#Japan #Tokyo #Women in Tech #WAKE Career #bgrass Corporation

Overview of Funding

bgrass Corporation, headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo and led by CEO Taeyoung Gam, has announced a successful raise of 125 million yen through a pre-Series A funding round. This funding involved a third-party allocation of new shares from NEXTBLUE, WPower Fund, CyberAgent Capital, and included loans from the Japan Finance Corporation.

The capital will significantly boost the expansion of bgrass's initiatives, particularly the 'WAKE Career' and 'WAKE Freelance', which support women in IT careers. Additionally, funds will accelerate the development of a new project called 'Fair Pass', aimed at enhancing fairness in the recruitment process. By assisting individuals directly while reforming company structures, bgrass aims to create a society where unbiased choices and evaluations are the standard.

Background: Growth of WAKE Career

Under the mission of “releasing potential,” bgrass is dedicated to creating a world where women are not limited by biases and can pursue their aspirations freely. The company focuses on technology to facilitate unbiased choices and evaluations, driving initiatives like 'WAKE Career', which assists women engineers in their job transitions, steadily increasing its user base.

Furthermore, the company has made efforts to address gender disparities by providing supportive environments through workshops, events, and hackathons, which help women engineers gain confidence and experience success. They are launching 'WAKE Freelance' in July 2025 to support a broader range of women.

Simultaneously, bgrass continues to work with companies to ensure fair recruitment practices. They require a unique 'Gender Diversity Diagnosis' to be filled out when posting job openings, which assesses whether women can work fairly within the organization. This feedback mechanism has revealed essential insights, where companies report difficulties in increasing the pool and selection rates of female candidates.

Identifying Bias in Recruitment

While developing these initiatives, a significant issue rose to the surface: the loss of outstanding candidates due to unconscious biases present in the recruitment process. Such biases restrict organizations from acquiring diverse talent, directly impacting both their diversity and competitive edge.

By addressing these selection biases with structured frameworks and technology, bgrass believes organizations will not only uncover promising talent but also create an environment where previously overlooked individuals can thrive and raise their profiles, thereby helping lessen existing disparities naturally.

Objectives of the Recent Funding

The recent funding obtained will be directed towards:

• - Expanding the IT career support initiatives, 'WAKE Career' and 'WAKE Freelance'.
• - Launching the new initiative 'Fair Pass' to rectify biases in hiring processes.

bgrass is committed to a dual approach of empowering individuals directly while reshaping societal structures with technology in order to establish a world where everyone can freely pursue their aspirations.

Investor Insights

Yoichi Gun (NEXTBLUE General Partner)

"bgrass's efforts through WAKE Career and WAKE Freelance indicate a systematic progress toward establishing an environment where women can pursue their ambitions without hesitation. Fair Pass is an ambitious attempt to dissect recruitment biases, marking a significant stride in shifting opportunities for women from individual efforts to organizational structures. We invested in bgrass because we believe in their mission of creating a society where diverse talents are recognized and utilized effectively."

Miwa Kan (WPower Fund General Partner)

"WAKE Career is precisely what the current job market in Japan requires. For companies striving to hire more female engineers, this service bridges the gap to provide fair evaluation processes. Such advancements can address significant issues like the engineer shortage and gender wage gaps that Japan faces. We eagerly anticipate building a new world alongside bgrass, addressing gender disparities through technological solutions."

Yuya Takekawa & Keiko Takahashi (CyberAgent Capital)

"The increasing user numbers and company partnerships through 'WAKE Career' suggest that bgrass is advancing towards the realization of a world where bias no longer limits potential. Engaging companies in this dialogue is crucial for gender gap eradication. We deeply resonate with CEO Taeyoung Gam's commitment and approach. We are excited about bgrass’s future developments and look forward to supporting them."

CEO Statement

CEO Taeyoung Gam stated, "Our recent pre-Series A funding has brought us valuable partners. Starting as a positive action for women in IT, we have achieved notable results while continuously exploring ways to reform corporate structures and evaluation mechanisms.

Our vision is to eliminate disparities caused by biases and establish a society where fair evaluations are commonplace. We aim to shift this area from a 'Nice to Have' to a 'Must Have'. To facilitate this societal shift, substantial market influence must accompany our passionate endeavors. We are committed to creating impactful projects that resonate across society."

Join Us at bgrass

bgrass is actively seeking new members to join their mission of fostering environments where individuals can pursue their aspirations free from bias. If you seek a rewarding phase of driving social change through business, you are welcomed to contribute to developing a more inclusive world. Check our recruitment page for more details.

Conclusion: Promoting Diversity and Competence in Teams

The 'WAKE Career' and 'WAKE Freelance' initiatives connect companies to over 2,600 talented women in the IT sector, helping them enhance team diversity and secure skilled talent. Companies interested in advancing their diversity goals are encouraged to reach out. Additionally, 'Fair Pass', a tool aimed at optimizing hiring processes, aims to eliminate biases and improve hiring efficacy, offering free trials to the first five companies that participate.

Through a combination of technological initiatives and structural reforms, bgrass envisions a future where societal bias is eradicated, allowing everyone to realize their ambitions freely.