DG Incubation

ActiveVenture Capital

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Updated: Jan 22, 2026 ·

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Jun 1, 2024	Vertus Energy	$9.0M Seed	—	Adams Street Partners, Album VC, Battery Ventures, CapitalG, Energy Capital Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners, Quiet Capital, TTV Capital, Peter Kight, Todd Pedersen
Feb 1, 2023	Pliant	$28.0M Series A	—	Battery Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital, Embedded Ventures, JME Ventures, MS&AD Ventures, Project A Ventures
Sep 1, 2022	Valve	$5.0M Seed	—	MS&AD Ventures, Project A Ventures
Jul 1, 2022	Lucinity	$17.0M Series A	—	Alchemist Accelerator, byFounders, Draper Associates, Polaris Partners, Sequoia Capital, Subtraction Capital, Gerhard Eschelbeck, Pete Moore, Scott Belsky
Mar 1, 2022	Atomic	$40.0M Series B	—	Betaworks Ventures, BoxGroup, Collab Capital, Comal Ventures, Core Innnovation Capital, Flashpoint VC, Greylock, Javelin Venture Partners, Locus Ventures, MetaProp Ventures
Jan 1, 2022	Pickle	$2.0M Seed	—	Adams Street Partners, Album VC, Battery Ventures, CapitalG, Energy Capital Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners, Quiet Capital, TTV Capital, Peter Kight
Nov 1, 2021	Everlaw	$200.0M Series D	—	Adams Street Partners, Album VC, Alumni Ventures, David Ibnale, Backed VC, Battery Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Camber Creek, CapitalG, Citi Ventures, Concrete Ventures, Energy Capital Ventures, Founders' Co-op, Foundry Group, General Atlantic, H.I.G. Capital, K9 Ventures, Luv Ventures, Madrona Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, N49P Ventures, OurCrowd, Pareto Holdings, Pelion Venture Partners, Quiet Capital, Gil Penchina, Sapphire Ventures, Sway Ventures, Techstars, TTV Capital, Two Small Fish Ventures, Ubiquity Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Y Combinator, Chaim Meir Tessler, Haroon Mokhtarzada, Immad Akhund, Jeff Seibert, Juha Paananen, Louis Beryl, Marcus Bartram, Peter Kight, Rob Theis, Todd Pedersen, Wayne Chang, Will Herman
Sep 1, 2021	Zippedi	$7.0M Seed	—	Alchemist Accelerator, byFounders, Draper Associates, Polaris Partners, Sequoia Capital, Subtraction Capital, Gerhard Eschelbeck, Pete Moore, Scott Belsky
Aug 1, 2021	Dataiku	$400.0M Series E	—	Accel, Adams Street Partners, Album VC, Battery Ventures, B Capital Group, Bessemer Venture Partners, CapitalG, Contour Venture Partners, Energy Capital Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Giant Ventures, Heartcore Capital, Insight Partners, M12, Meritech Capital Partners, Pelion Venture Partners, Quiet Capital, Radical Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, Snowflake Ventures, Spark Capital, TTV Capital, Jacques Benkoski, YL Ventures, Megan Quinn, Peter Kight, Preben Damgaard, Todd Pedersen
Jun 1, 2021	Prefect	$32.0M Series B	—	Adams Street Partners, AIX Ventures, Album VC, Battery Ventures, CapitalG, Chemistry VC, Costanoa Ventures, Energy Capital Ventures, FirstMark Capital, IA Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners, Quiet Capital, TTV Capital, Peter Kight, Todd Pedersen
Mar 1, 2021	Preply	$35.0M Series B	—	AgFunder, Air Street Capital, Alchemist Accelerator, byFounders, Connect Ventures, Draper Associates, Educapital, foobar.vc, Hoxton Ventures, Hyper, Lifeline Ventures, Market One Capital, mExpand Family Office, One Way Ventures, Owl Ventures, Point Nine Capital, Polaris Partners, Reach Capital, Seedcamp, Sequoia Capital, Subtraction Capital, Alexander Ljung, Arthur Kosten, Daniel Hoffer, David Rosenberg, Gerhard Eschelbeck, Janis Krums, Johannes Schildt, Märt Kelder, Moaffak Ahmed, Othman Laraki, Pete Moore, Przemyslaw Gacek, Scott Belsky, Shaquille O'Neal, Tony Jamous, Vinay Hiremath
Feb 1, 2021	Anecdotes	$5.0M Seed	—	10100, Alchemist Accelerator, Andreessen Horowitz, byFounders, Draper Associates, HDC Ventures, Polaris Partners, Redpoint Ventures, S28 Capital, Sequoia Capital, SNR, Subtraction Capital, Y Combinator, Pete Moore, Scott Belsky
