Best Mobile Companies in Japan
The 181 best Mobile companies in Japan in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: SNK Corporation.
Japan's Mobile sector draws more attention this quarter than the funding numbers alone suggest, and this directory ranks 181 tracked companies by disclosed equity and recent momentum to help you cut through the noise. Total disclosed funding sits at $485M across the cohort, but that figure is heavily concentrated: Snk Corporation accounts for $217M of it, a single company pulling the pool far above what the rest of the field looks like on its own. Stract follows at $16M, Akatsuki at $14M, and then the numbers drop fast.
So what's actually moving here? Digital banking innovations and 5G-driven infrastructure are the demand drivers I keep seeing cited, and the global mobile market forecast, pegged at roughly $9.0B in 2025 and projected to reach $24.1B by 2033 at a 13.12% CAGR, gives you a sense of the runway these companies are building toward. Payment rails are evolving quickly, with soundwave-based mobile payments emerging as one of the more unexpected near-term bets in the space, and telco partnerships like the Nokia-linked Route Mobile deal signal that infrastructure plays still move markets. Active backers including Incubate Fund, B Dash Ventures, and CyberAgent Capital are the names worth watching as this field consolidates.
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Our analysis of 127 Mobile companies
$17.0b in tracked funding; 88% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2024.
Ranked: Best Mobile companies in Japan
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Employees | Founder | Tech stack | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SNK Corporation Developer and publisher of games | $217M | 66 mo ago | Acquired | 1 | Koichi Toyama CEO & President | WordPressApple iCloud MailMicrosoft 365+19 | — | 1 launch · 1 award |
| 2 | Gumi Developer of mobile online games and blockchain technology solutions | $94M | 96 mo ago | Public | 819 | Hironao Kunimitsu Founder & CEO | WordPressMySQLPHP+11 | — | — |
| 3 | DeNA Social mobile game platform and provider of mobile services | $19M | — | Public | 3,604 | — | Apple iCloud MailGoogle WorkspaceNode.js+23 | 518 patents Mobile game delivery, live streaming, and virtual item trading platforms | — |
| 4 | Aiming Mobile game development company | $19M | 111 mo ago | Public | 588 | — | WordPressApple iCloud MailGoogle Workspace+17 | — | — |
| 5 | Wonder Planet Developer of mobile casual games designed for global audiences | $18M | 82 mo ago | Public | 213 | — | WordPressApple iCloud MailGoogle Workspace+18 | — | — |
| 6 | STRACT Provider of web and mobile app development services to business enterprises | $16M | 16 mo ago | Series A | — | Teru Ito CEO | STUDIOFirebaseNode.js+11 | — | — |
| 7 | Akatsuki Indie game development company based out of Japan | $14M | 30 mo ago | Public | 758 | Tetsuro Koda Co-Founder & CEO | WordPressMySQLPHP+25 | 26 patents Real-time game server platforms with adaptive screen rendering and data processing | — |
| 8 | Mahjong Meta Skill-based blockchain gaming community | $12M | 34 mo ago | Series A | — | Brice Vong Founder | — | — | — |
| 9 | Pokelabo Mobile Games developer | $12M | 192 mo ago | Acquired | 239 | — | WordPressMySQLPHP+21 | 23 patents In-game incentive and lottery mechanisms for digital gaming platforms and payment services | — |
| 10 | Moi Corporation Social live streaming platform | $12M | 86 mo ago | Public | 42 | Yoski Akamatsu Founder & CEO | — | — | — |
| 11 | AXEL MARK Mobile game development company engaged in planning and development of games | $8M | 61 mo ago | Public | 33 | Junji Oshita CEO & President | DNNFacebook LoginGoogle Sign-in+10 | — | — |
| 12 | Parallel Online platform for calling and play games | $8M | 26 mo ago | Series C | — | Jo Aoki Co-Founder | WordPressMySQLPHP+16 | — | — |
| 13 | Fuller Mobile app development and analytics platform | $7M | 87 mo ago | Public | 148 | Shuta Shibuya Founder & CEO | SentryApple iCloud MailGoogle Workspace+17 | — | — |
