venture capital

KDDI and Google AI Futures Fund Launch Joint Investment Program to Power Japanese AI Startups

Japanese telecommunications giant KDDI Corporation and the Google AI Futures Fund have entered into an agreement to launch the "AI Startup Support Program by KDDI & Google AI Futures Fund," a joint initiative aimed at investing in domestic artificial intelligence startups and facilitating their global expansion. Applications for the program are now open.

Key Highlights of the Agreement

Capital & Equity: The program provides direct joint equity funding of up to $2 million.
Early Access to Proprietary Tech: Selected ventures will receive early access to Google’s advanced AI models, including Gemini, Nano Banana, and Lyria.
Infrastructure & Cloud Allocation: Participants will gain trial access to "Gemini on GDC" (an on-premises sovereign Gemini hosted locally at KDDI’s Osaka-Sakai Data Center) and the "KDDI GPU Cloud," alongside Google Cloud credits and dedicated scaling support.
Technical & Business Support: Startups will receive direct, hands-on guidance from researchers, engineers (including Google DeepMind engineers), product managers, and designers across both companies.

Strategic Context & Background

The initiative combines KDDI’s extensive Japanese enterprise reach—boasting over 70 million subscriber contracts and 400,000 corporate clients—with Google AI Futures Fund's specialized capital and technical ecosystem.

For KDDI, this builds on its 15-year track record in corporate venture capital (CVC) and a ¥30 billion commitment made in April 2025 to bolster the startup ecosystem and drive global expansion. For the Google AI Futures Fund, the deal marks a strategic effort to deepen its footprint in Japan's burgeoning AI sector by backing local founders redefining work, coding, culture, and entertainment.

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