Antler Japan, the Japanese entity of the Singapore-based venture capital firm Antler, announced Tuesday a total investment of ¥240 million ($1.55 million) across ten Japanese startups in 2025, reinforcing its conviction in Japan as a strong base for globally ambitious founders.

Building on this momentum, Antler said in a statement that it also unveiled a streamlined six-week Inception Residency for 2026, alongside a higher initial investment of $150,000 net per company.

The direction is clear: more capital, faster execution, and earlier conviction for founders building from Japan, it noted.

“We are deliberately doubling down on Japan as a source of globally competitive companies. The local talent pool is highly skilled, technically rigorous, and already comfortable building at the frontier of modern technology,

“When this is paired with strong founder expertise from both local and international teams building out of Japan, the bar naturally becomes higher and our conviction stronger in the teams that meet it,” said Jussi Salovaara, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Antler.

According to the statement, the 2025 investments reflect Antler’s highly selective approach.

In the past year alone, Antler received more than 2,100 applications for its Japan programs, ultimately backing around 0.5 percent of applicants.

The firms selected are founders deliberately building for international markets from day zero, across deep tech, enterprise, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, logistics, compliance, and applied science.

Each company received ¥24 million in pre-seed funding through Antler’s Inception Residency model, which supports founders from company formation through early validation, strategy development, and investor readiness to help them
scale further, faster.

These companies are:
● Refined Robotics Inc. – Creating tougher, up to 25 times more energy-efficient last-mile delivery robots using wheel-legged hybrid technology to navigate complex terrains.
● Avete Inc. – Saving construction companies from fatalities and costly liabilities by improving site safety and productivity through AI-powered real-time monitoring and hazard detection.
● LOGISTICAL Inc. – Building an AI platform that optimizes shared transportation in the logistics space, reducing empty runs to lower costs, emissions, and prevent driver shortages.
● Xenos Labs – Building a comprehensive observability platform for monitoring LLM costs, latency, and quality in production.
● TokumaLabs Inc. – Enabling high-value legal professionals to fully focus on revenue generating tasks through a platform that automates time intelligence in the legal technology space.
● KanjuTech Inc. – Improving machine-human interactions for autonomous systems using an adaptive AI that mimics the brain with 100 times less data and energy, allowing for real-time on-premise training of physical AI.
● Snappy Compliance – Freeing robotics companies from regulatory headaches by automating compliance processes through an AI powered compliance platform.
● Smart Tissues – Providing faster healing and better outcomes to chronic wounds through an advanced biomaterial solution that offers a unique combination of enhanced tissue regeneration and antibacterial protection.
● Rubi Labs – Tackling financial crime threats through “Lapis” – a faster, smarter intelligence layer for AML/CTF that unifies fragmented KYC, detects anomalies, and predicts risks hidden inside transaction data.
● Novana – Transforming school accreditation into real-time quality improvement through the power of AI, helping education leaders to focus on what truly drives learning.

Antler Japan is hosting its next Investor Demo Day on February 13 to connect founders building at the inception stage with downstream investors in the region.

Florian Geier, Senior Director at Antler Japan, highlighted the growing diversity of founders choosing Japan as their base.

“We work with founders at the very earliest stage, including both local and international teams building in Japan. Every Japanese company we added into our portfolio in 2025 has
at least one international founder,

The Japan market offers access to world-leading customers across multiple verticals, strong and resilient supply chains, a highly skilled and affordable talent pool, and
increasingly positive signals around startup support and capital availability. These fundamentals make Japan a compelling place to build companies with global relevance,” he added.

This environment is also shaping how founders approach growth from day zero.

It is noted Japanese startups are testing expansion, partnerships, and customer acquisition across Southeast Asia earlier in their lifecycle, while startups from across the region are engaging with Japan as both a market and strategic partner.

Antler’s regional platform supports this two-way flow, connecting founders to customers, operators, and investors across Asia from inception.

Meanwhile, from this year, Antler Japan will run a refined six-week Inception Residency, designed to move with greater speed while preserving depth at the earliest stage.

Founders will receive an increased $150,000 net initial investment earlier in the program, giving teams more room to build, test, and engage customers with conviction.

Within the next six to nin months after the initial investment, Antler commits additional capital of up to $250,000 matching 50 percent of funding raised from other
professional investors.

In total, founders can access up to $400,000 in capital at inception, approximately ¥63 million, combining initial investment and committed follow-on support.

The updated structure reflects Antler’s belief that the best founders move quickly, and that early clarity combined with smart capital compounds long-term outcomes.

The next cohort will launch on May 11, 2026 designed for founders and startups with a clear vision, technical depth, and the ambition to scale globally.

Antler doubles down on AI with $7.4M in early-stage funding across SEA