Dymon Co., Ltd.
Tokyo developer, founded 2012, of YAOKI, a 498 g two-wheeled micro lunar rover that reached the Moon in March 2025 as Japan's first private-sector rover.
Dymon Co., Ltd. is a Tokyo-based mechanical development company that builds lunar exploration robots and ground robots and also offers education and entertainment services. It is best known for YAOKI, an ultra-small lunar rover designed so that many units can be sent to the Moon at low cost over a short period.
The company was founded in February 2012 by Shinichiro Nakajima, its Founder and CEO, who previously spent about 20 years in automotive drivetrain development at Bosch and other companies, including work on Audi's quattro four-wheel-drive system. Kei Hattori joined as Director and CFO and Yoshitake Yamaguchi as Director and CSO in 2021. Dymon's stated capital is JPY 80 million and its office is in Nishi-Waseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo.
YAOKI weighs 498 g and measures about 5.9 x 5.9 x 3.9 in. According to the company it is built to withstand 100 G impacts, keeps running after tipping over, and can be thrown into lunar caves for exploration. The name comes from the Japanese proverb "nanakorobi yaoki" (fall seven times, get up eight). YAOKI was selected as the first Japanese rover to fly under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme and launched on Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lander bound for the lunar south pole in February 2025. On March 10, 2025, Dymon reported that YAOKI had become the first Japanese private-sector rover to reach the Moon and capture images there. The company describes its longer-term aim as supporting lunar base construction around 2030.
In January 2026 Dymon agreed with ispace to develop a payload transportation box for integration into ispace lunar landers. Dymon also ran public outreach such as the #WhatDidYAOKISee image challenge in 2025.
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WEBSITE
https://dymon.co.jp/en/HEADQUARTERS
Japan
Company Facts
Founded
2012
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
-
Primary Region
Asia-Pacific
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
-
Funding Total
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