IVS Summary
This article is a combined version of two related articles.
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Table of Contents
- Anime, Infrastructure, Energy — IVS2025 LAUNCHPAD Second Half: 7 Startups
- Materials Revolution and Gal-Style Brainstorming — IVS2025 LAUNCHPAD First Half: 8 Startups
Anime, Infrastructure, Energy — IVS2025 LAUNCHPAD Second Half: 7 Startups
The second half of IVS2025 LAUNCHPAD brought startups tackling challenges in social infrastructure, healthcare, anime, and energy.
This article (Part 2) covers the final seven presenters in order. Space Water Bureau, dental AI, zero-cost solar — here are Japan's most unique and substantive innovations.
- Procurement AI: ZORI
- Construction Safety and Healthcare AI: AVETE and Dentscape
- Anime and Advertising: CREATOR'S X and Wunderbar
- Water Infrastructure and Clean Energy: Tenchijin and Hachidori Solar
- Summary
9. ZORI Co., Ltd.
ZORI's Kodera, like Notion before it, was born in Kyoto and launched first in the US market. The company targets procurement — a function directly tied to corporate profit where a single mistake can result in tens of millions of yen in losses. Procurement involves 10 major process steps and 30 to 50 sub-tasks per component, navigating hundreds of emails across multiple systems.
The platform integrates tools with one click, reads procurement emails and attached quotes, and builds memory of each supplier's transaction history and performance. "Which supplier can deliver stainless screws the fastest?" — the platform identifies options and presents the optimal choice based on historical data. Negotiation preparation — strategy, market risks, comparable pricing — is automated simultaneously.
10. AVETE Co., Ltd.
AVETE's Uttam addressed construction site safety — one of Japan's most costly and persistently unsolved workplace problems. 300 deaths and 15,000+ serious injuries occur annually on Japanese construction sites. "It's like a plane crash happening somewhere across Japan's thousands of construction sites every month." Despite ¥2 trillion spent on safety and training annually, plus ¥3 trillion in compensation and delays, the problem persists.
91% of accidents stem from three causes: inadequate supervision, insufficient training, and failure to recognize risk. AVETE built the world's first construction safety ecosystem using deep learning and generative AI, customized for Japanese construction workflows. It runs on mobile phones and IoT devices, supports Japanese and native languages for foreign workers, improves safety training effectiveness by 75%, and starts at ¥20,000/month.
11. Dentscape Co., Ltd.
Dentscape's Zhou (presenting from Taiwan) introduced AI for dental crown design. 500 million crowns are manufactured globally each year — a ¥26.7 trillion market growing to ¥46 trillion by 2030. The dental technician workforce is in crisis: over 80% of US dental labs face hiring problems; in Japan, over 50% of technicians are above age 50 and fewer than 5% are under 25.
Dentscape's AI learns from existing teeth to auto-generate 3D crown models — 100 crowns designed in 10 minutes, down from 4 days previously. AI maintains consistent quality regardless of volume. It remembers each lab's style preferences. 85 dental labs are currently in the pilot program, with Harvard School of Dental Medicine among the customers.
12. CREATOR'S X Co., Ltd.
CREATOR'S X's Fujiwara confronted anime's labor crisis. A 30-minute TV anime series (12 episodes) requires 70,000 hand-drawn frames. Animators earn at or near minimum wage and leave for unrelated industries. The company combines supplemental AI with operational modernization: artists sketch rough layouts, AI assists with coloring and detail, humans complete finishing touches. Two-day work becomes 3 hours — 5x productivity. In 10 months since founding: 2 acquisitions completed, 70 employees, ¥800 million in revenue, with revenue doubling projected year-on-year.
13. Wunderbar Co., Ltd.
Wunderbar's Nagao built a platform that makes talent partnerships — previously costing tens of millions of yen — available from ¥100,000/month, with generative AI enabling instant visual customization. Changing what a talent holds or the color of their outfit: done via prompt. AI recommends optimal talent for specific contexts using 100,000+ past creative assets. Partnerships that took 6+ months can now be activated next day. Current scale: 400+ talent, 150+ agencies, 90%+ market share, ¥80 million MRR.
14. Tenchijin Co., Ltd.
Tenchijin's Sakuraba introduced the "Space Water Bureau" — using satellite data and AI to protect Earth's water infrastructure. Japan detects 20,000 leaks annually; 160,000 km of post-war pipes (four circumferences of the Earth) have exceeded their 40-year service life. Current inspection method: walking every meter above pipes, listening for faint sounds, writing results on paper.
Tenchijin uses multiple satellite data streams — surface temperature, ground subsidence, terrain changes — combined with 100+ historical data types to diagnose leak risk by 100-meter segment in five levels. Results: 12-year inspection cycle reduced to 1 year; detection efficiency improved 6x; leak costs reduced up to 79%. 40+ municipalities adopted in two years; 200+ municipalities interested nationally.
15. Hachidori Solar Co., Ltd.
Hachidori Solar's Ikeda closed the competition. Japan's residential solar adoption rate is just 11%. Hachidori Solar installs panels and batteries at zero upfront cost — users pay a monthly fee. Profitable in 5 months. Now operating in all 47 prefectures, 7x growth in 3 years, ¥2 billion projected revenue. The company's "i-Power Engine" device enables stable solar output regardless of weather and peer-to-peer household electricity sharing. Three-year targets: 10% domestic market share, ¥30 billion revenue.
