Google invests in Sakana AI to boost Gemini’s presence in Japan

Google has joined the list of backers of Japanese startup Sakana AI, in a move that strengthens chatbot Gemini’s presence in a country looking to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence.

The investment follows a $135 million Series B funding round last year that valued the startup at approximately $2.6 billion. Sakana did not disclose an investment amount.

Thanks to the deal, the US company is enlisting the help of one of Japan’s most valuable startups to introduce Gemini in a cash-rich enterprise environment in the wake of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Sakana can also leverage Alphabet Inc.’s language models to develop products and improve reliability in critical services, according to David Ha, the startup’s co-founder and chief executive officer.

“Having greater access to more underlying models, especially from Google, will improve the performance of our products,” Ha, a former Google Brain researcher, said in an interview.

The race for AI in Japan’s corporate companies is still open, in some cases due to reluctance to change business models that have been established for decades. However, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. With the support of companies like Sakana, MUFG Bank Ltd. to develop artificial intelligence tools. and Daiwa Securities Group Inc., and entered the country’s financial sector.

Founded in 2023, Sakana quickly won a government-backed grant in a country that is not dependent on US companies and is eager to develop artificial intelligence built on its own language. Ha stated that the startup aims to work more closely with the Ministry of Defense and other government institutions this year, in addition to expanding its corporate customer base and growing abroad, adding that Sakana may not be able to use foreign models in some projects.

“If we make progress, both in defense and in initiatives, if we see success in those, we may need more capital,” he said.