Hedge funds and asset managers are increasingly turning to Japanese startups, attracted by some eye-popping past returns in the long-overlooked sector.

Asian hedge fund firms including Pleiad Investment Advisors and global investment giants like T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Baillie Gifford are providing late-stage growth capital to the nation¡¯s most promising ventures, according to fund managers at the companies.

They¡¯re emboldened by surging share prices of startups that went public in recent years, along with renewed government efforts to promote digitalization and entrepreneurship. With just six unicorns, the world¡¯s third-largest economy has struggled to produce new companies that have global ambitions like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tesla Inc.