JSTORIES ー There are roughly 24,000 startups in Japan, of which round 60% are based mostly in Tokyo, with many of the relaxation unfold out throughout Osaka, Kanagawa, Fukuoka and Kyoto. The town of Nagoya, nonetheless, which is Japan’s third-largest metropolitan space and a large manufacturing base, just isn’t even within the prime 5 startup hubs in Japan.
A typical rationalization for that is Nagoya’s relative proximity to Tokyo. Startups based in Nagoya usually shortly transfer their base to Tokyo, the place it’s simpler to safe employees and funding. Against this, the town of Fukuoka, which is way from Tokyo on the southern island of Kyushu, has taken benefit of its relative closeness to the Asian continent to draw Asian startups to its innovation hub.
Whereas Nagoya remains to be enjoying catchup as a startup hub, issues have begun to vary because of the MTG Ventures fund established in 2018. This fund was arrange by the big Nagoya-based health and beauty merchandise firm MTG. The agency invited Gou Fujita, who previously led the investing holding firm at JAFCO to a list on the Tokyo Inventory Change, to move the fund, which has been actively investing in Nagoya startups.
The Tokai area, with Nagoya at its middle, is dwelling to large vehicle provide chains, most notably for Toyota. However simply as Shenzhen in China transitioned from smartphone to drone manufacturing, this area has the potential to shift from producing vehicle expertise to supporting startups within the fields of area improvement and next-generation mobility.
The laboratories of Nagoya College and different tutorial establishments even have many dormant “expertise seeds” — in different phrases, refined and superior expertise that hasn’t but discovered sensible use in society. There are strikes to match these seeds with enterprise entrepreneurs to create impactful “deep tech” (superior applied sciences based mostly on scientific and engineering innovation) startups.
These days, some Tokyo startups have additionally acknowledged the energy of the Tokai area’s manufacturing and life science sectors and determined to arrange gross sales bases in Nagoya. Even Nagoya startups which have moved their HQs to Tokyo can have extra cause to proceed their native operations if they will entry key human sources and funds regionally.
For Nagoya to flourish as a startup hub, angel traders and impartial seed VCs with native roots will probably be important. These may assist startups of their early stage, which, as they develop, will change into in a position to increase funds from Tokyo and abroad VCs.
Nagoya is a producing metropolis well-known for its robust enterprise improvement and technological experience. Bringing collectively “monozukuri” manufacturing traditions and a forward-looking startup tradition, may give it a robust benefit over different areas. Already a famend industrial metropolis, Nagoya may steadily change into a brand new hub for innovation and cutting-edge expertise.
Translated by Tony McNicol
High photograph by Tomio344456 – Personal work, CC BY-SA 4.0 by way of Wikimedia
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