SusHi Tech is an acronym for “Sustainable Excessive Metropolis Tech,” representing the Japanese capital’s dedication to attaining sustainable city improvement via superior know-how. Accordingly, the pitch occasion attracted startups from all over the world that aligned with this theme.
SusHi Tech Problem 2025 drew 657 startups from 46 nations worldwide, competing for a prize of 10 million yen by presenting cutting-edge technological options to international challenges. This text highlights the seven groups that made it to the ultimate spherical.
The judging course of evaluated firms from a number of views, together with not solely technical excellence but in addition practicality, scalability, social influence, and enterprise mannequin sustainability. The judging panel consisted of 5 distinguished people:
- Ashley Grosh … Vice President of Breakthrough Power, the local weather tech funding and help group based by Invoice Gates
- Joanna Drake … Co-founder and Managing Associate of Amplify Ventures, specializing within the $6 trillion care economic system
- Koichiro Nakamura … Co-founder and Managing Director of Sozo Ventures, with funding expertise in firms like Zoom and Palantir
- Miwa Seki … Normal Associate of MPower Companions, one among Japan’s main women-led VC companies
- Murat Aktenoglu … Co-founder and Managing Associate of Outstanding Ventures, recognized for large investments in local weather tech startups
Options from the seven finalists
Grand Prize Winner: 3D Architech (Japan) — Revolutionizing hydrogen manufacturing via information middle waste warmth
Information facilities are projected to eat 13% of worldwide electrical energy and 13% of worldwide water by 2030, with as much as 40% used for cooling, producing annual electrical energy prices of $80 billion. This represents a critical problem. Concurrently, attaining a carbon-neutral society requires 200 million tons of hydrogen, however excessive manufacturing prices stay a serious barrier to widespread adoption.
3D Architech maintains bases in Boston, USA, and Sendai, Japan, with worldwide growth in view. As a know-how that concurrently achieves dramatic vitality effectivity enhancements and the belief of a sustainable hydrogen society, it has attracted important consideration from buyers and business gamers, drawing robust curiosity from each the information middle and vitality industries. The corporate is presently within the proof-of-concept stage with a number of enterprises and goals for business implementation in 2026.
Inspekly (Singapore) — AR-Powered facility administration options
A particular function of Inspekly’s know-how is that it operates on smartphones and good glasses with out requiring sensors. By turning paper-based checklists into digital and offering visible steering via AR, the system achieves improved work effectivity. The AI-powered verification performance that automates high quality assurance has additionally been extremely evaluated.
Inspekly has implementation data throughout a number of industries, contributing to the effectivity of facility administration and coaching in numerous fields together with development, manufacturing, and actual property administration. Significantly in large-scale facility implementations, the corporate has achieved fast system development and operation startup, realizing early ROI achievement.
Normal Prognostics (USA) — AI-Powered prevention of coronary heart failure affected person readmissions
With 64 million coronary heart failure sufferers worldwide, coronary heart failure ranks because the main explanation for hospitalization for these over 65, with 25% of sufferers readmitted inside 30 days of discharge. Every hospitalization prices $15,000-20,000, and the incidence fee is predicted to extend by 50% by 2030. Moreover, ladies usually have worse prognosis, and hospitalization will increase sufferers’ bodily and psychological burden.
Second, medical software program that helps physicians prescribe applicable drug remedy, attaining 91% settlement with doctor judgment and decreasing hospitalizations by 79%. Third, the corporate is creating at-home blood potassium stage measurement know-how. Potassium is a vital indicator in coronary heart failure affected person administration, historically requiring frequent hospital blood checks. Normal Prognostics is creating gadgets that allow sufferers to conveniently measure potassium ranges at residence to handle this problem.
AVAtronics (Switzerland) — Subsequent-Technology noise cancellation know-how
Even costly noise-canceling headphones can not block a child’s crying. It is because whereas the human audible vary spans 20Hz to 20kHz, standard lively noise cancellation know-how solely covers as much as 1.5kHz. This know-how can deal with airplane noise round 1kHz however can not handle human dialog (4-5kHz) or child cries (8kHz).
The corporate has achieved outcomes throughout various fields, together with ear safety at mining websites and tasks for plane and high-speed rail seat producers. Having already signed licensing agreements with OEM/ODM operators, merchandise are scheduled for market launch throughout the 12 months. Avatronics raised 50,000 Swiss francs (roughly $55,000) from VentureKick in 2019 and closed its first spherical with 1.6 million Swiss francs (roughly $1.76 million) in funding.
Secai Marche (Malaysia) — Southeast Asian farm-direct B2B platform
In Southeast Asia, provide chains for agricultural merchandise are extraordinarily inefficient. Challenges embrace issue procuring contemporary produce, frequent worth fluctuations, and unstable high quality. Small-scale farmers have restricted entry to know-how, markets, and assets, whereas eating places undergo from high quality points, worth instability, and restricted choices. Moreover, many agricultural merchandise are discarded on account of insufficient chilly chain infrastructure.
The corporate’s uniqueness lies in its method: quite than working as a easy market (middleman), Secai Marche immediately purchases produce from farmers, holds it as firm stock, and sells it to clients with a 30% revenue margin. This permits full management of high quality and repair whereas constructing belief relationships with purchasers.
