LEVANES Corporation, on behalf of the City of Sendai, is promoting the Sendai-Tohoku Expansion Program (STEP), which supports startups from Sendai and Tohoku to take on the challenge of solving global issues. As part of this program, a series of global business seminars ("Learn from the Pioneers of Global Expansion! series) are held from August to December.

3rd : Global Business Seminar
Date: Friday, September 26, 2025, 16:00-17:00 @ Urbannet Sendai Chuo Building
Title: Thinking about building a system to create together with partners
Hosted by: Sendai City, Operated by: LIVERNESS Co.
Special Lecture: Mr. Ken Matsui, CEO and Representative Director, ugo Co.
Moderator: Takumi Kando, Research and Development Division, Liverness, Inc.

Establish a business promotion system created together with partners

Mr. Ken Matsui, CEO and President of UGO Corporation, took the stage to learn important points from the history of the robot service ecosystem's overseas expansion. In particular, he shared the importance of CEOs going abroad at an early stage to avoid over-fitting the domestic market, which is a common problem for deep tech startups that tend to focus on the first step in the market. The participants also shared the effects of building a new business model overseas through venture x venture collaboration.

⸻ 1. Pre-marketing to get a "feel" for the local market
The CEO himself will travel to the country and organize numerous interviews in a few days. We identified gaps from the desk research and hit on countries, applications, and regulations. As a result, Singapore was a good location/time difference/policy match and suitable for initial verification.

⸻ 2. MOU is a switch that visualizes and speeds up the willingness to collaborate
Even though the legal binding is weak, by clearly stating mutual expectations and roles and declaring them externally in a release, it fosters a driving force both internally and externally. At the same time, the Japanese side needs to be aware of the speed of decision-making.

⸻ 3. propose a new business model unique to the venture
In developed countries such as Japan and Singapore, the aircraft will be deployed in a subscriber model and recovered and serviced after three years. The aircraft will be maintained after operation and redeployed to emerging countries such as Malaysia, thereby achieving both price conformity and SDGs. We will gain supporters by proposing a new mechanism that does not exist in the world because we are a venture company.

Click here to see the past implementation reports.
Session 1 Lecturer: Mr. Kengo Suzuki, Co-founder and Executive Fellow
2nd Lecturer; Mr. Shingo Akao, President, Ball Wave Corporation

In the 4th session (October 7), Mr. Hong-Kyung Min, President of Liberaware, Inc. will be invited to speak on "Developing Strategies and Plans for Expansion in Southeast Asia". Liberace will do its utmost to support the process of startups facing real local challenges and growing while integrating business and research. We look forward to welcoming all deep tech startups who want to join the challenge of "changing the world with the power of deep tech.

*Non-startup companies entering this program are also welcome to attend,
Researchers, private companies, and government officials are encouraged to participate.
If you wish to register, please click the application button or register on the linked page.

Upcoming events

Inquiries regarding this matter
RIVANES Corporation (Attn: Mai Inoue, Saito)
TEL：03-5227-4198 E-mail：[email protected]