ICT Startup League

The 2nd Startup League Academy was held in Tokyo on September 19th.

To begin, the secretariat provided information regarding the application for additional subsidy budgets. Following this, Mr. Tadashi Fukuda, the Operational Meeting Chair, shared an intriguing anecdote about Hankyu Hanshin Holdings. As the Hanshin Tigers had recently conquered the Central League, Mr. Fukuda (a native of Osaka) shared a story he often tells friends visiting Osaka.

Historically, professional baseball in the Kansai region was heavily influenced by Osaka's private railways: Hankyu Railway, Nankai Electric Railway, Kintetsu Railway, and Hanshin Electric Railway (which remains the parent company of the Hanshin Tigers today). These private railway teams were major forces, particularly during the formative years of the Pacific League, and share a history of fierce mutual competition.

Among them, Hanshin Electric Railway and Hankyu Railway competed intensely across many sectors—including railways, department stores, and real estate—until their management integration in 2006. They were direct rivals, with their train lines running parallel from Osaka (Umeda) to Kobe (Sannomiya).
However, since their management integration, the situation has changed completely. Moving from territorial disputes to strengthening cooperation, they have implemented initiatives to improve user convenience, such as smoother railway transfers, and to enhance the value of the entire group.
Touching upon this change, Mr. Fukuda remarked, "The closeness is something Osakans who know the old rivalry could never have imagined." He sent a powerful message to the participants: "The key is how well you can partner with companies that can help forge the future. I hope you find encounters in this League that break through conventional customs."

This event focused primarily on value-up sessions and a networking event for the two selected companies.

■ Value-Up Session

KiAI Co., Ltd.: Realizing a Future Where Everyone Can Access Information Equally

Kicking off the League Academy was KiAI Co., Ltd. (Company name changed in May 2025; formerly DEVELOPTONIA), a deep-tech startup from Ibaraki University. CEO Kazumasa Oba, who possesses extensive experience as an economist at the World Bank and OECD and is well-versed in data science and AI technology, took the stage.

Business Overview and Challenge:
Under the vision of "Global Return for Everyone," KiAI develops and provides "KiAI," a business information gathering service specialized for developing and emerging countries. In emerging nations, accurate and reliable information is scarce, making it difficult for local companies and administrations to make swift decisions. The goal is to provide reliable international business intelligence accessible to everyone by having AI collect, analyze, translate, and summarize various local information (government announcements, statistical data, local media, etc.) in real-time. This facilitates entry into emerging markets and contributes to sustainable economic growth and regional revitalization.

Issues:
KiAI is tackling the following three issues to further grow and spread its service:

・Expanding Reliable Information Sources (Networks) in Emerging Countries
In recent years, business expansion into emerging countries, including Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, has attracted attention. However, these regions face structural issues regarding information gathering, such as "lack of public data and market statistics," "media reports potentially being biased or censored," "difficulty analyzing SNS and local news due to multilingual diversity," and "time and cost required to grasp local situations." There is a need to expand highly reliable information sources in emerging countries.

・Collaboration for Service Implementation
The service is being introduced in the field by major general trading companies, government agencies, and government-affiliated financial institutions, where it is used for market analysis and in diplomatic/security sectors. In companies where it has been implemented, there are cases where the time required for market research and report creation—traditionally taking several weeks—was reduced by 90%. Going forward, KiAI aims to accelerate expansion into Africa, the Middle East, and ASEAN countries. They are looking for partners to cooperate in supporting corporate overseas expansion, international cooperation, and applications in disaster countermeasures and humanitarian aid.

・Urgent Need to Secure Cloud GPUs
High-performance computing power is essential for large-scale data analysis and AI development. To manage time and costs efficiently, they are urgently seeking to secure at least one A100/80GB GPU.

Golden Advice from Experts:
Operational Meeting Chair Mr. Fukuda expressed high expectations for KiAI's potential, noting, "For the time being, I think the target is Japanese companies via a Japanese x Multilingual expansion, but in the future, you should compete with Multilingual x Multilingual." However, he also pointed out, "Regarding fact-checking information, relying solely on AI carries high risks." He advised utilizing the networks of travel agencies as reliable information sources in emerging countries.

In response to this, Selection Evaluation Committee Member Mr. Toshiya Haida (Senior Managing Director, IACE Travel) offered specific advice:
"By skillfully combining local wire services and public information with information held by Japanese companies already operating there, and raw information circulating locally, the reliability of the service will increase."
"Utilizing 'Land Operators' in the travel industry (specialized companies that arrange and manage local travel services on behalf of travel agencies) is an effective method."

Based on these opinions, KiAI states that they will explore further collaborations to improve service reliability and expand their business.

CraftX Inc.: AI Agents Transforming Recruitment

The second speaker was Mr. Yu Zakota, Representative Director and CEO of CraftX Inc., who founded the company in 2023 after becoming independent from a major consulting firm. The company is a startup providing a "Recruitment AI Agent" that can be used for free.