At the moment dealing with over 400 farmers and 4,000 merchandise from Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and different areas, the corporate provides over 1,800 accommodations and eating places in Malaysia. Occupying over 90% of the high-end restaurant market, Secai Marche has maintained 200% annual income progress since its 2019 founding. Final 12 months, the corporate expanded into the Singapore market and diversified its enterprise from greens and fruits to seafood, processed meals, and kitchen tools.
Ryp Labs (USA) — Decreasing meals loss with pure compounds
StixFRESH formulates pure parts extracted from vegetation to food-safe requirements, supplied as stickers utilized on to fruit or small sachets packaged with meals. In demonstration experiments with mangoes, whereas untreated mangoes started spoiling on day 14, mangoes with stickers confirmed dramatically improved resistance to spoilage, doubling their preservation interval.
Demonstrations with Walmart prolonged strawberry preservation by 2-4 days, doubled grape preservation intervals, and prolonged citrus preservation by roughly 20 days. The corporate closed a Sequence A spherical of $8.1 million in 2023 and received the Greatest International Startup Award on the UN Local weather Convention “COP27” in 2022, receiving a $100,000 prize.
Emulsion Stream Applied sciences (Japan) — Round Options Born from Nuclear Know-how
In fashionable society, smartphone charging, electrical automobile adoption, and clear water entry have turn into commonplace, however behind this lies critical environmental air pollution from battery waste and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Lithium-ion batteries include uncommon metals together with lithium, cobalt, and nickel, inflicting geopolitical and environmental issues.
EFT’s know-how can handle various challenges on a single platform, from extracting vital minerals from lithium-ion batteries to recovering uncommon earth components from industrial wastewater and eradicating PFAS. By means of a “seize and reuse” method, the corporate can decompose and reuse PFAS, closing manufacturing plant circulation loops.
In comparison with standard battery recycling vegetation, EFT achieves 50% price discount, 70% measurement discount, low carbon emissions, and low vitality and water enter. The battery recycling market is predicted to develop considerably over the subsequent 10-20 years on account of EV adoption. After elevating $15 million in 2024, the corporate opened analysis amenities and headquarters, aiming for progress via various fashions together with plant development, know-how licensing, and offtake agreements.
International growth challenges and alternatives
Many finalist firms have already begun worldwide growth or have clear plans for it. Examples embrace Normal Prognostics’ growth throughout America, India, and Japan; Avatronics’ bases in Switzerland and Denmark; Secai Marche’s Southeast Asia and Japan growth; and Ryp Labs’ demonstration experiments worldwide. Enterprise growth past geographical constraints has turn into the norm.
Nonetheless, quite a few limitations to international growth persist. Regulatory variations, market attribute variations, cultural acceptance variations, and constructing relationships with native companions current challenges that can not be solved via technological superiority alone. Significantly within the sustainable know-how area that these finalists handle, alignment with every nation’s environmental laws and industrial insurance policies holds the important thing to success.
Conversely, since sustainability challenges are inherently international in nature, profitable circumstances in a single nation have excessive potential to turn into highly effective drivers for growth to different nations. Local weather change, meals safety, and vitality safety are widespread issues transcending nationwide borders, with international demand for efficient options.
Aggressive benefits and challenges of Japanese firms
Among the many finalists, two Japanese firms participated: 3D Architech and EFT. Each possess benefits primarily based on superior technological improvement capabilities, but every approaches international markets with totally different methods, which is noteworthy.
3D Architech has constructed a world construction primarily based on analysis on the California Institute of Know-how, with bases in Boston and Sendai. In the meantime, EFT, as a by-product from the Japan Atomic Power Company, adopts an method of commercializing Japan’s superior know-how for civilian use.
Analyzing these firms’ trajectories reveals that Japanese firms’ technological improvement capabilities and high quality administration talents are extremely valued in international markets. Significantly in fields the place Japan historically holds strengths—precision manufacturing know-how, supplies science, and chemical engineering—these benefits translate into startup competitiveness.
Nonetheless, room for enchancment stays in market improvement and enterprise scaling. In comparison with abroad firms, Japanese firms are likely to take extra cautious approaches, which can hinder fast market growth. Success in international markets requires aggressive advertising and strategic partnership constructing along with technological superiority.
New traits in sustainable know-how funding
This contest revealed adjustments in sustainable know-how funding traits. Whereas standard clear tech funding targeting large-scale infrastructure like photo voltaic and wind energy, present focus has shifted towards specialised applied sciences fixing particular person industrial challenges.
Judging panel feedback reveal an emphasis on clear enterprise fashions and profitability past easy environmental contribution. This displays classes discovered from the first-generation clear tech growth’s overreliance on authorities subsidy-dependent enterprise fashions, the place many firms didn’t adapt to market adjustments.
Present sustainable know-how funding sees exterior components—ESG funding growth, carbon pricing introduction, and regulatory atmosphere adjustments—combining with pure technological deserves to help funding selections. This creates more and more favorable funding environments for sustainable know-how firms whereas demanding larger ranges of enterprise execution functionality.
JStories, Japan’s solutions-focused multilingual information service, is an official media associate for SusHi Tech Tokyo 2025, Asia’s largest startup convention. This collaboration goals to amplify the occasion’s mission of fostering open innovation and addressing international city challenges via cutting-edge know-how and various concepts.
For inquiries concerning this text, please contact jstories@pacificbridge.jp
