Startup Alliance Korea announced on the 27th that its ‘Japan Bootcamp’ program, which connects promising Korean startups looking to enter the Japanese market with major Japanese companies and investors, was successfully held. The Japan Bootcamp, now in its 11th year since its launch in 2014, took place in various locations around Tokyo over three days, from the 24th to the 26th.

This year’s bootcamp recruited startups from four sectors that are currently of the greatest interest in Japan: eco-friendly energy, mobility, SaaS, and AI. The startups were selected through a highly competitive process, with a 9-to-1 applicant-to-participant ratio. During the program, the chosen startups attended seminars on entering the Japanese market, met with investors, participated in an open demo day, and networked with local Korean professionals. These activities helped them deepen their understanding of the Japanese market, build business networks, and explore potential collaboration opportunities with local companies.

An analysis of the industries represented by startups that have participated in the Japan Bootcamp over the past decade shows that the top five sectors are: content (15 companies), SaaS (14 companies), AI (13 companies), edutech (10 companies), and fashion & beauty (8 companies). Lee Kyung-hoon, the Korean representative of Global Brain, Japan’s largest venture capital firm, remarked, “Japan ranks second in the world for per capita content consumption, and Korean TV content, music, and webtoons are especially popular here.”

According to the ‘Startup Trend Report,’ published annually by Startup Alliance, 22.5% of domestic startups in 2023 were engaged in overseas operations. Japan ranked as the third most popular market for Korean startups, following Southeast Asia and the United States.

Ki-dae Lee, Director of Startup Alliance, noted, “In the future, we aim to improve the program by continuously identifying startups in fields that Japanese companies are interested in collaborating with, to further increase the chances of success in the Japanese market.”