Japan experiencing budding startup wave as fundraising environment improves

A wave of startups is emerging in famously risk-averse Japan as cash-rich corporations increasingly delegate the task of keeping pace with technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics to smaller, nimbler businesses. Japan has been dry ground for startups, given the shame that entrepreneurs and investors associate with failure, but it is on track for a record funding year for unlisted startups, exceeding the dot-com bubble of 2000, according to a private research firm. "The fundraising environment has improved a lot compared with a few years ago," said Ken Tamagawa, 40-year-old CEO of Soracom Inc, which helps companies set up platforms allowing devices to communicate with each other via the "internet of things." It raised ¥3 billion ($25.6 million) from Mitsui & Co. and an investment fund in which Toyota Motor Corp. has a stake. Dozens of companies, including electronics maker Omron Corp. and real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan Co., have set up venture capital funds to seek returns or to team up with smaller companies.