Startup organization Incubate Fund held the 17th iteration of their annual Incubate Camp in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture, with sixteen entrepreneurs from all over the country taking part in the two-day, overnight event. The first day saw participants drawing up business plans, and pitching them on the second day. The judges evaluated the presentations from the perspective of investors and decided on the overall rankings.

iiba, a company that works on child-rearing map apps, won first place. The representative, Nana Aizawa, expressed her ambition to “aim for a society that is easy to raise children in, and to build a new child-rearing infrastructure”.

AI-based cyber security startup Powder Keg Technologies came second, and LOKIAR, which develops logistics software, came third.

In Japanese startups men remain the vast majority, and improving diversity in organizations is an issue Incubate Fund has made one of their core aims. Of the 16 speakers at this event, 40% were women, and 2 were entrepreneurs with roots in foreign countries.

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