Z Venture Capital

Name

Z Venture Capital

Legal name

Z Venture Capital Corporation

Website

https://zvc.vc

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Miscellaneous Financial Investment Activities (523999), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211), Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Corporate Innovation & Technology Scouting Units (with investment mandate) (FSANAHAI)

Keywords

• Corporate venture capital
• Venture capital investing
• Seed stage investment
• Startup accelerator programs
• Growth stage equity investment

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Venture capital fund returns: ZVC is a 100% LY Corporation-owned CVC managing multiple funds (YJ1 ¥3B, LVG US$100M, YJ2 ¥20B, LVJ ¥2.5B, YJ3 ¥10B, EVG1 US$250M, EVG2 US$400M, ZVC1 ¥30B, ZVC2 ¥30B) and realizes returns through IPOs and M&A exits; portfolio includes multiple IPO names (Raksul, Kufu, Geniee, FreakOut, Yappli, RareJob, GameWith, 17LIVE, etc.). No management or carry fees disclosed as separate line items.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Core offering

Z Venture Capital is the corporate venture capital arm of LY Corporation (LINE Yahoo) that invests in and supports innovative startups across media, commerce, fintech, AI, and deep tech (space, robotics) from seed to later stages in Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and the United States. Portfolio founders receive equity capital plus proprietary access to the LINE, Yahoo Japan, PayPay, and SmartBank ecosystem, augmented by named programs (US Seed Program, Code Republic, Hive Shibuya, ZVC Connect, Angel Scramble, AI Dev Night). The firm manages approximately ¥185 billion in cumulative AUM across nine funds including the ¥30B ZVC2 fund launched January 1, 2025.

Product overview

Z Venture Capital (ZVC) is a corporate venture capital (CVC) firm, 100% owned by LY Corporation (LINE Yahoo), whose product offering is a portfolio of investment funds and founder-support programs rather than a single software product. The core product line consists of two all-stage CVC funds — the ZVC1号ファンド formed in 2021 and the larger ZVC2号ファンド (~30 billion yen) formed on January 1, 2025 — which deploy capital from seed to late stage across Japan, Korea, the US, and Southeast Asia. Layered on top of these funds are several founder-support programs: the US Seed Program and Code Republic (seed accelerators with East Ventures), Hive Shibuya (a shared-office community), ZVC Connect (recurring pitch events linking startups to LINE Yahoo business units), Angel Scramble (angel-investor matching events), and AI Dev Night (joint AI-development workshops co-hosted with OpenAI Japan and LINE Yahoo). Together the funds and programs form a "platform-plus-modules" architecture in which the funds are the capital engine and the named programs are the value-add modules that connect portfolio companies to the LY Corporation, OpenAI, and East Ventures ecosystems.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Code Republic: Japan-based seed-stage startup accelerator program operated by Z Venture Capital alongside East Ventures and Sanfrontier Real Estate.
• US Seed Program
• Hive Shibuya
• EV Growth
• Angel Scramble

Products and services

• ZVC2号ファンド (ZVC Fund 2) ¥30 billion (~US$200M) corporate venture capital fund established January 1, 2025 as the second fund under the unified ZVC brand; targets LY Corporation focus areas (Media, Commerce, Fintech, AI) plus DeepTech (space tech, robotics); all-stage global investing from seed through late stage with bases in Japan, Korea, and the US; positioned as one of Japan's largest CVCs.
• ZVC1号ファンド (ZVC Fund 1) ¥30 billion CVC fund formed in 2021 following the merger of YJ Capital and LINE Ventures into Z Venture Capital; first unified-fund vehicle under the ZVC brand; predecessor to ZVC Fund 2.
• US Seed Program Early-stage investment program run by ZVC's US team focused on AI-first startups, particularly generative AI applied to consumer behavior, infrastructure, and AI-native applications; drives the majority of ZVC's seed-stage deal volume in the US and was a primary contributor to the +17 company YoY increase in US investments in 2024.
• Code Republic Japanese seed-stage accelerator co-run by Z Venture Capital and East Ventures for early-stage Japanese startups; operates as a parallel program to the US Seed Program; was the launch point for portfolio companies such as Crossbit (which exited to SmartHR Group in 2026).
• Hive Shibuya Seed-stage shared office program co-operated with East Ventures and Sun Frontier Real Estate; located in Shibuya, the facility hosts 40+ resident startups and supports graduation into ZVC's investment pipeline (e.g., Chikemi graduated from Hive Shibuya).
• ZVC Connect Recurring pitch event series (launched July 2024) that connects ZVC portfolio startups with LINE Yahoo group business units and group companies; each volume is themed (e.g., Vol.5 Voice AI featured Soniox, Pictoria, DGLOSS, Fairy Devices, and Parakeet); functions as a structured collaboration-creation program leveraging the LY Corporation ecosystem.
• Angel Scramble Recurring 1-on-1 matching event (co-hosted with East Ventures, Skyland Ventures, and AWS) that pairs startup founders with angel investors for 15-minute mentoring/financing conversations followed by networking; 6th edition held June 2, 2026 with 25 startup founders and multiple angels/VCs.
• AI Dev Night Joint AI-development workshop series co-hosted with OpenAI Japan and LINE Yahoo; features OpenAI tools (Agents SDK, Codex, Realtime API) and practitioner panels; expanded from Tokyo (Feb 25, 2026) to Seoul (Mar 3, 2026) as the first VC-co-hosted OpenAI startup workshop in Korea; includes free Codex trials for attendees.

