Sakana AI Raises $135M Series B at $2.65B Valuation, Targeting Japan-Specific AI Solutions

Sakana AI raises $135M Series B at a $2.65B valuation to continue building AI models for Japan | TechCrunch

As U.S. giants like Google, OpenAI and Anthropic race to develop the large language models that underpin their AI products, startups such as Sakana AI, Mistral AI, DeepSeek and AI21 Labs are carving out their own niche with specialized models designed for specific regions, industries, or unique features. In pursuit of that goal, Tokyo-based Sakana AI has closed a ¥20 billion (approximately $135 million) Series B funding round, which values the company at $2.65 billion post-money, up from a pre-money valuation of $2.5 billion, CEO David Ha told TechCrunch. Founded in 2023 by former Google researchers Llion Jones, Ren Ito and Ha, Sakana AI makes affordable generative AI models that work well with small datasets and are optimized for the Japanese language and culture. The Series B round drew a mix of new and returning investors, combining Japan's financial heavyweights like Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) with global venture players such as Khosla Ventures, Macquarie Capital, NEA, Lux Capital and In-Q-Tel (IQT). "We plan to deploy the new capital for not only R&D, including [AI] model development, but also to expand our workforce for engineering, sales, and distribution teams in Japan," Ha said. This year, Sakana has expanded its presence in Japan, teaming up with leading local enterprises, including Daiwa and MUFG, and developing AI solutions. Ha, who previously led research at Stability AI and worked at Google and Goldman Sachs, also said Sakana plans to expand its enterprise business beyond finance into the industrial, manufacturing, and government sectors in 2026. Looking ahead, the company is eyeing the defense, intelligence and manufacturing sectors. The two-year-old startup also said it will be "actively pursuing strategic investment, partnerships and M&A for long-term global growth. Sakana says it sees strong global demand for sovereign AI solutions that reflect "national cultures and values." The Japanese startup added that focusing its R&D efforts on AI products after LLMs are trained helps it efficiently build advanced models tailored to Japan, taking a path distinct from the large-scale AI model race. This funding round comes roughly a year after the company's Series A round, in which it raised about ¥30 billion ($214 million) at a $1.5 billion valuation. Sakana had raised roughly $244 million in total as of March 2025, according to PitchBook, so this round would take that total to about $379 million.

Sakana AI lands $135M on $2.635B valuation to accelerate frontier research and applied AI in Japan - SiliconANGLE

Sakana AI lands $135M on $2.635B valuation to accelerate frontier research and applied AI in Japan Japanese artificial intelligence startup Sakana AI Co. Ltd. has revealed that it has raised 20 billion yen ($135 million) in new funding on a 400 billion yen ($2.635 billion) valuation to accelerate its research and development, scale its applied AI business in Japan and build a sustainable ecosystem. Founded in 2023 by former Google Brain researchers, Sakana AI is focused on developing efficient, biologically inspired AI systems that differ from the brute-force, scale-driven approaches used by the largest U.S. and Chinese labs. Sakana AI pitches itself as a frontier-research organization first, aiming to build AI that adapts and improves in ways closer to natural systems. The company's AI research centers on "self-evolving" and "model-merging" techniques that allow smaller models to synthesize capabilities, transfer knowledge and recombine skills without requiring enormous training runs. Sakana AI's model design includes automated architectural search and mechanisms that allow AI systems to improve continuously instead of being retrained in large batches. The idea is to reduce computation costs while pushing overall performance in more flexible ways. The company is focused on building AI models tailored to Japan's linguistic, cultural and commercial environment, including Japanese-optimized foundation models for enterprises, finance, manufacturing and government clients who require high accuracy in local language, regulatory alignment and sector-specific tuning. "For Japan, with a declining workforce and an aging population, the benefits of AI technology are clear," the company said in a post announcing the funding round. "We believe the right path for Japan, a nation with limited resources, is to develop our AI ecosystem sustainably through innovation and collaboration, with a strong focus on societal implementation of the technology." The company is also working on creating an AI ecosystem that blends foundational research with real-world deployment to deliver tools and pipelines for organizations to integrate AI safely into existing systems. The architecture is specifically designed to allow enterprises to adopt advanced AI capabilities without the operational burden usually associated with frontier-scale models. The Series B round included participation from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Khosla Ventures, Factorial Energy Inc., Macquarie Capital Ltd., Fundomo, Mouro Capital LLP, New Enterprise Associates Inc., Geodesic Capital, Lux Capital Management, Ora Global, MPower Partners Fund LP, Shikoku Electric Power Co. Inc. and In-Q-Tel Inc. "MUFG has recognized Sakana AI's world-class technological capabilities from the very beginning, and has deepened our collaboration as a partner in AI implementation," said Hironori Kamezawa, president and group chief executive officer of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. "As a business leader myself, I feel a responsibility to lead the implementation of AI across all Japanese companies. Through this investment, I hope the benefits of AI will extend beyond transforming banking operations to Japan's diverse industries." The new funding takes the total amount raised by Sakana AI to $479 million, according to data from Tracxn.

