Monozukuri Ventures
Kyoto and New York venture firm investing in pre-seed to early-stage hard-tech and hardware startups.
🇯🇵 Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture · Founded 2015
Checks $100K – $300K·Pre-seed to Seed·Co-invests
Monozukuri Ventures is a venture capital firm with its head office in Kyoto and offices in New York and Toronto. It was set up in 2015 and took its current name after Kyoto's Darma Tech Labs (Makers Boot Camp) and New York's FabFoundry joined forces in 2020. It invests in pre-seed, seed and early-stage hard-tech startups in Japan, the United States and Canada. Typical investments are $100,000 to $300,000, with follow-on up to $1 million per company. It also supports hardware prototyping, mass production and business development.
What they invest in
We make hardware startups together. We aim to create a world where entrepreneurs and startups can quickly produce and sell high-quality products, even in small quantities. Beyond investment, we support hardware prototyping, mass production and business development.
- Check size
- $100K – $300K
- Stage
- Pre-seed to Seed
- Role in a round
- Co-invests
- Fund
- Monozukuri Ventures 2nd Fund · final close July 2022
- Closed 2022
- Hard tech
- Industrial IoT
- Robotics
- Healthcare
- Cleantech
- Japan
- United States
- Canada
How to pitch
They read inbound pitches that match the criteria above.
Open to
- Pitches from founders
Founders can apply for investment through a form linked from the fund's site. Separate forms cover prototyping and manufacturing consultation and other inquiries. The firm also offers technical consulting and open innovation services with corporate partners.
Portfolio
The fund's site lists 43 current companies and 16 exits. Most are pre-seed to early-stage hard-tech startups in Japan and the United States. Sectors include robotics, semiconductors, IoT, health devices, materials and clean tech. Two funds were launched, in 2017 and 2021.
Some of the companies they have backed
The portfolio at a glance · 59 companies · 2023–2025 · 16 exits
Sectors
- Robotics7%
- Smart home7%
- Clean tech5%
- Semiconductors5%
- Other49%
Stage when they invested
- Pre-seed3%
- Seed36%
- Series A2%
- Series C+2%
Where the companies are
- 🇯🇵 Japan39%
- 🇺🇸 United States34%
From the fund's own portfolio page, read Oct 2026. Years and round names come from Caplight, CB Insights and Superscout. Only Mira and OhmniLabs are tagged M&A.
Co-investors and partners
Funds that invested in the same rounds.
