ZVC Co-Hosts Japan–Korea AI Startup Meetup in Tokyo
by Shogo Takahashi
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“Japan–Korea AI Startup Meetup Day”
Z Venture Capital (ZVC) co-hosted the Japan–Korea AI Startup Meetup Day on January 20 at Tokyo Innovation Base (TiB) in Tokyo.
The event brought together approximately 80 participants, including AI startups and media representatives from Japan and South Korea, reflecting strong momentum and growing interest in cross-border collaboration within the AI and startup ecosystem.
Co-hosts: Generative AI Startup Association (Korea) / Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, Tokyo Office (KOSME TOKYO)
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This event brought together generative AI startups from Japan and South Korea to foster mutual understanding and facilitate the exchange of ideas around concrete collaboration, with the shared goal of advancing AX (AI Transformation) across both countries.
The event opened with remarks from In-Joon Hwang, CEO of Z Venture Capital.
In his address, Hwang highlighted the strong potential for globally competitive vertical AI solutions to emerge from the combination of Japan’s deep industrial domain data and robust B2B infrastructure with the speed, execution capability, and service design strengths of Korean startups.
He also emphasized ZVC’s commitment to going beyond capital investment, positioning itself as a cross-border hub that actively supports business collaboration and market access between Japan and Korea.
(In Joon Hwang speaking at the event)
The keynote session was delivered by Masaki Yuda, Partner at Z Venture Capital.
Yuda outlined several major shifts shaping Japan’s AI market, including increasing capital concentration and larger funding rounds for AI startups, a move beyond proof-of-concept toward deep integration within real business workflows, and the rapid expansion of AI from text-based applications to multimodal use cases spanning images, audio, and the physical world.
He also highlighted a fundamental transition in how AI is being deployed—from “copilot-style” systems that operate under human instruction to agentic AI capable of executing tasks end-to-end, marking a significant paradigm shift in enterprise AI adoption.
Drawing on concrete examples such as the integration of AI features into search and LINE messaging, as well as the rapid growth and major funding rounds of ZVC-backed companies, Yuda demonstrated how the potential of the Japanese AI market is increasingly being recognized on a global stage.
He further noted that physical AI and robotics are gaining strong momentum, supported by government-led strategic investments, creating additional growth opportunities for Japanese AI startups.
(Masaki Yuda delivering the keynote)
The startup session featured eight AI startups from Japan and South Korea.
Among them were ZVC portfolio companies, Wrtn Technologies、QueryPie AI、Dwilar, each presenting their products and market initiatives.
Wrtn Technologies shared its approach to building generative AI services and discussed its expansion into the Japanese market.
QueryPie AI introduced enterprise AI platform use cases with a strong emphasis on real-world implementation and deployment.
Dwilar presented its AI-driven credit evaluation and financial support services for foreign residents, highlighting how technology can address structural social challenges in Japan.
Other participating startups also went beyond product introductions, engaging in discussions around the new possibilities unlocked through deeper Japan–Korea collaboration.
ZVC will continue to go beyond capital investment, positioning itself as a hub that connects Asia with the global market. By actively enabling business collaboration and supporting cross-border growth, ZVC remains committed to backing the ambitions and addressing the challenges of startups across both Japan and South Korea.
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