
Why so many Japanese VCs won’t invest in Japan
From Disrupting Japan by Tim Romero
October 13, 2025 · 37 min · Episode 243
About this episode
The episode discusses the reluctance of Japanese VCs to invest domestically despite the growing interest in Japanese startups from foreign investors.
Japanese startups is hot right now, and more and more foreign money is flowing in. But many Japanese VCs remain stubbornly outward-looking. Today we sit down with Shri Dodani, who after a series of highly successful American startups, decided that Japan is the best place to invest right now, and co-founded of Global Hands-On VC, to make those investments. We talk about the unique advantages startups have in Japan and why Japanese founders often have trouble leveraging those advantages. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.
People in this episode
Host: Tim Romero
Guest: Shri Dodani
Topics covered
- Japanese startups
- venture capital
- investment strategies
- global mindset
- founder challenges
- innovation
Keywords
- Japanese VCs
- startups
- investment
- global VCs
- founders
- innovation
- mentorship
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Global Hands-On VC
Places: Japan, US
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