SAKIGAKE管理人 Introduction
On June 17, 2026, the “24th Startup Mentoring Program (SMP)” hosted by the General Incorporated Association Tokyo New Business Conference (NBC) was held at Orcdo’or Salon AOYAMA. SAKIGAKE JAPAN participated as one of the presenting companies and is pleased to report that we won the Grand Prize. Here is a report on the day’s proceedings.
What Is the SMP?
The SMP is NBC’s entrepreneurship development program, in which growth-oriented startups and venture companies deliver business presentations in front of active listed-company executives and receive practical mentoring.
Since its launch in 2019, the program has supported numerous growth companies, and business matching opportunities — including fundraising and business partnerships — have emerged between presenting companies and listed-company executives. What sets this program apart is not simply that it is a competition, but that participants receive candid feedback from judges who have direct experience running businesses.
The Day’s Program: Five Companies from Diverse Fields Take the Stage
This edition of the SMP featured five companies operating across a diverse range of fields:
- Preventive medicine and healthcare using genomic analysis (Zene inc.)
- Co-ownership platform for high-value assets (GCT JAPAN Inc.)
- Pre-disease and health management through capillary vessel analysis (At Co., Ltd.)
- Music rights distribution platform (DRL Co., Ltd.)
- Domestic and international expansion of disaster prevention technology (SAKIGAKE JAPAN)
Companies from healthcare, real estate, entertainment, and disaster prevention all gathered on a single stage — a high-tension session in which each company presented its business.
Grand Prize: What SAKIGAKE JAPAN Was Recognized For
Following judging and mentoring, SAKIGAKE JAPAN was awarded the Grand Prize.
What earned recognition was our disaster prevention platform business, which deploys Japan-originated disaster prevention technologies and products both domestically and internationally. In particular, our unique business model combining superior disaster prevention technologies from Japan and abroad, our growth strategy targeting overseas markets, and the track record we have already built in overseas expansion were highly evaluated.
The Excellence Award went to At Co., Ltd. which develops pre-disease and health management solutions using capillary vessel visualization technology.
Mentor Feedback: Not Just “Technology” — but “Can It Grow as a Business?”
Judging and mentoring were carried out by the following active listed-company executives:
- Takahiro Arimoto (Representative Director and Chairman CEO, MS-Japan Co., Ltd. / NBC Vice Chairman)
- Masayuki Aoki (Representative Director and President, Ubicom Holdings, Inc / NBC Chairman)
- Satoru Nakamura (Representative Director and President, M&A Capital Partners Co., Ltd. / NBC Vice Chairman)
- Daisuke Yamazaki (Representative Director and President, Rentracks CO.,LTD. / NBC Director)
- [Special Commentator] Michimasa Naka (Representative Director and President, Boardwalk Capital Inc. / NBC Vice Chairman)
Active discussion and questioning from the mentor panel covered market size, revenue models, the path to profit generation, competitive advantage, potential for overseas expansion, capital strategy, and growth strategies including IPO and M&A.
What was emphasized repeatedly was the importance of “generating revenue,” “producing profit,” “clearly defining when the business will reach profitability,” and “looking beyond the Japanese market to overseas markets.” The defining feature of this SMP was that mentoring was conducted not only from the standpoint of evaluating the technology itself, but from a management perspective — asking “how much can this actually grow as a business?”
For us as well, it was a valuable opportunity to step back and reflect on how to sustainably grow our work on the social challenge of disaster prevention as a viable business.
Going Forward
The two award-winning companies — SAKIGAKE JAPAN and At Co., Ltd. — are scheduled to compete in the championship event planned for March 2027.
This program was made possible with the sponsorship of Nomura Securities Co., Ltd., Tokai Tokyo Securities Co., Ltd., Kagawa Securities Co., Ltd., Okasan Securities Co., Ltd., and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited.
Conclusion
We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to participate. Under our mission of delivering Japan-originated disaster prevention technology to the world, SAKIGAKE JAPAN will continue pressing forward toward the championship event and the ongoing growth of our business.
We will continue to support your disaster preparedness and BCP development, so please stay tuned for future developments.
For further details, please also refer to the press release below: