Japan’s ambitious ¥10 trillion startup investment initiative is creating unprecedented opportunities for Southeast Asian technology companies. The Tokyo Stock Exchange or TSE Asia Startup Hub, now in its second year, is emerging as a critical gateway for the region’s most promising startups to access Japanese capital markets and forge strategic partnerships with industry leaders.

The economic corridor between Japan and Southeast Asia is experiencing a fundamental transformation. Japan, seeking to revitalize its economy through digitalization and open innovation, is actively courting the region’s most dynamic technology companies. Meanwhile, Southeast Asia’s rapidly growing economies are producing a new generation of startups ready to scale beyond their home markets. This convergence represents more than geographic proximity—it signals a strategic realignment of economic interests across Asia’s most important growth markets.

The numbers tell a compelling story. The Japanese government has committed to increasing annual startup investment to at least ¥10 trillion by fiscal year 2027, representing a more than tenfold increase from current levels [1]. This commitment is reinforced by the ASEAN-Japan Economic Co-Creation Vision, announced in August 2023, which reframes the relationship from traditional development assistance to equal partnership focused on mutual growth and innovation [2].

The TSE Asia Startup Hub: More Than Just a Listing Venue

The Tokyo Stock Exchange Asia Startup Hub represents a sophisticated approach to cross-border capital market integration. Launched in 2024, the program goes far beyond traditional IPO preparation, creating a comprehensive ecosystem that addresses the specific challenges Southeast Asian companies face when entering the Japanese market.

The hub’s integrated support structure includes securities companies, banks, audit firms, law firms, venture capital investors, and information vendors—all working collaboratively to provide startups with the resources they need for successful market entry and eventual public listing. This ecosystem approach recognizes that successful cross-border expansion requires more than just capital; it demands deep local expertise, strategic partnerships, and cultural understanding.

The 2025 cohort features 20 companies from seven countries, with Singapore leading the representation with seven companies, followed by Taiwan with four, and South Korea with three. This geographic distribution reflects both the maturity of different Southeast Asian startup ecosystems and their varying degrees of integration with Japanese markets.

Case Studies in Cross-Border Innovation

The diversity of companies in the 2025 TSE Asia Startup Hub cohort illustrates the breadth of opportunities for Southeast Asian startups in Japan. Five companies, spanning healthcare, fintech, e-commerce, and logistics, exemplify how different sectors are finding pathways to Japanese market success.

Mental Health Meets Corporate Japan

Intellect, a Singapore-based mental health platform, demonstrates how global challenges create cross-border opportunities. Serving over 4 million members across 100+ countries in 120+ languages, Intellect has already established significant traction in Japan, serving Japanese corporations and securing backing from prominent Japanese investors including JAFCO, DG Daiwa, PERSOL HOLDINGS, and MS&AD HOLDINGS [3].

The company’s success in Japan reflects a broader trend: Japan’s aging workforce and evolving workplace culture are creating unprecedented demand for mental health solutions. Intellect’s full-stack approach—combining preventive care, behavioral interventions, and clinical treatment—aligns perfectly with Japanese corporations’ growing focus on employee wellness and productivity.

Digital Banking Transformation

Tonik, the Philippines’ first digital-only bank, represents the vanguard of Southeast Asia’s fintech innovation. Licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and serving millions of previously underbanked customers, Tonik’s digital-first approach offers valuable lessons for Japan’s own financial sector transformation.

Japan’s financial services industry, traditionally dominated by established banks with extensive branch networks, is undergoing rapid digitalization. Tonik’s expertise in mobile-first banking, AI-driven credit assessment, and seamless user experience design provides a blueprint for how traditional Japanese financial institutions can modernize their operations and reach new customer segments.

AI-Powered Financial Inclusion

Surfin Meta Digital Technology exemplifies how Southeast Asian fintech companies are leveraging artificial intelligence and data analytics to solve complex financial challenges. Operating across 10 countries with 77 million cumulative registered clients, Surfin has achieved 50% compound annual growth over the past three years by focusing on underserved markets [4].

The company’s proprietary AI-driven credit scoring and risk assessment technologies are particularly relevant to Japan’s financial sector, which is seeking new ways to serve diverse customer segments while maintaining strict risk management standards. Surfin’s recent $26.5 million funding round in April 2025 positions the company for expansion into developed markets like Japan.

E-commerce Brand Building

Rainforest, a Singapore-based e-commerce brand aggregator, represents a new model for building consumer goods companies in the digital age. Focusing on brands for modern parents, Rainforest acquires profitable e-commerce brands and scales them globally through enhanced marketing, product development, and supply chain management.

Japan’s e-commerce market, valued at over $200 billion annually, presents significant opportunities for innovative brand-building approaches. Rainforest’s expertise in cross-border e-commerce, digital marketing, and supply chain optimization offers valuable insights for Japanese companies seeking to expand internationally or modernize their domestic operations.

