Japan's Promising Startups Converge at 'Web3 Salon – VC Connect' Event

On August 25 and 26, the 'Web3 Salon – VC Connect' was held, bringing together promising startups.

This event was conducted as a side event of 'WebX2025' on the same dates, organized by 'Web3 Salon'. It featured sessions with venture capitalists (VCs) from various countries, as well as pitches from ten Japanese startups.

Web3 Salon is a strategic initiative promoted by the Asia Web3 Alliance Japan (AWAJ) in collaboration with JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization), aimed at fostering innovation within the Web3.0 ecosystem, creating investment opportunities, and strengthening global partnerships. With JETRO's support, it invites VCs from around the world to assist in the growth and international expansion of Japanese Web3.0 startups.

Web3 Salon connects Web3.0 startups, venture capitalists, and institutional investors to accelerate innovation and collaboration, thereby enhancing Japan's stature in the blockchain and Web3.0 sectors. Through these efforts, it aims to serve as a bridge for like-minded innovators to gather, forge global ties, generate new ideas, and carve out a future of decentralized innovation.

Visit the official site here

Asia Web3 Alliance Japan is an organization comprising over 260 companies and individuals from across Asia, aiming to serve as a bridge between international business opportunities and the Japanese market, including government and corporate sectors. It promotes cooperation, growth, and innovation in the Web3.0 industry in Asia and Japan, offering opportunities for strategic partnerships, as well as support for market entry and activities related to the regulation and education of the Web3.0 sector.

The organization focuses on company establishment, business growth, and cross-border synergies, providing insights into regulations and cultural understanding. Additionally, it keeps the interests of Web3.0 companies in Asia and Japan in mind, offering customized solutions for market expansion.

Visit the official website here

As a businesswoman based in Japan with extensive experience in international markets, I deeply understand the unique needs of Japan’s Web3 ecosystem.

My expertise helps Japanese Web3.0 startups scale and connect with global opportunities, empowering them to reach the next level of growth and innovation.

This year, on my invitation, international investors are coming to Japan to attend WebX and gain direct insights into Japan’s Web3.0 market—further strengthening the bridge between Japan and the global blockchain community.

Some names are as follows.

Here, we highlight some of the notable sessions.

The session titled 'Japan's Role in the Global Blockchain Ecosystem' featured Mr. Roy Hirata, Head of Japan at Ava Labs, and Mr. Yu Ayato from the nonprofit Japan Blockchain Week. The discussion covered Japan's advantages in the global blockchain ecosystem and the impact of Japanese regulations on the adoption of blockchain technology.

Mr. Ayato first discussed the characteristics of Japan's blockchain ecosystem, noting, 'Japan was one of the first countries to establish regulations for crypto assets. The Financial Services Agency clarified the definition of crypto assets early on, and even the Singapore government has referred to Japan's system.' However, he also pointed out that 'the strict regulations make it difficult to collaborate with new initiatives such as DeFi.'

Mr. Hirata also commented on Japan's Web3.0, describing it as 'a period of significant change.' He highlighted the potential opportunities in the payment sector using stablecoins and expressed optimism about various legal reforms expected by 2026.

The session also addressed the international expansion of Japanese startups, emphasizing that 'having a diverse team composition is crucial for success globally.'

At a session featuring Chris Joannou of Draper University, Shawn Tan of TRIVE Digital, and Herbert Yang of the DFINITY Foundation, discussions centered on the cross-border support necessary for the next generation of Web3.0 talent to succeed.

Herbert Yang's DFINITY Foundation, a non-profit associated with the Layer 1 blockchain ICP (Internet Computer Protocol), emphasized that for developers, the choice of blockchain can make or break a business. He highlighted three critical elements: 'a flexible development environment (canvas)', 'ensured security', and 'grants and community support'.

Shawn Tan, a VC fund manager based in Singapore under TRIVE Digital, spoke about how investors evaluate startups. Even before a product is completed, VCs assess 'vision and team strength', emphasizing the importance of solving genuinely valuable problems rather than just following trends. He also noted the importance of having the resilience to survive until the market catches up.

Chris Joannou at Draper University, while considering tokenomics and unique aspects of cryptocurrencies, stressed the importance of a 'solid business foundation'. He advised Japanese startups to consider global expansion early and to design services that adapt to local cultures.

Additionally, three pieces of advice for entrepreneurs stood out: 'Act quickly: start working and validate the market early', 'Leverage AI: a crucial tool to dramatically speed up MVP development', and 'Maintain conviction: a strong belief and consistency are vital in a rapidly changing industry'. From the perspectives of developers, VCs, and accelerators, the emphasis was on moving quickly in the Web3.0 space while maintaining strong convictions.

The pitch sessions by ten Japanese startups were the highlight of the 'Web3 Salon – VC Connect', drawing a large audience. These companies were selected for the JETRO's Middle East-focused acceleration program, 'J-starX Web3 Course'. Here, we introduce each company's pitch.

