IT-Farm

Shuhei Okamuro founded IT-Farm in 1999 and serves as General Partner. He leads investment decisions and portfolio management for the firm. Okamuro's technical orientation and long tenure in Japan's venture market make him the central decision-maker for the partnership.

The firm sources deal flow through Okamuro's multi-decade network among technical founders, university research labs, and the broader Tokyo startup ecosystem. IT-Farm's independence from any single corporate parent gives it access to founders who may be cautious about taking strategic corporate venture money. The firm's 25-plus-year track record as a consistent seed-stage backer also generates inbound referral flow from portfolio company founders and co-investors.

IT-Farm operates as an independent venture capital firm, not as the venture arm of a larger corporation. This distinguishes it from much of Japan's corporate-venture-dominated landscape. The firm is organized as a traditional GP-LP partnership with a financial return mandate, rather than as a strategic investment unit serving a parent company's commercial objectives.

IT-Farm focuses on seed and early-stage investments, often leading or co-leading formation-stage rounds for technology companies. The firm reserves capital for follow-on investments through subsequent growth rounds. Its typical entry point is at the first institutional capital raise, though the firm has occasionally participated in later rounds for existing portfolio companies.

The firm's investment focus spans enterprise software, industrial technology, robotics, and artificial intelligence and machine learning. IT-Farm looks for deep-tech companies building in areas such as developer tooling, industrial IoT, autonomous systems, and enterprise infrastructure software. The partnership does not actively target consumer internet, media, or financial services ventures.

IT-Farm invests directly into portfolio companies through equity and equity-linked instruments at the seed and early stages. There is no public record of the firm acting as a fund-of-funds or making LP commitments to other venture funds. The firm's model relies on selecting and supporting individual company investments rather than aggregating exposure through external managers.

Founded in 1999, IT-Farm predates most of Japan's current independent venture firms by a decade or more. The firm survived Japan's relatively shallow exit environment through multiple technology cycles, giving Okamuro a longer operational memory than many peers in Tokyo. While newer firms may raise larger debut funds, IT-Farm's vintage and independence offer a differentiated profile for LPs seeking multi-cycle experience in Japanese seed-stage deep-tech.