Ikeda's mission stems from witnessing a friend's home swept away by sea level rise in Micronesia. "I was powerless then. I'm not now. Across companies, regions, and borders — we are serious about stopping climate change."
Summary: Japan's Startup Ecosystem Enters a New Phase
IVS2025 LAUNCHPAD demonstrated that Japan's startup ecosystem has entered a new stage of maturity. Grand Prize winner AKIYOSHI of Advance Composite: "Manufacturing — especially materials — is a domain where Japan is genuinely world-class. Japan does what it takes to push to the absolute limit. That is Japan's strength."
All 15 presenting companies carry a clear vision of "Japan-origin, going global." The IVS ecosystem has shown the world the depth of Japan's startup potential.
Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlovKHZDL40
Materials Revolution and Gal-Style Brainstorming — IVS2025 LAUNCHPAD First Half: 8 Startups
On July 3, 2025, fifteen startups took the stage at IVS2025 LAUNCHPAD in Kyoto. Part 1 covers the first eight: materials science, space technology, waste infrastructure, factory robotics, manufacturing AI, local hospitality DX, and a gal-culture brainstorming methodology transforming corporate Japan.
1. Advance Composite Co., Ltd.
AKIYOSHI opened with: "Air conditioners account for 30-40% of Japan's summer power consumption." He held up the conventional iron compressor part — 4.6 kg — then produced the new material version: 1.6 kg. The proprietary "liquid forging" method forces molten material B into precision micropores in material A under high pressure, enabling material combinations at ratios impossible by other methods. Development: 10 years, billions in equipment costs, 100+ patents planned. Environmental impact: 3% of global annual power consumption — equivalent to Japan running without electricity for 300 days. Market size: ¥320 billion. Already working with virtually all major Japanese automakers and major overseas firms in AI processor and data center applications (undisclosed under NDA).
2. CarbonFly Co., Ltd.
Kimura is pursuing commercialization of carbon nanotubes — discovered in Japan and described as a "dream material." Properties: 100x stronger than iron, 1/5 the weight of steel, high electrical conductivity. Ultimate application: the space elevator — a cable connecting Earth to space. Steel cable fails under its own weight at 45km; carbon nanotubes are the only viable material. Based on 20+ years of foundational research, CarbonFly has achieved controlled mass production, manufactured 2,000-meter fibers, completed deliveries, and protected the technology with multiple patents.
3. JOYCLE Co., Ltd.
JOYCLE's Koyanagi addressed Japan's waste management crisis. Declining population means fewer incinerators and rising transport costs. In bankrupt Yubari, all waste is buried because incineration transport is not viable. The JOYCLE BOX converts combustible waste to ceramic material using electric thermal pyrolysis — no combustion, no fuel, no open flame. Waste volume reduced 1/100 to 1/105; output upcycled into building materials and water purification ceramics. ¥120 million in revenue secured; hospital market alone exceeds ¥160 billion in Japan.
4. CoLab Co., Ltd.
CoLab is solving factory automation's final bottleneck: assembly. "AI Visual Servo" identifies assembly positions in real time; "AI Sensing Servo" learns force-controlled precise movements. Live demo: inserting metal components onto moving steel plate to 0.4mm precision. Same robotic hand handles diverse part types without tool changes. All AI configuration via screen interface.
5. Takumi Giken Kogyo Co., Ltd.
Takumi Giken Kogyo digitizes manufacturing quotation work — requiring veteran craftspeople, consuming 100+ hours monthly, with mispriced quotes creating losses that threaten factory viability. The AI system accepts technical drawings, recommends comparable past projects, marks differences, and incorporates each company's cost calculation formulas. Quoting time reduced 50%; upsell rate at renewal exceeds 60%; ARPA growing at 140% CAGR. By 2030, 2% of Japan's 220,000 small manufacturers = ¥12 billion ARR.
6. Snack Technologies Co., Ltd.
Sekigawa has visited snack bars across Japan. 120,000 snack bars nationally — twice the number of convenience stores, ¥2 trillion market — yet 73% of interested people have never entered one. The barrier: opacity. The platform makes snack bars transparent: interior atmosphere, owner introduction, pricing — visible before entering. Shared membership card enables check-in, automated payment, itemized receipts. Pilot results: new customers +8%, repeat rate +12%, revenue +15%. Strategic partnership with Daiichikosho underway. Five-year targets: 10,000 bars on platform, ¥10 billion combined revenue.
7. CGO.com Co., Ltd. (Gal-Style Brainstorming)
Bubbly arrived in full gal fashion. After dropping out of high school and encountering gal culture in Osaka — people with "a core sense of self, the courage to follow their intuition, and intense positivity" — she recognized: "Isn't that entrepreneurial spirit?" Gal-Style Brainstorming rules: no titles, casual language, nicknames, maximum encouragement, no silence over 5 minutes, come in your favorite outfit. The intensely positive reactions break down status barriers, producing ideas that never emerge in conventional meetings. 100 companies adopted through word-of-mouth; 2.5x annual growth; clients include Fujitsu and Sapporo City government. Annual revenue target: ¥4 billion.
8. BOCEK Co., Ltd.
BOCEK addresses the fact that 70%+ of Japanese companies have adopted generative AI but struggle to use it effectively. "Apps are the form everyone uses." The workflow editor enables no-code AI app creation by connecting process flows. 2,000+ integrations; supports all major AI models. Agents include a slide-creation agent (full presentation from text instruction) and an information retrieval agent (Google Calendar + web search answering real-time queries).
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