ASIAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARD 2024
Meet the “tech-startups” from all over Asia!
Startup application
Asian Entrepreneurship Award have nominators in each countries and regions for non-Japanese startups.
Non-Japanese startups must apply by nominations from these nominators.
If you have any inquiries about applications from outside Japan, please contact;
info*aea.events (please change * to @)
by e-mail.
Ⅰ. Application Guidelines
For those who have AEA nominators to nominate your company, please prepare all application materials in English and send them to the address below to apply.
1.Applications must be received : between Tuesday, June 4th, 2024 – Monday, August 19th, 2024.
Applications will be accepted as long as the date of the e-mail is within the above period.
2.Application deadline: Monday, August 19th, 2024
3.Please send applications to:
AEA Steering Committee e-mail: info*aea.events (please change * to @)
If you have difficulty sending your application by e-mail due to capacity or other reasons, please use cloud services and send it to the e-mail address above. If you do not have a service that can be used, please contact us in advance.
4.List of Application Documents:
(1) Application Form
Please download the form below and fill in all fields.
Please note that any blank fields may result in disqualification.
AEA2024_ApplicationForm
(2) Presentation data(20 pages or less / PowerPoint or PDF data)
・Please note that we will screen the applications based on the documents submitted here, and those companies that pass the screening will be shared with AEA Mentors and the sponsors to facilitate matching.
・Please be sure to include the following 12 points in your presentation.
1) Company purpose：
Define your company in a single declarative sentence.2) Problem：Describe the pain of your customer. How is this addressed today and what are the shortcomings to current solutions.
3) Solution：Why is your value prop unique and compelling? Why will it endure? And where does it go from here?
4) Why now?：Why hasn’t your solution been built before now?
5) Market potential：Identify your customer and your market.
6) Competition / alternatives：Who are your direct and indirect competitors. Show that you have a plan to win.
7) Business model：How do you intend to thrive? How is this innovative (leads to social impact) and competitive?
8) Plan of PoC in Kashiwa-no-ha(optional)：Define your PoC plan in Kashiwa-no-ha.
9) Potential partners in Japan / Why now in Japan?：Define your potential partners in Japan. Why do you plan to espand now to Japan?(If you are a Japanese company, what do you expect from this partnership?)
10) Team / Why you?：Tell the story of your founders and key team members.
11) Financials：If you have any, please include.
12) Vision：If all goes well, what will you have built in five years?
(3)Summary version of presentation (10 pages or less / PowerPoint or PDF data)
Please prepare a summary version of the presentation data prepared in (2). The summary version will be posted on the AEA website. Please describe especially the points 1), 2), 3), 4), 7), and 9) written above in the summary version.
(4) Photograph of the startup company representative (high resolution JPG or PNG data)
(5) Logo of the startup company (High resolution JPG or PNG data)
(6) Photograph of the nominator (High resolution JPG or PNG data)
(7) Brief biography of the nominator
-All these data can be shared by judges, mentors and sponsors.
-Startup company name and URL, business executive summary, Name and photo of Representative, Name and photo of Nominator, Reason of Nomination and Pitch Movie will be shown at website of AEA.
-Application of AEA is available only for board members of startup companies in Asian region, Australia and New Zeeland.
(8) <Only for companies entering the Kashiwanoha Award>
Proposals at Kashiwa-no-ha (maximum 2 pages/PowerPoint or PDF data)
*All submissions must be submitted in English. Failure to do so will result in disqualification.
*This data may be shared among the judges, mentors, sponsors, and other relevant parties.
*Company name and URL, business profile, representative name and photo, nominator name and photo, reasons for nomination, and pitch movie will be posted on the AEA website.
*Applicants to AEA must be board members of startup companies in the Asia region, Australia, or New Zealand.
Ⅱ．Judging Criteria
(1) Potential for collaboration with large Japanese companies
(2) Innovativeness of the business / economic and social impact (potential to bring about change in the global economy and society, scalability of the business)
(3) Ability to execute the business (competitive advantage, management team, overall consistency of strategy, communication skills including presentation skills)
<Only for companies entering the kashiwanoha Award>
(4)Kashiwa-no-ha innovation field （How would you develop your product and service by doing a PoC in Kashiwa-no-ha?）
Ⅲ．Details of each prize
-First Prize：3 million JPY
-Second Prize：1 million JPY
-Third Prize：500,000 JPY
【Kashiwa-no-ha Prize】：Award money (TBD) ＋ Support towards a demonstration in Kashiwa-no-ha smart city
【Special Prizes】
Coming soon
Ⅳ．Requirements for participating startups
All of the following requirements must be met.
(1) The company must be a technology start-up with solutions related to one or more of the following: Life Science & Healthcare/Mobility/Environment & Energy/Smart City to C / Space (individuals, laboratories, etc. are not acceptable).
※ Definition of technology startup: A startup with a business model that has its own technology at its core.
(2) The startup must have completed a Proof of Concept (PoC) and be in the early stage of development, which allows the startup to communicate with specific customers about collaboration or product sales using prototypes, product samples, mockups, etc.
- The number of years of establishment and number of employees are not required.
- The company may be considering or have already raised capital through VC, but as a general rule, the amount of capital must be between 0.5M and 10M USD.
- Listed companies and subsidiaries of major companies are not acceptable.
(3) The applicant must be recommended by the head of a public, private, or academic incubator, accelerator, or other startup support organization or department.
(4) Startups must be able to participate in all programs on November 20th and 21st, 2024 for the entire day at Kashiwa-no-ha.
*If a startup is found to have failed to participate in some of the programs, it may be disqualified.
*The nominator must be able to assist the startup in preparing for its participation in the program.
(5)Japanese companies must have the intention of expanding their business overseas. Non-Japanese companies must have a specific interest in the Japanese market or a strong desire to work with Japanese companies and develop business in Japan.
In addition, they must be prepared to facilitate discussions with Japanese companies in order to enter the Japanese market and collaborate with Japanese companies.
<For only Kashiwanoha Award entrants>
(6) The company must intend to conduct a Proof of Business (PoB) in Kashiwanoha.
Inquiries
Asian Entrepreneurship Awards Steering Committee：
info*aea.events (please change * to @)