Yokohama is the home of an emerging and strategically expanding startup ecosystem, and our newly-available Startup Directory with a list of startup companies in Yokoahama, Japan, aims to make it easy to learn at a glance about the kinds of innovations emerging from the city, as well as the types of support available for entrepreneurs looking to join the ecosystem by starting their own businesses.
Yokohama’s innovative culture makes it no surprise that the high concentration of R&D centers, engineers, and universities has given rise to a vibrant and active startup ecosystem, with an ever-growing selection of coworking spaces, accelerator programs, and other innovation driving organizations within the city providing any support that new startups in Japan might need.
Among the startups in Yokohama, we have seen breakout companies that have achieved success and are making great headway in their fields. A few examples include: ARTham Therapeutics, which was acquired in 2021 for in one of the largest exits in Japanese pharma startup history; J Pharma, which presented a successful phase 2 trial for their drug to treat refractory, advanced biliary tract cancers in 2022; CROSS-SYNC, which was included in a 2022 Top 100 Global promising young high-tech startups list.
Additionally, we’ve seen an exciting number of startups from Yokohama actively working to expand internationally by engaging with global expansion, matching, and partnering programs. Startups like ALAN, CoreTissue Bioengineering, MabGenesis, and WILLTEX are participating in Yokohama’s 2022 US Life Science Market Support Program which includes market entry strategy mentoring and business partnering. CoreTissue Bioengineering is also participating alongside Dancing Fun, Life Analytics, and LOOVIC in the 2022 Springboard Program in Yokohama to receive mentoring and pitch experiences in the life sciences, and was also the first Japanese company accepted by Johnson & Johnson Innovation for JPOD@Boston. We’ve also seen examples of Yokohama startups engaging in successful international partnerships already, such as MabGenesis’ collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim.
Yokohama startup companies have also been active in participating in international conventions and trade events. Since 2019, many Yokohama startups have joined the US startup event TechDay, including: ICON, M.I-Story, CODE Meee, Mayunowa, Archelis, Dream, and VRwaibao Japan. Archelis also exhibited alongside LOOVIC at CES 2023.
The newly-created Startup Directory hosted on our website provides an English-language, easily browsable list of startup companies in Yokohama Japan, including the ones listed above and many more. Additionally, this page also provides lists of Coworking Spaces, Accelerator programs, and Innovation-driving organizations in the city that contribute to Yokohama’s emerging startup ecosystem. If you are a global company interested in doing business in Japan, this information could provide you with insights into the potential business partners, clients, and all of the other innovative ideas in Yokohama City, and if you are an entrepreneur looking to establish a base or branch in Japan, we hope the resources linked here show the support base that Yokohama is building to support its growing startup ecosystem.
