# Sourcing Brothers

Sourcing Brothers is an Asset Manager based in Tokyo, Japan.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Asset Manager
- **Headquarters:** Tokyo, Japan
- **Region:** Asia
- **Address:** 3rd Floor, South Hill Nagatacho, 1-11-30 Nagatacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-0014, Japan
- **Founded:** 2019
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** sbro.co.jp
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/sourcing-brothers

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Sourcing Brothers launched in 2019, co-founded by Sota Ozawa and Shotaro Watanabe to bridge Japanese corporations and startups. The Tokyo-based firm sits at the intersection of advisory and dealmaking, helping established companies run corporate venture-capital programs while simultaneously operating a mergers-and-acquisitions desk for venture-backed startups. Sho Ikeda, a former Global Brain professional, leads the business division, and Makoto Tanaka, formerly of ITOCHU, runs administration. The firm pursues a generalist mandate anchored in corporate open-innovation mandates. Its Innovation Consulting arm embeds dedicated capitalists inside large and midsize enterprises to source and diligence startup investments — effectively acting as an outsourced CVC function. The Growth M&A practice targets secondary transactions from venture-capital portfolios and complex multi-shareholder startup sales. Sourcing Brothers operates from Tokyo and Osaka, serving domestic corporations and startups. The firm has disclosed cumulative investment amounts through its platform, though specific AUM or deployment figures remain unpublished. The team includes directors Kiyotaka Kudo, an executive officer at SBI Securities, and auditor Yusuke Arai, an external director at SHIFT. Parent company SBI Holdings made a strategic investment in the firm in February 2023, deepening the securities-linkage. In April 2024, Sourcing Brothers signed a collaborative agreement with Universal Materials Incubator to support materials and chemicals startups. The firm participates in the Japan Southeast Asia Innovation Platform and serves as a partner in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's startup-support project. Sourcing Brothers' structural profile is unusual: it is an investment company that does not disclose a proprietary balance-sheet fund. Revenue derives from advisory mandates that fuse CVC-as-a-service with M&A advisory, rather than from carried interest or management fees on a closed-end vehicle. This makes it a service-first architecture distinct from a conventional venture-capital manager — it monetizes the ecosystem plumbing itself.

## Sectors

- Enterprise Software
- AI/ML
- Digital Health
- ClimateTech
- Industrial Tech

## Offices

- Osaka, Japan

## People

- Sota Ozawa — Co-founder and Representative Director
- Shotaro Watanabe — Co-founder and Representative Director
- Sho Ikeda — Director and General Manager of Business Division
- Makoto Tanaka — Director and General Manager of Administration
- Kiyotaka Kudo — Director
- Yusuke Arai — Auditor

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at Sourcing Brothers?

Co-founders Sota Ozawa and Shotaro Watanabe serve as Representative Directors and anchor the executive function. Director and General Manager of Business Sho Ikeda, previously at Global Brain, oversees day-to-day advisory and deal execution. The board includes SBI Securities executive Kiyotaka Kudo and SHIFT external director Yusuke Arai, bringing listed-company governance and securities-infrastructure ties into the decision framework.

### How does Sourcing Brothers source deal flow?

The firm sources primarily through its Innovation Consulting mandates with Japanese corporates, which give it a pipeline of startups seeking enterprise partnerships or CVC investment. Its Growth M&A practice picks up secondary opportunities directly from venture-capital portfolios, targeting complex cap-table situations. Membership in the Japan Southeast Asia Innovation Platform and ties to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s startup-support project provide additional origination channels.

### Is Sourcing Brothers a venture-capital firm or an advisory platform?

It operates as a hybrid. The Innovation Consulting arm functions as an outsourced CVC capability for corporations, while the Growth M&A arm executes startup M&A mandates. The firm does not disclose its own committed capital pool, and its revenue model is weighted toward advisory fees rather than fund-level carry, placing it closer to an investment bank or innovation consultancy than to a traditional VC manager.

### What is Sourcing Brothers' relationship with SBI Holdings?

SBI Holdings invested directly in Sourcing Brothers in February 2023. Director Kiyotaka Kudo sits on both the Sourcing Brothers board and SBI Securities' executive team. In April 2026 the firms announced an operational partnership focused on equity-value enhancement for listed companies and startup-growth support, reinforcing the securities-side integration.

### Which sectors does Sourcing Brothers explicitly avoid?

The firm publicly presents a generalist innovation mandate and does not list excluded sectors. Its April 2024 agreement with Universal Materials Incubator signals active coverage of deep-tech materials and chemicals, but no explicit negative screens — such as arms, tobacco, or gambling — appear in available public materials.

## Related profiles

- [Source Code Capital](https://altss.com/profile/source-code-capital)
- [Southampton Financial](https://altss.com/profile/southampton-financial)

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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