Okinawa-based Startup HANAMII Inc. Secures Funding from Prominent Angel Investors for Full-scale Deployment of Domestic PaaS "hanamii"
Okinawa-based startup HANAMII Inc. has secured funding from multiple prominent angel investors. This capital will accelerate the enhancement of its proprietary domestic PaaS "hanamii," expand its development and business structure, and boost its deployment to Japanese companies and the public sector, aiming to solve Japan's digital deficit and address deployment challenges in the generative AI era.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: May 7, 2026 at 20:43
- 🔍 Collected: May 7, 2026 at 12:01
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 7, 2026 at 12:57 (55 min after Collected)
Funding was secured by HANAMII Inc. in March 2026.
HANAMII Inc. (Headquarters: Nago City, Okinawa Prefecture / Representative Director and Chairman: Junichiro Kanashiro / Representative Director and President: Keisuke Shibata, hereinafter "the Company") is pleased to announce that it has raised funds from several prominent angel investors and entrepreneurs.
The Company is an Okinawa-based startup, founded in Nago City, by a combination of Mirai Studio Inc., a startup studio that has created and supported numerous startups, and HANATABA Inc., which has been involved in promoting local government DX and product development.
By combining the know-how of startup creation with on-site knowledge in administrative and public domains, the Company is promoting the commercialization of its domestic cloud platform "hanamii."
The secured funds will be allocated to further enhance the proprietary domestic PaaS "hanamii," expand its development and business structure, and accelerate its provision to Japanese companies and the public sector.
Website: https://hanamii.jp/
## 1. Background of Funding
### Growing Demand for Data Sovereignty and Domestic Ratio
With the expansion of cloud utilization, aspects such as data location (data sovereignty), compliance with domestic laws, and the domestic ratio in the supply chain are gaining more weight than ever as procurement requirements for companies, local governments, and the public sector. However, the current situation in Japan is that platforms that meet these requirements while also offering a light and agile deployment experience, capable of "publishing services in a few seconds" to match modern speed, remain limited.
### The Structural Problem of a Continuously Expanding "Digital Deficit"
Behind the increasing interest in the "domestic ratio" lies a structural issue within the overall Japanese economy. Japan's digital balance of payments, also known as the "digital deficit," reached approximately 6.7 trillion yen in 2024, updating its largest-ever deficit and expanding more than threefold compared to 2014. In particular, the deficit in the "computer services" sector, including cloud services, rapidly expanded to approximately 2.5 trillion yen in 2024, more than triple in 10 years, reaching a level that surpasses the surplus from inbound tourism revenue. Furthermore, forecasts suggest it could expand to an annual scale of 18 trillion yen by 2035, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) issued a national-level warning by publishing "Digital Economy Report: The World Swallowed by Data, Survival Strategy for a Digital Market Without Sacred Cows" in April 2025.
One of the main causes of this is the strong reliance on overseas big tech in the cloud/PaaS sector. In the domestic IaaS/PaaS market, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure hold large shares, creating a structure where the more Japanese companies and local governments promote digitalization, the more payments to overseas operators increase.
In other words, the issues of "data sovereignty" and "domestic ratio" are no longer confined to individual companies' compliance or procurement requirements but have become macroeconomic and economic security challenges for Japan as a whole. The Company believes that establishing a domestic cloud infrastructure and fostering an environment where Japanese companies, local governments, and creators can rapidly publish and operate applications on it is an extremely important initiative to support the transformation from a "digital consumer" to a "digital producer."
### The Challenge of the "Last Mile of Deployment" in the Generative AI Era
In addition, with the spread of generative AI and LLMs, an era has arrived where even non-engineers can create prototypes and applications. However, the "deployment" - the last mile of actually publishing created products to the world - remains a highly specialized area, posing a significant barrier for many non-engineers and business-side individuals.
### The Company's Awareness of the Problem
To directly address these challenges, the Company was established in Nago City, Okinawa Prefecture, with two missions: "to provide an environment where applications can be published at world-class speed on a domestic platform" and "to open up the 'last mile of deployment' in the generative AI era to non-engineers."
