We enable ambitious students to build an exciting future

A startup community for the most ambitious students in Tokyo

Japan’s Venture Academy (JVA) is a student-run initiative sponsored by Shibuya City
offering university students opportunities to build entrepreneurial self efficacy

Startup Fellowship

Build your own startup idea with a team of ambitious fellows and support by experts in 3 months

Startup Events

Connect and grow with fellow startup enthusiasts through regular events to build skills, network and enjoy

Fall 2023 Product Expo at Code Chrysalis
Spring 2023 Product Expo at Google for Startups
Spring 2023 Product Expo
Fall 2023 Graduation
Spring 2023 Cohort Welcome Evening
Spring 2023 Lecture "How to generate solutions"
JVA Speedwork Event: Connecting Students and Startups
Fellowship Teambuilding at Yoyogi Park
Fall 2022 Cohort Final Presentation
Startup Quiz Night with Shibuya Startup Support
Panel Discussion on "The role of global mindset for founders"
Workshop "Storytelling for Impact Founders" with Social Impact Lab Japan
Workshop "Prototyping in Figma" at Shibuya QWS

The JVA Fellowship

The JVA Fellowship allows students from different universities to realise their startup ideas with the help of a structured curriculum, coaches, motivated peers and venture experts in 3 months

Learn from experts

Participate in weekly workshops and get feedback by venture experts at companies like Google, D4V, Figma, Moon etc.

Build real skills

Tired of feeling like you are not learning practical skills at school? Build valuable product, team and project skills in a fun way

Get inspired by ambitious friends

Come feel the energy of working with ambitious, open-minded students from different study backgrounds

Learn about startups

By building your own idea and connecting with startup experts, you will learn a lot about startups very quickly

Key Facts

  • 15 selected university students in Tokyo
  • 3 months cohorts from April & October
  • Build your own startup idea in teams of 3 fellows
  • Fee: 5000yen (used for event snacks and T-shirts)

Who can join?

  • Whoever is excited to build stuff
  • 10h/week availability (5h/week in person)
  • Motivation to work in English
  • Current university students in Tokyo
Further admissions information here

Some of our past fellows

Fall 2022
Mechano-Informatics
University of Tokyo
Mechano-Informatics
University of Tokyo
Rose Niousha
Computer Science
‍Waseda University

Rose Niousha

Rose is the founder of Waseda's Google Student's Developer Club and is excited about helping people apply theory to practise in tech. Now she is working on her Phd at University of California, Berkeley.
Li
Fall 2023
Yue Li
Mechanical Engineering
Waseda University

Yue Li

Yue is a co-founder of the Waseda AI Group. Due to her strong interest in AI, she is now working on her own startup to help Japanese people develop their English speaking skills through AI.
Li
Fall 2023
Ryuichi Lun
Computer Science
‍Keio University

Ryuichi Lun

Ryuichi developed his interest in startups by participating in the MIT-affiliated LaunchX program. During JVA, his team build a internship matching platform to empower technical students to build real world engineering skills.
Li
Fall 2023
Erdenebat Battseren
Transdisciplinary Science & Eng.
Tokyo Institute of Tech.

Erdenebat Battseren

Erdenebat is interested in the field of applied machine learning. To develop his know how he e.g. developed a Mongolion sign-language recognition tool and also joined a robotics startup competition in Germany.
Li
Spring 2023
Yuya Watanabe
Social Sciences
‍Aoyama Gakuin University

Yuya Watanabe

Yuya is excited about building his own thing. With another JVA fellow, he is building a startup to help digitize the nurse management system in hospitals.
Li
Fall 2023
Kiko Yee
International Relations
‍University of Tokyo

Kiko Yee

Kiko's first interest in startups was sparked during her exchange semester at Stanford University. She is now interested in ideas to leverage AI to solve real world problems.
Li
Fall 2023
Shun Otsuka
Mathematics
‍Waseda University

Shun Otsuka

Besides taking entrepreneurship courses at Waseda, he is also actively pursuing his own advertising business on the side. In the future, he wants to start more businesses.
Li
Spring 2023
Tanachai Anakewat
Mechano-Informatics
University of Tokyo

Tanachai Anakewat

Tanachai developed his interest in startups through his own projects and doing startup internships. He has also furthered his knowledge in Machine Learning during his research stay at the MIT Media Lab.
Li

Past Venture Experts

These are the professionals who teach our fellows about various topics such as prototyping, business modelling, design, market research and more.
Wesley Stuurman
Product Manager
Google
Tiffany Kayo
Investor
Coral Capital
Kei Watanabe
Co-Founder
Glasp
Fuminori Gunji
Go-To-Market Lead
Zookeep
Ye Xia
Investor
MPower Partners
Kenneth Jeng
Senior Product Manager
Moon Creative Lab
Hideo Natsume
Founder Partner
Asu Capital Partners
Ryo Takahashi
Design Director
Design for Ventures (D4V)
Naomi Tirronen
Designer
Google
Corey Lee
Designer
Figma

Pre-register to be notified about the next cohort

Applications for the Fall 24 cohort will open in July.
Make sure to pre-register with the link below to stay up to date.

Pre-Register Now!