P

Preferred Networks

🇯🇵JapanSeries BAI Robotics
72

Out of 100

N/A

Post-money

$350M

All rounds

72/100

2014

100-500 employees

March 2026

Preferred Networks develops deep learning technology applied to robotics, autonomous driving, and industrial applications, building neural network architectures for real-time edge inference in robot control, factory automation, and connected vehicle systems. The Tokyo company gained international recognition for early competition victories in autonomous navigation and robot manipulation challenges

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T

Toru Nishikawa

Founder & CEO

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StageSeries B
Employees100-500
Country🇯🇵 Japan

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Series B · No public funding round data available yet.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Preferred Networks's valuation?
Preferred Networks's valuation is not publicly disclosed.
Who invested in Preferred Networks?
Investor information for Preferred Networks is not publicly available at this time.
When did Preferred Networks last raise funding?
No public funding round data is currently available for Preferred Networks.
How many employees does Preferred Networks have?
Preferred Networks has approximately 100-500 employees.
What does Preferred Networks do?
Preferred Networks develops deep learning technology applied to robotics, autonomous driving, and industrial applications, building neural network architectures for real-time edge inference in robot control, factory automation, and connected vehicle systems. The Tokyo company gained international recognition for early competition victories in autonomous navigation and robot manipulation challenges and developed its own deep learning framework, Chainer, which influenced the design of PyTorch before Chainer was eventually retired.\n\nThe company raised approximately $350 million including a landmark $105 million Series A from Toyota Motor Corporation and other strategic investors, making it one of the most valuable AI startups in Japan at the time of its fundraising. Preferred Networks collaborates with Toyota on autonomous driving AI, with NTT on communications AI, and with Fanuc on factory robot intelligence, creating a portfolio of deep technology industrial partnerships that provide both funding and deployment scale for its AI research.\n\nPreferred Networks operates in Japan industrial AI market where established relationships with major manufacturing and automotive companies provide a defensible position that international AI startups find difficult to penetrate through conventional sales approaches. The company research focus on edge AI inference for robotics aligns with Japan competitive strengths in manufacturing automation and precision robotics, markets where AI-enhanced robot intelligence is being adopted to address labour shortages and quality requirements that purely mechanical automation cannot satisfy.