SA

Sakana AI

Foundation Models

Tokyo AI lab selling the Fugu multi-model orchestration API, the Japanese-tuned Namazu LLM and the Marlin strategy-research agent.

Total funding$412M

Valuation$2.7B

Employees—

Founded2023

HeadquartersTokyo, Japan

StatusPrivate

Products

Selected offerings — the AI products recorded here, not the vendor's full catalogue.

• Sakana Chat Application Sold on its own

  Assistant built on Sakana's own Fugu and Namazu models.

• Sakana Marlin Application Sold on its own

  Produces analyst research reports on request.

Inside Sakana Chat

• Sakana Translate Application Included with the parent

  Translates and proofreads Japanese and English text using the Namazu model.

Similar products 51

No sourced competitor yet: no filing, vendor document or measured-market report read so far names a rival for this company, so none is asserted. The companies below are the closest by what their products do.

How this list is ranked ↗

UUnbabelAcquired ($91.2M deal)Sakana Translate and Unbabel MT Score do comparable work on translation; Unbabel is acquired, with no independent scale.1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompareZZ.ai (Zhipu AI)Public · $58.6BSakana Chat and Z.ai both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; larger scale (public).3 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareSASarvam AIPrivate · $275M raisedSakana Translate and Sarvam Translation do comparable work on translation; same layer and the same scale band (growth-stage private).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeSame scale bandCompareIInception42PrivateSakana Marlin and Alpha do comparable work on financial analysis; Inception42's scale not recorded.3 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompare0101.AIPrivateSakana Marlin and TrueNorth AI Decision Platform do comparable work on financial analysis; 01.AI's scale not recorded.3 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompareIAInflection AIPrivate · $1.5B raisedSakana Chat and Pi both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; similar scale (private).1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompareAAlibabaPublic · $273.4BSakana Chat and Quark both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; larger scale (public).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareDDeepLPrivate · $2BSakana Translate and DeepL Customization Hub do comparable work on translation; same layer and the same scale band (growth-stage private).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeSame scale bandCompareCCanvaPrivate · $42BSakana Translate and Translate do comparable work on translation; larger scale (private).3 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareAApplePublic · $4.6TSakana Chat and Siri AI both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; larger scale (public).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleComparePPeakAcquired ($119M deal)Sakana Marlin and Peak Pricing AI do comparable work on financial analysis; Peak is acquired, with no independent scale.2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompareXXiao-iPublicSakana Marlin and DIF do comparable work on financial analysis; smaller scale (public).3 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompareAAlphaSensePrivate · $7.5BSakana Marlin and AlphaSense Financial Data do comparable work on financial analysis; same layer and the same scale band (growth-stage private).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeSame scale bandCompareSSASPrivateSakana Marlin and SAS Fraud Decisioning do comparable work on financial analysis; SAS's scale not recorded.1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompareQQuantexaPrivate · $2.6BSakana Marlin and Quantexa Decision Intelligence Platform do comparable work on financial analysis; same layer and the same scale band (growth-stage private).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeSame scale bandCompareTTIFINPrivate · $842MSakana Marlin and TIFIN AMP do comparable work on financial analysis; smaller scale (private).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeSmaller scaleCompareZZoomPublic · $28.7BSakana Chat and Zoom Slides both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; larger scale (public).3 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareRRilletPrivate · $1BSakana Marlin and Rillet Aura AI do comparable work on financial analysis; same layer and the same scale band (growth-stage private).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeSame scale bandComparePPresightPublic · $5.6BSakana Marlin and Presight Financial Solutions do comparable work on financial analysis; larger scale (public).3 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareBBaichuanPrivate · $2.8BSakana Chat and Baichuan Open Platform both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; same layer and the same scale band (growth-stage private).1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeSame scale bandCompareSSenseTimePublic · $7.7BSakana Chat and Office Raccoon (RaccoonWork) both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; larger scale (public).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareIIntuitPublic · $97.9BSakana Marlin and Accounting AI do comparable work on financial analysis; larger scale (public).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareNCNAVER CloudPrivateSakana Chat and CLOVA Chatbot both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; NAVER Cloud's scale not recorded.3 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompareKKrispPrivateSakana Translate and Krisp Voice Translation do comparable work on translation; Krisp's scale not recorded.2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompareMPMeta PlatformsPublic · $1.5TSakana Chat and Meta AI both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; larger scale (public).1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareAAnthropicPrivate · $965BSakana Chat and Claude for Slack both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; larger scale (private).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareOOpenAIPrivate · $852BSakana Chat and ChatGPT for Word both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; larger scale (private).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareYYandexPublicSakana Chat and Alice AI both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; Yandex's scale not recorded.3 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompareNNeuralGaragePrivate · $1.5M raisedSakana Translate and SyncMonster do comparable work on translation; similar scale (private).1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompareRRobinhoodPublic · $108.6BSakana Marlin and Robinhood Agentic Trading do comparable work on financial analysis; larger scale (public).1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareEElevenLabsPrivate · $11BSakana Translate and Dubbing do comparable work on translation; larger scale (private).1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareBByteDancePrivateSakana Chat and Doubao (豆包) both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; larger scale (private).3 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompareGGenesysPrivateSakana Translate and Genesys Cloud Copilot do comparable work on translation; Genesys's scale not recorded.3 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompareDDeepSeekPrivate · $50BSakana Chat and DeepSeek both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; larger scale (private).1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareMMicrosoftPublic · $3.7TSakana Translate and Azure Translator in Foundry Tools do comparable work on translation; larger scale (public).3 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareSESamsung ElectronicsPublic · $1.2TSakana Translate and Galaxy AI do comparable work on translation; larger scale (public).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareTTencentPublic · $510.1BSakana Chat and Tencent Yuanbao both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; larger scale (public).1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareSSAPPublic · $256.3BSakana Marlin and SAP Cash Application do comparable work on financial analysis; larger scale (public).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareHHeyGenPrivate · $500MSakana Translate and HeyGen Video Translator do comparable work on translation; smaller scale (private).1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeSmaller scaleCompareSStepFunPrivate · $10BSakana Chat and 阶跃AI (StepFun AI) both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; larger scale (private).1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareMAMistral AIPrivate · $13.8BSakana Chat and Mistral Vibe both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; larger scale (private).1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareBBasisPrivate · $1.2BSakana Marlin and Basis do comparable work on financial analysis; ships AI agent rather than the same layer.1 of 4 capabilitiesDifferent layerSame scale bandCompareAAmazonPublic · $2.8TSakana Translate and Amazon Translate do comparable work on translation; larger scale (public).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareBBaiduPublic · $31.6BSakana Chat and Baidu Wenxin Assistant both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; larger scale (public).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareWWritesonicPrivateSakana Chat and Writesonic AI Article Writer both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; Writesonic's scale not recorded.2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompareLLightOnPublic · $29.6MSakana Chat and LightOn Enterprise both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; smaller scale (public).1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeSmaller scaleCompareMAMoonshot AIPrivate · $35BSakana Chat and Kimi both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; larger scale (private).1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareXxAIAcquired ($230B deal)Sakana Chat and Grok both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; xAI is acquired, with no independent scale.1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompareRRogoPrivate · $300M raisedSakana Marlin and Felix do comparable work on financial analysis; ships AI agent and platform rather than the same layer.1 of 4 capabilitiesDifferent layerSame scale bandCompareOOraclePublic · $454.4BSakana Translate and OCI Language do comparable work on translation; larger scale (public).2 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeLarger scaleCompareTBThe Browser CompanyPrivateSakana Chat and Arc Max both serve buyers who need to draft and edit written content; The Browser Company's scale not recorded.1 of 4 capabilitiesShared product typeCompare

