Retail Industry Landscape of Japan
2,101 Retail companies in Japan, in one picture: who is hiring, who is raising money, who founded them, where they are based and what the news is about. Updated September 2026.
Who leads Retail in Japan
Shows 2,101 retail firms in Japan, highlighting which are hiring, best funded, and currently hiring; 14 firms are hiring now and 150 have disclosed a funding round.
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JS Consulting Co.8last posted Mar 2026
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Fast Retailing7last posted Feb 2026
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AnyMind Group6last posted Aug 2026
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Kate Spade New York5last posted Jul 2026
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KAUCHE2last posted Oct 2025
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Kozure2last posted Jul 2026
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Meily2last posted Oct 2025
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Cecile1last posted Oct 2025
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Spiber$514.4MSeries E · Apr 2024
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Mercari$114.3MPost IPO · Oct 2020
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Inagora$104.5MSeries C · Nov 2017
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Foodison$81.2MSeries A · Dec 2015
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MOON-X$75.4MSeries C · Oct 2024
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STORES$73.2MSeries E · Aug 2020
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Unifa$70MSeries D · Jun 2021
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ILEM JAPAN$473ksnapshot Mar 2025
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Aeon148,146tracked employees
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Seven & i Holdings53,993tracked employees
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Yamada Denki19,752tracked employees
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Wacoal Holdings19,629tracked employees
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ryohin keikaku19,009tracked employees
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shimamura15,040tracked employees
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adastria12,417tracked employees
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Yoshitsu4.7%38 tracked events
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Lawson2.3%19 tracked events
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BONX2.0%16 tracked events
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Linkage Global2.0%16 tracked events
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SATO490articles in the window
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INSTAX47articles in the window
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Nojima16articles in the window
See all 2,101 Retail companies in Japan
Filter by funding, headcount, hiring and location, and export the list.
How the Retail ecosystem in Japan grew, 2016–2025
Displays the number of retail firms founded each year from 2016 to 2025, with a peak of 137 new companies in 2020 and only 2 in 2025.
Where Retail companies in Japan are based
Lists the cities where retail companies are located, with Tokyo hosting the most (370), followed by Shibuya (164) and Osaka (97).
The Retail market map of Japan: what these companies actually do
Breaks down product sub‑categories and revenue models, noting the largest groups such as consumer digital (791 firms) and e‑commerce product sales (1,256 instances).
The biggest kinds of Retail company, by how many we track.
- Consumer Digital791 companies · $861.4M raised · 4 hiring
- B2C E-Commerce718 companies · $794.3M raised · 4 hiring
- Internet First Brands226 companies · $78.5M raised · 2 hiring
- Marketplaces211 companies · $467.5M raised
- Enterprise Tech211 companies · $1.4B raised · 2 hiring
- B2C Fashion E-Commerce209 companies · $164.6M raised · 1 hiring
- Commerce Enablers109 companies · $578.3M raised · 1 hiring
- Enterprise Software104 companies · $477.4M raised · 2 hiring
- Internet First Fashion Brands89 companies · $18.1M raised · 1 hiring
- Beauty E-Commerce75 companies · $21.2M raised · 1 hiring
- SaaS57 companies · $222M raised · 2 hiring
- Retail SaaS45 companies · $162.2M raised · 2 hiring
Monetization
How Retail companies make money
How many companies earn revenue each way. Plenty use more than one model, so the counts add up to more than the sector.
