Tokyo, October 15, 2026 - Japan Investment Corporation ("JIC") announced that it co-hosted the event "From Silicon Valley to Japan: Investment Trends and Opportunities in Technology and Life Sciences" together with New Enterprise Associates ("NEA”) * on October 8, 2026. Approximately 90 participants attended the event, including representatives from VCs, financial institutions, and startups in Japan.
NEA, founded in the United States in 1977, is one of the world's largest VCs by assets under management and has a track record of helping build over 100 unicorns. The firm focuses primarily on investments in the technology and healthcare sectors and has also invested in Japanese companies.
JIC is pursuing its “Go Global” strategy to foster the development of Japan’s startup ecosystem. To strengthen connections between Japanese VCs and startups and leading overseas VCs, JIC has been making investments in overseas VCs, including an LP investment in NEA.
■About the event
The event focused on investment trends in the United States and investment opportunities in Japan in the technology and life sciences sectors.
Nick Kline, Partner at NEA, noted in his opening remarks that, over the past six years of collaboration with JIC, NEA has held more than 350 meetings with startups, entrepreneurs, general partners, and government officials. He noted, “Based on the quality of entrepreneurs, market dynamics, and the pace of innovation we are seeing today, we believe Japan holds tremendous potential. Japan has three significant strengths: exceptional technical talent, a large domestic market, and a growing ambition and direction toward competing in global markets.” He also emphasized that “JIC is animmensely important institution for the Japanese economy and plays a vital rolein fostering innovation across Japan,” expressing his expectations for the continued growth of Japan’s startup ecosystem.
Hidekazu Kakishima, VP of Go-to-Market (GTM) at SakanaAI, a NEA portfolio company, also took the stage. In his presentation, entitled "Sakana AI: Company Overview and Go-to-Market Strategy," he discussed the company’s product strategy across three business areas and stated, “Sakana AI is committed to taking innovation from Japan to the world. Today, frontier AI models are largely being developed in the United States and China. Sakana AI is challenging that status quo by pursuing cutting-edge AI research from Japan and bringing those innovations to the global market.”
In her closing remarks, Yuka Hata, Senior Managing Director and Head of Fund Investments at JIC, stated, “To date, NEA has invested in four Japanese companies, and I believe there are more to come. Beyond the existing portfolio companies, our partnership with NEA has also expanded. In particular,we have chosen to focus more on healthcare, including life sciences, and we are very excited about the opportunities ahead. We believe there is much more to come, not only in technology but also in life sciences.”, concluding the event.
* NEA is a portfolio company of JIC. For details, please refer to the following press release:
・JIC makes LP investment in New Enterprise Associates 18, L.P. and NEA 18 Venture Growth Equity, L.P.
（Announced on January 31, 2023）https://www.j-ic.co.jp/en/news/20230131-jic-pressrelease-en
・JIC makes LP investments in New Enterprise Associates 19, L.P. and NEA 19 Venture Growth Equity, L.P.
（Announcedon March 11, 2026）https://www.j-ic.co.jp/en/news/20260311-jic-pressrelease-en
■JIC’s “Go Global” Strategy
To support the development of Japan’s startup ecosystem, JIC is advancing the following initiatives:
・ Supportingthe growth of startups through investments in overseas funds
・ Fostering the development of Japan’s startup ecosystem by connecting domestic players to overseas networks
JIC leverages the expertise of major overseas VCs in nurturing entrepreneurs and fund professionals. In collaboration with portfolio VCs, JIC is committed to providing networking events and opportunities for domestic VCs and entrepreneurs to deepen the understanding of best practices. JIC will continue to focus not only on LP investments in private funds and investments in companies by funds under its umbrella, but also on creating opportunities, like this event, for sharing advanced knowledge from overseas and networking activities.
About Japan Investment Corporation (JIC)
Japan Investment Corporation (“JIC”) was established in September 2018 under the Industrial Competitiveness Enhancement Act. At JIC, we are united by our mission: “Investing in the future, opening up Japan,”JIC’s investment focus areas are creating a virtuous cycle of domestic investment and innovation; creating and fostering startups; leveraging promising untapped management resources lying dormant in local areas, including startups from academia and medium-sized companies; and promoting business restructuring in response to changes in market and business environments. JIC provides risk capital to these areas through funds independently established by JIC and LP investment in private funds to promote open innovation in Japan, and contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of Japanese industries and expanding the country’s investment ecosystem.
URL: https://www.j-ic.co.jp/en/
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