Business Overview and Challenge:
CraftX holds the mission to "Update recruitment and support the creation of great companies." In this Startup League, they are working on the development of a Recruitment Strategy AI Agent.
Specifically, they are proceeding with the collection of big data related to recruitment, product development of the AI agent, and the creation of implementation case studies at companies using the product. The ultimate goal is to build a global platform that solves organizational issues.

Issues:
Mr. Zakota cited the following as the main challenges to accelerate the business:
・Building a proprietary database to establish competitive advantage
・Collaboration with partners to introduce and verify the service
・Collaboration with professionals possessing knowledge
・Consideration of overseas expansion (Middle East, Asia, USA, etc.)
・Designing an optimal finance strategy for the fastest expansion
He particularly emphasized the need for collaboration with "Service Introduction/Verification Partners" and "Knowledgeable Professionals," expressing hope that new sessions would be born through the League.

Golden Advice from Experts:
For the CraftX session, Mr. Koichi Sugiyama of Japan Enterprise, specially invited by the secretariat to further strengthen value-up support for selected members, offered advice. The League Academy plans to continue inviting external experts well-versed in business, not limited to operational meetings or selection evaluation committee members.
In response to CraftX's presentation, Mr. Sugiyama proposed implementing features where AI analyzes the applicant's tone of voice, speaking style, facial expressions, and gestures during interviews to discern whether they are "just nervous" or "lying." He remarked, "A unique and groundbreaking system is exactly what leads to differentiation."
Additionally, Selection Evaluation Committee Member Mr. Hiroyuki Kobayashi (President and Representative Director, Deloitte Tohmatsu Deep Square Co., Ltd.) advised, "When approaching companies that lack a recruitment strategy foundation, collaboration with existing recruitment agencies or agents is a possibility, so it would be better to have a highly compatible interface."

Finally, Operational Meeting Chair Mr. Fukuda preached the necessity of "Something 'Only One,' something unbeatable by others, something outstanding." He concluded by saying, "Identify which parts of recruitment activities AI can replace to produce even better results. I want you to polish the system thoroughly so that value is conveyed."

■ Event Summary
At the networking event following the value-up sessions, participants exchanged business cards and engaged in lively discussions regarding support.

Reflecting on the value-up session, Mr. Oba of KiAI Co., Ltd. said, "Unlike previous acceleration programs or mentoring, the sessions in this League were exceptionally high in value."
He stated that the biggest reason was "the speed at which concrete actions, connections, and collaborations were born on the spot, and discussions were finalized immediately."
Furthermore, touching on the challenge that AI alone is difficult to establish as a high-unit-price service for enterprises, Mr. Oba expressed his surprise: "I was struggling to see the light while trial-and-erroring how to increase value. It was truly an eye-opening experience to realize such a solution existed."
Regarding his encounter with Mr. Haida of IACE Travel during the networking event, he smiled and said, "It was a wonderful encounter that promises a Win-Win relationship where we can mutually enhance corporate value, rather than just one side receiving benefits."

Next, Mr. Zakota of CraftX Inc. looked back on the session, calling it "a very stimulating time."
He mentioned that while proceeding with business internally, views can become narrow due to a bias toward positive opinions. "It was very refreshing to receive strict feedback from people well-versed in business this time," he stated. Based on this experience, he said, "I want to re-examine our thinking once more and pursue how to convey our value."
A particularly significant learning point was communication. He felt it is important to provide a clear and concrete image, like an "Aha moment," when explaining the product.
At the networking event, he seemed to have gained many insights, such as obtaining ideas that serve as hints for service creation through dialogue with business owners of the same generation.

Selection Evaluation Committee Member Mr. Toshiya Haida spoke about the purpose of the value-up session, stating, "It is not merely a place for brainstorming ideas, but a place for more realistic discussions on how to expand the business."
He further evaluated that "Programs that back you up with concrete business connections are rarely seen elsewhere," and that this driving force and energy are major characteristics of the Startup League. Mr. Haida sent a message full of expectation to other selected members to actively utilize this opportunity and "keep moving forward, one turn after another."

Selection Evaluation Committee Member Mr. Hiroyuki Kobayashi (President and Representative Director, Deloitte Tohmatsu Deep Square Co., Ltd.) gave the following advice to the selected members:
"There is a limit to advancing a business alone. Presidents are often thought to have to do everything, but specializing in one thing is also important. By having a network where colleagues gather around that expertise, the business will grow significantly larger."
Based on the value-up sessions of the two companies today, Mr. Kobayashi said, "Aim to be the 'Only One,' and consider how to expand the sharp direction of your business from the perspectives of Japan, overseas, or specific domains. The path to success is by no means uniform." He expressed his hope that they would find compatibility and stimulation through interaction at the Academy.

In the 2nd League Academy, new challenges were born one after another, and breakthroughs to open up the future were demonstrated. It is expected that Japanese startups will be further enlivened through these initiatives.