Korean Innovative Startup Launches Japan Market Push from Tokyo

Hosted jointly by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) and the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development (KISED), the '2025 Super Gap Project Global IR in Tokyo' kicked off at the Tokyo Innovation Base in Japan. This event is a large-scale, complex program designed to help domestic deep-tech startups enter the Japanese market and integrate into global value chains. Thirteen startups participated in this event, focusing on key areas with high investment demand in Japan, such as AI, robotics, future mobility, system semiconductors, and eco-friendly/energy. These companies, which have attracted Series A or higher investment, demonstrated differentiated technological capabilities in their respective fields, including Omotion (AI), MakinaRocks (Robotics), NEVSYS (Future Mobility), HyperXel (System Semiconductors), and PMI Biotec (Eco-friendly/Energy). The event ran for three days with diverse programs. The first day, the 25th, was 'Strategic Fit PoC Day,' where intensive 1:1 technical matching took place with 10 leading Japanese conglomerates, including NTT DATA, PayPay, Rakuten, and Panasonic. During these sessions, where startups proposed their core technologies tailored to the technological needs of each conglomerate and discussed collaboration models and Proof of Concept (PoC) methods, Japanese conglomerates expressed deep interest in the advanced AI, robotics, and semiconductor technologies of Korean startups, exploring concrete intentions for cooperation. The second day, the 26th, was named 'Demo Day Showcase,' and an IR demo day was held for major local venture capital (VC) firms and corporate venture capital (CVC) firms in Japan. With prominent investment firms such as Salesforce Ventures and Global Brain expected to attend, the event began with reverse pitching from CVCs to understand their investment trends, followed by IR pitches from the 13 'super gap' startups. An expert panel talk was also arranged to enhance understanding of the Japanese deep-tech investment ecosystem, providing practical information and opportunities to the startups. On the final day, the 27th, the 'Matching & Cross-Border Enablement' program will provide 1:1 mentoring with practical experts in areas necessary for Japanese market entry, such as legal, intellectual property, accounting, and marketing. This aims to address practical barriers to local market entry and establish Go-to-Market strategies, reflecting the pre-event demands of the 'super gap' startups. Furthermore, follow-up meetups and cross-border collaboration discussions will actively take place to develop the networks formed during the demo day into concrete business opportunities. Notably, prior to the main program, this event conducted a preliminary program in Korea for approximately two months to enhance understanding of the Japanese market, thereby improving the local adaptability and technical pitching completeness of participating companies. Through seminars with senior companies that have entered Japan, 1:1 IR mentoring with investors, and preliminary technical meetups with conglomerates, startups were able to understand the characteristics of the Japanese market and its investment environment in advance, and explore collaboration possibilities. This Tokyo event, as part of the investment attraction program for the 'Super Gap Startup 1000+ Project,' is expected to become a crucial stepping stone to accelerate the expansion of promising domestic deep-tech startups into the Japanese market and their entry into global value chains through a comprehensive approach that goes beyond a simple IR demo day format, including technical matching PoC with large corporations, investor reverse pitching, and practical mentoring. The MSS and KISED plan to continue strengthening systematic follow-up support and global linkage programs to ensure that Korean startups can sustain growth based on their technological prowess and business capabilities in major global markets.