# Sakana AI

> Tokyo AI research company developing nature-inspired model optimization, collective intelligence and resource-efficient AI.

## Why it is interesting

Sakana demonstrates a funded alternative to brute-force pretraining: model evolution, model merging and agent-driven AI research. Its $200M-equivalent 2024 Series A and ¥32B 2025 Series B are separate company financings, not NCM investments.

## Profile

- **Latest funding:** Strategic investment — Undisclosed (January 23, 2026)
- **Latest known valuation:** ¥432B post-money (~$2.7B at announcement; company Japanese release) (November 17, 2025)
- **Total disclosed equity funding:** Not publicly disclosed
- **Stage:** series-b
- **Status:** private
- **Industries:** N/A
- **Coverage:** full
- **Last updated:** 2026-11-13
- **Latest funding investors:** Google

## Key facts

- Company-announced September 2024 Series A: approximately US$200M
- Company-announced November 2025 Series B: ¥32B (~US$200M, not a USD-denominated round)
- January 2026 strategic Google investment amount not disclosed
- Not a direct NCM developer

## Funding history

- Strategic investment · Undisclosed · January 23, 2026
  Source: https://sakana.ai/google/
- Series B · ¥32B (~$200M at USDJPY 160) · November 17, 2025
  Source: https://sakana.ai/series-b/
- Series A · Approximately $200M · September 4, 2024
  Source: https://sakana.ai/series-a/

**By:** [Venture Capital Tracker](https://venturecapitaltracker.com/editorial-policy)
**Last updated:** November 13, 2026

**Editorial note:** AI tools assisted with research, structure, or drafting. Venture Capital Tracker retains human editorial responsibility for factual accuracy, relevance, and source quality before publication.

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Source: https://venturecapitaltracker.com/startup/sakana-ai