Colopl Next Research
Investment Thesis
Colopl Next is the venture arm of Colopl, Inc., the Tokyo-listed mobile game company. It was founded in February 2015 and is led by President and CEO Shintaro Yamakami. Its stated tagline is "Everyday more enjoyable and wonderful," and the group mission is "Entertainment in Real Life." The firm invests in startups globally, with emphasis on emerging technologies, B2C and entertainment, and on young entrepreneurs expected to lead the next generation. It also runs a listed-equity strategy that concentrates on Japanese companies chosen for growth potential and shareholder-friendly conduct. It says it uses the Colopl group's experience building user-first products to support portfolio companies.
Stage Focus
The firm invests from seed to pre-IPO and in listed shares. Its portfolio page tags each company Seed, Early, Middle or Later. Its first fund (vintage 2015) focused on seed and early-stage student founders, and the second (2016) on XR companies. Nikkei The Pitch lists seed, early, middle and later as target stages.
Check Size
Nikkei The Pitch gives a typical check of 50 million yen to under 100 million yen (roughly $330K to $660K), with an average of under six months from first look to funding. Treat this as a third-party figure with moderate confidence.
Lead Tendency
The firm both leads and follows. It joined the Series B final round of Gecipe in October 2026 alongside Japan Venture Capital, Kyoto Capital Partners and others, and it took early positions in many seed rounds. No firm-wide lead policy is published.
Recent Activity
- October 2026: invested through its fund in Gecipe (English-learning game "eSpi!"), which closed a 660 million yen Series B final round.
- August 2026: announced the transfer of its SALOWIN shares (the page lists Hulic as acquirer).
- June 2026: portfolio company Return Helper Limited raised $4M (about 600 million yen).
- The firm reports 43 investments and 44 follow-ons as of 2025-09-30, with an overseas ratio of about 43 percent (the page counters animate, so these figures are approximate). Third-party databases cite 200 to 300 portfolio companies across about 19 countries.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio page lists about 181 companies. IPO exits include Timee (TYO:215A), LANCERS (TYO:4484), Kaizen Platform (TYO:4170), adish (TYO:7093), Flitto (KOSDAQ:300080) and Mobidays (KOSDAQ:363260). Acquisitions include PlayFab (Microsoft), Owlchemy Labs (Google), SPACES (Apple), Nitero (AMD), Papero (Snap), Fyusion (Cox Automotive), Fablic (Rakuten), Lovegraph (mixi) and Matcher (PORT). Active holdings include Resolution Games, Polyarc, STYLY, Bigscreen, YAMAP, BitStar, TableCheck and a large Korean cohort in health, biotech, AI and consumer apps.
Team
- Shintaro Yamakami: President and CEO (代表取締役社長).
- Naruatsu Baba: Colopl co-founder, Board Director, who mentored the first fund at launch in 2015.
- The official member page renders client-side and could not be read, so the wider team is not captured. Third-party profiles mention a venture partner, Hideya Sakurai, which was not verified on the firm's site.
Decision Process
Decisions appear to run through an investment committee within the Colopl group structure. No process is published. Post-investment support includes business strategy, sales, fundraising, IPO preparation and governance, and large-company tie-ups with the Colopl group.
Founder Preferences
The firm favors young founders, consumer and entertainment products, and teams that can use Colopl group collaboration. Examples include Admix ads in a Colopl game, VR communication tools built with FOVE and BinaryVR, and customer-support outsourcing to adish.
Geographic Focus
Japan, Korea and the US are the core markets, with smaller positions in the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Bangladesh. A separate Colopl Next Korea site lists a Korean portfolio. The headquarters is in Tokyo (Akasaka, Midtown East).
Funds
Fund history from the About page includes Fund 1 (2015, student founders), Fund 2 (2016, XR) and later funds, including the Colopl VR Fund, which was cited at about $100M combined with other VR funds in 2017. Total AUM is not disclosed.
Gaps
Check size is inferred from a third-party listing. Portfolio stages and investment dates were not on the page for most companies, so they are omitted. Portfolio company domains were left null because the page shows only logos.