SunBridge Global Ventures

SunBridge Global Ventures is a Tokyo-based global seed accelerator established in January 2012 as part of the SunBridge Group, the premier partner for leading enterprise IT companies entering the Japan market. The parent group was founded by Allen Miner, the founder of Oracle Japan, and has helped build the Japan operations of Salesforce.com, Concur, SilkRoad and many others. SunBridge invests directly into startups as well as through its affiliates SunBridge Global Ventures, the seed investor and accelerator arm in Japan, and SunBridge Partners, an early-stage VC in the US. The fund backs promising entrepreneurs developing IT businesses globally, supplying seed capital plus the operating know-how the team accumulated over more than a decade of investing. It focuses on internet- and IT-related startups across big data, enterprise software, SaaS, mobile, advertising and food and beverage, investing primarily at the seed and Series A stages with the ability to lead rounds. Reported check sizes range from roughly USD 25K to USD 500K. The firm made around 21 investments, with notable holdings including WHILL, a personal-mobility-devices company, alongside THECOO, Solairo, Emimen, Kyriba Japan and AnyRoad. Its sole recorded portfolio exit was Giftee, in September 2019, and its most recent investment, EMIMEN's Series A-II, dates to February 2019, after which the vehicle has been reported as inactive. SunBridge pairs seed capital with deep Japan market-entry expertise drawn from its enterprise-software roots.