CVC in Japan: Connecting Startups with Corporate Innovation & Trends

Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) is becoming a powerful bridge between startups and large enterprises in Japan. This event brings together leading CVC representatives and innovation experts to explore how startups can effectively engage with corporate investors, what Japanese corporates seek in founders, and how collaboration can drive long-term growth.

Through in-depth discussions, and expert insights, you’ll learn:

• How Japanese CVCs identify, evaluate, and collaborate with promising startups
• What corporates look for in founders — from leadership qualities to market positioning
• Common challenges in startup-corporate partnerships and how to navigate them
• The evolving role of CVC in driving sustainable growth and long-term innovation

Expect practical insights, real founder-CVC success stories, and an inside look at the strategies shaping Japan’s corporate innovation landscape.

Organizers:

Founder Institute Japan X Co-Capital X Openfor.co X TiB

Agenda

• Welcome & Introduction
• Speakers Introduction
• Panel Discussion: CVC Innovation & Trends in Japan
• Q&A and Networking

Featured Speaker:

• Haru Noda, Senior Capitalist at YANMAR VENTURES
• Yasumasa SAITO, Manager, CVC Department, SBI Investment CO., LTD
• Manji Suzuki, Founder at SUZUKI MANJI OFFICE

📌 Moderator:

• Erdinc Ekinci - Co-Founder and CEO of Openfor.co & Co-capital.co and Managing Director of Founder Institute Japan/Korea/Taiwan

Who Should Attend?

• Startup founders exploring funding and strategic partnerships
• Investors interested in co-investing with CVCs
• Corporate innovation teams looking to collaborate with startups
• Anyone curious about Japan’s evolving venture ecosystem

What You Will Learn?

• How CVCs operate differently from traditional VCs
• What Japanese corporates look for in startups
• How to approach and collaborate with CVCs effectively
• Insights on building long-term value beyond capital
• Real-world examples of startup–CVC partnerships
• Emerging trends shaping Japan’s CVC landscape
• Common challenges in startup–corporate collaboration and how to overcome them
• How to leverage corporate networks, resources, and market access for growth

About the Organizers:

• Founder Institute: Founder institute, which originated in Silicon Valley, is a founder and idea stage accelerator, and with it’s Founder Capital, backing best performing FI alumni as early as angel stage. FI has over 8K+ startup portfolio (Including leading e-learning platform Udemy, IPO in Nasdaq $3,8B) across 200 cities in 100 countries around the world.) We are also the largest mentor network in the world, with over 35,000 mentors, and our alumni have already raised over $2 billion in US dollars and have recently exceeded the 10K mark of investors network as the FI-Venture-Network. FI’s sister program called VC Lab, helps launch aspiring investors into launching VC firms. As an accelerator that allows both sides of the table, 70% of the activities we do are advocacy of entrepreneurship and ecosystem creation, which means we do way more activity than the accelerator to promote entrepreneurship to solve real-world problems with entrepreneurship in an economically feasible way, build a company that grows into a venture-scale.

• Openfor.co: A “Global Partnership Accelerator” originated in Silicon Valley that combined with an online platform and marketplace for learning, building, launching, monetizing, and growing partner ecosystems and collaborative community around you for achieving effective marketing, sales, community building, GTM, fundraising, and many more.
• Co-Capital: Co-Capital is a VC that supports startups, investors, and governments by providing extensive networks, programs, and strategic guidance, helping them gain international traction, and funding opportunities through a collaborative ecosystem focusing on creating synergies among EdTech, Wellness, FinTech, and Deep Tech to foster a cohesive ecosystem where each sector supports and enhances the others with it's regional focus on East Asia to Silicon Valley.
• Tokyo Innovation Base: Tokyo Innoviation Base is a place where ambitious individuals come together to advance society with their groundbreaking ideas and technologies. Tokyo Innovation Base aspires to be the world's most startup-friendly location, initiating a new wave of startups from the heart of Tokyo.