IVS2026 Rallies Under "Japan is Back": Toshiaki Shimakawa on the Aims of Holding It in Kyoto and the New "IVS CORE"

Because IVS is held in Kyoto every year, and because Shimakawa's family home is in the Kansai region and the Kansai dialect sometimes slips out, people often assume Shimakawa is from Kyoto. In fact, both Shimakawa's home and company are in Tokyo.

According to Shimakawa, IVS began in 2007 as a conference for startup founders and investors. At the time, there was no place for executives to come together and share know-how on things like fundraising. It was launched out of the belief that such a place was needed. At first, it was like a retreat that brought together about 50 executives. IT executives from the Kanto region, mainly Tokyo, would travel to regional areas such as Miyazaki or Sapporo and hold discussions from morning to night. Shimakawa explains that this is where IVS originated. It continued to be held twice a year and became well known among executives in the startup world.

Shimakawa is the third head and formally took over in 2020. Until then, IVS was invitation-only, an event many wanted to attend but couldn't. On the other hand, being invitation-only meant the lineup of attendees and speakers had become fixed, and the atmosphere had come to resemble a class reunion. So the previous head entrusted Shimakawa with making IVS an event that a new generation of entrepreneurs would want to attend. Partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the format went through a period of trial and error. From 2023, it began to be held in Kyoto on a scale of more than 10,000 people, and with that the event opened up dramatically. It became possible for people who haven't yet started a company, or who want to get involved with startups in the future, to participate.

Okui cited well-known business events such as G1 and asked what makes IVS different. The first thing Shimakawa pointed to was the makeup of the attendees. IVS is the conference that brings together the most investors and entrepreneurs in Japan, and its biggest feature is that fundraising deals get decided on the spot. On top of that, new-business staff from established companies, CVCs and government officials also take part.

As for why it is held outside Tokyo, Shimakawa pointed to the previous year's figures. Sixty to seventy percent of attendees come from the Tokyo metropolitan area. Startup executives and investors are busy, and if it were held in Tokyo, they would head back to the office the moment their session ended. The idea is to gather them somewhere they physically can't easily leave, where they debate in sessions during the day and, at night, talk about management, perhaps over drinks. This kind of close networking and relationship-building is the core concept, according to Shimakawa.

Shimakawa added one more point: IVS is built on a "platform-like philosophy." At many conferences, attendees passively listen to sessions to learn, mingle a bit afterward and then go home. IVS provides many mechanisms that let attendees create content themselves, the prime example being side events. The main venue is Miyako Messe, but attendees independently rent venues around Kyoto City to host sessions and networking events. There are about 500 of them, with around 100 events taking place across the city of Kyoto every night. Rather than being run by a single company, it takes the form of an executive committee in partnership with Kyoto Prefecture and Kyoto City. The entire city of Kyoto becomes something like a venue, and attendees network while moving between venues that fit their goals. Shimakawa says this is IVS's distinctive feature and the way to enjoy it.

Asked about the cumulative amount of funding decided at IVS so far, Shimakawa replied that it hasn't been strictly tallied. There have been many cases where people hit it off at the venue or at drinks afterward and an acquisition or funding round was decided, and Shimakawa frequently hears of such cases from people nearby. However, there is no rule requiring that deals be reported once they're made. When Okui prompted, "Over 100 billion yen?", Shimakawa replied, "I think it's gone past that." This is purely Shimakawa's own sense of it.

Regarding this year's theme, "Japan is Back," Shimakawa explained that it was originally former Prime Minister Abe's phrase, and that Prime Minister Takaichi has inherited that intent. Behind the choice of theme is the recognition that Japanese startups are in a difficult position.

Shimakawa often talks with overseas investors and feels that their expectations of, and priority on, the Japanese market have fallen considerably compared with a little while ago. Some American investors in particular say they only want to invest in American startups. In AI, companies are appearing one after another whose market value and revenue shoot up in about three months. Given that situation, the view is: why should they invest in Japanese startups, whose market is small and whose growth is slow? Shimakawa frankly acknowledged that, looking at the current state of AI, it's understandable that people think that way.

