Best Waste & Water Management Companies in Japan
The 85 best Waste & Water Management companies in Japan in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: REVER.
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Our analysis of 100 Waste & Water Management companies
$3.6b in tracked funding; 67% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.
Ranked: Best Waste & Water Management companies in Japan
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Founded | Tech stack | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | REVER Provider of industrial waste disposal and consulting services | $29M | 104 mo ago | Public | — | 1904 | Apple iCloud MailGSAPYahoo Advertising+13 | — | — |
| 2 | ECOMMIT Provider of waste recycling services | $10M | 2 mo ago | Series B | Teruyuki Kawano Founder & CEO | 2007 | Apple iCloud MailMicrosoft 365Node.js+13 | — | — |
| 3 | Refinverse Provider of recycling services | $4M | 149 mo ago | Public | Akira Ochi President & CEO | 2003 | WordPressMySQLPHP+7 | 8 patents Airbag post‑processing technologies and reclaimed modified resin recycling processes. | — |
| 4 | esa Provider water management services | $3M | 3 mo ago | Series B | — | 2022 | STUDIOFirebaseNode.js+10 | — | — |
| 5 | EVERSTEEL Provider of innovative iron scrap analysis system | $1M | 32 mo ago | Seed | Makoto Saeki Co-Founder | 2021 | STUDIOFirebaseNode.js+10 | — | — |
| 6 | Friend Microbe Provider of wastewater treatment services | — | 36 mo ago | Seed | Junichi Kanie CEO | 2017 | STUDIOFirebaseNode.js+10 | — | — |
| 7 | Chubu Clean System Provider of food and organic waste services | — | 46 mo ago | Funding Raised | — | 1996 | WordPressMySQLPHP+8 | — | — |
| 8 | Y's Global Vision Manufacturer of water desalination and purification systems | — | 57 mo ago | Seed | Yoshiki Yanase CEO & President | 2012 | — | 2 patents Precise 3D shape measurement hardware and associated measurement methods | — |
Top 10 Waste & Water Management companies in Japan
#1
Series B · Kagoshima, Kagoshima · founded 2007 · 130 employees$10.3Mraised▾
Provider of waste recycling services
- Apr 2026Series B$9.5M
- Sep 2025Series B—
- Nov 2024Series A$10.3M
- Oct 2023Seed—
#2
Series B · Tokyo, Tokyo · founded 2022 · 12 employees$3.2Mraised▾
Provider water management services
- Feb 2026Series B—
- Nov 2024Series B$786.5K
- Aug 2024Series B—
- Feb 2024Seed$664.3K
#3
Public · Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture · founded 1904 · 775 employees$28.7Mraised▾
Provider of industrial waste disposal and consulting services
#4
Seed · Bunkyo, Tokyo · founded 2021$1.3Mraised▾
It is a startup that has developed an innovative AI analysis system for steel scrap. They offer an automatic steel scrap analysis system and a scrap classification system.
- Sep 2023Seed$1.3M
#5
Public · Chuo City, Tokyo · founded 2003 · 219 employees$4.4Mraised▾
Provider of recycling services
- Jan 2014Series A$4.4M
#6
Seed · Nagoya, Aichi · founded 2017—raised▾
Provider of wastewater treatment services
- May 2023Seed—
#7
Funding Raised · Tokyo, Aichi-ken · founded 1996 · 48 employees—raised▾
Provider of industrial waste collection and transportation services in the northwestern part of Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The company offers high-pressure cleaning of drainage pipes, repairs and cleaning work such as kitchens, air conditioners and floors in restaurants, enabling clients to recycle and manage waste.
- Aug 2022Unattributed—
#8
Seed · Shibuya, Tokyo · founded 2012—raised▾
Manufacturer of water desalination and purification systems
- Aug 2021Seed—
- 2018Seed—
#9
Late Stage · Mitake, Gifu · founded 2006 · 21 employees—raised▾
Provider of carbon fibre recycling services
- Jun 2018PE—
- 2016PE—
#10
Seed · Japan · founded 2010 · 20 employees—raised▾
Operator of a waste management company intended to provide services related to garbage collection and investigation. The company uses an upcycling system for the collection, recycling, and commercialization of marine plastic waste and conducts microplastic outflow surveys and product identification to solve environmental problems, enabling countries around the world to eliminate littering from the earth and create a recycling-oriented society.
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Waste & Water Management coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Water Treatment is moving in Japan
A read on the academic research around Water Treatment — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 585 Japan-affiliated papers.
- The University of Tokyo47
- Kyoto University35
- Korea University25
- Hokkaido University24
- Kyushu University20
- Adsorption3→13
- Catalysis2→8
- Membrane3→8
- Water quality1→5
- Degradation (telecommunications)2→6
- Adsorption15→26
- Wastewater14→22
- Sewage treatment6→14
- Contamination4→12
- Fouling4→9
- Sewage treatment1→4
- Turbidity3→6
- Wastewater7→9
- Water quality9→11
- Contamination4→5
Where water treatment 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 water treatment patents in Japan
Japan water treatment patent filing is cooling — 2,437 filings from 1,185 assignees (2016–2025), led by Kurita Water IND, Organo, Mitsubishi Heavy IND; annual filings 292→223.
- Kurita Water IND371
- Organo298
- Mitsubishi Heavy IND196
- Mitsubishi Electric179
- Toshiba KK146
- Sumitomo Electric Industries134
- Toray Industries131
- Metawater126
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.