At the pitch event of the "New Economy Summit 2015," three startups—Yoyo Holdings, Renoveru, and others— were awarded prizes.

The New Economy Federation (Representative Director: Hiroshi Mikitani / Chairman and President of Rakuten, Inc., hereinafter "NEF") held the "New Economy Summit 2015" at Hotel New Otani in Tokyo on April 7 and 8.
The "New Economy Summit," a major annual global conference held since 2013, welcomed four keynote speakers this year for its third iteration, including Professor Shinya Yamanaka, Director of the Kyoto University iPS Cell Research Institute, and Drew Houston, Co-founder and CEO of Dropbox. Fifteen sessions explored prominent themes such as the sharing economy, cybersecurity, robotics, and Bitcoin.
The event drew a total of 3,000 participants, including professionals, students, entrepreneurs, and government, business, and financial sector representatives from Japan and abroad interested in the three themes championed by the New Economy Network: "Innovation," "Entrepreneurship," and "Globalization." The diverse attendance, notably including young people, women, and international participants, was particularly striking.

The inaugural "NES STARTUP COMPETITION" pitch event featured nine Japanese startups that advanced through preliminary rounds. Each company had up to six minutes to present their products or services in English, seeking global expansion and further funding.
Following rigorous judging by a panel of 13 judges, including Masatoshi Kumagai, Founder and CEO of GMO Internet; John V. Roos, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan; and Keiichi Higuchi of Dentsu Inc., the winners were selected: 1st place went to YOYO Holdings' "PopSlide," 2nd place to Renoveru's "Renoveru.", and 3rd place to Triple W Japan's "Dfree."

PopSlide is Southeast Asia's largest mobile rewards platform. Renoveru operates renovation-related businesses supporting everything from purchasing pre-owned condominiums to renovation construction. Dfree is a wearable device that predicts bowel movement timing. The winning companies were recognized for their global perspective, their contribution to enhancing user convenience and social value, and their innovative ability to create new value unconstrained by existing paradigms. The event, including interviews with the three winning companies, will be streamed with English subtitles on the NEK website. This serves as a stepping stone for startups to reach the global stage while also drawing attention as a way for Japanese industry to "broadcast new business models from Japan to the world."

The New Economy Summit 2015 concluded with Chairman Mikitani's closing remarks: "I felt it was crucial to have a social vision, to be of service to society, and to have the desire to change things." Building on the summit's discussions, NEK plans to continue providing information and making proposals to help Japan become "the world's most innovative country."

*Details of the New Economy Summit 2015 are available on the official website → http://nes.jane.or.jp/
* New Economy Federation website → http://jane.or.jp/