Today we’re thrilled to announce that Noah Smith is joining Coral Capital as a Venture Partner.
If you follow the global conversation on economics and technology, Noah needs no introduction. He is one of the most widely read economics writers in the world. His newsletter, Noahpinion, is among the most-followed publications on Substack, read daily by the people who build, shape policy and allocate capital in Washington, Silicon Valley, and increasingly Tokyo. Before going independent, he was a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and a finance professor, with a BA in physics from Stanford and a PhD in economics from the University of Michigan.
But here is what matters most to us. Noah is one of Japan’s greatest champions on the world stage.
He lived in Japan for years, speaks the language, and has spent two decades studying its economy. Last year he published Weebs Will Save Japan (Nikkei BP), a book on how Japan’s cultural gravity and industrial strengths can power its next era of growth. His next book, now in progress, covers Japan’s defense tech sector and national security. He has argued forcefully that Japan should attract more foreign capital and talent, that Japan can be America’s arsenal, and that Japan’s manufacturing prowess is one of the most underpriced assets in the global economy.
Long before we started working together, Noah was already making the case we’ve built our firm around.
Why this matters
Coral has been fortunate to back companies that became category leaders in Japan, including billion-dollar outcomes like SmartHR, and we will keep investing in founders transforming the domestic market with revolutionary technology. That will never change.
At the same time, AI is shrinking the time it takes to build and scale a company, and Japan’s demographics make the global market the natural path to scale. For Japan to produce its next Toyota or Sony, founders need to think global from day one. Our job is to find them and give them every unfair advantage we can.
The world’s focus is shifting from bits back to atoms. Reindustrialization, defense, energy, robotics, and physical AI are the defining investment themes of the next decade, and they play directly to Japan’s strengths. In these industries, language and culture barriers matter far less than monozukuri, the process power and manufacturing know-how Japan has compounded over decades. And as the world de-risks from Chinese supply chains, Japan has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deepen its ties with the United States and fill the manufacturing voids being left behind.
Japan is America’s most important ally. It is the largest foreign direct investor in the United States, and Japanese companies support more American manufacturing jobs than any other foreign investor. Japan hosts more US service members than any other country in the world. The US-Japan corridor is the most consequential economic relationship in the world right now, and we intend to be the firm that bridges it.
This is the thesis we laid out in JAPAN IS BACK, and it’s why we’ve partnered with companies leveraging Japan’s strengths to compete globally. Anduril is not just selling to Japan but building in Japan, with plans to invest billions in manufacturing capacity here. Kyoto Fusioneering, TeraWatt Technology, Ookuma Diamond Device, GITAI, and many more are taking Japanese hard tech to the world.
What Noah will do
As Venture Partner, Noah will work with us to strengthen both directions of the US-Japan corridor.
For Japanese founders going global, Noah brings credibility and a megaphone that no other firm in Japan can offer. When our companies raise capital abroad or tell their story to a global audience, Noah’s voice carries exactly where they need it to. He is trusted by the investors, builders, and policymakers our founders most need to reach.
For American builders and investors, Noah is the bridge into Japan. He’ll help open doors, source opportunities, and write regular pieces for Coral from an economist’s lens on industrial policy, supply chains, defense economics, and where the real opportunities are in building with Japan.
Noah also deepens our bench in the United States, working alongside our Partners in San Francisco, Rie Yano and Naoki John Yoshida.
One thing that won’t change is Noahpinion. It stays fully independent. That independence is precisely what makes his voice valuable, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.
It’s time to build with Japan
When Yohei Sawayama and I started Coral, we believed that startups could restart Japan’s economic growth. I moved to Japan as a kid and have spent most of my life here. This country made me who I am. We are building Coral in Japan, for Japan, and that will never change.
For years, that belief made us contrarians. Today, it is increasingly consensus. Japan’s third rise is underway, and the question is no longer whether Japan matters. It’s who will help Japan’s builders seize the moment.
That’s why this announcement means so much to us. We became friends over a shared love for this country and a shared conviction about where its next decade of growth will come from. Now one of the most respected economic voices in the world will help us tell Japan’s stories.
The lost decades are over. It’s time the whole world knew.
Welcome, Noah. Let’s build with Japan.
If you’re a Japanese founder who wants to build globally, or a US company that wants to build with Japan, talk to us.
