Quantum Leap Ventures (QXLV) hosted the inaugural demo day for the first batch of its intensive LEAPS program on Thursday, designed for seed-stage startups in Tokyo. The event marked the culmination of a four-month journey for entrepreneurs aiming to address global challenges. The program has collaborated with partners such as Sony Startup Acceleration Program and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) to offer comprehensive support, from ideation to crafting logical business pitches in English.
The Demo Day featured pitches from entrepreneurs and founders of 10 startups, each showcasing innovative business ideas. The judging panel included industry veterans: Strive’s Tatsuo Tsutsumi, Incubate Fund’s Paul McInerney, and Minoru Moriya. Following each pitch, the judges provided feedback based on their extensive experience and keen insights, encouraging the entrepreneurs to push their boundaries further. The audience also participated in selecting the top three teams and an incentive award winner.
Below is a list of the startups that pitched in order of their stage appearance, except for the award winners. According to the organizers, all selected startups for this year’s program were at the pre-seed stage.
Winner: Creator’s X
Creator’s X wants to transform the animation production process using generative AI. Traditional animation production requires approximately 70,000 pictures for a 30-minute film, with much of the work outsourced to overseas companies, particularly in China. This service specifically targets the intermediate frame production (smoothing out movement) and background creation.
The service’s unique approach involves training AI on data provided by animation studios and integrating it with existing illustration tools. This enables a reduction in background production time to about one-fifth of the original. To ensure high-quality results, human artists refine the AI-generated output.
The company aims to evolve beyond a tool provider and become an animation production company in its own right, designing and managing AI-based animation production processes. They plan to expand its model across the industry and are considering participation in production committees with a view to global expansion.
It shows great promise in the context of the growing global animation market. Citing Toei Animation’s market capitalization of 500 billion yen (about $3.4 billion US) as a benchmark, the company is aiming for similar growth. By promoting the digitization of animation production and leveraging AI, they aim to enhance the competitiveness of the Japanese animation industry and support its further growth in the global market.
Runner-up: Midriq NbS
Midriq NbS supports the visualization and disclosure of natural capital and biodiversity. The company was established in response to the increasing demand for corporate disclosure of natural capital, as land use and raw material extraction are estimated to account for 50% of biodiversity loss. The company anticipates that following the push for carbon neutrality, the visibility and monitoring of natural capital will become increasingly crucial.
Their services assist businesses in visualizing and disclosing their impacts on natural capital. In particular, the company offers solutions to comply with stringent regulations, such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). While traditional consulting services can be costly, Midriq NbS enables in-house production through its software, thereby reducing expenses and ensuring ongoing compliance.
Midriq NbS employs two business models: in-house development and joint development with client companies. For in-house development, the company plans to build a pipeline through collaborative research with universities and commercialize promising products. In joint development with client companies, the company conducts customized development to address corporate challenges, receiving performance-based rewards and joint research funding.
The team comprises members with diverse backgrounds, including manufacturing, ecology, and technology. The team has experience in projects with the National Institute for Environmental Studies, and its strength lies in its ability to conduct evaluations that combine academic knowledge with a practical approach. With global expansion in mind, the company aims to become a world leader in the field of natural capital.
3rd Place: TypeGO by Swell
Swell is developing TypeGO, a next-generation educational IT platform that enables students to learn English and improve their typing skills simultaneously. The service utilizes content based on school textbooks and allows students to enhance their typing speed while learning English vocabulary through gamification. Compared to traditional handwriting-based learning methods, the service enables students to memorize words five to ten times faster.
A unique feature of the service is its contribution to teachers’ work efficiency. It significantly reduces the time required to prepare and grade word tests, saving up to 105 hours per class over three years. Additionally, teachers can easily track their students’ progress through the administration dashboard.
The service targets public junior high schools in Japan, where the GIGA School Initiative has led to the widespread adoption of one device per student. The company has already received applications from teachers at 27 schools and is prepared to provide services to more than 4,200 students. The company’s business model is funded by the ICT budget of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Swell is looking to expand globally, starting with a rollout in Japan. In South Korea, the company has initiated a project in collaboration with a local educational organization. In the future, it aims to provide its services to elementary, junior high, and high school students worldwide. The global team is driving the project forward with the goal of addressing social issues related to education and creating a society where everyone can freely choose their path in life.
