Interviews

Nao Murakami, Founder & General Partner at Incubate Fund Asia – Interview Series

Nao Murakami is a Co-Founder and serves as General Partner at Incubate Fund Asia. He brings a wealth of experience in the IT/Internet startup sector. He honed his expertise at the Tokyo and New York offices of Nomura Securities Group’s Investment Banking Division, successfully guiding numerous tech startups to IPOs. In 2014, he ventured to India, where he gained hands-on experience by launching his own startup. Recognizing India’s potential, he founded Incubate Fund Asia (previously Incubate Fund India) in 2016 and assumed the role of General Partner, further contributing to the growth and success of startups in the region. He earned a B.A. in Political Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Incubate Fund Asia is one of Japan’s largest venture capital firms specializing in seed-stage investing, backed by a comparatively long track record in this segment of the market. Since its establishment in 2010, the firm has accumulated over 125 billion yen in assets under management and has invested in more than 700 startups. Its extensive history of early-stage investments is often cited as evidence of the trust-based relationships it has cultivated with entrepreneurs and the wider venture capital community.

What inspired you to found Incubate Fund Asia, and what was your vision when you started?

When I first arrived in India in 2014, I interacted with several Indian entrepreneurs and investors who fascinated me deeply. Read More…

By Antoine Tardif