500 Startups-backed Japanese accelerator names 20 firms in first cohort

Accelerate Aichi, an accelerator program jointly organized by 500 Startups and the Aichi prefecture in Japan, announced that it has selected 20 Japanese startups to be part of its first cohort.

Photo credit: 500 Startups

The six-week growth program is slated to run from September 6 to October 15 this year, supporting seed and early-stage startups in their journeys toward achieving a product-market fit and acquiring customers.

As part of the program, the partcipants will receive hands-on training from mentors with experience and access to a global network of startup industry players. The program’s mentors include Jin Tanaka, a director of investment at AI-focused seed-stage VC firm Deepcore, and Noteh Krauss, who is a principal and founder of ADG, a design strategy firm based in San Francisco and Toronto.

The chosen startups will also get the chance to interact with their peers, better understand the business environment in the Aichi prefecture, and present their business plans to industry stakeholders and potential customers on a demo day.

These are the Japanese startups in Accelerate Aichi’s inaugural cohort:

• AnyWhere, a workplace solution provider that connects and supports professionals.
• AquaAge, a personalized and data-driven skincare digital experience platform.
• Closer, a provider of robotic solutions for automated pick-and-place tasks in factories.
• Corpy & Co, a tech startup that develops AI solutions in mission-critical areas such as manufacturing and healthcare.
• FutuRocket, an easy-to-use AI camera for small businesses.
• Future Convenient KK, a startup that addresses the challenges of Japanese medical care with Medikabe, an online innovation hub.
• GE Partners, an online edtech learning platform for employees to learn Japanese.
• Gthnooze, a startup that offers a smart work collaboration tool that can aggregate and centralize information in the cloud.
• Joconne, a startup that provides courses and content designed to improve health literacy for women.
• Kisui Tech, which uses space robotics and AI technology to digitalize farms across Japan.
• ListenField, an integrated predictive agronomic platform that boosts efficiency in everything from crop planting to harvesting.
• Masentic, a gamified co-sponsorship platform for football and the Japanese football league.
• Mirai Saien, a smart vegetable harvesting app with diagnostic AI and in-app social media.
• OnClouds, which provides robotics as a service with the aim of creating a harmonized robot-human society.
• Orange, a travel order service that delivers local gourmet food that comes with stories.
• Potstill, a startup that conducts joint research and development to promote improved driving behavior.
• Rivusis, a startup that connecting analog and digital spaces in the area of facility cleanliness and management.
• Tokyo307, a startup transforming idle spaces in buildings into productive workplaces.
• Wellday, a cloud-based service that analyzes employee work engagement and stress levels.
• Smabldg, a startup that provides a service to increase the value of all buildings.

In addition to the growth program, Accelerate Aichi offers two other initiatives, which include the Landing Pad program, a 10-week drive to help international startups identify opportunities in Japan, and the four-day Corporate Innovation program, designed for executives and innovation teams to partner with startups and drive collaborations.