Japan's FLASH raises a seed extension, taking cumulative seed to about JPY 1.3bn
The Tokyo company behind the short-drama app Million said on 5 August that a seed extension closed with five backers including Sony Innovation Fund. It disclosed a cumulative seed total of about JPY 1.3bn rather than the size of the extension.
What this basis means: Disclosed by the company about itself, and not independently confirmed.
FLASH, a Tokyo company operating the short-drama and short-anime app Million, said on 5 August 2026 that it had completed a seed extension round. Its release states that cumulative fundraising across the seed round reached about JPY 1.3bn. The size of the extension itself is not disclosed.
The release names five backers in the extension: Sony Innovation Fund, Global Brain, the entrepreneur and angel investor Nobuhiro Ariyasu, NANKAI NEXT Ventures and Sideways. Companion releases the same day add detail: NANKAI NEXT Ventures is the corporate venture arm of the Nankai group, and Global Brain invested through its GB9 fund, describing the investment as a follow-on to a first commitment announced in November 2024.
The company's earlier disclosures put its first seed close at JPY 300m in November 2024, rising to a JPY 500m seed total at a second close in December 2024 with B Dash Ventures and Cork. FLASH is led by chief executive Tatsuya Wadasaki and says it is expanding into AI products for video and into intellectual property and publishing, with comics planned at major e-bookstores from autumn 2026.
The JPY 1.3bn figure is a running total across the seed round and its extension, not a single round.
Companies FLASH, Sony Innovation Fund, Global Brain