Honda spinout Ashirase raises US$2.62M to map GPS-dark indoor spaces
What's the deal? Tokyo-based startup AshiraseDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised US$2.62M in a Series A round to accelerate its indoor spatial data platform, IndoorFlow. New backers Wing Capital PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Fukken Co., Sumisei Innovation FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Iidabashi Cross PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → joined via a third-party allotment of shares.
What's the endgame? Ashirase runs two businesses aimed at freer movement for everyone. Its outdoor device, "あしらせ," guides visually impaired walkers via vibration; IndoorFlow extends that positioning technology to buildings where GPS fails.
Why now? People spend roughly 90% of their time indoors — in stations, malls, offices and hospitals — yet those spaces remain a "data blank," lacking the maps and precise positioning that optimise the outdoors. Traditional indoor positioning needs costly installation work, which has blocked wide adoption.
IndoorFlow, launched in April 2026, uses proprietary Visual Positioning System technology to map interiors from camera images alone, without construction. It also generates high-resolution 3D data usable for digital twins and facility operations.
Where it's deployed: Pilots and rollouts span public, commercial and medical sites, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Government main building, TAKANAWA GATEWAY CITY, STATION WORK booths near Tokyo Station and the area around JR Hiroshima Station.
The company will spend the money on expanding IndoorFlow pilots, building out its data platform and API, refining positioning and mapping technology, continuing the "あしらせ" device's overseas push, and hiring. The device launched in Japan in late 2024, reached Australia in March 2026, and won European MDR Class 1 medical certification ahead of an autumn launch.
Who's backing it: The round drew a mix of venture capital and corporate investors from construction, life insurance and regional finance. Wing Capital Partners cited Ashirase's "高精度測位技術," or high-precision positioning technology, as the core of its bet.
The signal: Founded in April 2021 as the first company from HondaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s IGNITION programme, Ashirase shows how accessibility technology built for the highest-stakes users — the visually impaired — can scale into broader infrastructure. Digitising the indoor world, still largely unmapped, is its next frontier.
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
