NVIDIA-backed Japanese AI company Sakana raises $214 million, with Nomura Holdings and others participating

According to TechFlow, Japanese artificial intelligence company Sakana AI raised about 30 billion yen (about 214 million U.S. dollars) in its Series A financing, with a company valuation of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars. Sakana AI was founded by former Google researchers in July 2023, just one year after its establishment. Investors in this round of financing include financial institutions such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Nomura Holdings, as well as well-known companies such as NEC, Itochu Corporation, KDDI and Fujitsu.

Sakana AI has secured processing time on Japan’s supercomputers and is working with multiple organizations to strengthen Japan’s AI ecosystem, which aligns with NVIDIA’s recently launched initiative to support Japan’s sovereign AI projects.