Funding, M&A and the deals moving Retail in Japan
- M&AHitachi Global Life Solutions Inc will spin off its home appliance business into a new company that Nojima will acquire a 80.1 percent stake in for about 100 billion yen (USD 630 million) through a special purpose company, according to a report by Nikkei newspaper.2026-04-27
- FundingIn 2024, Bonx attracted the resources of Dynamo Ventures which led a round of 1.1 million that also Lakestar and Prequel Ventures joined.2026-04-21
- FundingThe €2 million round covered entirely by Samaipata will boost the growth of its team with first-level profiles and will allow to launch its platform in new sectors of activity.2026-04-20
- M&AJapanese fashion company yutori has announced its decision to fully acquire Heart Relation Inc., a company led by former AKB48 member and entrepreneur Haruna Kojima.2026-04-14
- IPOThe Japanese company plans to raise 2 trillion yen ($12.6 billion) through the IPO and use it to buy back its own shares.2026-04-10
- FundingLiving Models in Paris and Berkeley raised $7 million seed for Botanic, foundation AI models trained on plant genomics to accelerate crop breeding.2026-04-07
- FundingSam Altman’s World completed $65 million in WLD token sales through OTC deals over the past week, according to The World Foundation.2026-03-28
- M&ALinkers Industries Limited (NASDAQ: LNKS) has entered into a non‑binding memorandum of understanding to acquire additional equity interests in LPW Electronics Co. Ltd. in Thailand, potentially increasing its ownership stake from 20% to as much as 49%.2026-03-25
- IPOThe IPO will comprise a total offer of up to 1.25 crore equity shares, including a fresh issue of up to 1 crore shares and an offer for sale of up to 25 lakh shares.2026-03-20
- M&AJapan Cash Machine Co Ltd, also known as JCM Global, says its board has approved the acquisition of a “medium- and small-sized recycler/dispenser manufacturing and sales business” operated by Fujitsu Frontech Ltd.2026-03-17
Mergers and acquisitions
Deals from the last 24 months where a Retail company in Japan was the buyer or the one bought, newest first. “Undisclosed” means the price was never published — not that the deal was worth nothing.
| Acquirer | Target | Deal value | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Na | undisclosed | Announced | 2026-04-27 | |
| Na | undisclosed | Announced | 2026-04-22 | |
| undisclosed | Completed | 2026-04-22 | ||
| Vaio Corp. | undisclosed | Completed | 2026-04-22 | |
| undisclosed | Announced | 2026-04-21 | ||
| Heart Relation Inc. | undisclosed | Announced | 2026-04-13 |
Who is listing, hiring leaders, launching and winning work
Details specific event types like IPO filings, leadership changes, product launches, and contract wins for companies in the sector.
linkersOFS · NASDAQ · LNKS · 3 reportsApr 2026
PoliteIPO · NSE, BSE · 1 reportMar 2026
Valor HoldingsMark J. Ashley · Appointment → Chief Executive OfficerJan 2026
RetailRaiD10 platform (Retail AI platform)Nov 2025
Half of these companies grew revenue faster than +11.5%, half slower.
Who is building Retail in Japan
Profiles 438 founders and CEOs across 386 firms, showing common alma maters such as the University of Tokyo (3) and frequent prior employers like McKinsey (3).
Hokkaido University 2001
Moon X Inc 盟艾可商贸有限公司, ex-Aperza, ex-Cluez, CHUO university, 2003
Ex-Brain Pad. Chuo University 2017
CEO & President of Unifa
Ex-Mixi, The Guild
Co-Founder & CEO Campfire, Base, ex-Co-Founder paperboy.
Ex-McKinsey & Company.
Ex- The Boston Consulting Group, Founder & CEO SkyPiea Holdings, CEO Wishpond Japan. Kwantlen Polytechnic University BCom, Harvard Business School
Founder & CEO Vivid Garden. Keio University BS
- flagged as repeat founders3
- no repeat-founder flag300
Look up the people behind Retail companies in Japan
Search founders, executives and operators by company, role and location.
Who funds Retail in Japan
Summarizes 347 funding rounds since 2016 from 494 investors, with an average round size of $3.4 million.
| Investor · most active investors since 2016 | Rounds | Led | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMBC Venture Capital | 22 | 13 | Jul 2024 |
| Mitsubishi UFJ Capital | 17 | 5 | Dec 2025 |
| ANRI | 15 | 10 | Apr 2025 |
| SBI Investment | 13 | 7 | Apr 2025 |
| JFC | 13 | 3 | Feb 2026 |
| Nissay Capital | 11 | 8 | Aug 2025 |
| Spiral Ventures | 11 | 5 | Aug 2024 |
| Global Brain | 11 | 4 | Feb 2026 |
| STRIVE | 8 | 4 | Feb 2025 |
| Coral Capital | 8 | 3 | Nov 2022 |
The typical round is $3.4M — half were bigger, half smaller.
