Shintaro Yamakami, CEO of Colopl Next, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.
Shintaro Yamakami has led Japanese video game developer Colopl’s corporate venture arm, Colopl Next, for a decade. But this year is his first appearance on the Powerlist, a sign of the unit’s consistency when it comes to seeking out promising startups.
Colopl Next was established in 2015 and has since managed to build one of corporate venture capital’s largest portfolios. The unit has made more than 250 investments, the majority of which are outside its home country – a relative rarity for Japan, where CVC investors often concentrate on their home turf.
Some of those are channelled through a dedicated Colopl Next Korea fund, which has backed construction hiring marketplace Works Mate and Guhada, operator of a blockchain-equipped luxury online commerce platform, in the past three months.
Colopl Next’s rounds during the past year include a series D for hair and beauty salon space sharing service Salowin but its strength remains at early stage
Colopl Next’s rounds during the past year include a series D for hair and beauty salon space sharing service Salowin sized at nearly $35m, but its strength remains at early stage, where recent deals have been buoyed by seed rounds for metaverse management startup Urth and Discord community management tool creator Levellr.
The past year also saw the fund notch up a sizeable exit when Landvault, the in-game advertising monetisation startup that had merged with Colopl Next portfolio company Admix two years earlier, was acquired by Infinite Reality for $450m. Gig working platform Timee floated last July and is now valued at $1.1bn.
Yamakami’s career began as a commercial loan officer at the Industrial Bank of Japan, before he moved to asset management firm DIAM, where he spent more than a dozen years in various roles, initially in compliance and then in portfolio management. Prior to taking on the CEO position at Colopl Next, Yamakami spent nearly three years in financial planning, strategy and investment roles at the corporate.
Colopl Next is not resting on its laurels. Its 11-person team has remained active in 2025, taking part in six rounds in the first three months of the year, adding the likes of CaseBlink, the creator of an end-to-end automation platform for the immigration process.
The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
