Sakana AI eyes 2027 autumn IPO, poised to lead japanese AI startups

Reports indicate that Japanese artificial intelligence firm Sakana AI is targeting an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the autumn of 2027. The company has recently appointed Goldman Sachs to serve as its IPO advisor. This debut public listing could potentially become one of the largest IPOs for a startup in Japanese history, with Sakana AI being positioned as a potential pioneer among Japan's GenAI developers. Founded in 2023, Sakana AI specializes in sovereign AI applications and has developed a range of routing models. The company secured a Series B funding round in November 2025, achieving a valuation of 400 billion Japanese yen. The planned capital raise will be allocated toward model development, talent acquisition, and sales and marketing efforts. Furthermore, Sakana is actively developing its proprietary Sawara series models. The company intends to release a smaller-scale version of this series in the spring of 2027, with plans to subsequently offer models featuring larger parameters.