The Founder Institute, the world’s leading pre-seed accelerator, continues its mission of empowering entrepreneurs worldwide. Our Japan, Korea, Taiwan 2025 Fall cohort has completed its journey, marking yet another milestone in helping founders build impactful businesses.
The cohort began on November 11, 2025, with 32 founders entering a highly demanding 14-week program focused on validation, product-market fit, growth, and fundraising, guided by experienced mentors. It also showcased strong global diversity, with 16 nationalities across 12 countries, including the United States, South Korea, Japan, India, France, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and many more.
Celebrated Graduation Demo Day Virtually and Physically
We hosted a virtual graduation on February 25, 2026, followed by a physical in-person graduation party on March 12, 2026, at Venture Café Tokyo. Together, both events drew an audience of 170+ participants, including 25+ global and local mentors from our network and an enthusiastic crowd from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and beyond.
Here are quick highlights of this cohort
- ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐จ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฌ.
- ๐๐+ ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ ๐๐, ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ฏ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ.
- ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ๐ญ๐๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐๐ (๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ + ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฉ-๐๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ฌ).
- ๐๐+ ๐จ๐ง๐-๐ญ๐จ-๐จ๐ง๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ข๐๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐+ ๐ฌ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ.
- ๐๐+ ๐ฅ๐จ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐+ ๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ญ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐, ๐๐จ๐ง๐ง๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฆ.
Virtual Graduation Demo Day
The Virtual Graduation Demo Day brought together founders, mentors, and a global audience in an engaging online setting. Each founder delivered a 5-minute pitch, showcasing their startup, business model, and future vision to both global and local mentors and a wider public audience.
Alongside the main pitches, founders also shared 1-minute insights, reflecting on their journey, key learnings, and growth throughout the program.
The event also featured a 15-minute keynote session in which VC expert Jeffrey Paine shared valuable perspectives on venture building and the startup ecosystem. Local leaders added their own insights, offering guidance and encouragement to the graduating founders.
To close the session, mentors were invited to the stage to share their reflections on the cohort, highlighting the founders’ progress, potential, and readiness for the next stage of their journey.
If you’d like access to the full pitch deck videos, apply through the link or scan the QR code above in the picture.
Key Note Speaker (Jeffery Paine)
โJeffrey Paine is the Founding Managing Partner of Golden Gate Ventures, a leading Southeast Asian VC firm with $250M+ AUM that has backed 90+ startups, including 9 unicorns. He’s also a long-time ecosystem builder and early-stage investor known for supporting ambitious founders across Asia from day one. He delivered a 15-minute keynote speech on titled “Invest in Clarity, not Potential.”
And he dropped these three hard truths:
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On problem clarity: "To get to clarity, you probably need to sleep under your customer's desk for 3 weeks and watch them work for probably 12 hours a day. Then you really know the problem."
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On VC funding: "98% of you shouldn't be raising money anyway... most of you actually should just raise two small rounds from your friends and break even."
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On location: "If you are operating from Palo Alto, you are already behind. If you're not in that time zone or that area code, you are one year behind by far. In fact, you're probably 18 months behind."
For more insights, check out the full video.
Graduated Founders
A total of 13 founders delivered full 5-minute pitch presentations, showcasing their ideas with clarity and confidence.
โโ1. Leonid Posadskov- Founder at Luminari Inc
Luminari Inc. is a Tokyo-based security-first advisory bureau developing Siminari, a gamified security training simulator for enterprises, universities, and government organizations.
โโ2. John Heinemann- Founder at flixfluent
Flixfluent is the world's first browser extension that enables every beginner to learn a language while watching their favorite TV show by deconstructing the subtitles.
โโ3. Maryana Stefuryn- Founder & CEO at Unwind Minds
Unwind Minds | Creators of ElephAi - Elephant Intelligence for Mental Health. The first AI companion that combines biometrics, psychology, and human oversight in one continuous care loop.
โโ4. Paul Conversy- Founder at InsightMatches-
InsightMatches is a platform that lowers barriers of entry to Global R&D funding by automating grant proposals and connecting research teams.
