11 Innovation-friendly Japanese Companies – #01 KDDI Corporation

Japan is one of the countries reputed for being conservative, old-fashioned, and risk averse. However, many big companies are now looking positively towards the market. In a brand new series, we will introduce 11 Japanese corporates that are innovation-friendly.

The companies listed here will be based on the Morning Pitch Large Enterprise Innovation Award granted by Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support. 

Morning Pitch is a pitch event held every Thursday, 7:00 am (JST), with the aim of creating a business alliance between startups and large companies. Morning Pitch has been an ongoing event since January 2013. As of December 2019, there have been over 300 start-ups, with a total participation of over 1,500 startups. Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support Co., Ltd. and Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. are the lead organizers of the Morning Pitch.
＊Due to the spread of coronavirus, Morning Pitch is currently being held online.

#01 KDDI Corporation

KDDI Corporation is one of the top Japanese telecommunication operators, and is considered one of the Big three mobile network operators, alongside, NTT Group and Soft Bank. It is actively operating its business in more than 70 overseas subsidiaries, including Singapore. 

Currently, it is actively moving forward to drive innovation in the 5G era by combining telecommunication and life design. It offers two supporting programs depending on the growth stage of the business: “KDDI ∞ Labo” and “KDDI Open Innovation Fund”.

– KDDI ∞ Labo : Acceleration program for seed and early stage start ups.
– KDDI Open Innovation Fund : A corporate venture capital investing in promising startups both domestically and internationally, operated by KDDI corporation and Global Brain Corporation (fund manager).

KDDI Corporation provides a wide range of support, such as free use of working space, mentoring, legal/accounting consulting, marketing skills, etc.

These initiatives are not just available in Tokyo. KDDI Corporation has launched the Open Innovation Fund in Asia, and started developing the foundation in Singapore in June 2019. KDDI Corporation is looking at startups in fields that are increasingly important in the 5G age, such as AI, IoT and big data. In addition, it aims to collaborate with startups that are willing to expand their businesses to Japan. While the Japanese market is gradually becoming more welcoming towards startups, there is still a barrier for foreign newcomers to succeed by themselves. Collaborating with KDDI Corporation might thus open the doors to new markets and rapid growth for startups in Singapore.  

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