Japan's Sakana AI Raises $135 Mn in Series B Funding Round | AIM

This investment aims to address challenges from Japan's declining workforce, positioning Sakana AI to deploy advancements in various sectors. Sakana AI has announced on November 17 that it has raised $135 million (20 billion Yen) for its Series B round to accelerate its mission to develop AI sustainably and implement AI that benefits Japan. The funding was received from new and existing investors, including Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Khosla Ventures, Factorial, Macquarie Capital, Fundomo, Mouro Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Geodesic Capital, Lux Capital, Ora Global, MPower Partners, Shikoku Electric Power, and In-Q-Tel (IQT). The Series B funding will be allocated to accelerate R&D, with a focus on advancements in artificial intelligence through collective intelligence and self-evolution, particularly for the optimisation of Sovereign AI. The company will strengthen its Applied Team to deepen finance partnerships and explore opportunities in defence and manufacturing. Additionally, it aims to build a scalable ecosystem by pursuing strategic investments, partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions for long-term global growth. "Sakana AI's unique determination to develop frontier AI technology sustainably, through innovation, aligns with our core values as Japan's first ESG-integrated global VC fund investing in technologies that transform industries and society," Kathy Matsui, general partner at MPower Partners, said. Furthermore, this funding round has inflated Sakana AI's valuation to around $2.635 billion (400 billion yen), setting a new record for unlisted startups in Japan. The amount raised is approximately double that of the Series A funding acquired in September of the previous year. The new resources will be allocated toward the development of Sakana AI's proprietary large language model (LLM). Sakana AI's LLM is designed to reflect the nuances of the Japanese language and culture, making it suitable for local industries. Until now, the startup has collaborated with entities such as MUFG and Daiwa Securities Group. "For Japan, with a declining workforce and an ageing population, the benefits of AI technology are clear. Sakana AI is now entering its most exciting phase: deploying R&D into the business and public sectors," the company said in a statement.

This $2.6B Japanese A.I. Startup Exposes the Language Gap in Today's LLMs

The Tokyo-based startup is building language models that reflect Japan's language, culture and economy. Like many other A.I. startups, Sakana AI is pursuing technology that can reason, self-improve and aid scientific research. But where the Tokyo-based venture stands apart from most of the world's model developers is in its focus on designing products specifically for Japanese society, language and industries. Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter Sign Up Thank you for signing up! By clicking submit, you agree to our <a href="http://observermedia.com/terms">terms of service</a> and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime. See all of our newsletters Investors are thrilled about the idea. Sakana announced today (Nov. 17) that it had raised around $135 million in a Series B round that values the company at $2.6 billion, making it one of Japan's most valued A.I. startups. Backers include Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Khosla Ventures, NEA and Lux Capital, among others. Sakana was founded in 2023 by a group of former Google and Stability AI researchers, including CEO David Ha. The young company's products so far include reasoning models, a self-improving coding agent and "AI Scientist," a system designed for scientific discovery. The startup also works with major Japanese institutions to develop customized products for the finance industry. Its clients include MUFG, Japan's largest bank, and Daiwa Securities Group. Sakana is now eyeing expansion into defense, intelligence and manufacturing. "As a business leader myself, I feel a responsibility to lead the implementation of A.I. across all Japanese companies," said Hironori Kamezawa, CEO of MUFG, in a statement. "Through this investment, I hope the benefits of A.I. will extend beyond transforming banking operations to Japan's diverse industries." Building sovereign A.I. Alongside expansion plans and potential investments, partnerships and potential acquisitions, Sakana will use its new capital to advance research into large language models (LLMs) that reflect Japan's national culture and values. "This allows us to sustainably develop and optimize frontier models for Japan's specific needs, offering a distinct path and resource requirement from the large-scale model competition," the company said in its funding announcement. More than half of all online content today is written in English, which poses a challenge for training LLMs that serve non-English markets. Fewer than 5 percent of the approximately 7,000 languages spoken around the globe have meaningful representation online, according to a recent paper from the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI that described LLMs as suffering from a "digital divide." Sakana is not alone in attempting to close this gap. Krutrim, the A.I. startup launched by Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal, is building LLMs in Indian languages, while France's Mistral AI has positioned its Le Chat assistant as a European alternative to OpenAI's ChatGPT. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced a slew of initiatives, including a call for proposals to expand training data in European languages, to spur more multilingual A.I. development. Despite the limited number of A.I. systems tailored for Japan, Sakana argues the demand and benefits are clear. "For Japan, with a declining workforce and an aging population, the benefits of A.I. technology are clear," said the startup. "We believe the right path for Japan, a nation with limited resources, is to develop our A.I. ecosystem sustainably through innovation and collaboration, with a strong focus on societal implementation of the technology."

Sakana AI targets defense and banking markets after big funding round

Sakana AI has achieved a ¥400 billion ($2.6 billion) valuation after raising ¥20 billion yen in a recent funding round, and notes that it is now Japan's largest startup ever. The new investment and the sky-high valuation come as AI-mania grips markets globally and drives shares of publicly traded AI-related companies to unprecedented levels. Nvidia now has a market capitalization of more than $4.5 trillion. It also comes as more questions are raised about AI and whether it will deliver on its promises and generate enough profit to justify all the capital being committed to it.

Sakana AI raises $135 million in Series B, valued at $2.65 billion By Investing.com

Investing.com -- Tokyo-based Sakana AI has secured a ¥20 billion ($135 million) Series B funding round, pushing the company's valuation to $2.65 billion post-money, up from $2.5 billion pre-money, according to CEO David Ha. The AI startup, founded in 2023 by former Google researchers Llion Jones, Ren Ito and Ha, develops affordable generative AI models optimized for Japanese language and culture that work effectively with small datasets. The funding round attracted both new and existing investors, including Japanese financial giant Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and global venture capital firms Khosla Ventures, Macquarie Capital, NEA, Lux Capital and In-Q-Tel (IQT). "We plan to deploy the new capital for not only R&D, including [AI] model development, but also to expand our workforce for engineering, sales, and distribution teams in Japan," Ha said. Sakana AI has strengthened its presence in Japan this year through partnerships with major local enterprises, including Daiwa and MUFG, while developing AI solutions. The company plans to expand its enterprise business beyond finance into industrial, manufacturing, and government sectors in 2026. Ha's background includes leading research at Stability AI and working at Google and Goldman Sachs. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.