Sakana Ai Raises $135m Series B At A $2.65b Valuation To Continue Building Ai Models For Japan

As U.S. giants for illustration Google, OpenAI and Anthropic title to create nan ample connection models that underpin their AI products, startups specified arsenic Sakana AI, Mistral AI, DeepSeek and AI21 Labs are carving retired their ain niche pinch specialized models designed for circumstantial regions, industries, aliases unsocial features.

In pursuit of that goal, Tokyo-based Sakana AI has closed a ¥20 cardinal (approximately $135 million) Series B backing round, which values nan institution astatine $2.65 cardinal post-money, up from a pre-money valuation of $2.5 billion, CEO David Ha told TechCrunch.

Founded successful 2023 by erstwhile Google researchers Llion Jones, Ren Ito and Ha, Sakana AI makes affordable generative AI models that activity good pinch mini datasets and are optimized for nan Japanese connection and culture.

The Series B information drew a operation of caller and returning investors, combining Japan’s financial heavyweights for illustration Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) pinch world task players specified arsenic Khosla Ventures, Macquarie Capital, NEA, Lux Capital and In-Q-Tel (IQT).

“We scheme to deploy nan caller superior for not only R&D, including [AI] exemplary development, but besides to grow our workforce for engineering, sales, and distribution teams successful Japan,” Ha said. This year, Sakana has expanded its beingness successful Japan, teaming up pinch starring section enterprises, including Daiwa and MUFG, and developing AI solutions.

Ha, who antecedently led investigation astatine Stability AI and worked astatine Google and Goldman Sachs, besides said Sakana plans to grow its endeavor business beyond finance into nan industrial, manufacturing, and authorities sectors successful 2026.

Looking ahead, nan institution is eyeing nan defense, intelligence and manufacturing sectors. The two-year-old startup besides said it will beryllium “actively pursuing strategical investment, partnerships and M&A for semipermanent world growth.

Sakana says it sees beardown world request for sovereign AI solutions that bespeak “national cultures and values.” The Japanese startup added that focusing its R&D efforts connected AI products aft LLMs are trained helps it efficiently build precocious models tailored to Japan, taking a way chopped from nan large-scale AI exemplary race.

This backing information comes astir a twelvemonth aft nan company’s Series A round, successful which it raised astir ¥30 cardinal ($214 million) astatine a $1.5 cardinal valuation. Sakana had raised astir $244 cardinal successful full arsenic of March 2025, according to PitchBook, truthful this information would return that full to astir $379 million.