Supply Chain Digitization

Shipper, Indonesia’s leading digital logistics company, addresses one of the most pressing challenges facing modern commerce: efficient, transparent supply chain management. The company’s cloud-based platform provides end-to-end digital supply chain solutions for e-commerce businesses and enterprises across Indonesia’s complex archipelago geography.

Japan’s logistics sector, facing labor shortages and increasing demand for e-commerce fulfillment, can benefit significantly from Shipper’s technological innovations. The company’s expertise in route optimization, real-time tracking, and automated warehouse management aligns with Japan’s broader push toward Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing.

Japan’s Strategic Advantages for Southeast Asian Startups

The appeal of the Japanese market for Southeast Asian startups extends beyond capital availability. Japan offers a unique combination of challenges and opportunities that make it an ideal testing ground for innovative solutions.

Demographic Transformation: Japan’s aging population and declining birthrate create urgent demand for solutions in healthcare, automation, and productivity enhancement. Companies that can successfully address these challenges in Japan often find their solutions highly applicable to other developed markets facing similar demographic trends.

Digitalization Imperative: Despite its technological reputation, Japan has significant digitalization gaps, particularly in enterprise software, government services, and small business operations. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated awareness of these gaps, creating opportunities for companies that can provide user-friendly, efficient digital solutions.

Infrastructure Modernization: Much of Japan’s infrastructure was built during the post-war economic boom and now requires modernization. This creates substantial opportunities for companies specializing in smart infrastructure, IoT solutions, and predictive maintenance technologies.

Building Bridges, Not Just Listings

The TSE Asia Startup Hub represents more than a pathway to public markets—it embodies a new model of economic integration that recognizes the complementary strengths of different Asian economies. Japan brings mature markets, sophisticated investors, and deep technological expertise. Southeast Asia contributes entrepreneurial dynamism, digital-native solutions, and experience serving diverse, rapidly growing markets.

This integration is already producing tangible results. Beyond the companies in the TSE Asia Startup Hub, numerous Southeast Asian startups have established successful operations in Japan. Malaysia’s Aerodyne Group, the world’s largest drone service provider, has found Japan to be an ideal market for its AI-powered infrastructure inspection services, working with local governments and winning funding from Japanese venture capital firms [5].

The success of these early movers is creating a virtuous cycle, attracting more Southeast Asian companies to consider Japan as a strategic market while encouraging Japanese investors and corporations to look south for innovation and growth opportunities.

The Future of Asian Economic Integration

The TSE Asia Startup Hub is more than a financial initiative—it represents a new chapter in Asian economic integration. By providing a structured pathway for Southeast Asian companies to access Japanese capital markets and forge strategic partnerships with Japanese industry, the hub is fostering deeper economic ties that will reshape the region’s innovation landscape.

For Southeast Asian startups, Japan offers not just capital but also access to sophisticated supply chains, advanced manufacturing capabilities, and a consumer market that values quality and innovation. For Japan, these partnerships provide access to digital-native solutions, entrepreneurial talent, and experience serving the world’s fastest-growing consumer markets.

As the 2025 TSE Asia Startup Hub cohort demonstrates, this bridge between Japan and Southeast Asia is not just being built—it is already being crossed by some of the region’s most promising technology companies. Their success will likely inspire a new wave of cross-border innovation that will benefit investors, entrepreneurs, and consumers across Asia and beyond.

The ¥10 trillion commitment is more than a financial target; it represents Japan’s recognition that its economic future is increasingly intertwined with the dynamism and innovation of Southeast Asia. As this integration deepens, we can expect to see new models of cross-border collaboration that will define the next phase of Asian economic development.

References

[1] JETRO. (2024, February). “Golden Opportunities” for Southeast Asian startups to thrive in Japan. Retrieved from https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/insights/japan-insight/southeast-asian-startups.html

[2] Japan Exchange Group. (2024, September 27). About TSE Asia Startup Hub. Retrieved from https://www.jpx.co.jp/english/equities/listing-on-tse/startuphub/index.html

[3] Japan Exchange Group. (2025, September 25). Introduction of the 2025 “TSE Asia Startup Hub” Supported Companies. Retrieved from https://www.jpx.co.jp/english/equities/listing-on-tse/startuphub/02.html

[4] FinTech Global. (2025, April 28). FinTech firm Surfin Meta Digital Technologies secures $26.5m to fuel global expansion. Retrieved from https://fintech.global/2025/04/28/fintech-firm-surfin-meta-digital-technologies-secures-26-5m-to-fuel-global-expansion/

[5] JETRO. (2024, February). “Golden Opportunities” for Southeast Asian startups to thrive in Japan. Retrieved from https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/insights/japan-insight/southeast-asian-startups.html