Engaging emerging founders and globally minded entrepreneurs in Tokyo

3P Ventures was proud to participate in the Tokyo Global Innovation

Challenge, a global student entrepreneurship competition that gathers ambitious founders, investors, educators, and ecosystem leaders in Tokyo. The event highlighted high-quality ideas, disciplined thinking, and a strong sense of purpose from teams addressing real-world problems across technology, sustainability, and society.

Congratulations to the Winners

We congratulate all participating teams, especially this year’s winners, for their exceptional execution, clear thinking, and global mindset. Competing on an international stage in English, under real evaluation pressure, is a significant achievement. The finalists showed not only creativity but also the ability to explain tradeoffs, market realities, and implementation strategies—qualities we believe are essential for long-term company growth.

Insightful Keynotes from Industry and Academia

The event was anchored by thoughtful keynote sessions that grounded innovation in experience and rigor.

• Masayuki Tadokoro shared practical insights drawn from years of operating at the intersection of entrepreneurship and global markets. His remarks emphasized execution discipline, resilience, and the importance of understanding real customer pain rather than chasing trends.

• Eric-Masanobu Matsunaga, Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, offered an academic yet highly practical perspective on how ideas evolve into scalable ventures. His keynote highlighted the role of structured thinking, experimentation, and global collaboration in turning early concepts into durable businesses.

Together, these sessions reinforced a theme that resonated throughout the competition, innovation is not just about originality, it is about judgment, learning speed, and the ability to navigate constraints.

3P Ventures on the Ground

During the event, the 3P Ventures team spent time attending pitch sessions and networking with founders, judges, mentors, and fellow investors. We had candid conversations with teams at very early stages of their journeys, discussing how ideas are formed, how assumptions get tested, and how founders think about markets beyond Japan.

What stood out most was the global orientation of the participants. Many teams were already thinking cross-border, both in terms of customers and talent, which aligns closely with how we think about building companies in and from Japan.

Learn More

For more information about the competition, participating teams, and future programs, visit the official Tokyo Global Innovation Challenge website: https://tokyo-global-innovation-challenge.jp/en/

Looking Forward

Events like the Tokyo Global Innovation Challenge play an important role in strengthening Japan’s startup ecosystem by developing founder talent early and exposing teams to global standards. 3P Ventures is encouraged by the quality of thinking we saw and looks forward to continuing conversations with founders and ecosystem partners we met during the event.

Once again, congratulations to the winners and all participants. We are glad to have been part of the dialogue and look forward to staying engaged as these ideas evolve into real companies.