1 CREATANT

Seref Mamas, CEO of CREATANT, took the stage. CREATANT is an intelligent visual workspace for creative professionals, utilizing AI to streamline workflows and enhance productivity, speeding up tasks by 12 times and saving 56 hours per month, while also reducing subscription costs for other SaaS services by 70%. Mamas explained how features like instant search, automatic tagging, sorting, and content creation streamline workflows and boost productivity.

2 Curvegrid

Jeffrey Wentworth, founder of Curvegrid, presented the 'MultiBaas' development toolkit, which enables support for multiple blockchains on a single platform. He discussed its adoption by major real estate tech company LIFULL, among other achievements, and emphasized that the infrastructure for collaboration in the increasingly relevant stablecoin domain is already in place.

3 NEURON X

Yusuke Hirota, CEO of NEURON X (Laplace), proclaimed their mission to 'Democratize luxury real estate ownership through innovation'. Laplace offers a platform where anyone can invest in and own luxury real estate in small amounts, previously accessible only to the wealthy. Hirota highlighted structural issues like liquidity shortages and transaction complexity in traditional real estate investments, which Laplace addresses using blockchain technology. The company is currently advancing tokenization projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars and is in the midst of a seed funding round.

4 XENEA

Tanimoto Yuma, CSO of XENEA, spoke about their EVM-compatible blockchain integrated with decentralized storage, addressing issues like single points of failure in existing cloud systems. He also mentioned their achievements in the MENA region and expressed a desire to establish small AI data centers in the Global South in the future.

5 Tempura Technologies

Moriki Kamio of Tempura Technologies, which supports product and service development centered on cutting-edge technologies like Web3.0 and AI, introduced 'Sonova', an NFT launchpad and marketplace developed on Sony's blockchain 'Soneium'. Kamio discussed the growing demand for physical collectibles like Pokémon cards and game items, while pointing out challenges in payment processes. He suggested that the use of stablecoins could enable safer and faster transactions, and mentioned plans for new product development on Sonova.

6 ANDLAW FZCO

GOKI KATO of ANDLAW FZCO, based in the UAE, discussed their efforts to solve interoperability issues in the blockchain sector. KATO introduced 'Miki', a product related to chain abstraction, and discussed its strengths as a bridge between traditional finance (TradFi) and cryptocurrencies, as well as its efficiency in crypto transactions. He also mentioned collaborations with multiple financial institutions and decentralized exchanges, with plans for large-scale commercial deployment next year.

7 Animechain

Syuhei Mise of Animechain addressed current challenges in the anime industry. While the anime market is rapidly expanding, there is a serious shortage of creators, and production environments and compensation systems are not well-established. Mise emphasized that Animechain is working to solve these issues in the anime industry, including developing tools to significantly enhance production environments and using blockchain for material management and record-keeping. Future goals include tokenizing data used in various productions to ensure fair revenue for creators and studios.

8 Wonder Wall

Ken Komatsu of Wonder Wall presented the 'GOLFIN' project, known for blending Web3.0 with golf experiences. He discussed the initiatives of GOLFIN, which enlivened the audience. Looking ahead, Komatsu announced a golf tournament as an official event at 'TOKEN2049' in Singapore, and revealed plans to expand into other sports fields such as baseball and soccer.

9 Blocksky

Hideki Takita of Blocksky, which develops and operates the blockchain-based advertising platform 'W3AP', introduced their service and highlighted the challenges in advertising for current Web3.0 companies. Despite the increase in Web3.0 companies, there is a lack of advertising services that can directly reach users, according to Takita. He also mentioned the reliance on opaque influencer-based marketing and strict advertising regulations in regions like Europe. Blocksky aims to improve this situation by building a platform that benefits both users and advertisers, and plans to implement a fully automated system for ad creation, operation, and analysis in the future.

10 Kyuzan

Lastly, Takumi Takahashi of Kyuzan, which handles the NFT game 'EGGRYPTO', spoke. Takahashi noted that Japan's cryptocurrency market is one of the largest globally, but highlighted issues such as a lack of sustainable user engagement and insufficient knowledge about Web3.0 among Japanese companies. As a result, the adoption of full-fledged Web3.0 services in Japan is still lagging. Kyuzan is addressing these issues by enhancing the mutual reinforcement between wallets and users, and by collaborating with IP and content to increase the user base and service value.

The sessions concluded with lively networking among entrepreneurs and investors.

As the event was a global matchmaking platform, all sessions and communications were conducted in English. Nevertheless, the significant participation and interest from the Japanese attendees were quite impressive.

Creating connections between startups in the promising field of Web3.0 and investors is crucial for advancing innovation. Looking forward, there is great anticipation for the Japanese startups that gathered at 'Web3 Salon – VC Connect' to make further leaps on the global stage.

Visit the official Web3 Salon website here

Visit the official Asia Web3 Alliance Japan website here