Four startups, based in the Ibaraki Prefecture of Japan, traveled to New York City for an in-person program with ERA Global (https://eranycglobal.com) in November. This one-week program concluded a four-week program focused on US market entry. JETRO Ibaraki and the Ibaraki Prefectural Government partnered with ERA Global for the fourth edition of the program. 

Throughout the week, the teams participated in workshops focused on sales and fundraising, as well as interactive sessions with founders and investor guests. ERA Pitch Coach Pauline Chiou advised the startups on their pitch content and delivery. In the evenings, the startups took full advantage of being in New York City by attending tech meet-ups and networking with founders and investors. On November 14, the Kansai Association of Corporate Executives visited the ERA offices to learn about ERA and the New York startup ecosystem, and all four of the founders had the opportunity to pitch to the executives. 

To conclude the in-person program, ERA Global hosted a final investor pitch event, and all four teams pitched their businesses and global growth strategies to the audience. The teams are currently in the “post-program phase” to focus on acquiring customers, meeting with investors, and establishing new partnerships. 

With new connections made and insights learned from the program, the participating teams have rapidly advanced their expansion to the US market. ERA Global looks forward to supporting the growth of more startups from the Ibaraki Prefecture to the global markets. 

Read more about the participating teams below:

AirMembrane uses graphene, an atom-thick carbon film, to develop products thin and highly efficient heat dissipation film, a fast and low-power transistor, a flexible transparent conductive film, and the thinnest sample support membrane for transmission electron microscopes. 

Closer is an AI-enabled high-speed, bulk picking, packing, and palletizing food automation system. The system can be easily implemented without major modifications to existing lines and can handle multiple product types by using AI image processing and robot control.

Dots For is building wifi network infrastructure that can be accessed by anyone at an overwhelmingly low cost in villages, and offering installment sales of smartphones as well, creating a local version of Netflix that allows unlimited video viewing. The data collected is used to analyze the creditworthiness of rural residents and provide installment sales of higher unit price products, thereby contributing to increasing income, asset building, and productivity of rural residents while realizing high repayment rates, thereby greatly improving their lives.

Thermalytica has a patented materials technology (TIISA®) which is a thermal solution that serves key sectors such as energy infrastructure, aviation and space, and EVs, power-electronics, global hydrogen supply chain, net-zero energy buildings, and efficient smart appliances and functional textiles.