UTokyo Innovation Platform (UTokyo IPC for short), the University of Tokyo’s answer to Stanford’s StartX incubator, announced in April that its 1stRound deep-tech startup support program has signed an agreement with Cyber Valley, a research consortium in the fields of AI and robotics based in Stuttgart, Germany, offering mutual support for startups between Japan and Europe. Both organizations will mutually invite startups from Japan aiming for the European market and startups from Europe aiming for the Japanese market, and supporting them on a non-equity basis.
Aiming to help qualified teams build collborative relationships with companies and raise funds from investors, 1stRound (originally called the Startup Support Program) has adopted a total of 85 startup teams over the past eight years. Among all the teams from the program, over 90% of them has secured follow-on investment while over 50% of them has received grant. In recent years, the company has also focused on helping teams expand globally, including helping more teams appply for accelerator programs at major universities in the US.
Meanwhile, Cyber Valley was founded by the Max Planck Institute (MPI) and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany to support AI and robotics startups. Based in Baden-Württemberg, where many of the world’s top research institutes are concentrically located, it has been working with universities and institutes all across Europe, global companies such as Amazon and BMW, and VCs to promote entrepreneurship among researchers and support the growth of startups.
Through the collaboration, qualified startups from each of the programs on both sides will be mutually eligible to participate in the initiative.
Full story: UTokyo’s incubator ties up with Cyber Valley to support portfolio teams mutually – BRIDGE