Incentive Award: Theta Capsule by Theta Therapeutics
Spun off from the University of Tokyo, Theta Therapeutics specializes in the development of cyclic mid-molecular weight drugs. The company is developing technologies to control drug delivery to specific targets by utilizing the properties of cyclic oligosaccharides and other cyclic middle-molecules that are common in our daily lives. Conventional drug discovery has struggled with many drug candidates failing to pass clinical trials, with success rates as low as 8%; Theta Therapeutics aims to address this issue and improve drug safety and stability.
The company’s technology uses a cyclic medium-sized molecule as a “rocket” that allows precise drug delivery to its intended target. This approach is expected to reduce side effects and improve drug efficacy. It will also solve the problem of drugs with low water solubility, enabling the company to work with a wider variety of pharmaceuticals.
The company is pursuing two business models: in-house development and joint development with client companies. For in-house development, the company aims to build a pipeline through collaborative research with the University of Tokyo and develop promising candidates up to Phase 2 clinical trials and beyond. In joint development with client companies, Theta Therapeutics conducts custom development to meet the challenges of pharmaceutical companies, earning performance-based rewards and joint research funding.
The team comprises members with diverse backgrounds in drug discovery, biology, and engineering. The company is also looking to expand globally and plans to establish an international presence within six months. With cyclic small molecule technology at its core, the company aims to revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry by increasing the efficiency and success rate of the drug discovery process.
Omiisay
Omiisay provides Japanese companies with a web service to support their overseas expansion. As the Japanese yen’s historic depreciation has led to an increase in domestic corporate bankruptcies, Omiisay helps companies transition to overseas operations where they can leverage the yen’s depreciation. While traditionally, overseas expansion requires significant time and high initial costs, the service enables companies to save considerably on both fronts.
Their service covers the entire process from pre-expansion to post-expansion. The company aims to provide a one-stop service from establishing a local subsidiary to handling accounting and tax filing, creating a web service that is comparable to typical accounting SaaS services, but for overseas expansion. In particular, the company allows restaurants, beauty salons, retail stores, and other retail businesses to open stores overseas without establishing a local subsidiary.
Using the service, a ramen restaurant, for example, has estimated that it can become profitable by selling just five bowls of ramen per hour if it opens a store in London. The company’s business model is unique in that it remains profitable even in the face of fluctuating exchange rates.
The company is looking to expand its services to ASEAN countries, aiming to capture a substantial market worth 300 trillion yen (abotu $2 trillion US). Their goal is to create a future where Japanese products and services are sold worldwide, potentially halting the yen’s depreciation and bringing the US dollar exchange rate to around 80 yen by 2030.
Saikyo AI Dancer by Madsoft
Madsoft offers Saikyo AI Dancer, an AI-based dance motion generation service. The world’s first service automatically generates dance motions by simply inputting music. It supports various dance genres and can generate dance motions in a wide range of styles, from classic breakdance to jazz dance and hip-hop.
Conventional dance motion production requires motion capture and specialized staff, which is time-consuming and costly. By using this, the production process is greatly simplified, allowing even beginners to easily create high-quality dance motions. Revisions can also be made effortlessly by simply specifying the range of motion to be adjusted.
This service targets a wide range of users, from individual creators to corporations. The pricing plans range from 100 yen (for individuals), 5,000 yen (for professionals), 2 million yen (for enterprises). In the future, the company plans to develop an AI model that can generate trendy choreography based on videos uploaded daily.
Madsoft aims to expand the service globally and build a platform that will be used by creators and businesses worldwide. The company also plans to extend its support to physical expressions beyond dance, entering a larger market. They have already identified various needs with the release of the alpha version and has attracted media attention.
FINOBLE
FINOBLE provides a securities sales platform for financial professionals. With recent changes in the economic environment and growing interest in asset management, financial product sales by players non-securities companies (such as insurance agents, tax accountants, and banks) are increasing. The company provides effective sales support tools for these new entrants.
The platform uses AI technology to help streamline the traditionally complex nature of securities sales and enable anyone to make proposals comparable to those of top salespeople. Specifically, the platform recommends optimal market reports based on client demographics and deal content, automatically generates proposal materials, and suggests the best times to follow up with clients.
