DNX Capital announced plans to restructure its funds in Japan and the US as separate entities, with the Japan team expanding investment focused on B2B software. In response to the debate over whether SaaS is dead, Yo Kurabayashi (倉林陽) explains the state of AI adoption and in-house development, as well as the factors preventing replacement from progressing.
DNX Capital will operate separate fund structures in Japan and the US, with the Japan team operating as DNX Capital and the US team as DNX Technology Ventures. The Japan team has managed 8 funds totaling approximately ¥71 billion, invested in 120 companies, and achieved 28 exits. Going forward, it plans to expand its investments into APAC and allocate up to approximately 10% of its existing funds to overseas investments.
Regarding the debate over whether SaaS is “dead,” Yo Kurabayashi (倉林陽) pointed to the rebound in major SaaS stocks, while noting that some categories remain under pressure. He also highlighted changes in the developments surrounding Anthropic and Salesforce as AI adoption spreads. Major domestic and overseas SaaS stocks have been moving back toward their year-to-date highs, while among private companies, Knowledge Work, ANDPAD, Resilire and HERP are advancing their fundraising efforts.
Yo Kurabayashi (倉林陽) assessed the sustainability of SaaS by saying that “high-value-added areas serving large enterprises that control the SOR will remain,” while explaining that replacement is unlikely to progress easily for SaaS aimed at small and midsize companies because of ROI considerations and the difficulties of in-house development. In the debate over the potential for in-house development, he analyzed that the use of AI such as Claude often makes it more rational in some areas to continue relying on external vendors.
Going forward, more cases are expected in which AI becomes a competitive tool and strengthens SaaS alongside it. The second installment will introduce specific changes through examples from 3 companies in the DNX portfolio.