Aug 1, 2020	Dataiku	$100.0M Series D	—	Accel, Adams Street Partners, Album VC, Ballistic Ventures, Battery Ventures, B Capital Group, CapitalG, Cedar Capital Group, Contour Venture Partners, Energy Capital Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Giant Ventures, Karim Faris, iNovia Capital, LiveOak Venture Partners, Meritech Capital Partners, Pelion Venture Partners, Quiet Capital, Radical Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, Telescope Partners, TTV Capital, Harshit Sohu, Megan Quinn, Peter Kight, Todd Pedersen, Yajur Sehgal
Aug 1, 2020	Charma	$3.0M Seed	—	Betaworks Ventures, BoxGroup, Canvas Ventures, Flashpoint VC, Flex Capital, Founders Fund, Frontier Ventures, Fuel Capital, Greylock, Javelin Venture Partners, Locus Ventures, Mountain Group Partners, Sequoia Capital, Techstars, Erin Shipley, Leah Busque
Jul 1, 2020	Lucinity	$6.0M Seed	—	Alchemist Accelerator, byFounders, Draper Associates, Polaris Partners, Sequoia Capital, Subtraction Capital, Gerhard Eschelbeck, Pete Moore, Scott Belsky
Jun 1, 2020	RiskIQ	$15.0M Series D	—	Adams Street Partners, Album VC, Battery Ventures, Broadway Angels, CapitalG, Cowboy Ventures, Energy Capital Ventures, National Grid Partners, Pelion Venture Partners, Quiet Capital, Sherpa Ventures, Slow Ventures, TTV Capital, Vayner RSE, Karl Jacob, Marissa Mayer, Peter Kight, Shervin Pishevar, Todd Pedersen
May 1, 2020	IntelliBoard	$3.0M Series A	—	Altair Capital Management, Betaworks Ventures, BoxGroup, Connecticut Innovations, Flashpoint VC, Greylock, Javelin Venture Partners, Leta Capital, Locus Ventures
Mar 1, 2020	Preply	$10.0M Series A	—	Air Street Capital, Alchemist Accelerator, Autotech Ventures, byFounders, Calibrate Ventures, Connect Ventures, Draper Associates, foobar.vc, FusionX Ventures, Hoxton Ventures, Hyper, Lifeline Ventures, mExpand Family Office, NextView Ventures, Polaris Partners, Root Ventures, Seedcamp, Sequoia Capital, Subtraction Capital, Tandem, Alexander Ljung, David Rosenberg, Gerhard Eschelbeck, Janis Krums, Johannes Schildt, Märt Kelder, Moaffak Ahmed, Othman Laraki, Pete Moore, Scott Belsky, Shaquille O'Neal, Tony Jamous, Vinay Hiremath
Dec 1, 2019	Dolls Kill	$40.0M Series B	—	Alchemist Accelerator, byFounders, Draper Associates, Polaris Partners, Sequoia Capital, Subtraction Capital, Gerhard Eschelbeck, Pete Moore, Scott Belsky
Aug 1, 2018	ClickSWITCH	$4.0M Series A	—	Adams Street Partners, Album VC, Battery Ventures, CapitalG, Commerce Ventures, Energy Capital Ventures, FTAC Ventures, Operate, Pelion Venture Partners, Quiet Capital, TTV Capital, Peter Kight, Todd Pedersen
Nov 1, 2016	RiskIQ	$31.0M Series C	—	Adams Street Partners, Album VC, Battery Ventures, CapitalG, Energy Capital Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners, Quiet Capital, TTV Capital, Peter Kight, Todd Pedersen
Sep 1, 2016	Consensus	$2.0M Venture Round	—	Adams Street Partners, Album VC, Battery Ventures, CapitalG, Energy Capital Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners, Quiet Capital, TTV Capital, Peter Kight, Todd Pedersen
Apr 1, 2016	Consensus	$4.0M Series A	—	Adams Street Partners, Album VC, Battery Ventures, CapitalG, Energy Capital Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners, Quiet Capital, TTV Capital, Peter Kight, Todd Pedersen
Mar 1, 2016	Netomi	$3.0M Seed	—	01 Advisors, Alpha JWC Ventures, Atreides Management, Balderton Capital, Beringea, Bessemer Venture Partners, Betaworks Ventures, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Bowery Capital, BoxGroup, C2 Investment, Charge Ventures, Convective Capital, Draper Triangle, DST Global, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Flashpoint VC, Founders Fund, Goat Capital, Greylock, Gutter Capital, Hannah Grey, Indicator Ventures, Innovation Works, Javelin Venture Partners, Jungle Ventures, Kima Ventures, Locus Ventures, Matrix, Next Level Ventures, Jeff Richards, Primary Venture Partners, Silicon Badia, Social Starts, Starburst Ventures, Supernode Ventures, The Founder Coach, The Valley Fund, Waverley Capital, Y Combinator, David Haywood Smith, Drew Houston, Emmett Shear, Eric Wu, Errol Damelin, Ian Hogarth, James Beshara, Jared Kopf, Joe Greenstein, Kevin O'Leary, Kyle Vogt, Marissa Mayer, Michael Birch, Sam Altman, Tikhon Bernstam, Trevor Blackwell
Feb 1, 2016	LimitScreen Inc	$2.0M Seed	—	Betaworks Ventures, BoxGroup, Flashpoint VC, Greylock, Javelin Venture Partners, Locus Ventures, Looking Glass Capital

