JR East's startup accelerator picks eight for its spring cohort, from 173 pitches
JR East's startup accelerator picked eight companies from 173 pitches for its spring cohort, with the results staged publicly inside its own NEWoMan Shinjuku commercial complex -- a formal pipeline for what ends up on Japan's largest station-retail network.
East Japan Railway Company (JR East) said its startup accelerator, the JR East Startup Program, selected eight companies from 173 proposals for its 2026 spring intake, with the results to be presented publicly at a demo day on December 9 at LUMINE 0, inside NEWoMan Shinjuku at JR Shinjuku Station.
The eight selected companies -- Katsuhanagura, PerkUP, Ready Social, Quark, Synra, Smooth, Tradelog and Ashirase -- were chosen across three themes the programme runs each round: regional partnerships, digital services, and global ideas tied to the SDGs, according to JR East. The programme, run jointly with group company JR East Startup Co., has operated since 2017.
The demo day, the programme's 14th since 2017, runs from 1:20pm to 6pm and pairs pitch presentations judged by outside judges with an exhibition of booths from this round's eight companies and past alumni, competing for a Grand Prize, an Excellence Award and an Audience Award. Registration opened October 19 via Peatix and runs until the day itself, JR East said.
For Japan's largest station-retail landlord -- owner of the LUMINE, NEWoMan, atré, GRANSTA and ecute chains across its network -- the accelerator functions as a formal pipeline for retail and service ideas that might eventually show up inside its own stations, rather than relying solely on conventional tenant leasing to find them. Staging the public pitch day inside NEWoMan Shinjuku, one of its own commercial buildings, makes the link explicit: whichever ideas survive the judging are being auditioned, in effect, for a place on JR East's own floors.