Open Network Lab: Japan Gets “Y Combinator” For Incubating Global Startups

I wish them every success. Our funding ecosystem here makes the US's look positively sane. (Japan is collectively sitting on trillions and there is no efficient way to get it to twenty- or thirty-somethings. This is particularly acute outside of Tokyo and, to a lesser extent, Osaka. I am struggling to recall any significant funding for the hundred firms at the technology incubator I used to work at which wasn't a grant, payment from a customer, or friends/family/founder resources.)

I wonder if the language barrier will restrict it to Japanese nationals. A lot of ambitious would-be founders will be stopped by the application form.

http://www.onlab.jp/guidelines.html

China might have a better shot at getting truly competitive applicant pools, but an awful lot of founders around the world work in English.

FINALLY!