Boost Capital, a VC firm launched by former Yahoo (now LINE Yahoo) president Takao Ozawa, has started a free entrepreneurship training program. The aim of this program is to promote “start-ups through acquisition,” which involves using cutting-edge technologies such as AI to grow existing companies through mergers and acquisitions.

Ozawa and others will provide one-on-one guidance on business areas, business plans and methods of starting a business over a period of six months to one year. The program will accept around 10 participants, and each company is expected to receive up to 5 billion yen in investment. Ozawa cited the example of newmo, a ridesharing company that acquired an Osaka taxi company in July this year, stating that “the success rate is higher when you acquire a company that already has sales than when you start a company from scratch,” emphasizing the potential for starting a business based on an acquisition.

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