Heartbeats raises US$15 million to bring official digital collecting to Japan's fan economy

Vertex Ventures Japan has participated in the fundraise of Heartbeats, the Tokyo-based company building official digital collecting for Japan's sports and entertainment fans.

Heartbeats runs ORICAL, a platform where fans collect official digital trading cards of the athletes, performers and characters they support. Collections span baseball, sumo, wrestling and entertainment.

Fan passion has outgrown one-size-fits-all products

Japan's sports and entertainment industries command deeply loyal followings. Yet the products built around them have often treated fans as a single audience, when a supporter of a baseball club, a sumo wrestler or an idol group each wants a different way to show who they follow.

Traditional business models have found it hard to serve every fan with the right value, given how individual their feelings and needs are. For teams and organisations, this also limits how far they can build a lasting digital relationship with their supporters.

An official home for collecting

Heartbeats built ORICAL so that fans can express their identity through what they love and support. The platform includes features for both online and real-world fan activity.

Each collection is run with the rights holder. Heartbeats works with more than 20 official content partners, from sports clubs like the Chiba Lotte Marines and Hanshin Tigers to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, as well as entertainment names such as Hello! Project and the Takarazuka Revue. The Japan Sumo Association and Tsuburaya Productions, the creator of Ultraman, also run collections on the platform.

Founded in 2017 as ventus and renamed Heartbeats in January 2026, the company now has a team of 177 people.

A company built around the fan

Heartbeats describes sports and entertainment as more than leisure, since they move emotions and connect people. Its products, centred on the digital trading card service, are updated so that fans can take pride in what they love and support.

In the company's CEO message, Yuta Umesawa, Representative Director and CEO of Heartbeats, says the team will "strive to understand our fans more deeply than anyone else" and keep taking on new challenges to create experiences that make hearts race.

The opportunity extends beyond one company. Japan has strengths in entertainment content and deep technology, but its startups have tended to focus on the domestic market and stay relatively small. As the government works to improve the business environment for startups, interest from global venture capital investors in Japan is growing.

Vertex's perspective

Vertex Ventures Japan was established in 2024 and is part of the global network of funds supported by Vertex Holdings. It invests in startups that can benefit from Japan's entertainment content, such as Heartbeats, as well as companies developing semiconductors and other deep technologies. Its inaugural fund of 10 billion yen (about US$64 million) has invested in eight to date.

Takashi Tomita, Managing Partner at Vertex Ventures Japan, sees a clear opening for Japanese founders. Japan has an edge in deep technology and entertainment content, he said, but "what's missing is global access."

Vertex Ventures Japan aims to close that gap by helping its startups win overseas customers through the wider Vertex network, including introductions to companies owned or backed by Temasek.

Looking ahead

Heartbeats will keep updating its products so that fans can take pride in what they love and support. Vertex Ventures Japan looks forward to supporting the team as it grows.