小評価しがちです。
本セッションでは、経験豊富なシード前段階投資家とエコシステムリーダーが、日本のVCやエンジェル投資家がプレシード段階でどのように考えるか、指標以前に何を見るか、創業者が株式と資金調達構造にどう取り組むべきか、そして初期資金調達ラウンドを遅らせたり阻害したりするよくある失敗について共有します。
日本でのVC資金調達において効果的な手法と失敗例、避けるべき落とし穴、自社のプレシード段階や業種に適した投資家の見極め方について解説します。
専門家のアドバイス、避けるべき重大な落とし穴、投資家が求める要素、株式の仕組みなどを学びましょう。質疑応答セッション後には、他の創業者や投資家とのネットワーキングの機会も設けられます。
会場：東京イノベーションベース〒100-0005 東京都千代田区丸の内3丁目8番3号
議題：
-開会挨拶・FI紹介
-登壇者紹介
-パネルディスカッション
-質疑応答セッション
登壇者：未定
モデレーター：
エルディンチ・エキンチ - Co-capital.vc 創業者・投資責任者、Openfor.co 共同創業者・CEO、Founder Institute 日本/韓国/台湾 マネージングディレクター
参加対象者
日本で事業を展開するプレシード段階および資金調達間近のスタートアップ創業者
初期段階の資金調達に関する明確な方向性を求める初めての創業者
日本の投資家からの資金調達を計画している創業者
エンジェル投資家および初期段階のベンチャーキャピタリスト
アクセラレーター、インキュベーター、スタートアップエコシステム運営者
学べる内容：
- 理論やピッチデッキを超えた、日本におけるプレシード資金調達の実際の仕組み
- 日本のエンジェル投資家や初期段階VCが最初の出資段階で重視するポイント
- 典型的なプレシードラウンドの構造・タイムライン・投資家の期待値
- プレシード段階における株式・評価額・所有権の取り扱い方
- 日本で起業家が犯しがちな資金調達の失敗例と回避策
- 自社のステージと業種に適した投資家の見極め方とアプローチ方法
じゃあ、そこで会いましょう！