SusHi Tech Tokyo: dates, who attends, and how founders get in

Next edition

Deadlines that matter to founders

• Dec 18, 2026 — SusHi Tech Challenge 2027 application · apply

Ticket tiers as published

How founders get in

The organiser describes SusHi Tech Tokyo as a global innovation conference where startups, investors, corporations, cities, and other ecosystem players meet to work on sustainable-city challenges. In 2026, founders could exhibit and pitch, use AI-assisted matching and meeting spaces, join investor and speaker meetups, and connect with corporate and city partners.

1. Apply for a startup booth at SusHi Tech Tokyo 2027 through the official application form by 2026-12-18, 17:00 JST. Eligible applicants need a growth-potential technology or business model, an existing product or service, fit with the sustainable-cities concept, and staff able to conduct business in English throughout all three event days.
2. Attach a business overview in English or Japanese (one PDF or ZIP file, up to 10 MB). Screening considers social impact, economic impact, and potential for global expansion. Results are scheduled for February 2027.
3. If selected, pay the JPY 300,000 (2027) booth fee by the invoiced deadline; the space is confirmed after payment. The booth includes a table, two chairs, panel hooks, a 500 W outlet, and a company-name panel. Exhibitors cover travel and accommodation; the booth fee is non-refundable for exhibitor-caused cancellation.
4. For the optional SusHi Tech Challenge 2027, submit an English pitch deck through its separate application form by 2026-12-18, 17:00 JST. It requires an existing product or service, a sustainable-city fit, and attendance to pitch on both business days and exhibit all three days. The 20 semi-finalists pitch live; their booth fee is waived. The Grand Prize is JPY 10 million (2027).
5. Attend at Tokyo Big Sight on the Business Days, 2027-05-20 and 2027-05-21, or Public Day, 2027-05-22. The 2027 visitor-ticket prices have not been published in the event's current ticket information; the last completed edition's published rates are listed below.

SusHi Tech Challenge 2027

Winners

• Qarbotech (2026) — Grand Prize; cash award of ¥10 million yen, Chor Chee Hoe source
• New Space Intelligence Inc. (2026) — Corporate Partner Prizes from Nomura Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., NEC Corporation, and Sony Network Communications Inc. source
• Aster (2026) — Corporate Partner Prize from Mori Building Co., Ltd., Shanthanu Menon source
• Munice (2026) — Corporate Partner Prize from Tokyo Kiraboshi Financial Group, Inc., Shawny Kwon source
• ASUENE Inc. (2026) — Corporate Partner Prizes from Sumitomo Realty & Development Co., Ltd. and Chuo-Nittochi Co., Ltd. source
• EF Polymer K.K. (2026) — Corporate Partner Prizes from TSUCREA Co., Ltd. and Japan M&A Center Inc. source
• LiSTie Inc. (2026) — Corporate Partner Prize from DG Daiwa Ventures Inc. source
• LIFESCAPES (2026) — Corporate Partner Prizes from Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd. and CIC Japan LLC; TechCrunch Prize source
• DeepMentor Inc. (2026) — Corporate Partner Prizes from Fujitsu Limited and Sony Network Communications Inc. source
• Chiral (2026) — Corporate Partner Prize from KDDI CORPORATION, Ryo Kamezawa source
• ENELL Co., Ltd. (2026) — Corporate Partner Prize from EventCaT powered by XLAB source

Judges

• Yukiko Kato at SBI Investment source
• Jingqian Ma at Plug and Play Japan source
• Angela Lee at 37 Angels source
• Mari Kogiso at SDG Impact Japan source
• Paul McInerney at Incubate Fund source
• Murat Aktihanoglu at Remarkable Ventures Climate source
• Koichiro Nakamura at Sozo Ventures source
• Ashley Grosh at Breakthrough Energy source
• Yumiko Murakami at MPower Partners source
• Eric Benhamou at Benhamou Global Ventures source

Meeting investors there

For the 2026 edition, Business Day ticket holders could register for business matching, find potential partners, message them, and arrange meeting times and booths through the app or website. The organiser's report also describes AI-assisted recommendations, one-to-one overseas-VC meetings, open meetups, and on-site meeting spaces. The 2027 matching arrangements have not yet been detailed. source

Investor firms the organiser lists (2026 completed edition; next announced: SusHi Tech Tokyo 2027 – 5th Anniversary, 2027-05-20 to 2027-05-22, Tokyo Big Sight)

Emerald Technology VenturesIbex JapanIsomer CapitalHiJoJo PartnersBoomerang VenturesChina RenaissanceAtinum Capital PartnersYung’s Enterprise HoldingsNakashimatoLUCA JapanExBorder PartnersKeyrock Capital ManagementMPower PartnersNiremia CollectiveThomson Reuters VenturesHypatia CapitalSpeedInvestAda VenturesOTB VenturesAbsa Corporate and Investment BankNextStar Venture PartnersNEXUSAlchemist JapanCradle FundDouble Feather PartnersShell FoundationIndustrial Development Corporation of South AfricaTiny Supercomputer Investment CompanyIQ CapitalAlumni VenturesSozo VenturesDNX VenturesEight Roads Ventures JapanZacua VenturesOmni VenturesTokyo AI VentureCarbide VenturesFirst CompassCentex & Gateway99VCHCVCAlchemist AcceleratorPortage VenturesWavemaker PartnersSMBC FIN Atlas Beyond FundBlitzscaling VenturesJolt CapitalNuviniFin CapitalNordicNinja VCWoven CapitalPacific Summit VenturesDeloitte VenturesMercedes-Benz Corporate Investment

Before you go: the hub's cold email to VCs playbook covers the pre-event outreach that fills a meeting calendar, and Causo matches your stage and thesis to the funds in its database so you know who to ask for a meeting.