โโ5. Ray Ma- Founder at Kevoes
KEVOES is an AI-powered cultural brick brand that turns stories, emotions, and landmarks into collectible experiences. We offer three core services: personalized brick kits for consumers, limited-edition designer drops inspired by global culture, and co-branded collaborations with museums and tourism partners.
โโ6. Alican Yildizalp- Founder at Miriel AI
Miriel provides the first hyper-personalized holistic solution for the $126B child health and wellness market, by putting a PhD-level AI nutritionist in parent’s pocket to help them engineer their child's optimal development and build lifelong healthy habits.
โโ7. Jade Liao-CEO & Co-Founder at Mishkan Limited
Mishkan is building an omni-channel social CRM that empowers entertainment companies and influencer agencies to better manage artist/ influencer online presence, know their fans, and further act on fan data.
โโ8. Prumsodun Ok- Founder at Bodhikara Ventures
Bodhikara Ventures is buddhist wisdom, made for everyone.
โโ9. Brenda Naiyumi Wang- Founder at ZENYA
Optimizing wellness for gym-goers through freshly brewed drinks
โโ10. Jeffrey Graves- Founder at P4k International, Inc (Chit)
Chit is an online members-only club for founders to swap professional favors (chits) to get more impactful outcomes faster, easier, and cheaper
โโ11. Mingyun Guan- Founder & CEO at Atolla Ocean
Atolla Ocean builds underwater visual intelligence — starting with divers by turning raw dive footage into structured species insights, and expanding toward marine monitoring and operations.
โ12. Hanna Jaff- Founder at FamLink
FamLink uses AI to connect people with real human connection in a world facing a loneliness epidemic.
โโ13. Julio Calanche- Founder at Sales Done Right Japan
SABI (by Sales Done Right Japan) is an AI thinking companion that helps creatives turn confusion into clarity and clarity into income by structuring their decisions in real time.
Physical Graduation Demo Day
The Physical Graduation Demo Day, which happened on March 12th, 2026, brought the community together in person at Venture Café Tokyo, creating a high-energy space for founders, mentors, and ecosystem leaders to connect.
Founders took the stage to present their startups live in 1 min without a presentation, engage with the audience, and build meaningful conversations beyond the pitches. The room was filled with networking, feedback, and real-time interactions, making it a valuable moment for both visibility and relationship building.
Key Note speaker (Ryan Nakata)
Ryutaro (Ryan) Nakata is the General Manager and Representative Director of Japan at Alumni Ventures, one of the most active VC firms globally with over $1.5B in assets and a portfolio of 1,600+ startups. He was keynote speaker in our physical event where he delivered a 5-minute keynote speech, sharing key insights on"Why VCs Only Invest in Billion-Dollar Potential — The Math Behind Venture Capital".
key takeaways from his speech
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VC is math, not motivation. "Venture capital is actually a math problem." The entire model runs on one company returning the whole fund.
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One company carries the portfolio. In most venture funds, a single startup generates most of the returns. That is the power law, and it is why VCs only bet on potential giants.
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Don't just think big, understand why. "Understand the math, then build something worthy of it." Knowing the equation behind VC changes how you pitch, plan, and build.
He also took part in a Q&A session, answering questions from founders and offering practical advice for building and scaling startups.
Check out his full video for more insights.
Graduation Founders Presentation ( 2 mins without presentation)
Speed Networking with Alumni , Mentors & Investor
The event continued with an engaging speed networking session, bringing together founders, alumni, mentors, and investors from both online and in-person audiences. Each participant introduced themselves in around one minute, sharing what they are building, their background, and how they are looking to connect.
This fast-paced format created an open and energetic space for meaningful interactions, making it easier to quickly identify shared interests, explore potential collaborations, and build new relationships within the ecosystem
๐Special Thanks to the Mentors and Speakers who Supported and Contributed to the Cohort
A heartfelt thank you to all our 60+ mentors for their dedication out of our 250+ mentor pool, expertise, and time throughout this journey. Your invaluable knowledge, thoughtful feedback, and hands-on guidance have been essential in helping founders refine their pitches, develop strategic insights, and scale their startups.
