Startup
Third Intelligence
株式会社Third Intelligence
#71 in the Japan Top 100 Startups
| Founded / HQ | 2025 · Tokyo |
|---|---|
| Cumulative raised | ¥8B “初のラウンドで80億円” Company-stated cumulative · as of 12 Nov 2025 · Third Intelligence (PR TIMES) |
| Last round | 12 Nov 2025 · First round · ¥8B 80億円 |
| Latest public valuation | Not publicly disclosed (we do not estimate) |
| Key investors | MUFG Bank, SMBC, SBI Group, Hakuhodo DY Ventures |
| Unicorn | No |
| Website | third-intelligence.com |
From Japanese sources
Findings from Japanese-language filings, government records, trade press, interviews and job posts, with our English analysis. Items tagged Japanese-only had no English coverage when we checked quickly. Most insightful first.
| 2026-01-29 | Trade pressJapanese-onlyThird Intelligence valued at ¥110B ten months after founding; plans 38 ML/LLM engineering hires in 2026 AI新興サードインテリジェンス、企業価値1100億円に 20億円調達 The Matsuo-lab carve-out (founded March 2025) reached a ¥110B valuation on a ¥2B top-up from Shizuoka FG's VC arm. CEO Junya Ishibashi wants Japanese engineers with from-scratch LLM experience, ideally from Big Tech. Few such people exist, so its main constraint is hiring, not money. Source: Nikkei |
|---|---|
| 2026-01-28 | Podcast/VideoJapanese-onlyALL AI PODCAST: Third Intelligence CEO on AGI in 5–10 years and data-efficient learning over scale AGIが実現したら、実際どうなるの？ | Third Intelligence 代表取締役CEO 石橋 準也さんに聞いてみた！ According to the episode description, Ishibashi argues that Japan should compete on algorithms that learn from little data rather than on compute scale. That thesis justifies a ¥110B valuation without frontier-scale GPU spending. Source: Apple Podcasts listing (episode description) |
Overview
Third Intelligence is an AI research and product company working towards what it calls ubiquitous AGI. It was founded in March 2025 by Yutaka Matsuo and Junya Ishibashi, who is CEO. In its first round, in November 2025, it raised ¥8B led by MUFG Bank.
Built from: Funding release · Founding release
Company timeline
Founded
| Date | 2025-03-27· Third Intelligence founding release |
|---|---|
| Founders | Yutaka Matsuo, Junya Ishibashi |
Funding
| Date | Round | Amount | Lead / key investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-11-12 | First round | ¥8B 80億円 | MUFG Bank | PR TIMES |
| 2026-01-29 | Funding | ¥10B 総額100億円 | PR TIMES |
Key hires & board
None compiled yet.
Milestones
| 2025-06-05 | CorporateYutaka Matsuo, Junya Ishibashi and others found AI R&D company· PR TIMES |
|---|---|
| 2025-11-11 | ProductCorporate identity unveiled; new office opens· PR TIMES |
| 2025-11-12 | PartnershipMOU with SMBC on investment and collaboration· SMBC |
| 2026-02-16 | PartnershipCapital and business alliance with Hakuhodo DY group· PR TIMES |
News
| 2026-04-08 | New leadership structure Third Intelligence、新リーダーシップ体制発足のお知らせ· PR TIMES |
|---|---|
| 2026-02-16 | Capital and business alliance with Hakuhodo DY group Third Intelligence、博報堂ＤＹグループと資本業務提携· PR TIMES |
| 2026-01-29 | Additional raise takes first round to ¥10B Third Intelligenceが追加調達を実施し、初の資金調達ラウンドで総額100億円に到達· PR TIMES |
| 2025-11-12 | First round: ¥8B· PR TIMES |
| 2025-11-11 | Corporate identity unveiled; new office opens 【Third Intelligence】コーポレートアイデンティティ公開および新オフィス開設のお知らせ· PR TIMES |
| 2025-06-05 | Yutaka Matsuo, Junya Ishibashi and others found AI R&D company 松尾豊、石橋準也らがAI研究開発企業を設立し、新たなAI開発を本格化· PR TIMES |
Founder profiles: Junya Ishibashi
Funding rounds in 2026
No 2026 rounds in our database yet. Earlier funding is summarised above from the cited source.