SUITz Tokyo Inbound Acceleration Program

ENTRYDeadline: Saturday,
October 26, 24:00

About SUITz Tokyo
Inbound Acceleration Program

This program welcomes overseas-based Climate Tech startups who wish to expand their business in Tokyo and provides the opportunities to co-create businesses with Tokyo-based companies operating in the target fields.

Participation
Benefits

Exploring business development opportunities with Japanese major players

Key players from overseas venture capitals investing in Climate Tech businesses will participate in our pitch and reverse pitch events. Should there be matches, individual meetings will be held. If there is further potential for concrete business alliances and collaborations, independent investment considerations and conclusion of NDA will be offered.
VCs and Experts Mentoring for Business Co-creation

Participants can bounce business ideas with VCs and experts to lay the foundations for business co-creation with Japanese companies.
Creating opportunities for promotion and presenting outcomes in Japan

Through the program, we will provide PR opportunities using addlight's specialized ClimateTech webinars as well as SUITz and other various media outlets.

Eligibility for
participation

Climate Tech Startups based overseas and are considering collaborating with Tokyo-based companies operating businesses in Climate Tech field.

Instructor

NAME Cyril Ebersweiler

COMPANY SOSV General Partner at SOSV
Founder/MD of HAX

Cyril Ebersweiler is a General Partner at SOSV and the founder/MD of HAX. He is an experienced investor in deep tech (250+) and has invested globally. He is a board member/advisor to a few startups including Formlabs, AngelList, Adoreme (ACQ: VSCO), Collaborate (ACQ: CISCO), Hackster (ACQ: AVNET), Dispatch Robotics (ACQ: AMZN), Makeblock, Yeelight, Particle, Opentrons, Bartesian, Avidbots and Simbe Robotics. A popular speaker at international events (TC Disrupt, Collision, Pioneers, MIT Forum, etc...) and Universities (Stanford, UC Berkeley, etc...), he authored of dozens of articles on topics such as technology, robotics, health and crowdfunding and has been featured in The Economist, Popular Mechanics, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Huffington Post, Wired, BBC and more.
NAME Mark Bivens

COMPANY Shizen Capital Managing Partner

Mark was born and raised in Silicon Valley. As an entrepreneur, he founded several startups in Silicon Valley, including Birdview Technologies, which he sold to Constellation Software. He then spent 15 years as a venture capitalist in France, where he has a successful exit track record in IPOs and M&A.
He currently manages Shizen Capital in Tokyo.
He holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University and a Master of Business Administration from Kellogg School of Management.
NAME Christian Schmitz

COMPANY PDIE Group Founder/CEO

After graduating from university, he joined Bayer. Then, he worked in global management and development projects at BASF and served as Marketing Director of Henkel and Country Manager in Japan for the German furniture brand hülsta.
Since 2009, he has founded the boutique consulting firm Aventa, providing management consulting services to numerous Japanese and foreign companies. He also participated in Quchy, a social media venture company, where he made several startup investments. He is also the CMO and Head of Asia at Rice Exchange, a blockchain platform provider.

Mentor

NAME Mike（Minoru）Takeda

ex:Royal Dutch Shell Japan Country Chairman

Has held various management roles which include Country Chairman for Shell, Chairman of the Board for Showa Shell, and Director for Enechange.
Has worked for Energy Industry over 40 years (ExxonMobil and Shell), with experience in Upstream and Downstream business for Oil and Gas/LNG. Has supported Enechange to progress towards a successful IPO. During the last 10 years, has advised Renewable (mostly Solar) and Power businesses as well as many global energy/climate tech companies interested in the Japanese market. Currently serves as an External Director for a Philippine Oil Company and as advisors for multiple start-up companies.
Holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and was a visiting researcher for Harvard University, Energy and Environment Policy Center.
NAME Takahiro Tanaka

COMPANY 株式会社マネーフォワード
Startup Studio

新卒で三井物産に入社し中東・ロシア地域でのエネルギー関連プラントや発電プラントの開発プロジェクトを担当後、モルガン・スタンレーでの投資銀行業務等を経てFintech系スタートアップKyashの取締役CFOに就任。シリーズDでは海外VCを中心とする投資家から約50億円をエクイティで調達し、米決済系大手Block社（旧Square）によるアジア初の投資を受けたこととも話題となった。

その後ゴールドマン・サックス企業投資部でスタートアップへのグロース投資や投資先の取締役などを経て、2024年にマネーフォワード Startup Studioに参画し新規事業開発に従事。

一橋大学経済学部卒、カリフォルニア大学バークレー校MBA。
NAME Mike Benner

COMPANY ACCJ Co-Chair of Energy Committee
Start-up Mentor/Advisor

After 2 decades in the telecom sector, he transitioned to and specializes in the energy technology field. With experience as both an entre-/intrapreneur, Mike consults on and advises companies regarding Japan-entry and overseas expansion in climate-tech and energy-tech. He is passionate about sustainability and implementing solutions to reduce carbon/climate impacts while increasing profitability. Adept at cross-border management and cultural adaptation. Mike has held non-executive board directorships across publicly-listed, private and non-profit boards. Further, he has lived in Japan for over 35 years and is fluent in Japanese.
NAME Takashi Ichikawa

COMPANY 株式会社アスエク founder & CEO

1983年米国ニューヨーク生まれ。大学卒業後、総合商社に入社し、金属、エネルギー、ESG業務に従事。2020年に企業のサステナビリティ・ESGの取り組みを支援する株式会社アスエクを創業。サステナビリティ・ESG戦略策定（マテリアリティ特定、TCFD・TNFD提言対応、CDP・ESGグローバル評価、脱炭素戦略など）のコンサルティング・アドバイザリーを提供する。また、ツーリズムセクター向けにサステナビリティ文化を醸成する新規事業を立ち上げ、リジェネラティブツーリズムに関する情報を発信するメディア “earth sustainaiblity”の企画・運営を行う。サステナビリティを重視したスタートアップの経営・営業戦略策定及び実行も支援する。

Program Schedule

Each program will have two rounds, each lasting 5 months (including the application period), between November 2023 - March 31, 2025.

Second Batch Period:

October 1, 2024 - February 28, 2025 (tentative)
First Batch Period:

November 1, 2023 - March 31, 2024

Selected companies

SUITz Tokyo consists of two tracks: 1) SUITz TOKYO Outbound Acceleration Program and 2) SUITz TOKYO Inbound Acceleration Program. SUITz Tokyo has been selected as an affiliated project of "TOKYO SUTEAM," a startup support and development project operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and aims to maximize its impact by collaborating with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and other selected projects.

We are pleased to announce that 15 overseas startups and 6 partner companies have been selected for the First Batch of the (2) SUITz TOKYO Inbound Acceleration Program (a program aimed at supporting overseas-based climate tech startups who wish to expand their business in Tokyo to co-create businesses with Tokyo-based companies operating in the relevant field).