Hajime Hotta
About Hajime Hotta
Hajime Hotta (also written 堀田創) holds a Ph.D. from Keio University with a study of neural networks. He began coding at 12 and wrote his first AI program at 14, which automatically corrected simple grammatical mistakes. Early research focused on recommendation engines and neural networks.
He joined Sirius Technologies (listed on Crunchbase as Cirius Technologies) in 2005. There he built AdLocal, a geo-targeting digital advertising network, and he is described as inventor and product lead of its AI-backed ad tech. Yahoo Japan acquired that company. He then served as CTO of Naked Technology from 2006 to 2011, and mixi acquired it. After that he worked at mixi as a manager. Public bios say he has exited companies three times in Japan.
He co-founded Cinnamon AI, which was founded in 2012. Its products draw on AI-OCR, voice recognition and natural language processing. He is listed as Co-Founder (Crunchbase) and Co-CEO (PitchBook, conference bio). He also co-founded Nexus FrontierTech, where he is Chief AI Scientist. He co-founded the startup incubator Innovatube (2016 to 2018). He leads AI researchers in Southeast Asia, and Crunchbase lists his location as Kuala Lumpur. He has written books in Japanese, including Double Harvest and Teams Are Naturally Reborn, and publishes essays on startups on Medium.
Hajime describes himself as a serial entrepreneur and early-stage investor. Crunchbase lists 3 investments and 3 portfolio companies, with no lead investments and no exits. Its latest recorded deal is a seed round in Nishika. PitchBook classifies him as an individual angel with 5 investments across 4 portfolio companies and 1 exit. The two databases do not match, so treat the counts as partial.
The PitchBook entries date from 2014 to 2016: OpenCommerce (December 2014), Deepscope (seed, December 2014), Meete (August 2016) and Wisami (seed, September 2016). A Cinnamon recruiting profile from 2016 describes him as an angel investor in Asia and names Lozi, Beeketing and Antoree in Vietnam. Crunchbase also shows an angel round in Beeketing.
He was Venture Partner at Zeroth.AI from July 2017 to June 2018 and became its Partner, Tokyo, in July 2018. Zeroth.AI is an AI-focused startup program and fund. Crunchbase also lists him as an advisor to DT42 since 2017. Check sizes and ownership targets are not public.
His AI-related roles are better documented than his individual deals. Deepscope, which he invested in, is described on F6S as AI technology to improve investment returns for investors, funds and brokers. His Zeroth.AI role came while the program was focused on AI startups. His LinkedIn headline calls him an active AI startup investor, and his F6S profile lists advertising AI among his interests.
As an operator he has built enterprise AI at Cinnamon AI and Nexus FrontierTech. This is the experience he would bring to a founder in applied AI, though no public source lays out an AI investment thesis.
Public sources describe him as an early-stage investor, and the recorded deals are mostly seed or angel rounds. Known portfolio companies are mostly in business software, financial software and e-commerce tools. They sit in Southeast Asia, Vietnam and Japan, and he is based in Southeast Asia. He has also said he wants to work in global markets rather than only in Japan.
He has not published a check size, target round size or formal criteria. He has written on Medium about product-market fit, with titles such as "Consider Post-PMF before PMF" and "Avoid product ideas which won't work". He also has a "Communication Guide with Hajime" post. Founders planning a pitch can read these for his views.
- Nishika: Crunchbase lists a seed round as his latest recorded investment; the date is not public in the sources reviewed.
- Beeketing: Crunchbase lists an angel round; Beeketing is a Vietnam-founded e-commerce software company.
- Deepscope: AI technology for investment returns, a seed round in December 2014 per PitchBook.
- Wisami: business and productivity software, a seed round in September 2016 per PitchBook.
- OpenCommerce: business software, invested December 2014 per PitchBook.
- Meete: restaurants and leisure startup, invested August 2016 per PitchBook; listed as out of business.
- Lozi and Antoree: named as Vietnamese startups he backed in a 2016 Cinnamon profile; round details are not public.
- crunchbase.com/person/hajime-hotta
- pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/122438-35
- f6s.com/member/hajimehotta
- asia.insuretechconnect.com/speakers/hajime-hotta
- tech4impactsummit.com/speakers/hajime-hotta
- cinnamonailabs.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/gioi-thieu-ve-hajime-hotta-va-
- sayit.pdis.nat.gov.tw/2018-07-18-conversation-with-hajime-hotta
- hajime-h.medium.com
Investing activity
Hajime Hotta has made 3 investments according to Crunchbase across 3 portfolio companies, and has founded 3 companies.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Hajime Hotta
Who is Hajime Hotta?
He is a Co-Founder of Cinnamon AI and Nexus FrontierTech, with a Ph.D. in neural networks from Keio University. He is also an angel investor, based in Kuala Lumpur.
Does Hajime Hotta invest in pre-seed and seed AI startups?
Public records show angel and seed rounds, including Deepscope in 2014, Wisami in 2016 and Nishika. He calls himself an early-stage investor. No source states a formal stage policy.
What is Hajime Hotta's check size?
It is not public. Crunchbase and PitchBook do not list deal amounts for his investments, so we have not stated a figure.
What companies has Hajime Hotta founded or exited?
He was CTO at Naked Technology, sold to mixi, and worked at Cirius Tech (Sirius Technologies), acquired by Yahoo Japan. He then co-founded Cinnamon AI, Nexus FrontierTech and Innovatube.
Which portfolio companies has Hajime Hotta backed?
Crunchbase lists Nishika and Beeketing. PitchBook lists Deepscope, Wisami, OpenCommerce, Meete and SNT. A 2016 profile also names Lozi and Antoree.
How can founders contact Hajime Hotta?
He publishes on LinkedIn and Medium and has a Crunchbase profile. He has also written a Medium post titled "Communication Guide with Hajime" that founders should read before reaching out.
Is Hajime Hotta an angel investor?
Yes. Hajime Hotta invests personally as an angel and is Co-Founder at Cinnamon AI. Crunchbase counts 3 investments.
Where is Hajime Hotta based?
Hajime Hotta is based in Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
How can founders reach Hajime Hotta?
Founders on Lounge can see Hajime Hotta's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Hajime Hotta to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.