VENTURE CAFÉ GLOBAL GATHERING
February 27th, 2025. Tokyo, Japan.
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VENTURE CAFÉ GLOBAL GATHERING
TOKYO ’25
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Global Gathering is open to everyone, and attendance is FREE for all
The Venture Café Global Gathering this year brings together innovators from ecosystems around the world to discover the Tokyo ecosystem, forge powerful connections, and showcase groundbreaking ideas.
Expert speakers, selected pitch participants, partners and individuals from each Venture Café—spanning 15 cities worldwide—will converge in Tokyo on 27 February, 2025 to build an innovation community on a global scale.
Venture Café teams will be applying years of first-hand experience as Innovation Ecosystem Activators locally, to maximize the impact of ecosystems converging globally. Our unique method of building strong communities is proven to generate new business opportunities and sustained collaboration.
WHO IS THE GLOBAL GATHERING FOR?
Any and all visitors are welcome at Venture Café!
We encourage anybody who is interested in making connections on a global scale to join us at Global Gathering.
It will be an especially valuable experience if you identify as one of the groups below.
Startup Founders
Looking to scale, connect, and gain insights from global leaders.
Investors and Corporate Innovators
Seeking growth opportunities across borders.
Nonnative Japanese
Wanting to explore Tokyo’s dynamic innovation landscape and expand their network.
Trade Organizations and Policy-Makers
Ready to build meaningful business relationships with leaders from 15 international ecosystems.
SPEAKER HIGHLIGHTS
TIM ROMERO
Partner – JERA Ventures
Tim Romero is a Partner at JERA Ventures and host of the Disrupting Japan podcast. Tim is deeply involved in Japan’s startup community as an investor, founder, author and educator, and he has founded several startups in Japan over the past 30 years. Tim has also taught entrepreneurship and corporate innovation at New York University’s Tokyo campus, led Google for Startups Japan, and worked with TEPCO and other Japanese enterprises on startup investment and innovation strategy.
MIKE TSANG
Director of Finance – ARIA
Mike Tsang is the Director of Finance at ARIA (Advanced Research Invention Agency), a UK public body funding breakthrough R&D in underexplored areas to catalyse new paths to prosperity for the UK and the world. Mike has also held operational leadership roles at The Francis Crick Institute, a biomedical discovery institute in London and one of Europe’s biggest biomedical labs. He is a Trustee Board member of the Pirbright Institute, a world-leading centre of excellence in the research and surveillance of viral animal diseases.
SAMANTHA HUANG
Secretary General – Digital Transformation Association
Currently serving as the Secretary General at Taiwan’s Digital Transformation Association (DTA) and managing Google’s Taiwan News Digital Co-prosperity Fund, Samantha is a neuroscientist and entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience in marketing, communications, and business development. She co-founded and served as Vice President of Blissful Inc., one of the largest online economic and political communities in the US, and has held positions at the Associated Press, the BBC, Mass General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, and more.
HIRO NISHIGUCHI
President – Startup Genome Japan
Serial entrepreneur, President of Startup Genome Japan KK, Managing Director of Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) Japan, and Professor at Sophia University.
His passion is to revitalize Japanese society through both the penetration of innovation management in existing companies and the development of a startup ecosystem.
Dr. Osamu Aruga
Rika Nakazawa
Mike Sudano
Harim Chung
Alejandra Buendia
Michael Cusumano
Ilya Kulyatin
Rui Nagamori
Ryusuke KOMURA
Nathan Plummer
James Lee
Alex Cheung
Dominika Duda
Alix Passage
Yusuke Matsuo
Ewa Geresz
Terrie Lloyd
Fabien Brogard Cipriani
Russell Nickerson
Erdinç Ekinci
Justin Dart
Oguzhan Kara
Victor Mulas
Rocky Sawada
Explore the Program
MAIN STAGE
Keynotes & Pitch2Tokyo: Changemakers on a Global Stage
INNOVATION BRIDGE
Explore innovation trends with global community builders and thought-leaders
JAPAN IMMERSION
Valuable knowledge on what it takes to succeed as an innovator in Japan
PIONEERING CAREERS
Connecting top bilingual talent with leading companies in Japan
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MEET THE PITCH2TOKYO PRESENTERS!
All Venture Café locations have hosted local PITTCH2TOKYO pitch competitions around the globe. The winners are presenting at Venture Café Global Gathering in Tokyo 2025!
Where is Global Gathering?
We are delighted to be hosting Global Gathering with our partners at the Mori Tower in Toranomon Hills. We will be in Hall B, which is on the 4th Floor.
We have held many amazing Rocket Pitch events at this location, and we look forward to taking that stage Global.
The Toranomon Hills Forum – Hall B
Toranomon Hills Mori Tower 4th Floor
1-23-3 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-6305, Japan
MADE POSSIBLE BY
SPONSOR
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