The biggest Retail funding rounds in Japan
Highlights the largest disclosed round—Spiber’s $312.6 million Series E—and lists ten other large recent funding events.
| Company | Round | Size | When | Backers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series Emega-round | $312.6M | Sep 2021 | The Carlyle Group, Fidelity Investments, Baillie Gifford +1 more | |
| Series A | $81.2M | Dec 2015 | Global Brain, Dentsu Innovation Partners | |
| Series D | $75M | Mar 2016 | Mitsui, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Globis Capital Partners +3 more | |
| Series C | $68M | Nov 2017 | ITOCHU, KDDI, SBI Investment | |
| Series E | $66M | Aug 2020 | Bain Capital, PayPal, Goldman Sachs +3 more | |
| Series E | $65.3M | Apr 2024 | — | |
| Series C | $54M | Jul 2021 | KREAM, Altos Ventures Management, JAFCO Group +4 more | |
| Series C | $51.2M | Oct 2024 | Shizuoka Financial Group, The Gogin Capital, Resona Group +2 more | |
| Series D | $44.1M | Dec 2018 | Cool Japan Fund | |
| Series B | $38M | Jun 2021 | Andreessen Horowitz |
67 venture rounds with a disclosed amount in the window.
Series AundisclosedMay 2026
SeedundisclosedApr 2026
SeedundisclosedApr 2026
SeedundisclosedApr 2026
Series A$8.6MMar 2026
Series A$2.1MMar 2026
Series A$1.8MMar 2026
How this industry appears in the news
Records 475,684 news articles in the last year, most often covering international entities, geopolitical disputes, and sports competitions.
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35 Retail companies here were named in the news over this period.
Watch Retail coverage in Japan as it happens
Prism follows these subjects story by story — which companies are named, what is said about them and how the tone moves.
The pressures the press keeps returning to
Three recurring angles in Japan Retail coverage, and whether each is getting more attention year on year (through 2025).
Track Retail in Japan beyond this page
Radar finds and filters the companies. Prism watches what is being said about them.
Direct contact details for the people on this page are held in Fliar Radar, behind its own access controls.
Where demand signals run ahead of mapped supply — Japan
Every demand signal in Japan’s newsflow, measured as a share of the country’s own coverage (2025-05-01 to 2026-05-01, against the year before), then scored beside family-matched supply — the companies in each signal’s mapped retail categories — as within-page percentiles. The gap is signal percentile minus supply percentile — a prioritisation clue in percentile points, not a market size.
The opportunity, in one view
Where the signals are loudest
Each region’s reading is a share of its own coverage, so a loud smaller region can outrank a large one; rows follow each story’s primary region tag.
showing the ten highest-signal regions of 12 readings.
Inside the three leading signals
Highways & expressways
the operating hypothesis
Corridor build-out can collapse travel time, widening every catchment.
Layoffs & income shocks
the operating hypothesis
Layoff cycles can pull discretionary spend back toward value offerings.
Inflation & spending pressure
the operating hypothesis
Sustained price pressure can shift spending toward value formats.
For who is hiring, raising and leading here, see this page’s leader boards and market map above.
Related research & where the coverage is heading
The research below carries both a retail term and this page’s geography in its title — context for the boards above, not proof of any single number.
Related research · retail in Japan
Prism
Take these signals further
Everything on this board comes from the same data Prism serves live — the coverage, the companies named in it, and how the tone moves.
Explore Prism
The research and news intelligence layer behind this page — follow any of these signals story by story, in reports that refresh as the coverage moves.
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Your categories, your competitors and the demand signals that move your market — in one live view that updates as the coverage does, built for your team on the same data behind this page.
Request a dashboardEvery company behind these supply counts is tracked on Radar — hiring, funding, filings and headcount, live and searchable.