Best Investment Banks Companies in Japan
The 59 best Investment Banks companies in Japan in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Forest.
Japan's investment banks don't make a lot of noise, but the numbers here tell a real story. Our directory tracks 59 Investment Banks companies in Japan, ranked by disclosed equity funding and recent funding momentum, with total disclosed capital sitting at just $12M across the cohort. Forest accounts for nearly all of it at $11M, leaving M&A Bazaar ($578,930) and Mizuho Financial Group ($510,000) as the next closest, while names like Daiwa Securities Group and M&A Capital Partners show zero disclosed funding. Concentrated? Absolutely. And that gap between Forest and everyone else is the defining structural fact of this market right now.
Globally, the investment banking sector is valued at roughly $35.4B in 2024 and forecast to reach $57.8B by 2035, a CAGR of about 4.55%, with AI adoption and deal-flow digitization driving most of that lift. Mobile is accelerating too, with median install growth running at roughly +23% YoY across 1,066 banking apps. Hot themes in analyst coverage this quarter are stock indices, deal activity, and price performance, which tracks with why Indian bankers are already pushing regulators on block deal pricing and why climate-focused investment banking is pulling serious attention into the sector. If you're evaluating firms in Japan, the funding dispersion here is something I'd watch closely.
- The Harris Poll
Ranked: Best Investment Banks companies in Japan
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Founded | Tech stack | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Forest M&A advisory firm focused on agricultural sectors | $11M | 9 mo ago | Series B | Michael Takahashi Co-Founder | 2021 | WordPressApple iCloud MailGoogle Workspace+8 | — | 1 job opening |
| 2 | M&A Bazaar Provider of M&A services for businesses | $579K | 31 mo ago | Seed | Jun Nishimura Founder | 2023 | — | — | — |
| 3 | Mizuho Financial Group Provider of financial and strategic services to businesses and institutions | $510K | 216 mo ago | Public | Shuji Matsuura Chairman | 2000 | WebflowApple iCloud MailAlgolia+26 | 10 patents AI-driven financial data analytics and risk modeling for banking decision support | 1 internship · 1 expansion · 2 awards |
| 4 | Daiwa Securities Group Investment banking firm based out of Japan | — | 83 mo ago | Public | Yuji Masuki Senior Managing Director | 1943 | SentryBootstrapReact+12 | — | — |
| 5 | M&A Capital Partners M&A advisory services | — | 228 mo ago | Public | Satoru Nakamura Founder & President | 2005 | WordPressCart FunctionalityMySQL+25 | — | — |
| 6 | AIBJ Boutique investment banking firm | — | — | Unfunded | Ichiro Abe Managing Director | 2006 | — | — | — |
| 7 | Aristagora Advisors Boutique investment bank & corporate advisory firm | — | — | Unfunded | Takeshi Shinoda Chairman & CEO | 2007 | Apache HTTP ServerGoogle Font APIjQuery+3 | — | — |
| 8 | Ark Totan Alternative Placement agent for private funds | — | — | Unfunded | Takeshi Furuya Founder & CEO | 2010 | WordPressMySQLPHP+16 | — | — |
Top 5 Investment Banks companies in Japan
#1
Series B · Shibuya, Tokyo · founded 2021 · 21 employees$11Mraised▾
M&A advisory firm focused on agricultural sectors. It focuses its investment on agriculture startups.
- Oct 2025Conventional Debt—
- Oct 2025Series B$40.6M
- Apr 2023Series A$11M
- Nov 2021Seed—
#2
Seed · Chuo, Tokyo · founded 2023$578.9Kraised▾
Provider of M&A services for businesses. It offers services such as M&A screening, providing a new M&A method to sell companies at a higher price.
- Dec 2023Seed$578.9K
#3
Public · Tokyo, Tokyo · founded 2000 · 750 employees$510Kraised▾
Provider of financial and strategic services to businesses and institutions. This includes corporate finance, syndicated finance, acquisition finance, real estate finance, project finance, capital markets advisory services, treasury markets, asset management, and research. Services are offered across various sectors and geographies, supporting clients in their financial needs and strategic goals. The organization also offers institutional services and operates through a network of subsidiaries specializing in banking, securities, and research.
- Jul 2008Grant (prize money)$510K
#4
Public · Tokyo, Tokyo · founded 1943 · 16088 employees—raised▾
Daiwa Securities Group is an investment bank. It provides services like financial services, retail services, investment banking, investment management, asset management, brokerage firm to individuals & corporates. In 2022, the company recorded annual revenues of $6.43B and a net profit of $0.47B.
#5
Public · Chuo City, Tokyo · founded 2005 · 229 employees—raised▾
M & A Capital Partners provides merger and acquisition advisory services to small and medium-sized businesses. It is based in Tokyo, Japan.
- 2007Seed—
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Investment Banks coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
Common questions
Rohit lives in the feed. He covers what's moving right now — the funding rounds, launches and shifts breaking across the trade press — and ties them back to where the sector is heading.