Kintetsu Venture Partners
Corporate VCSeed–Growth
Also known as 近鉄ベンチャーパートナーズ株式会社
Investment thesis
The firm pursues open innovation between startups and the Kintetsu Group, leveraging the group's diverse assets — a rail network of 286 stations, tourism and leisure facilities, department stores and supermarkets, real estate, and large customer/member data pools. It targets ventures that improve operational efficiency and labor-saving across business lines, strengthen marketing and communication in a global and ICT-driven society, and enhance service value for diversified customer needs. It also backs new businesses addressing aging and population decline, regional revitalization, environment/energy, agriculture, health/medicine, and technology-driven areas such as FinTech.
Source: firm website, verified Aug 7, 2026.
What they invest in
from 15 of 41 portfolio companiesSaaS ×5Mobility & Transportation ×3Retail Tech ×3Travel & Hospitality ×3B2B Marketplaces ×2Circular Economy ×2Consumer ×2Enterprise Software ×2
HQs:Japan×13
Investments · 41 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathMeiko Bus operates route buses and highway bus services in the Shirahama and Kinan area of Wakayama, Japan, and provides route maps, timetables, and fare information.
Mobility & Transportation
SaaS product using voice recognition, NLP and generative AI, from a startup developing Personal Artificial Intelligence (P.A.I.) and AI clones.
Develops Personal AI and AI clones, offering voice recognition, NLP and generative-AI SaaS products (AI GIJIROKU) and LLM-based DX solutions.
AUBA is an open innovation platform that helps companies find partner firms and build co-creation businesses, offering company search across 40,000+ registered companies, business-planning tools, and dedicated innovation advisor support.
B2B MarketplacesEnterprise SoftwareSaaS
Digital platform tool for event management, run by a leading smartphone app development company.
Subscription accommodation service allowing members to freely choose from partner lodging facilities in Japan and abroad for a fixed monthly fee.
Kabuk is an engineering company building technology infrastructure focused on the travel industry.
SaaSTravel & Hospitality
Cloud service for issuing, operating and analyzing digital wallet passes for Apple Wallet and Google Pay.
Biodegradable plastic-alternative material made mainly from plant-derived raw materials, developed to contribute to a circular economy.
Tokyo, JP
Tango-based startup extracting and processing silk proteins (fibroin/sericin) for cosmetics and industrial raw materials.
Work-sharing service connecting users who want to work for short time slots with businesses needing short-term labor, plus 'Timee Travel' for regional operators.
Work-sharing service connecting users who want to work specific hours with businesses needing short-term labor, plus Timee Travel for regional work experiences.
Wovn Technologies provides website and app localization services through its WOVN.io and WOVN.app products, enabling organizations to translate and adapt their digital properties for multiple languages.
Developer ToolsEnterprise SoftwareMarketing TechSaaSTokyo, JP
Takaharu Hayashi(CEO)
AmicaTerra manufactures bioplastic products from edible and non-edible plant materials, achieving cost-competitive performance through processing at Taiwan facilities.
BiotechCircular EconomyCleantechNew MaterialsKumamoto, JP
Timee is a gig work platform that connects workers with short-term, flexible job opportunities across various industries in Japan, offering same-day payment and no upfront fees.
B2B MarketplacesFuture of WorkSaaS
A company focused on silk as a renewable, circular material intended to be gentle on both people and the environment.
Circular EconomyNew Materials
Nagoya Kintetsu Taxi is a taxi and hire-car operator based in Nagoya, Japan, offering standard taxi rides, chartered hire cars, jumbo taxis, and sightseeing/tour taxi services including fixed-fare and shuttle plans.
Mobility & TransportationTravel & HospitalityNagoya, JP
AirX is a technology company developing a digital platform for air transportation, operating helicopter and air mobility services in Japan.
Mobility & TransportationTravel & Hospitality
KINCHAKU is an all-in-one platform for walk-in businesses that combines digital vouchers, bookings, reception, unattended check-in, and customer loyalty tools.
Marketing TechRetail TechSaaS
Silva Compass develops an AI-driven video conversation system that recreates realistic, human-like dialogue using a person's actual appearance and voice rather than robots or CG.
AI & Machine LearningDeep TechMedia & Entertainment
Kinsho Store operates a chain of grocery supermarkets, offering everyday food products, private-brand items, and meal-planning ideas to consumers.
ConsumerRetail Tech
Kintetsu Retailing operates restaurants, shops, and retail spaces inside train stations along the Kintetsu railway lines in Japan, including locations at stations such as Yamato-Saidaiji, Osaka-Namba, Kyoto, and Kintetsu-Nara.
ConsumerE-commerceRetail Tech
Kintetsu Real Estate is the core real estate company of the Kintetsu Group, operating office buildings and commercial facilities, selling condominiums and detached houses, and offering renovation and real estate brokerage services.
PropTech
Frequently asked questions
- What stage does Kintetsu Venture Partners invest at?
- Kintetsu Venture Partners invests at the Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, Growth stages.
- What sectors does Kintetsu Venture Partners focus on?
- Kintetsu Venture Partners focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Circular Economy, Climate Tech, Data & Infrastructure, Digital Health, Energy, Fintech, FoodTech, Future of Work, Healthtech, IoT, Logistics & Supply Chain, Mobility & Transportation, New Materials, PropTech, Retail Tech, Robotics, SaaS, Sector Agnostic, Travel & Hospitality.
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