## 2. About the Product "hanamii"
"hanamii" is a proprietary domestic PaaS developed with the concept of "a cloud platform blooming in the Japanese sky." It captures the trend of generative AI and LLM development, strongly supporting product development and release by non-engineers. Furthermore, for professional use, it is developed and provided as a high-quality service and platform comparable to existing overseas PaaS.
HANAMII Inc. (Headquarters: Nago City, Okinawa Prefecture / Representative Director and Chairman: Junichiro Kanashiro / Representative Director and President: Keisuke Shibata, hereinafter "the Company") is pleased to announce that it has raised funds from several prominent angel investors and entrepreneurs.
The Company is an Okinawa-based startup, founded in Nago City, by a combination of Mirai Studio Inc., a startup studio that has created and supported numerous startups, and HANATABA Inc., which has been involved in promoting local government DX and product development.
By combining the know-how of startup creation with on-site knowledge in administrative and public domains, the Company is promoting the commercialization of its domestic cloud platform "hanamii."
The secured funds will be allocated to further enhance the proprietary domestic PaaS "hanamii," expand its development and business structure, and accelerate its provision to Japanese companies and the public sector.
Website: https://hanamii.jp/
## 1. Background of Funding
### Growing Demand for Data Sovereignty and Domestic Ratio
With the expansion of cloud utilization, aspects such as data location (data sovereignty), compliance with domestic laws, and the domestic ratio in the supply chain are gaining more weight than ever as procurement requirements for companies, local governments, and the public sector. However, the current situation in Japan is that platforms that meet these requirements while also offering a light and agile deployment experience, capable of "publishing services in a few seconds" to match modern speed, remain limited.
### The Structural Problem of a Continuously Expanding "Digital Deficit"
Behind the increasing interest in the "domestic ratio" lies a structural issue within the overall Japanese economy. Japan's digital balance of payments, also known as the "digital deficit," reached approximately 6.7 trillion yen in 2024, updating its largest-ever deficit and expanding more than threefold compared to 2014. In particular, the deficit in the "computer services" sector, including cloud services, rapidly expanded to approximately 2.5 trillion yen in 2024, more than triple in 10 years, reaching a level that surpasses the surplus from inbound tourism revenue. Furthermore, forecasts suggest it could expand to an annual scale of 18 trillion yen by 2035, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) issued a national-level warning by publishing "Digital Economy Report: The World Swallowed by Data, Survival Strategy for a Digital Market Without Sacred Cows" in April 2025.
One of the main causes of this is the strong reliance on overseas big tech in the cloud/PaaS sector. In the domestic IaaS/PaaS market, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure hold large shares, creating a structure where the more Japanese companies and local governments promote digitalization, the more payments to overseas operators increase.
In other words, the issues of "data sovereignty" and "domestic ratio" are no longer confined to individual companies' compliance or procurement requirements but have become macroeconomic and economic security challenges for Japan as a whole. The Company believes that establishing a domestic cloud infrastructure and fostering an environment where Japanese companies, local governments, and creators can rapidly publish and operate applications on it is an extremely important initiative to support the transformation from a "digital consumer" to a "digital producer."
### The Challenge of the "Last Mile of Deployment" in the Generative AI Era
In addition, with the spread of generative AI and LLMs, an era has arrived where even non-engineers can create prototypes and applications. However, the "deployment" - the last mile of actually publishing created products to the world - remains a highly specialized area, posing a significant barrier for many non-engineers and business-side individuals.
### The Company's Awareness of the Problem
To directly address these challenges, the Company was established in Nago City, Okinawa Prefecture, with two missions: "to provide an environment where applications can be published at world-class speed on a domestic platform" and "to open up the 'last mile of deployment' in the generative AI era to non-engineers."
## 2. About the Product "hanamii"
"hanamii" is a proprietary domestic PaaS developed with the concept of "a cloud platform blooming in the Japanese sky." It captures the trend of generative AI and LLM development, strongly supporting product development and release by non-engineers. Furthermore, for professional use, it is developed and provided as a high-quality service and platform comparable to existing overseas PaaS.