San Diego is one of the nation’s leading start-up support regions with more than $3.47 Billion in venture capital investment in 2019. The City of Yokohama has partnered again with CONNECT w/ San Diego Venture Group (CONNECT) to leverage the region’s expertise and bring that support to new Japanese startups through the “Springboard Program in Yokohama.”

The Springboard Program in Yokohama is a program designed to support and accelerate the growth of Yokohama-based startups and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the life science industry. Companies participating in this program will have the opportunity to hone their business skills through remote mentoring with San Diego entrepreneurs and professional management experts, as well as practice their pitching abilities with regard to the US market. The program was established in 2019, and continues this year with a cohort of new companies.

This year four startups have been chosen to participate in the 2020 cohort:

A kickoff event was held in the Yokohama WeWork “Ocean Gate Minatomirai” location on September 1st, with the goal of explaining the details of the program to the participating companies and letting them meet face-to-face with the CONNECT team.

For the duration of the program, the mentors of CONNECT in San Diego and the support base of LIP. Yokohama, “LIP. YOKOHAMA BIBLIO” will be connected remotely by a video conference system, and mentoring will be held for 3 months from September to November, including three pitch practice sessions.

In order to promote this mentoring more effectively, Kihara Memorial Yokohama Foundation will provide facilitation and other in-person support.
(Depending on the COVID-19 infection status in Yokohama and San Diego, there may be changes in the program’s schedule.)

Related articles:

Springboard Program in Yokohama Demo Day (Last year’s program)

Learn more about Life Science in Yokohama