Japanese startup Pixie Dust Technologies announced on May 19 that it has secured approximately ¥3.3 billion (around $21 million) in a Series D funding round. According to reporting by the Nikkei, approximately ¥1.3 billion (around $8 million) of that total was raised through equity.
The company was founded in 2017 as a spin-out from University of Tsukuba, a national university. It is headquartered in Tokyo, with a research and development base in Tsukubamirai, Ibaraki Prefecture (a separate city from Tsukuba, where University of Tsukuba is located).
University of TsukubaA Startup by Prominent Researchers from
Pixie Dust Technologies was co-founded by University of Tsukuba, currently a professor at Yoichi Ochiai, and others.Ochiai is a prominent media presence, and is also known as the son of popular author Nobuhiko Ochiai (who passed away this February). This profile has contributed to Pixie Dust Technologies being relatively well-known among Japanese startups.
Since its founding in 2017, the company raised a cumulative total of approximately ¥6.8 billion (approximately $43 million at current exchange rates) through its Series C round. It then listed on the U.S. Nasdaq exchange in 2023. In the interim, the company took on commissioned research from corporate clients while also releasing its own products, including the sound-absorbing material “iwasemi” and the scalp care device “SonoRepro” among others.
However, in October 2024, the board resolved to delist from Nasdaq to reduce listing costs. The company’s publicly available financial reports show that the company has recorded a net loss in at least each of the past five fiscal years.
As noted above, Pixie Dust Technologies’s core technology is wave control — the analysis and simulation of sound, light, and electromagnetic wave behavior. The company applies this technology to help corporate clients develop new businesses through commissioned research, as well as in developing its own products such as the sound-absorbing materials mentioned above.
14 Entities Participate in Series D Across Equity and Debt
The Series D was led by Japanese venture capital firm Incubate Fund. On the equity side, seven investors participated, including ITOCHU Technology Ventures, the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of Itochu, and NTT DOCOMO, the CVC of NTT DOCOMO Ventures. Seven financial institutions provided debt financing.
The proceeds will be directed toward “growth investment in existing businesses” “research and development investment” “global expansion” and “strengthening the financial base”.
Pixie Dust Technologies President and CEO of Taiichiro Murakami, commented as follows.
“From R&D to social implementation, and from social implementation to business expansion — we are now at the most critical inflection point since our founding. Nine years of research achievements and co-creation built on wave control technology are finally beginning to take shape as a business. Using this as one milestone, we will deliver new answers to people’s health challenges in the healthcare space, transform how people work and live through our spatial and acoustic solutions, and take the technology and track record we have built in Japan to the world. I am truly delighted that we have been able to secure this critically important funding to pursue that challenge. I would once again like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who have supported us over the years. We will respond to your expectations with the results of our business growth.”
