In Japan, women find freedom in startups

Hello, it’s Mayumi in Tokyo. Over the weekend, I went shopping for pink rice cakes and peach blossoms to give thanks for my daughters on Gir [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hello, it’s Mayumi in Tokyo. Over the weekend, I went shopping for pink rice cakes and peach blossoms to give thanks for my daughters on Girls’ Day. Another — quieter — celebration of women is also happening in Japan’s startup scene. But first... Three things you need to know today: - Amazon will stop charging customers for moving [to rival cloud services]( - Disney’s CEO is “extremely confident” in [2024 streaming profit]( - App developer Bending Spoons is considering a [potential acquisition of Vimeo]( Who Run the World? When Yuki Soga’s name was floated as a candidate to join the board of a Japanese company, an executive reached out to explain why it wouldn’t work. “How old are you?” he asked. “I don’t think our CEO would be able to handle a young woman correcting him in front of the board. It’s too humiliating.” If only she were 60 or so, or maybe in her fifties, he sighed. It’s no wonder that women are taking a detour into the country’s budding startup scene. New companies mean a cleaner slate and fewer entrenched norms. And, let’s face it, leaving a big company is less frightening when you know there’s a hard limit to the upside of staying. “Critical mass is so important,” said Soga, founder of consultancy Penrose Japan Ltd. She and I talked about the new book she co-authored with Mio Takaoka, partner at early-stage VC fund DNX Ventures, The Common Language of Global Top Investors, in which they decipher foreign investors’ questions for Japanese businesses. “It’s just easier to build from scratch than play the game.” Roughly 35% of Japan’s startups are founded by women, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. That’s an impressive share, given corporate Japan’s decade-long struggle to improve the gender balance of its corporate sector. The government has had to keep moving back its target of having women in 30% of managerial roles, originally by 2020, due to a dismal lack of progress. Rigid corporate structures and widespread deference to power keep executive positions overwhelmingly senior in age and male in gender. Women make up only [9%]( of directors on listed companies, compared with about 45% in France and 30% in the US, according to the Cabinet Office’s Gender Equality Bureau. Canon Inc. recently selected a woman for its board. When she joins this year, she’ll be the first female director in the company’s 87-year history. In venture capital, however — the industry designed to nurture and promote startups — progress remains limited at best. You’ll find little gap between the US bro culture that pervades this industry and Japan Inc.’s equivalents. Only 7% of partners are women in Japan, compared to the US at a little less than 16%, according to [Tokyo Women in VC](, a professional networking community for women in venture capital. That underrepresentation makes fundraising a perpetual challenge. It’s not uncommon for female entrepreneurs to have to visit 50 VCs before finding anyone who might be interested. The same holds for men starting a business that focuses on women’s health. And women-led IPOs remain few and far between — of all the new public offerings between 2020 and 2021, women made up a mere 3%, raising 44% less than men on average, according to the most recent tally by the Cabinet Office. “Business can be very severe. We have to make money and we have to make a return for investors,” said Monex Group CEO Yuko Seimei at the Japan FinTech Festival in Tokyo on Wednesday. “I have a lot of things to accomplish, and it goes beyond gender.” But the bar is so low in Japan. I’m hanging on to every inch of progress I see. I’ve never managed to get the traditional dolls depicting a Heian Era wedding to properly celebrate Girls’ Day. This year, though, I found cream puffs with tiny Japanese princesses perched atop a bed of strawberries and pink, berry-flavored cream. Here’s hoping there’ll be more to celebrate in the future ahead for my daughters. —[Mayumi Negishi](mailto:mnegishi11@bloomberg.net) The big story The US has imposed sanctions on the makers of “Predator” spyware, a surveillance technology that Biden administration officials say has been [used to target American officials and enable human right abuses.]( This marks the first time the US has imposed sanctions on individuals and companies associated with spyware misuse. One to watch [Cato's Kramer: The Cybersecurity Market Is Broken]( Cato Networks CEO Shlomo Kramer joins Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow to discuss the state and evolution of the cybersecurity market, and what Cato has to offer. He speaks on "Bloomberg Technology." Get fully charged Apple’s stock slump deepened despite the company’s efforts to divert its [resources to AI projects.]( Meta’s services were disrupted across apps including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp on Tuesday morning. The issue was [resolved at around noon that day.]( Russia’s space agency said it’s working with China on plans to deliver and install a nuclear power plant [on the moon by 2035.]( Team8, an Israel-based venture capital firm, raised $500 million from [investors including Microsoft, Walmart and Cisco.]( More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Q&AI]( for answers to all your questions about AI Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. 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