Hakuhodo DY Ventures

Hakuhodo DY Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Hakuhodo DY Holdings, Japan's second-largest advertising and media conglomerate after Dentsu. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Minato City, Tokyo, the firm invests in companies with innovative technologies and new business models across seed through later stages, with the goal of designing the future alongside its parent company's two business units: Hakuhodo Consumer Brands and Hakuhodo Adhesive Technologies. The team of seven, including four Partners and one Principal, has averaged seven new investments per year over the past five years, completing ten investments in 2024. Hakuhodo DY Ventures focuses on three strategic investment areas: technology that creates new consumer and enterprise touchpoints, areas that extract value from unstructured data, and business domains where social assets are optimally allocated. This translates in practice to software and applications, health technology, AI and deep tech, data analytics, and advertising and marketing. The portfolio has grown to 60 companies as of January 2025, with 54 investments in Japan and 2 in the United States. Check sizes at Series A average $5.41 million per round and at Series B average $27 million per round. Notable portfolio companies include KAKEAI, KOMPEITO (welfare and food-based health management), SOXAI (smart ring for health monitoring), Atlast Health (mental health digital medicine), and Unito (multi-location living rental platform). The firm has produced three portfolio exits: Kuradashi (IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in June 2023, $34.6 million market cap), Cover (IPO on the TSE, $341 million market cap), and Be Marketing (exited November 2023). By embedding within Hakuhodo DY Holdings, the fund provides portfolio companies with access to one of Japan's most extensive advertising and media distribution networks, giving investees a meaningful route to market that an independent VC typically cannot offer.