UB Ventures
Tokyo VC, formerly UB Ventures, backing seed to Series A SaaS, AI and automation startups.
🇯🇵 Minato-ku, Tokyo · Founded 2018
Seed to Series A·Leads or follows
FIRSTLIGHT Capital is a Tokyo venture capital firm. It was called UB Ventures until November 2024. It was set up in 2018 as the venture arm of Uzabase by Osamu Iwasawa, a former Uzabase executive. It invests in seed to Series A startups in SaaS, AI, automation and digital transformation. Its theme is innovation for a society with a shrinking population. It invests in Japan and overseas.
What they invest in
We invest in and assist the growth of seed to series-A startups that pursue solutions for a depopulating society.
- Stage
- Seed to Series A
- Role in a round
- Leads or follows
- Fund
- Fund II · about ¥10B
- SaaS
- AI
- Automation
- Digital transformation
- Marketplace
- Japan
- Asia-Pacific
How to pitch
They read inbound pitches that match the criteria above.
Open to
- Pitches from founders
The contact page has a pitch request form for founders. No business plan is required. A separate form takes media and other inquiries.
Portfolio
The firm has backed over 40 companies since 2018, mostly at seed to Series A. The focus is SaaS, AI and automation for enterprises and legacy industries such as construction and manufacturing. Companies are in Japan and overseas, including Hong Kong and China. Proni and One Career have gone public.
Some of the companies they have backed
The portfolio at a glance · 29 companies · 2018–2026 · 2 exits · led 4
Sectors
- Advertising marketplace3%
- AI SaaS3%
- B2B marketplace3%
- Billing SaaS3%
- Other83%
Stage when they invested
- Seed3%
- Series B10%
- Series C+3%
Where the companies are
- 🇨🇳 China3%
- 🇭🇰 Hong Kong3%
29 companies taken from the firm's own news posts and portfolio page, as of Oct 2026. Year and stage refer to the round named. The firm's site lists a few more.
Co-investors and partners
Funds that invested in the same rounds.