The business model is based on two pillars: providing the platform as a SaaS (Software as a Service) and offering educational services, including on-the-job training (OJT). The platform is provided for a monthly fee, while the educational services are charged as training fees. In this way, the company provides not only tools but also comprehensive support, including the imparting of practical knowledge
The team is composed of personnel with extensive practical experience, including members who have achieved top-class sales results at major securities firms and have experience designing curricula for training young employees. Currently, the company is working on proof of concept (PoC) projects with five companies, with the goal of releasing a beta version. The plan is to start offering the service to new players such as insurance agencies and tax accountants, and then expand to regional financial institutions.
ecoeats
ecoeats offers a GX (Green Transformation) and carbon neutrality support service specialized for the food industry. In recent years, environmentally conscious food choices have become increasingly important, with 87.5% of consumers expressing a desire to choose environmentally friendly foods. However, food companies are not adequately meeting this need.
ecoeats provides food renewability management software that enables food simulation. It allows for real-time hypothesis testing and evaluation of concepts, thereby reducing costs and risks for food companies. It also has the ability to localize foreign business models for the Japanese market, drawing inspiration from models in France, Israel, and Sweden.
Their business model consists of three tiers: free, custom, and add-on. Initially, a free version is provided, after which customization and add-on functions can be incorporated according to the company’s needs. Targeting food manufacturers and food retailers, the company is conducting PoCs (proof of concepts) with several companies and plans to release the service early next year.
The food industry is shifting its new product planning cycle from twice a year to monthly, and ecoeats aligns with this industry trend. The company is leveraging its experience in the food industry and data analysis to address industry-specific challenges. ecoeats plans to bring in experienced engineers and B2B sales professionals to help realize a food future that is friendly to both people and the planet.
Minato by Enjoy Life
Enjoy Life is developing Minato, an online travel agency (OTA) service specializing in cruise ship travel. Traditional cruise reservations have faced security issues, such as the exchange of personal information over the phone or by email, and the transmission of credit card information by fax. This service aims to solve such problems and create a platform that makes cruise ship reservations as easy as booking a hotel.
The service features an API connection to each cruise line’s database, allowing users to check reservation status in real-time and make bookings instantly. The company has already completed its travel business registration and is a full member of the Japan Association of Travel Agents. The company also offers more than 100 different cruise lines from around the world, providing customers with a wide range of choices.
Japan has annually 360,000 cruise passengers now but it is expected to grow to nearly 7.7 million by 2035. In particular, the popularity of cruises in Japan is anticipated to increase with the scheduled entry of Disney Cruises into the Japanese market in 2028. This is expected to lead to rapid growth in the cruise market.
Enjoy Life was launched by experts in the IT and cruise industries. The company aims to capture a share of the global market and become the cruise industry’s equivalent of Booking.com and Airbnb. In the future, the company aims to grow to an enterprise value of US$10 billion and become a leader in the digital transformation of the cruise industry.
Qube by Ceed
Ceed offers Qube, a Web3-specific affiliate network. The company focuses on addressing the issue of customer acquisition costs for Web3 games, which are 12 times higher compared to traditional Web2 applications. The main causes are the inability of cryptocurrency projects to market effectively on existing platforms and the multiple subcontracting structures of country-specific agencies.
A unique feature of the service is its use of blockchain technology. This makes it possible to reduce the risk of ad fraud, pay affiliates immediately, and implement a bonus system using cryptocurrency. In fact, the service has succeeded in reducing the cost per customer acquisition for 3D game apps in the Philippines to between one-tenth and one-third of the cost of conventional services.
Ceed specializes primarily in the Web3 gaming industry. Currently, the company has 18 clients, 70% of which are overseas companies. More than 3,000 affiliates are registered, mainly in Japan, China, Korea, and the Philippines, with a total reach of more than 200,000 people.
For future development, the company is considering approaching not only the gaming industry but also other sectors such as finance and energy. The company is also focusing on training Web3-native affiliates to differentiate itself from conventional companies. Ultimately, Ceed aims to build a global affiliate network utilizing blockchain technology and to gain market share in various markets, not limited to Web3.
The first batch of the program has just concluded with this demo day, but accepting pplications for the second batch have already begun. The deadline for applications for the second batch is August 31, and the program is scheduled to begin in October after screening and selection. The demo day for the second batch is scheduled for the end of January 2025.
