January, February & March 2021
Japan’s technology news
Japan’s first quarter 2021 technology news summary gathers the country’s tech and startup news headlines from across January, February and March of 2021.
Technology news headlines from Japan reported across Q1 of 2021 highlighted developments in fields including Toyota’s proposed ‘Woven City’ smart city development, a blockchain-driven stock exchange system, 5G supply chain diversification and more.
Items listed are headlines only, hyperlinked, without accompanying text, providing a one-glance overview of Japan’s tech news in Q1 2021 along with one-click access to the full article behind each Japanese tech news headline.
January 2021 | February 2021 | March 2021
Japan’s startup news: March 2021
- Japan’s Mercari marketplace app begins cross-border sales with Alibaba’s Taobao and Xianyu
- Japan: Pegasus Tech Ventures partners Japanet TV shopping company for $50M startups fund
- Japan: A look at why the news media of a tech-driven country are stuck in an offline world
- Japan: Gov’t and increasing number of local bodies halt use of Line messaging app following data breach making user personal data accessible
- Japan: An intro to GAOGAO, a startup studio matching startup engineers with innovators in Japan and across Southeast Asia
- Japan: Nextblue VC firm hits first close on $27.5M fund to focus on future-of-work, health tech and lifestyle startups in Japan, and pre-A European startups with Japan market fit
- UK Gov’t selects Japan’s NEC as partner for first trial of new Open Radio Access Networks technology, part of 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy
- Japan: Fomm One electric vehicle to launch domestically, adding to market presence in Thailand
- Japan: Halal Angel Network partners EdgeOfInnovation to develop Halal-focused opportunities and investments from within the Japanese startup ecosystem
- Japan’s Ajinomoto food giant partners Pegasus Tech Ventures to access startups and innovations in food, healthcare and other sectors
- China: Momenta self-driving vehicles firm backed by Toyota in $500M funding round, expanding the Japanese firm’s footprint in China
- Japan: Unleash Tokyo event set for March 9-11, showcasing the city as an innovation hub and as a location for overseas companies
Japan’s startup news: February 2021
- Japan: Digital Health Market and Business Opportunities webinar set for February 11th, provided by the City of Kobe
- Japan: An overview of the recent ‘FinTech Program: Asia meets Tokyo’ business plan pitching event, and the 8 fintech firms that took part
- Japan: Aichi Startup Festival 2021 with e27 set for March 15-17, with applications now open for domestic, Asian and global startups to participate in pitch sessions
- Japan: A brief intro to Yappli Inc, designing off-the-shelf apps that clients can manage locally without the need to hire programmers
- A video recap of the recent Japanese Digital Health Market and Business Opportunity Webinar
- Japan: Sagawa Express courier service aiming to switch all 7K minicars to electric models by 2030, with new car prototype expected later in 2021
- Japan: World Economic Forum looks at Japan’s adoption of industrial robots from 1978 to 2017, offering insights on the future role of robots and the workforce
- Japan: A look at the 9 startups showcased at the recent Startupbootcamp Scale Osaka Demo Day, working in edge AI applications, blockchain and more
- Japan: Toyota to build ‘Woven City’, 175-acre smart city and tech test bed, to be populated by 2K Toyota employees and families, retirees, retailers, and scientists
- Japan: Kansai Life Science Accelerator Program demo day set for March 10th, showcasing 6 life science startups
- Taiwan’s TSMC semiconductor chip firm to build $190M R&D site in Japan, aiming for closer collaboration with top Japanese equipment and materials suppliers
Japan’s startup news: January 2021
- Japan: An overview of Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s ‘FinTech Program – Asia meets Tokyo’ initiative, set for business plan pitching from January 18th
- Japan: Mitsubishi partners Israel’s Aleph Farms to introduce lab-grown beef to Japan
- Japan: A 1-page, at a glance overview of recent technology and startup news headlines
- Japan: SBI Holdings reportedly partnering with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group to launch blockchain-driven digital stock exchange, expected in spring 2022
- An overview of the recently-held AIoT New Generation Life Application Taiwan Startups Webinar, an online matchmaking forum targeting the Japan market
- Japan’s National Cybersecurity and Defense Posture – Policy and Organizations (pdf)
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