At the same time, Shimakawa said the current situation, in which American AI startups are overwhelmingly strong, is also unusual, and stressed the need to once again energize Japanese startups and industry. As organizers, rather than boosting global startups broadly, they want Japanese companies and startups to win. The Takaichi administration has designated 17 industrial sectors to be boosted, and many of them are areas where startups can get involved. Shimakawa says the theme was set in line with this larger movement of the public and private sectors working together to energize the economy.

Okui said the theme, written large in red on the official website, made them "feel pressure, in a good way." Okui then pointed out that until three years ago, no-code and SaaS were in the spotlight, but AI overturned that in an instant. Okui also noted that in the US, the combined valuation of just three companies, SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic, reaches 460 trillion yen, two orders of magnitude different from Japan. Shimakawa agreed that this is a moment that calls for real determination.

So where does the path to winning lie for Japanese startups? Prefacing it as something often said, Shimakawa sees businesses that leverage Japanese research seeds and businesses that leverage Japanese IP, such as entertainment, as strong candidates from the standpoint of earning foreign currency.

Shimakawa points out that excellent research is being done in Japan even at regional national universities, but commercializing it is difficult. In the US, there are large numbers of management professionals around universities that have research seeds. In Japan, management talent is almost entirely concentrated in Tokyo. In the US, they're in San Francisco and New York alike, with nationally competitive talent in every region. This is a major difference, according to Shimakawa.

Kyoto is home to many universities, starting with Kyoto University. Because IVS brings executives from the Tokyo area to Kyoto all at once, Shimakawa believes it would be interesting if matches between research and management talent happened there, and that it could become a new path to winning for Japan. Shimakawa originally researched biology at RIKEN in Osaka. Not the type to speak in front of people, Shimakawa now runs Japan's largest conference.

This year, in addition to main venues such as Miyako Messe, "IVS CORE" will be held at Hotel Okura Kyoto. To explain its purpose, Shimakawa went back to the decision to scale up to 10,000 people in the first place.

In the invitation-only era, the event had fewer than 1,000 people, but Shimakawa felt that wouldn't do. One trigger was the government's "Five-Year Plan for Startup Development," which set out a policy of increasing both the number of entrepreneurs and the number of unicorns tenfold. Shimakawa took this as a policy calling for both widening the "breadth" of the base and achieving "height." To widen the breadth, it's necessary to bring in people who are about to start companies and get them into the mainstream by connecting them with the right information, people and investors. That is the background to opening up and expanding the event.

As a result, Shimakawa feels IVS's recognition has risen considerably. Shimakawa also shared an anecdote about working in a café in Kyoto when a staff member asked, "Are you Mr. Shimakawa?", which made Shimakawa think, "I can't get up to anything bad." More than 1,000 university students also attend. Shimakawa assesses that over three years at the 10,000-person scale, they have to some extent succeeded in increasing the number of people involved, drawing them in and creating breadth.

On the other hand, Shimakawa also feels that achieving height is difficult in an open format of 10,000 people. Even accomplished executives can't tell whom to talk to among 10,000 people. The excitement on the outside is fine, but Shimakawa felt there needed to be a place where decision-makers who should meet each other could talk calmly, and so planned IVS CORE. The organizers will carefully select and invite key people who move Japan's business world, making it a place where they can sit down and talk properly.

CORE is entirely invitation-only. Shimakawa has personally gone through a list of more than 30,000 past IVS attendees and is sending out invitations. Invitees are limited to presidents, directors and executive officers of listed companies; founders or CXO-level people at startups; and GP-level people at investment firms. Because only decision-makers gather there, Shimakawa explains, attending can move business forward all at once.

The ticket pricing reflects a policy repeated within the company: "Entrepreneurs are the stars of IVS." General tickets for CORE cost about 200,000 yen per person, but startups can attend for around 70,000 yen. Shimakawa encouraged startup executives to take part. However, the organizers are leaning toward prohibiting aggressive sales pitching.