Evan Burkosky, Jonathan Nguyen, Karin Jork-Wellbrock, Jeffrey Paine, Jet Son Tan, CSM, MBA, Lauren Nham โ, Todor Panev, Elias Ek, Dr. Joe H., Arcui Usoara, Milad Moazzenzadeh, Sameer Karulkar, Graeme Ogilvie, José Francisco Fernández Serna, Yuichi Terada, Lu Dong, Franklin Kamnang Ngansop, Roger Do, Tunc Berkman, Kei Watanabe, Keshni Morar, Anna Leshchuk, Jatin Kataria, Sush Bapna, Michael Lee, Timothy Connor, Hooi Yen Chin, Paschal Offordum, MBA, So Saito, Brian JY Yoo (์ ์ค์), Stefan Barrett, Francisco Dalla Rosa Soares, Jack Huang, Woohyun Nahm, Luca Meguro, Iva Buschmann, Kiyotake Sugita, Tyson Batino, Serkan Toso, Ta-Wei Wang, Mahesh Kasar
We sincerely thank our partners for their invaluable support in this cohort. Leading technology organizations from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan played a key role in making the program a success.
Thanks To Our Local Leaders
We would first like to appreciate the hard work and support of the Local Directors of the Founder Institute Japan , Korea and Taiwan : Erdinc Ekinci (Founder, Investment Lead of Co-capital, Co-Founder, CEO of Openfor.co , Managing Director of Founder Institute Japan/Korea/Taiwan), YuLi Shein (Venture Partner of Co-capital,Co-Founder, COO of Openfor.co, Director of Founder Institute Japan / Korea / Taiwan). Our Local Leaders play an incredibly important role in building the local Founder Institute program and creating an environment and network in Japan that is conducive to building great companies.
Highlights of FI Japan, Korea, and Taiwan
Over the past four years, Founder Institute Japan, Korea, and Taiwan has become one of the most active pre-seed communities in the Asia-Pacific region. The impact is clear: the three chapters has engaged 140+ enrolled founders, built a network of 250+ mentors and advisors, and helped launch 73+ alumni companies. The community has also hosted 115+ local events with 6,500+ attendees, supported by a network of 6,500+ companies, 2,000+ investors, and reaching over 700,000 people on social media.
This journey is made possible thanks to the support of Openfor.co and Co-Capital, who share our mission of nurturing world-class founders right here in Asia.
Graduation Founders’s Testimonial
Hearing directly from our founders shows the real impact of the program. In their testimonials, they share personal stories, lessons learned, and how the Founder Institute helped shape their paths as entrepreneurs. From finding clarity in their business ideas to gaining confidence in pitching and growing their startups, these stories reveal the growth, challenges, and proud moments of our latest cohort.
These reflections not only celebrate their milestones but also provide insight and inspiration for future founders looking to take the leap into entrepreneurship. Check out the testimonial video.
New 2026 Summer Cohort Application’s Opening
If you’re ready to take your idea to the next level and build a global business, applications for the next Founder Institute cohorts in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan are now open. Don’t miss the chance to join a community of ambitious founders, gain mentorship from experienced operators, and turn your vision into reality.
Apply before the early deadline for exclusive opportunities: ๐ฏ๐ต https://fi.co/japan. ๐ฐ๐ท https://fi.co/korea. ๐น๐ผ https://fi.co/taiwan.
Looking Ahead
Once again, congratulations to all our graduate founders and special thanks to our local directors, partners, and mentors for being part of the Founder Institute family! Let’s continue building on these strong relationships and creating even more opportunities to support founders on their journey to success!
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Alumni of the Founder Institute are creating some of the world's fastest-growing startups, having raised over 1.9BN in funding, and building products people love across over 200 cities worldwide.
See the most recent news from our Grads at FI.co/news, or learn more about their stories at FI.co/graduates .