Who speaks (2026 completed edition; next announced: SusHi Tech Tokyo 2027 – 5th Anniversary, 2027-05-20 to 2027-05-22, Tokyo Big Sight)

• Yuriko Koike, Governor of Tokyo · Tokyo Metropolitan Government
• Hiroshi Ishiguro, Professor, Department of Systems Innovation · The University of Osaka
• Mami Mizutori, Specially Appointed Professor / Strategic Management Advisor · Tohoku University
• Hiroaki Kitano, President and CEO; Professor · Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc.; Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
• Kathy Matsui, General Partner · MPower Partners Fund L.P.
• Takayuki Morita, President and CEO · NEC Corporation
• Yutaka Matsuo, Professor · The University of Tokyo
• Akiko Naka, CEO · Wantedly, Inc.
• Tetsuya Ogata, Chairperson · AI Robot Association
• Takahito Tokita · Fujitsu Limited
• Eva Chen, CEO and Co-Founder · Trend Micro Incorporated
• Sanae Takaichi, Prime Minister · Government of Japan

Full lineup: official speakers page.

Notable past speakers

• Audrey Tang · Government of Taiwan (2025)
• Fernando Fabre · Kauffman Fellows (2025)
• Murat Aktihanoglu · Remarkable Ventures Climate (2025)
• Caroline Winnett · Berkeley SkyDeck (2025)
• Chris Fabian · Giga / UNICEF (2025)
• Christophe Jurczak · Quantonation (2025)
• Arne Rost · TUM Venture Lab (2025)

Sponsors and partners

+8 more sponsors and partners on the official partners page.

Government partners: Taiwan Startup Island TAIWAN, Seoul Business Agency, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, Enterprise Singapore, VADX Japan, National Innovation Agency (Thailand), ASEAN Centre for Energy, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, Information Technology Industry Development Agency (Egypt), Trade and Investment Queensland - Japan, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), CzechInvest, Swissnex, Business France, Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, Startup Germany, Italian Trade Agency, ICEX Spain Trade and Investments, Netherlands Embassy, British Embassy Tokyo (UK), Luxembourg for Finance, Enterprise Ireland, hub.brussels, Bogota City

Full list: official partners page.

Startups there

798 exhibiting startups (2026) · official startup directory

Alumni the organiser highlights

• Oishii Farm Corporation (2024, 2025, 2026) — The organizer identifies it as a session speaker in 2024, 2025 and 2026; the report highlights its JPY 24 billion fundraising announcement in May 2026. source
• Synspective Inc. (2023, 2024, 2026) — The report notes a 2023 City-Tech Challenge session, 2024 and 2026 exhibitions, JPY 7 billion raised after exhibiting in 2024, and a December 2024 listing. source
• Kyoto Fusioneering Ltd. (2023, 2026) — The report identifies it as the 2023 City-Tech Challenge Grand Prize winner and a 2026 exhibitor, and says City-Tech Tokyo participation contributed to cumulative fundraising of approximately JPY 16 billion. source

Programme

Past editions, as published

Cities: Tokyo (2023–2027; the 2023 predecessor, City-Tech.Tokyo, was held at Tokyo International Forum; 2026 and 2027 editions are at Tokyo Big Sight).

Formerly: City-Tech.Tokyo (the 2023 predecessor event)

Who attends

Official links and socials

Prepare for it

• How to cold email VCs — book the meetings before you land.
• The 12-slide seed deck — what to have ready when a partner says "send me the deck".
• Pitch Deck Roaster — a slide-by-slide pass before you submit to SusHi Tech Challenge 2027.
• Accelerator deadlines — the application windows that open around the event.

Sources

Every fact above was read from one of these official pages on Oct 7, 2026:

• city-tech.tokyo/en
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/2024/en
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/2024/en/index/pdf/official-report.pdf
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/2024/en/latest_num_participants
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/2025/index/pdf/official-report_full_en.pdf
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/2025/index/pdf/official-report_summary_en.pdf
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/2026/en/speakers
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/app
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/booth-exhibition
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/challenge2026/index03.html
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/for-media
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/info-ticket
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/information
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/matching
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/official-report
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/officialevents
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/partners
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/recruiting-pitch
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/for-media/pdf/SusHiTechTokyo2026_MediaGuidelines_260407_en.pdf
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/index/pdf/2026-official-report_full_en.pdf
• english.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/w/113-101-001531
• sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/2025/en/index.html