July, August & September 2020
The Startup News Asia third quarter 2020 round-up of Japan’s startup news from July, August and September.
Each news headline listed below deals with a technology or startup news item from Q3 2020 connected with an aspect of Japan’s startup ecosystem; a Japanese startup annoucing a new service, product or investment, or an article covering something likely to affect Japan’s startup ecosystem in some way, such as a government startup program, for instance.
The focus is obviously on Japan’s startups, but outside-world tech and startup news headlines are included where useful as points-of-reference, food for thought, or to provide wider industry or tech knowledge.
September 2020 | August 2020 | July 2020
Japan’s startup news: September 2020
- Japan: coxco startup partners Yagi & Co textile trading house to sell clothing made from leftover warehouse sample fabrics, highlighting waste in the apparel industry
- Japan: Smart AI City Sapporo – a 21-page intro to the city’s tech and innovation ecosystem (pdf)
- DNX Ventures, investment firm focusing on early-stage B2B startups in Japan and US and part of the Draper Venture Network, closes new $315M fund
- A brief intro to the 15 Japanese startups presenting at TechCruch’s Disrupt 2020 virtual event, working in AI, healthtech, coding and more
- Japan: A dive into the country’s approach to 5G systems, vendors and supply chains and how this differs from the current US approach
- Japan: Fujitsu partners San Diego’s Nanome virtual reality startup to introduce immersive design and collaboration platform focused on biopharmaceutical market
- Japan: Aichi Smart Sustainable City Co-creation Challenge seeks innovations and startups focused on 4 key issues
- Australia’s Prospection healthcare analytics startup takes step into APAC with launch of Japan office
- A video look at the recent Startup Terrace & Osaka Innovation Hub Online Pitch event, and the 6 tech startups that participated
Japan’s startup news: August 2020
- Japan: Tokyo Game Show 2020 set to run online, September 23-27
- Japan: An intro to C-Face Smart mask, tech-enabled medical mask capable of translating 8 languages to aid communication in the social distancing era
- Japan: BeaTrust enterprize collaboration platform gains $2.8M seed round to build workplace collaboration and cohesion
- Japan: Intel-owned Mobileye to partner WILLER transport services operator to launch robotaxi services in Japan, Taiwan, and other SEA locations
- Japan: Rakuten e-commerce giant to commence roll-out of 5G network in September, first globally to use Open RAN standards
- Japan: Another brief look at Byacco, blockchain-based digital currency and app recently introduced for cashless payments at the University of Aizu
Japan’s startup news: July 2020
- Japan: Government to provide financial support for domestic companies in developing 5G networks to boost the country’s global competitiveness
- Japan: Soramitsu blockchain rolls out retailer-focused ‘White Tiger’ digital currency at University of Aizu in Fukushima, part of a wider smart city campaign
- Japan: PlayBrain e-sports tournament and media firm gains $6M Series A
- Japan: McKinsey’s take on the future of work in Japan
- Japan: Bank of Japan publishes new research paper looking at the potential offline use of a digital yen
- Japan’s Space BD to provide Myanmar with access to space via micro-satellite project aboard International Space Station
- Japan: NEC telecom equipment giant and NTT network operator partner for joint R&D for 5G products and more, aiming for global market presence
- Japan: Donut Robotics unveils c-mask, Bluetooth-enabled face mask that can make calls and translate Japanese into 8 different languages
- Japan: Government is expected to include consideration of central bank digital currency in formal economic plan
- British government looks to Japan to help build 5G wireless networks without Huawei, naming NEC and Fujitus as potential alternative suppliers
- Japan’s Softbank awards Ericsson contract to supply cloud-native, dual-mode 5G Core, the base level of 5G network software, on top of which 3rd-party applications operate
- China’s Oppo smartphone giant, 2nd to Huawei, to sell 5G devices in Japan via KDDI and SoftBank mobile carriers, aiming for global growth as Huawei grapples with US sanctions
- Bank of Japan head describes digital yen move as a top priority, seeing China’s CBDC developments as a potential future national security concern