Closest alternatives are pairs a vendor page itself compares. Similar products are matched from what each product does; nothing in that group is asserted as a rivalry.

Sources

Total funding

Press release · 17 Nov 2025

Cumulative ≥66B (US$412M) stated in the Japanese section of Sakana's own Series B announcement: "累計調達額は総額約66億円（4億１,２００万米ドル）になります。" Corrects the stockanalysis.com (third-party-database) citation, which read via a note that itself said the Series B page 'does not itself state the cumulative total' -- it does, in the Japanese section.

Valuation

Press release · 17 Nov 2025

Announcing Our Series B, Sakana AI, 2025-11-17. post-money valuation of the round dated 2025-11-17. Read via stockanalysis.com's citation for this figure on 2026-08-27.

Employees

Checked — none published

Checked 2026-08-27 and no citable figure found. Four sweeps were run and all came back empty for this company: (1) its own /about, /about-us, /company, /careers, /jobs and /team pages, pattern-matched for a self-published headcount; (2) stockanalysis.com's private-company page, which footnotes each figure to its source; (3) its Forbes company profile, which states a headcount and the month it is as of; (4) a targeted web search. Everything the search returned was a LinkedIn-scraping aggregator, and those disagree with each other by wide margins and cite nothing, so they are not used here. The field is null rather than carrying the round guess it held before.

Founded

Wikipedia · 27 Aug 2026

Wikipedia infobox "founded" field, read 2026-08-27.

Description

Official documentation · 24 Sep 2026

"Sakana Fugu ... Sakana Namazu ... Sakana Marlin ..." Sakana now sells products; the old description described only what it researches.

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