| 14 | Mynet Independent core game development company developing role-playing card games | $6M | 133 mo ago | Public | 371 | — | MathJaxApache HTTP ServerAmazon Web Services+17 | — | — |
| 15 | Nagisa App studio for consumer focussed photo & video apps | $4M | 30 mo ago | Acquired | 38 | — | WordPressMySQLPHP+16 | — | — |
| 16 | Fringe81 Provides creative optimization service | $4M | 135 mo ago | Public | 52 | — | — | 2 patents Ad image distribution server platforms for targeted digital advertising | — |
| 17 | Translimit Mobile games developer | $3M | 140 mo ago | Series A | — | Takuma Kudo Co-Founder & CTO | STUDIOFirebaseNode.js+8 | 2 patents Video game software focusing on graphics rendering and visual effects | — |
| 18 | Kotozna Provider of solutions for a multi-lingual chat | $2M | 43 mo ago | Seed | 25 | Gento Goto Co-Founder & CEO | WebflowAmazon Web ServicesjQuery+8 | 8 patents Hotel room charging and communication infrastructure systems | — |
| 19 | AdMaker Mobile advertising optimization platform | $2M | 188 mo ago | Deadpooled | — | Kiyo Kobayashi Co-Founder & CEO | — | — | — |
| 20 | Sally Developer of mobile based casual games | $1M | 1 mo ago | Series A | — | Eitaro Hiraishi CEO | STUDIOFirebaseNode.js+12 | — | — |
| 21 | App-cm Mobile video ad compression | $1M | 122 mo ago | Series A | 10 | Atsufumi Otsuka Founder | Google CloudNginxGoogle Font API+7 | — | — |
| 22 | Ateam Provider of entertainment applications, media solutions, and e-commerce services | $1M | 126 mo ago | Public | 1,074 | Takao Hayashi Founder & CEO | Hatena BlogSentryFacebook Login+14 | — | — |
| 23 | Almaprism Developer of casual games | $1M | 14 mo ago | Seed | — | Tomihiro Ono Co-Founder & COO | — | — | — |
| 24 | 3rdkind Developer of multiple apps and games | $1M | 142 mo ago | Deadpooled | 3 | Taro Hosotani Co-Founder & CEO | — | — | — |
| 25 | Pairy Couple-only app | $970K | 150 mo ago | Deadpooled | — | Toshimasa Takahashi Co-Founder & CEO | WordPressMySQLPHP+20 | — | — |
| 26 | GeoLogic Provides location based advertising platform | $907K | 95 mo ago | Seed | 25 | Wataru Noguchi Founder & CEO | WordPressMySQLPHP+13 | — | — |
| 27 | Real World Games Independent mobile game development company | $664K | 88 mo ago | Seed | — | Takashi Kiyoko President & CEO | WordPressMySQLPHP+10 | — | — |
| 28 | Good Luckslee Independent mobile game development studio | $100K | 78 mo ago | Seed | 5 | Kazuhisa Inoue Founder & CEO | WixSentryBootstrap+12 | — | — |
Top 12 Mobile companies in Japan
#1
Series A · Minato, Tokyo · founded 2018$1.5Mraised▾
Developer of mobile based casual games. The company specializes in creating and developing mobile games including Moyashimon, Gudetama, and Tsukiuta. It generates revenue through in-app purchases. It produces all types of Madamisu from planning to realization, including planning and managing events, training, creating IP collaboration scenarios, and publishing pack.
- May 2026Series A—
- Jul 2024Seed$1.5M
#2
Series A · Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo-to · founded 2017$15.8Mraised▾
Provider of web and mobile app development services to business enterprises. The company is involved in app planning and development, as well as interface research and development. They have developed applications for consumer services like dating, shopping experience, and entertainment.
- Feb 2025Series A$9.1M
- Nov 2024Series A$6.7M
#3
Seed · Kyoto, Kyoto · founded 2022$1Mraised▾
Developer of casual games. It creates digital medicine using video games. The company research and develops products for both the consumer healthcare and medical device markets using video game technologies to uncover cognitive function characteristics that are deeply related to developmental disorders such as ADHD.
- Apr 2025Seed$1M
#4
Acquired · Tokyo, Tokyo · founded 2001 · 1 employees$216.7Mraised▾
Developer and publisher of games. It has developed multiple action and arcade genres based games including The King of Fighters XIII, Metal Slug X. It develops games for PC, mobile, and console devices. The games are available on the Playstation Store, Google Play Store, and Steam to download. It generates revenue through paid games.
