Korea-Japan Startups & Investors in Active Substantive Cooperation Talks

## Korean Startups, Partnering with Ulsan Center, Target Japanese Market… Global Business Opportunities Wide Open! The Ulsan Center for Creative Economy and Innovation (hereinafter referred to as the Ulsan Center) has successfully launched the '2025 U-Global Bridge Japan' program in Tokyo, Japan, to help Korean startups enter the global stage. This event, designed to establish a bridgehead for domestic innovative technologies to expand overseas, is generating great anticipation by providing practical opportunities for Korean startups to establish themselves in the Japanese market. On May 7th, at the first official event held at the SAAI Wonder Working Community in Tokyo, seven Korean startups presented IR pitches to leading Japanese companies and investors, discussing in-depth cooperation strategies through 1:1 business meetups. Key Japanese venture capital firms such as 01Booster Capital, Bricks Fund, Tokyu Estate Holdings, and Daiichi Sankyo, as well as global conglomerates like Softbank, Mitsui, KDDI, Shizuoka Gas, and Mitsubishi Estate, attended in large numbers, showing keen interest. Participating startups completed thorough preparations, including confirming their suitability for the Japanese market through preliminary assessments and engaging in customized matching with local demand companies before participating in the IR pitches. An Ulsan Center official evaluated that the technological capabilities and innovation of the domestic startups received positive reactions locally, and there is a high possibility that these will lead to substantive follow-up meetings. This forum for exchange does not end here. On May 8th and 9th, participating startups are scheduled to attend 'SusHi Tech Tokyo 2025' and 'Startup JAPAN EXPO 2025' – Japan's largest startup exhibitions held at Tokyo Big Sight – to directly experience the latest trends in the Japanese market and expand their global networks. These events serve as important platforms where global startups, large corporations, and investors in innovative fields such as AI, smart cities, fintech, and greentech converge. Furthermore, on the 9th, participating companies will have the opportunity to visit the JETRO Tokyo Office and the Tokyo Global Business Center (GBC), which officially support startup entry into Japan, to closely examine Japan's startup support policies and infrastructure. This is expected to enable them to devise more systematic and realistic strategies for entering the Japanese market. Kim Heon-seong, CEO of the Ulsan Center, emphasized, "This business meetup has gone beyond a simple exchange, becoming a significant opportunity for domestic startups to validate their technological capabilities and market potential, and to concretely explore possibilities for entering Japan." He also revealed his ambition, stating, "Starting with this Tokyo program, we will pursue a joint project with Nagoya in the second half of the year, given its similar industrial ecosystem, to provide more systematic and practical support for domestic startups to establish themselves in the Japanese market." The Ulsan Center's current efforts are expected to become a solid stepping stone for the successful global leap of Korean startups.