Creative Tech Shibuya 2026 coming in February

Shibuya Startup Support (SSS) will host Creative Tech Shibuya 2026, a five-day program for overseas creative tech startups considering entering the Japanese market. The program aims to support foreign startups in entering Japan, promote collaboration with Japanese companies, and enable fundraising from investors. The 2025 event drew over 120 startups, investors, and Japanese companies.

This year, the program will officially collaborate with urban art and technology event DIG SHIBUYA. Participating startups will gain access to a range of benefits, including presentation and product showcase opportunities, business matching with Japanese companies and investors, and workshops led by experts and community.

5-day Residency Program

Designed as a five-day, residency-based experience, this program marks a significant evolution from the one-day events held in previous years. By scaling up to a multi-day format, the program offers a far broader and deeper range of opportunities, including on-stage pitch sessions and product showcases, high-density networking with key players in Japan’s startup and creative ecosystems, and 1-on-1 mentoring sessions with leading experts from investors—both VC and CVC—and creative industry professionals.

For startups planning a serious entry into the Japanese market, this program represents a rare, end-to-end opportunity for gaining first-hand market insights and building meaningful relationships to explore concrete avenues of ingress.

As part of the collaboration with Japan’s content and entertainment industries, the program will also include company visits and tours of facilities such as teamLab. These visits will offer participants an inside look at how leading Japanese companies are currently pushing the boundaries of creative technology and content production.

On the final day of the program, startups will take part in the opening of DIG SHIBUYA 2026, held at Shibuya Stream Hall, where they will pitch on-stage in front of an audience of hundreds and product demonstrations. (tickets available here)

Over the weekend, startups will have the opportunity to further engage with DIG SHIBUYA 2026’s art & technology events and programs, held throughout Shibuya.

*Applications for startups to participate in the program have already closed. Please follow Shibuya Startup Support Linkedin to stay up to date.

Shibuya and the Startup Community

Shibuya has long been closely intertwined with Japan’s startup ecosystem. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, at the height of the internet boom, a growing number of IT and internet startups clustered in and around Shibuya, giving it the nickname “Bit Valley.”

Many of the companies that went on to shape Japan’s internet industry such as CyberAgent, DeNA, and MIXI ****either originated in Shibuya or established major operations there during their early growth phases. While these companies have since expanded and diversified their office locations, Shibuya remains an important base for their business activities and a symbolic birthplace of Japan’s internet entrepreneurship.

As the 21st century progressed, large-scale office developments in areas such as Roppongi, Toranomon, and Marunouchi contributed to a more distributed startup landscape across Tokyo. As a result, the recognition of Shibuya as the center of venture activity has gradually softened. Nevertheless, Shibuya continues to host a significant concentration of startups, supported by a growing number of coworking spaces and startup-friendly facilities, including global operators such as WeWork. In recent years, the city has been particularly attractive to startups working in Web3, creative technology, and adjacent emerging fields.

Against this background, Shibuya has taken an active role in supporting startups. In 2020, it launched Shibuya Startup Support, a program designed to assist both domestic and international startups through market entry support, business development assistance, and ecosystem building.

Today, a growing number of international founders are building their companies in Shibuya, contributing to an increasingly global and diverse startup community.