- Nov 2020Post IPO$216.7M
#5
Public · Shinagawa, Tokyo · founded 2010 · 758 employees$13.8Mraised▾
Akatsuki is an indie game development company based out of Japan. It specializes in developing games based on sports and role-playing genres. Some of the games developed by the company are "Cinderella Nine in August" and "A thousand memos!". The games are available on Google Play store and Apple store. It has also won multiple awards including "2017 "Companies with a good workplace" Best Company Awards". Monetizes through in-app purchases.
- Dec 2023Post IPO—
- May 2014Series A$13.8M
#6
Series C · Minato City, Tokyo · founded 2017$7.9Mraised▾
Online platform for calling and play games. Its platform allows users to enjoy various contents while talking with close friends.
- Mar 2024Series C$7.9M
- Jun 2021Seed—
#7
Public · Tokyo, Tokyo · founded 2007 · 819 employees$94Mraised▾
Developer of mobile online games and blockchain technology solutions. The company creates various content and services using blockchain and XR technologies. It focuses on delivering new experiences through its offerings. The company participates in node operations and explores blockchain interoperability.
- Jun 2018Post IPO$30M
- Aug 2014Series I—
- Jul 2014Series H$49M
- Dec 2013Series G$19M
#8
Series A · Tokyo, Tokyo · founded 2023$12Mraised▾
Skill-based blockchain gaming community. It is a blockchain-based community that enables skill-based gaming and social interaction for Mahjong. It allows Mahjong enthusiasts to compete with players.
- Aug 2023Series A$12M
#9
Acquired · Tokyo, Tokyo · founded 2010 · 38 employees$4.1Mraised▾
App studio for consumer focussed photo & video apps. It provides a variety of consumer focussed smartphone apps, available for iOS and Android. Started private app business with private diary app - Livre. Apps cover free group chats, calling, and photo, movie sharing with their close group.
- Dec 2023Series A$2.7M
- Apr 2015Seed—
- May 2014Seed—
- Oct 2012Seed$1.3M
#10
Public · Shibuya, Tokyo · founded 2011 · 588 employees$19.1Mraised▾
Founded in 2011, Aiming Inc is a game development company based in Tokyo, Japan. The company focuses on the development of multiplayer mobile games and has a portfolio of 10 games as on March, 2015.
- Mar 2017Post IPO—
- May 2014Series B$491.8K
- Apr 2014Series B$4.3M
- Mar 2013Series B$3.1M
#11
Public · Nagoya, Aichi · founded 2012 · 213 employees$18.2Mraised▾
Developer of mobile casual games designed for global audiences. The company focuses on creating products and services that can be enjoyed across different countries, languages, cultures, ages, and genders. It aims to spread smiles worldwide through communication and universally accessible entertainment. The company leverages technology to captivate users during their leisure time.
- Jul 2019Series A$9.2M
- Jul 2017Series A$9M
#12
Public · Tokyo, Tokyo · founded 1994 · 33 employees$8.5Mraised▾
AXEL GameStudio is a mobile game development company engaged in planning and development of games. It is a subsidiary of Axel Mark Inc. It also provides content solutions and advertising services. The company initially was named as Indy Software Ltd and changed its name to Axel Game Studio in Oct'13.
- Apr 2021Post IPO$5.2M
- Apr 2018Post IPO$3.3M
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Mobile coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on 5G / 6G Networks is moving in Japan
A read on the academic research around 5G / 6G Networks — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 1,723 Japan-affiliated papers.
- Korea University183
- NTT170
- Tohoku University106
- Tokyo Institute of Technology82
- University of Electro-Communications79
- Beamforming65→205
- Telecommunications4→30
- MIMO59→82
- Base station6→22
- Transmission (telecommunications)15→30
- Beamforming210→330
- Telecommunications5→47
- Wireless13→32
- Phased array13→30
- Multiplexing4→17
- Beamforming8→17
Where 5g 6g is researched across Japan
Location clusters by institution affiliation — each city's volume, stance tone, and a quick read on its hot topic, what's advancing, the opening opportunity, and the main concern.
Who's filing 5g 6g patents in Japan
Japan 5g 6g patent filing is accelerating — 120,189 filings from 8,000 assignees (2016–2025), led by NTT Docomo, NEC, SONY; annual filings 10848→12085.
- NTT Docomo35955
- NEC22653
- SONY20090
- Fujitsu16859
- Sharp KK15030
- Canon KK7845
- Kyocera7763
- Mitsubishi Electric7409
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.