Wataru Sakakura tends to test a startup pitch right in the first meeting, often reviewing real customer interviews on the spot, and he only commits after understanding the actual economics and, in at least one case, visiting the business in person to see it firsthand. He also has a clear view that big companies can't change on their own and need outside people and startups mixed in, which shows up in how he tries to connect specialists in areas like AI, design, and operations, and in the DX playbook and column he publishes under his own name.
About their Fund
One Capital is a Japan-focused enterprise software VC, started by Shinji Asada after he left Salesforce Ventures wanting to be a more hands-on partner to founders, and it raised the largest first-time VC fund in Japan's history at $170M while focusing on Japan's low SaaS penetration and opportunity to replace legacy software; it looks for founders who are alumni of major US tech firms or early employees at successful public Japanese tech companies, and it recently added healthcare expertise through former McKinsey partner Yukako Yokota. The firm sets itself apart by building its own SaaS tools (like Projection-ai) and using 100+ SaaS products internally to evaluate startups as real users, by using its fund to help large Japanese companies digitize over ten-year relationships, by publishing widely cited Japan SaaS Insights research, and by drawing about 20% of its second fund from international investors in the US and Singapore.
















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