Dongdaemun-gu launches 'Tokyo Bridge' to help youth startups break into Japan

The DDM Youth Startup Center Unicorn, operated by Seoul's Dongdaemun-gu district, has successfully completed its "Tokyo Bridge" program to help tenant startups enter the Japanese market.

The DDM Youth Startup Center Unicorn, operated by Seoul's Dongdaemun-gu district (acting district mayor Kim Ki-hyun), has successfully completed its "Tokyo Bridge" program, designed to help tenant companies enter the global market.

The program ran from April 26 to April 29 to help promising startups seeking to enter the Japanese market understand the local startup ecosystem and identify concrete partnership opportunities. It placed particular emphasis on strengthening participants' global expansion foundations through connections with Japanese venture capital firms, corporate venture capital funds, accelerators and major corporations.

Three tenant companies of the DDM Youth Startup Center Unicorn took part in the program: Chinguhaja (CEO Jo Seong-woo), Lesseau (CEO Jeong Ji-yun) and Reboom (CEO Lee Seung-heon), all selected on the basis of their technology capabilities and global growth potential.

The participating companies visited SusHi Tech Tokyo, Japan's largest startup and technology exhibition, where they observed the Japanese startup ecosystem and big-tech-driven technology trends firsthand. Through the visit, they gained insight into technology demand and investment flows within the Japanese market, informing their global expansion strategies.

The companies also visited Japanese accelerator 01Booster, where they delivered investor relations pitches to local investors and expanded their network of contacts. The program additionally pursued an MOU with 01Booster to support ongoing collaboration and joint programming, with plans to build a closer global growth support framework encompassing local accelerating, investment linkage and commercialization support in Japan.

The delegation then visited SEE/SAW, the open innovation platform of Shinanen Holdings, and experienced firsthand a corporate-led, CVC-based startup incubation model — a strategic example of how domestic startups can grow through partnerships with global corporations.

At KOTRA's Tokyo office, participants received briefings on support programs and policy measures available for companies entering the Japanese market. They also networked with NAWA (CEO Seo Yeong-ho), a startup that entered the Japanese market with KOTRA support beginning in 2024, in a session connecting them with a more experienced founder. NAWA, itself a SEE/SAW tenant, shared its on-the-ground operational experience and lessons learned, offering practical market-entry strategies. The group also visited the Tokyo branch of Hana Bank to discuss financial and operational support options, further solidifying the groundwork for entering the Japanese market.

"The Tokyo Bridge program was more than an overseas study trip — it was an opportunity to confirm the global competitiveness of our participating companies," said Yun Chang-won, director of the DDM Youth Startup Center Unicorn. "It was a genuine growth opportunity for our tenants to experience global markets and investors directly and validate their commercialization potential."

Acting district mayor Kim Ki-hyun said Dongdaemun-gu is committed to expanding the foundations for youth entrepreneurship and global market entry. "We will spare no effort in supporting locally rooted startups to leap onto the world stage, with the DDM Youth Startup Center Unicorn at the center of that effort," he said.

The DDM Youth Startup Center Unicorn draws on university and community-based startup infrastructure to provide a full-cycle support system covering startup discovery, growth, investment and global expansion, and will continue to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem connecting Dongdaemun-gu to global markets.