Staff Blog

APT Women held briefing session on the 3rd Cohort Program at Tokyo International Forum from 6 p.m. February 21, 2019. The event was attended by the event host and Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike, participants of the 1st to 3rd Cohort Programs, and many visitors. After a brief explanation of the APT Women Program and the 3rd Cohort Program, a senior entrepreneur and President of Asia Herb Association Co., Ltd., Yumiko Kase, gave a speech titled “The Secrets to Successful Female Entrepreneurship.” In addition, Mr. Mitsunobu Okada, CEO of ASTROSCALE PTE. LTD., and Ms. Pocket Sun, Founding Partner at SoGal Ventures, gave encouragement to the program participants. Ms. Kase’s message […]

From January 14 to 24, 2019, we held the Overseas Dispatch Program in Singapore, the center of innovation in Asia, with five female entrepreneurs selected from among the participants of the Third Cohort Program. This Overseas Dispatch Program consisted of two parts: the compulsory programs, which aimed to help all participants with the first step for overseas business expansion, and the custom programs where the participants planned their own activities (such as business talks, market research, etc.) according to their own business interest. In the compulsory programs, the participants received advice from local business experts through pitch and mentoring. They also visited female entrepreneurs who is already leading their business, […]

With the help of many predecessor of entrepreneurs, leading companies and venture capitals, the third cohort of the APT Women Domestic Acceleration Program ended successfully! The selected five finalists will be dispatched to Singapore from January 14th to 24th 2019. There are more than 1,200 financial institutions, such as bank and asset management companies, in Singapore and known for financial sector. It is known as the center of Innovation due to the government-led startup support. Singapore ranked 12th in the “Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2017” published by Startup Genome, which analize the world startup ecosystem. Not only from the Startup Genome, but also from Dell Inc., Singapore has ranked 8th for […]

We held a pitch event with participants in the third season of the program at SENQ Kasumigaseki on Wednesday, November 28, 2018. The initial stages of business often require substantial financial resources, but new entrepreneurs do not have many opportunities to make pitches in front of VCs and financial institutions or build connections with them. APT Women holds pitch events to support entrepreneurs in such situation to find a way to secure necessary funds. At the event, the participants shared their aspirations, issues they hoped to solve, solutions, and market trends, made pitches for their business plans, and received feedback from many people who attended the event. After the event, […]

On Wednesday, September 26, the 3rd season of the APT Women program finally kicked off. The domestic acceleration program will last until early December. The acceleration program consists of nine lecture-type programs, five event programs, and six mentoring sessions. The participants will work on the refinement of their business plans, while also gaining the knowledge required to scale up their business and creating networks with senior entrepreneurs and key players from leading companies. The screening for the overseas dispatch program will be conducted in early December. The winning participants will be dispatched to Singapore in mid-January. Today, we will write about the 1st lecture program and the 1st event program. […]

APT Women held a briefing session on the 2nd Cohort Program and a kickoff event for the 3rd Cohort Program at the Tokyo International Forum from 6 p.m. on Friday, September 14, 2018. The event was attended by the governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, who is the organizer of the event, along with the participants of the 2nd Cohort Program, 10 participants of the 3rd Cohort Program who won seats through strict screening, participants of the 1st Cohort Program, and many other visitors. The event started off with an explanation given by the secretariat office providing an overview of the program, followed by briefings of the results of the 2nd […]

We brought five women entrepreneurs to the world’s most advanced innovative city, Silicon Valley, for ten days from August 1 to 11 to carry out the overseas dispatch program. In today’s post, we are going to give you an overview of this program. The overseas dispatch program consists of compulsory programs in which all participants must participate and custom programs in which participants can plan business meetings, market research activities, etc. at their own discretion. In the compulsory programs, the participants had opportunities to gain new perspectives and improve their business plans through having pitch sessions with business experts and receiving feedback from them, and listening to senior entrepreneurs describe […]

The third season of the APT Women program is finally starting. On July 23, we held an information session for the third season of the program at Startup Hub Tokyo in Marunouchi, the support center for aspiring entrepreneurs established by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Approximately 60 female entrepreneurs in various stages of business participated in the event. At this event, the secretariat explained the purpose of the program and the features of the third season. We also invited representatives from Enterprise Singapore, a governmental organization which supports startups in Singapore. They shared information with us on business in Singapore, including the latest trends. In addition, we invited the graduates of […]

With the help of many predecessor of entrepreneurs, leading companies and venture capitals, the second cohort of the AptWomen Domestic Acceleration Program ended successfully on June 22! In early August, Overseas Dispatch Program will be launched and the selected five finalists will be dispatched to Silicon Valley! Silicon Valley is a synonymous with innovation for many people. But What’s in Silicon Valley? How those entrepreneurship mind in Silicon Valley has evolved from that area? In this month’s blog, we will introduce you Silicon Valley, a destination of our Overseas Dispatch Program. ■Where is Silicon Valley located? Silicon Valley refers to the Santa Clara Valley and its surrounding areas, located in […]

A pitch event for the participants in the second season of the program was held at SENQ Kasumigaseki on Tuesday, May 29, 2018! While companies in the seed/early stages are in need of funds that support the scaling-up of their business, opportunities for such companies to make pitches to VCs and banks are scarce. In response to such situation, APT Women holds pitch events with an eye to fundraising for female entrepreneurs accepted by the program. In light of the growth stage of the program participants, we invited people from VCs and banks whose investment targets are companies in the seed/early stages. In this event, ten program participants made passionate […]