Quantifiable outcome

• 2024 deployed ~¥5.224B across 54 portfolio investments (avg ~¥96.74M each)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• LY Corporation (LINE Yahoo Corporation)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerLY Corporation is the 100% parent shareholder of Z Venture Capital. ZVC's brand promise 'VALUE BEYOND CAPITAL FOR FOUNDERS OF THE FUTURE' explicitly leverages LY Corporation Group's proprietary resources, expertise, and assets (LINE, Yahoo Japan, PayPay, SmartBank, etc.) for portfolio founders. The ZVC2 ¥30B fund launched January 2025 was organized within the LY Corporation strategic agenda.
• East VenturescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-manager of the EVG1 (US$250M) and EVG2 (US$400M) funds together with ZVC; co-operator of Code Republic seed accelerator in Japan and Hive Shibuya shared workspace; co-host of Angel Scramble founder/angel matching events with ZVC.
• OpenAI JapancoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosted AI Dev Night events in Tokyo (Feb 25, 2026) and Seoul (Mar 3, 2026) for startups; OpenAI engineers (Kazuhiro Sera, Thomas Jeng, Yuha Han, Jaewon Lee) led sessions on Agents SDK, Codex, Realtime API; OpenAI offered 1-month Codex free trial to participating startups; described as OpenAI's first VC-co-hosted startup workshop in Korea.
• BluepointcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKorean deep tech VC partnership announced December 2025; Bluepoint has 400+ investments and 10+ IPOs in Korean deep tech. Partnership gives ZVC preferential access to Korean deep tech founders and combines ZVC's global scaling infrastructure with Bluepoint's deep-tech sourcing and incubation expertise.
• Skyland VenturesminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-host of Angel Scramble founder/angel matching events with ZVC and East Ventures; Skyland Ventures' 木下慶彦 has participated as a VC judge at the events.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-host of Angel Scramble founder/angel matching events with ZVC, East Ventures, and Skyland Ventures, providing AWS ecosystem and cloud-infrastructure access to participating startups.
• Hive ShibuyaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-managed shared-workspace initiative for early-stage startups, jointly operated with East Ventures and Sun Frontier Real Estate; ~40 resident startups as of late 2024; serves as a community/sourcing channel for seed deals.
• CJ LogisticscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCJ Logistics participated as a strategic investor in RLWRLD's Seed 2 alongside Z Venture Capital; provides RLWRLD with access to operational logistics facilities for real-world robotics training data, creating a data moat.
• Generative AI Startup Association (Japan)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-organized a joint South Korea-Japan AI startup meetup at Tokyo Innovation Base on January 20, 2026, supported by South Korea's Ministry of SMEs and Startups; brought together eight AI startups from both countries to discuss AI-driven business transformation and competition with US/Chinese generative AI.
• Sun Frontier Real EstateminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSun Frontier Real Estate co-operates Hive Shibuya shared-workspace with Z Venture Capital and East Ventures; provides physical office infrastructure for ~40 resident early-stage startups.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Broad incumbents

• Salesforce Ventures: One of the most active global CVCs (US$5B+ AUM deployed) with focus on AI, enterprise SaaS, and cloud. Represents the CVC model at global scale that ZVC is emulating regionally, with similar 'value beyond capital' thesis tied to Salesforce's enterprise ecosystem.
• JAFCO Group: Japan's largest venture capital firm by AUM, with multi-decade track record of IPOs and CVC partnerships. A more established incumbent comparable in focus areas (AI, deep tech, fintech) but with a broader industrial LP base.
• Google Ventures (GV): Alphabet's venture arm with US$8B+ AUM investing across AI, life sciences, and frontier tech. Comparable as a corporate-owned global CVC with strong technical founder network, but at materially larger fund scale and full operational independence from Alphabet.
• SoftBank Vision Fund: The world's largest technology-focused CVC/PE fund, deploying tens of billions in AI, mobility, and consumer tech. Comparable as a Japan-headquartered CVC investing globally, but operates at materially larger scale than ZVC's ¥30B flagship fund.
• SBI Investment: Japan's largest internet/finance conglomerate-affiliated VC with multiple CVC-style funds across AI, fintech, and biotech. Comparable in corporate-affiliated structure and breadth of sectors, but with much larger AUM and broader LP base than ZVC.
• Andreessen Horowitz: US-based, multi-stage venture firm with US$35B+ AUM and a strong AI focus. ZVC has co-invested with a16z in deals like Clouted, making it both a competitor for top US AI deals and a model for CVC-adjacent operating-platform strategies.

Direct peers

• East Ventures: Top-tier Southeast Asia and Japan VC; direct partner of ZVC through co-managed EVG1 (US$250M), EVG2 (US$400M), Code Republic seed accelerator, and Hive Shibuya shared workspace. Operates the same seed-to-growth stage range and is ZVC's most frequent co-investor.
• Global Brain: Leading Japan-based VC with deep corporate LP relationships and global investment footprint across US, Asia, and Europe. Closely comparable to ZVC in stage range, geographic coverage, and CVC-style value-add programs.
• KB Investment: Top-tier Korean VC and CVC platform with strong fintech, AI, and deep-tech mandates; active co-investor and competitor in the Korean startup market alongside ZVC's Seoul operations. Comparable stage range and sector focus.
• Naver D2SF: Corporate venture arm of Naver Corporation, the parent of LY Corporation's predecessor LINE. Operates as a sister CVC to ZVC, focused on early-stage AI, content, and commerce startups — making it the closest structural peer within the Naver/LY family of investments.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat7 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ZVC_Official
• LinkedInjp.linkedin.com/company/z-venture-capital

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles21 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments103 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Z Venture Capital