Google announced financial backing for Japanese startup Sakana AI on Friday, while also establishing a strategic partnership that will enable the Japanese artificial intelligence developer to make better use of the American technology giant's large language models when developing its own products.
The investment comes after Sakana AI raised approximately 20 billion yen (roughly CZK 3.3 billion) in Series B funding from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and other investors in November 2025. This funding round brought the company's valuation to approximately 400 billion yen, equivalent to roughly CZK 66 billion. This made Sakana AI Japan's most valuable privately held startup, far exceeding the threshold for unicorn status. The exact amount of Google's investment was not disclosed, but it is part of this growth-oriented funding.
Strategic partnership with Google
The partnership includes the active use of Google technologies, such as the Gemini generative AI model, in the development of Sakana AI's products. The company will also share customer feedback with Google to help improve quality. Sakana AI plans to encourage exchanges between its employees and Google's employees with a view to conducting joint research in artificial intelligence.
For Google, this investment represents an opportunity to develop the Japanese market and expand adoption of its cloud platform and generative AI services through its partner. Google apparently decided to support Sakana AI because of its technical capabilities and experience with real-world deployment of the technology.
Sakana AI uses various models in its artificial intelligence development, including those from Google and OpenAI. The partnership will make it easier to use Google's models while still allowing the use of models from other sources. Sakana AI will also be able to provide its products through Google's cloud infrastructure to customers with strict security requirements, including financial institutions and government organizations.
David Ha, CEO of Sakana AI, said that access to Google's foundation models will improve the performance of the company's products. According to him, the partnership will help accelerate the deployment of powerful AI systems in areas where privacy and reliability are critical.
Continued development of its own model
Sakana AI announced that it plans to use the funding secured in November to develop its own large language model, which it will develop alongside products using Google's Gemini and Gemma models. Sakana AI also has relationships with other major American technology companies. In 2024, it announced an investment from Nvidia and plans to establish partnerships with other foreign companies. This diversification of partners demonstrates the startup's ambition to become a major player in the global artificial intelligence market.
Google has previously invested in Japanese technology companies. In 2018, it backed artificial intelligence developer Abeja, and in 2023, it invested in cashless payment and reservation system provider Stores. The investment in Sakana AI therefore fits into Google's long-term strategy in the Japanese market.
Sakana AI has already established a partnership with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan's largest bank. MUFG Bank plans to use AI technologies to save up to 200,000 hours annually.
The investment comes at a time when Japan is eager to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence. The country is striving to keep pace with global developments in AI, and Sakana AI is one of the most promising domestic companies in the industry. The partnership with Google could help Japanese companies and institutions implement advanced AI solutions more quickly while taking local specifics and requirements into account.