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at DG Incubation.

Tetsuro Miyatake

Investor

Leadership Team

Key people at DG Incubation.

Tetsuro Miyatake

Investor

Deep Dive

DG Incubation is a Tokyo-based venture capital and startup incubation firm wholly owned by Digital Garage, a Japanese internet company. Its mission centers on seeding and fostering growth in early-stage startups, primarily in sectors like e-commerce and internet services. The firm typically invests in startups valued between $100,000 and $1 million, often participating in rounds with 3-4 co-investors such as Y Combinator and 500 Startups. DG Incubation supports startups that are generally 2-3 years old, with no strict preference on the number of founders, though startups with more than five founders have lower investment chances. Notable portfolio companies include Intercom, SmartHR, and WHILL, reflecting its impact on the startup ecosystem by enabling innovative tech ventures to scale[1][2][3][4].

Founded in 1995 by Kaoru Hayashi and Yasuhiro Mimura, DG Incubation evolved as the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of Digital Garage, headquartered in Tokyo. Over time, it has expanded its focus to include multiple funds such as the Open Network Lab & ESG I Fund, Sapporo Innovation Fund, and Hamagin DG Innovation Fund, broadening its reach within Japan’s innovation ecosystem. The firm’s leadership includes Chairman Kaoru Hayashi and President Masahiro Ueda, underscoring a stable governance structure that supports its long-term incubation and investment strategy[1][3][4].

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Operates as a captive CVC under Digital Garage, leveraging corporate resources and networks.
Network Strength: Collaborates frequently with prominent accelerators and venture funds like Y Combinator, 500 Startups, and True Ventures.
Track Record: Invests in 2-6 deals annually with a focus on early-stage startups in internet and e-commerce sectors.
Operating Support: Provides incubation services alongside capital, fostering startup growth through multiple specialized funds.

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

DG Incubation rides the wave of digital transformation and e-commerce growth, particularly in Asia and globally. Its timing aligns with increasing demand for innovative internet-based solutions and startup acceleration in Japan and beyond. By bridging corporate resources with startup agility, DG Incubation influences the broader ecosystem by nurturing companies that contribute to digital innovation and market expansion, supporting Japan’s position in the global tech landscape[1][3][4].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, DG Incubation is poised to deepen its impact by expanding its fund portfolio and continuing to back startups at the intersection of technology and sustainability, as indicated by its ESG-focused funds. Trends such as AI integration, digital commerce evolution, and ESG investing will likely shape its investment strategy. Its influence may grow as it leverages Digital Garage’s network to foster startups that can scale internationally, reinforcing its role as a key player in Japan’s venture capital and innovation ecosystem[3][4].

Sources

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Operates as a captive CVC under Digital Garage, leveraging corporate resources and networks.
Network Strength: Collaborates frequently with prominent accelerators and venture funds like Y Combinator, 500 Startups, and True Ventures.
Track Record: Invests in 2-6 deals annually with a focus on early-stage startups in internet and e-commerce sectors.
Operating Support: Provides incubation services alongside capital, fostering startup growth through multiple specialized funds.