"Animal spirits" is a term used by economist Keynes in his 1936 book "The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. It refers to the often subjective and irrational motivations and behaviors found in economic activity, and can be translated as "bloodlust," "ambitious drive," or "animal urge" of entrepreneurs.
Excessive animal spirits can cause bubbles, but the urge to take on new business challenges in an uncertain environment is an essential driving force to stimulate the economy and move society forward.

In recent years, startups have been attracting more attention in Japan, and the need to revitalize startups through various support measures, such as injections of funds, has been called for.
However, what is fundamentally needed to create more startups with impact is the desire and impulse to create new value with one's own hands.
Through our activities, we aim to help foster an animal spirit in Japanese society.

We are engaged in venture investment and advisory businesses.

In the venture investment business, we manage the "Animal Spirits No. 1 Fund," which mainly invests in seed- and early-stage startups that are engaged in businesses that contribute to "social change for future generations.

In the advisory business, we provide advisory services to Mizuho Growth Partners, the successor fund to THE FUND, a growth capital fund operated by Signifiant Corporation. Through this business, we also indirectly support the growth of later-stage startups.

Because Animal Spirits is managed by a small group of people, it is not always possible to provide opportunities to discuss investment policies and other matters directly with you.
We also provide an audio explanation of the Animal SpiritsⅠ Fund on our Voicy page at the link below. Please take a look.Please note that the audio is in Japanese only.

Animal Spirits FundⅠ has been established!

While in college in 2006, Founding Partner Asakura founded a startup called Naked Technology with a group of friends. The company raised funds from several VC firms and developed middleware and applications for mobile phones. In 2011, while serving as president and representative director, Asakura sold the company to Mixi, Inc.

After joining Mixi following the sale, Asakura served as the company's president and CEO, and executed the transformation of the company's business from a social networking service to a new business. In addition, he led the company's turnaround from a market capitalization of 18 billion yen at the time of his appointment as CEO to a market capitalization of 500 billion yen.

Regardless of industry, we invest in startups with high growth potential that will lead to "social change for future generations”. In addition, we focus on the following themes that are of particular importance to us.

"Protecting the nation": Startups that work to improve productivity and establish social systems to make Japan's inevitable super-aging society sustainable.
Digital Transformation, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, robotics, healthcare, etc.

"Preserve the Earth": Startups that work on building systems to realize a de-carbonized, recycling-oriented economy.
Climate Tech, natural energy, food tech, mobility, supply chain, etc.

"Pioneering the Frontier": Startups working to create new industries that will transform the way people live.
Space development, Generative AI, blockchain, wellbeing, etc.

We primarily invest in seed-stage and early-stage startups. We also invest in middle stage and beyond, mainly through follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies.
The terms "seed," "early," and "mid-stage" are not distinguishable based on external criteria such as valuation, business performance, or the name of the funding round. Therefore, when considering investment, we make decisions based on the specific circumstances of each individual company.

The degree of involvement will vary depending on the individual circumstances of the startup we invest in, and we will discuss with you on an individual basis how to get involved.
Animal Spirits does not use the term "hands-on.
In principle, we believe that entrepreneurs themselves are the most knowledgeable about the actual business situation and target market, and that the room for outsiders to contribute to the growth of the business is inevitably limited.
In the early stages of a startup, the source of growth is the entrepreneur's own time and depth of thought.
Based on the management experience of the founder of Animal Spirits, we understand that excessive intervention in the name of "hands-on" is no different from micromanagement, and can lead to a situation where the startup's growth is stunted.

When requested by our portfolio companies, we will spare no effort to assist them in discussing business strategies, fundraising, customer development, human resource recruitment, etc.

The amount of investment will vary depending on the growth phase of the startup and the amount raised, but will range from several tens of millions of yen to a maximum of 500 million yen.
The median investment is expected to be around 100 million yen.

Regardless of its role in the round - lead investment, co-lead investment, or follower investment - Animal Spirits will make the investment.

Regardless of its role in the round - lead investment, co-lead investment, or follower investment - Animal Spirits will make the investment.

The growth of the startups in which we invest and their success in raising the necessary capital are very important to us at Animal Spirits.
We will make follow-on investments in rounds after the initial investment, if additional investment from Animal Spirits could contribute to the growth of the startup in light of its business situation after the investment.

Animal Spirits is based in Tokyo, but will invest in startups outside of Tokyo.
The first fund's first investment, Crassone, is a startup based in Nagoya.

Animal Spirits also invests in startups that are registered or based outside of Japan.
However, Animal Spirits does not actively seek investment opportunities in startups outside of Japan.
The main type of startup investments we expect to make in overseas regions are businesses by entrepreneurs with ties to Japan, or businesses that are closely related to Japan.

The Animal Spirits FundⅠ was established on January 17, 2023.

Animal Spirits is a VC firm founded in 2023, so past investments are limited. Please see the link below for a list of our current investments. Please note that some of the investees include startups that have not announced their fundraising in their press releases.

List of Animal Spirits investment press releases

■Past Investments from Other Organizations
GP, which manages the Animal Spirits FundⅠ, has been involved in investment decision-making, advisory, etc. for the following companies through past companies and angel investments, etc.

Raksul (TSE Mothers listing, 2018)

Neural Pocket (TSE Mothers listing, 2020)

Loco Partners (acquired by KDDI, 2020)

Original Stitch (acquired by World, 2019)

Socket (acquired by KDDI, 2015)

Paystack (acquired by Stripe, 2020, Nigeria)

Andpad

Asobica

Reiwa Travel

overflow

Siiibo

WAmazing

FiNC Technologies

Money Design

smartround

Bodygram

Bespo

TeraWatt Technology (US)

TVision Insights (US)

Chaldal (Pakistan)

Anyplace (US)

Paperspace (US)

■Past investments from THE FUND

THE FUND, a growth capital fund managed by Signifiant Corporation, founded by GP Asakura, has invested in the following startups. Araki, a GP, is in charge of the investment review and other operations of "THE FUND".

SmartHR

Base Food (TSE Growth Listing, 2018)

Astroscale Holdings

Timee

bellFace

XICA

i grid solutions

hacomono

On the other hand, although not categorized as "investment performance," the most significant success stories in terms of investment returns are Naked Technology and Mixi, which GP represented and directly managed.

We are looking for a few Capitalist candidates.
If you are interested, please contact us via CONTACT with a link to your Linkedin or resume.
Please note that we are unable to respond to all inquiries.

If you know someone in common with us, we can respond more quickly if you contact us via a referral.

If you do not have a mutual acquaintance, please contact us via CONTACT on our website.

If you are inquiring about fundraising, please include a link to your pitch materials or other reference materials in the contact form.

Please note that due to the extremely limited number of people working at Animal Spirits, we are unable to reply to everyone who contacts us.