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Minerva Growth Partners
Minerva Growth Partners is a growth investment business focused on late-stage private startups in Japan. The firm operates a technology-focused growth equity...
Minerva Growth Partners
Minerva Growth Partners is a growth investment business focused on late-stage private startups in Japan. The firm operates a technology-focused growth equity fund with Pleiad Investment Advisors, primarily investing in pre-IPO and private equity opportunities. Minerva Growth Partners has made 15 investments, including a Series C investment in NOT A HOTEL on February 17, 2026, and has achieved one portfolio exit, Infcurion, on October 24, 2025.
General information
Firm type
Private Equity
Year founded
2020
Location
Region
Asia
Country
Japan
City
Tokyo
Corporate office
2-23-1 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Ark Hills Front Tower 802, Tokyo, Japan
Principals
Kei Nagasawa
Founding Partner
Kensuke Murashima
Founding Partner
Michael Yoshino
Founding Partner, Pleiad CIO
Kenneth Lee
Founding Partner, Pleiad CIO
Ryuto Terasaka
Principal
Miki Ito
Vice President, Head of Investor Relations
Daisei Hirakawa
Senior Associate
Edward Tashima
Senior Research Analyst, Pleiad
Hiroshi Yamamoto
Research Analyst, Pleiad
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Minerva Growth Partners?
Decisions are led by co-founders Kei Nagasawa and Kensuke Murashima, supported by the broader Minerva-Pleiad partnership. Nagasawa brings the operating lens from his tenure as Mercari's CFO; Murashima contributes two decades of tech investment-banking experience from Morgan Stanley. Michael Yoshino and Kenneth Lee, the co-founders and co-CIOs of Pleiad Investment Advisors, are also MGP founding partners and participate in investment-committee and deal-sourcing processes.
How is Minerva Growth Partners related to Pleiad Investment Advisors?
Minerva Growth Partners was founded in 2020 as a co-venture with Pleiad Investment Advisors, a Hong Kong SFC-licensed asset manager established in 2014. Pleiad's founders serve as MGP founding partners, delivering the public-market perspective that supports the firm's private-public crossover strategy. Pleiad can invest in MGP portfolio companies at IPO and beyond, while MGP itself focuses on pre-IPO and late-stage private capital.
Does Minerva Growth Partners do only minority-growth deals, or also buyouts?
The firm writes minority growth checks of ¥1-3 billion as its core, but it also executes management buyouts, PIPE transactions, and carve-outs of tech businesses or subsidiaries. This buyout capability is specifically aimed at listed companies whose management teams feel constrained by short-term public-market expectations.
Which sectors does Minerva Growth Partners explicitly avoid?
MGP has not published a formal exclusion list, but its stated focus is consumer internet (B2C) and software and services (B2B), including health-tech and fintech. It has no announced investments in heavy industry, hardware, traditional manufacturing, or life sciences outside digital health.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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