A new series focusing on emerging companies from Japan
Tokyo has an ambitious claim to become the world’s most startup-friendly city. Although there is no set deadline for achieving this goal, it is certain that the government is making a sincere effort to achieve it.
More than 20 Tokyo-based startups with unique perspectives and innovative solutions in areas such as AI, robotics, biotechnology, and healthcare will receive investment and strategic partnerships with support from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The company is aiming to enter the US market. . The Tokyo government, in collaboration with Startup Genome, which runs a late-stage scaling program, is funding 22 companies to prepare and position themselves for expansion into the U.S. this year.
There must be something about these startups that makes the government selective. So we’re starting a series that provides brief profiles of each of these companies to show how they fit into the competitive landscape and where they have the potential to make a difference.
Fertile soil for the Tokyo economy and startups
This is an aggressive and proactive stance by the Japanese government, especially considering the sluggish economic situation. The country fell into recession last year as its gross domestic product (GDP) shrank. 2nd quarter of 2023its economic ranking fell to 4th in the world.
But by focusing on the private sector as the engine of economic growth, Japan is on the right track. This is because taxes are correlated with the local economy. The more the private sector grows, the more money the government takes in to provide services.
Tokyo plans to spend $72.4 billion to increase the number of startups from 10,000 to 100,000. Approximately $750 million has been set aside to support deep technology and $2.2 billion for drug discovery. According to reports The study was conducted by Startup Genome, a company that compiles and collects comprehensive, long-term datasets on startup ecosystems around the world. This push to innovate across the private sector stands in stark contrast to what’s happening in the United States, where technology companies are laying off workers. government jobs will increase This trend does not bode well in the long term economic growth.
Tokyo has also built a rich foundation to support these startups. Not only will it be incubated within the city, but it will also be ready to scale up overseas. Throughout the series, we will highlight some of the Tokyo-based companies that are expanding beyond Japan.
Some of the companies we feature with brief profiles are: bit biome, sequencing, cataloging, and modifying microbial genomes. If you think there are 10 million species of plants and animals on our planet, you haven’t seen anything yet. It’s everywhere, from the cracks in the sidewalk to the lining of your intestines (it’s gross). And we only know about 1% of him.Let’s also take a look I am by your sideis a mental health provider focused on training employees to do their jobs better.Looks a bit like mainland America Better up.
There is also that peel labhas created a new type of leather using the skin of pineapple fruit. This type of leather is about 90% cheaper than cowhide, but more expensive than other types of synthetic leather. after that, pixel excel, We want to make digital receipts more popular. yes. We know you can already receive a receipt via email or text. But Pi-xcels also claims to understand that receipt data. If you notice that your customers are buying a lot of outdoor plants, it might be time to reach out to them about purchasing gardening gloves and tools.
flying cell is a promising startup focused on improving stem cell therapies specifically applied to knee osteoarthritis. Stem cell therapy is a non-invasive approach to repairing bad knees (as opposed to surgery), but its use is limited due to conflicting reports about its effectiveness. Flying Cell hopes to use magnets to make this type of treatment more mainstream. Innovation is on the way for everyone with knee problems.
Our series outlines each of these companies’ approach and the challenges they face as they seek to carve out a niche and establish a strong foothold in the highly competitive United States.
(Image source: japan-dev.com)