Another highlight is the pitch contest "IVS LAUNCHPAD." It is held every time as IVS's main content, with about 10 to 15 companies giving six-minute pitches each time. The format is demo-centered, and Shimakawa says it's easy to understand because viewers can experience the service vicariously. All past pitches are available on YouTube. This year saw the largest number of applications ever, including from overseas. As of the recording, the presenting companies hadn't been announced, but the lineup will be diverse. Shimakawa expects that, five or seven years from now, startups from here will go on to major IPOs or M&A.

Past presenters include WealthNavi, freee, and the VTuber agency COVER. All of them presented five to seven years ago, when they had about five employees, and later became unicorns or achieved major listings. The cumulative funding raised by alumni exceeds 300 billion yen. This is a figure the organizers track through press releases and communications with the companies. Just under 15% of presenting companies have exited via IPO or M&A. The startup world is one of many births and many deaths, and the sense is that only one in 1,000 or one in 10,000 companies reaches an IPO. Against that backdrop, Shimakawa said, it's a very high rate.

Okui remarked that typical pitch events often end once the pitch is done, but LAUNCHPAD seems like a platform that leads all the way to M&A and exits. Shimakawa compared it to the comedy competition M-1, explaining that it's the kind of stage people talk about with lines like "they won LAUNCHPAD" or "they placed at LAUNCHPAD." Since nearly all the major VCs watch live at the venue, presenting companies draw attention all at once, and investment discussions actually move forward.

Many presenting companies say it's useful not just for fundraising but also for sales and hiring. There have been cases where more candidates applied after watching the pitch video, and where a CEO sent the six-minute video before an interview and got the response, "I understood it well, please let me work here." Shimakawa says the video archive is being put to good use. When Okui took a liking to the expression "the M-1 of startups," Shimakawa agreed that it's easy to understand. Recently, the design of posters and the like has also been moving in a poppier direction.

A new mechanism this year is referral invitations. Until now, outreach from the organizers and announcements on social media were the main ways of attracting attendees. This time, the company properly built its own ticketing system in-house and discussed how to attract interesting attendees, which led to this mechanism.

The idea started from the awkwardness of standing buffet parties. When Okui confessed to being a "closet introvert," Shimakawa said the same. Shimakawa said they think about 70% of executives are introverts, and believes hardly anyone is good at standing buffet parties. It's even more nerve-racking when the room is full of unfamiliar, important-seeming executives. Conversely, if you know about 20% of the people there, a friend will introduce you, saying, "I think you two will get along, go talk," and new encounters happen smoothly. So Shimakawa thought it was important to make visible whether your friends are attending.

The mechanism is similar to the invitation features of Clubhouse and similar services that were once popular. Once you get a ticket, you can invite up to two people for free, and as invited friends invite their own friends, participation spreads in a chain. That much is a common feature, but IVS has also recently released a feature that visualizes who invited whom, like a family tree. You can see everyone your invited friends went on to invite. You can ask, "If you're connected to this person, introduce me on the day," or ask someone who still has invitation slots left to invite another friend.

Shimakawa also touched on the reverse use. Just as you can see that someone has invited good people, you can also see that they've invited people with bad reputations, so it can help you judge whom to stay away from. With 10,000 people, there are all kinds of people. It's no longer invitation-only, so anyone is free to attend, but through the referral mechanism, people in the know can see such things. Shimakawa described this as "an expert's way of using it."

For first-time IVS attendees, Shimakawa introduced the networking programs at the venue. Next to the main sessions is a meetup area. For example, if there's a session on quantum computing, investors interested in the topic and people considering starting a company or changing jobs will be listening. After the session, they can move to the adjacent area and mingle, including with the speakers. This is meant to ensure attendees don't just listen to sessions and leave, but form lateral connections with others who share the same interests.

The "Startup Market" is a program where more than 100 startups set up booths every day, Comiket-style. The exhibitors change daily, with around 390 companies over the three days. Since the top 300 Japanese startups by market value sit alongside startups recommended by VCs, Shimakawa explains that going around and talking to them will show you the current trends.

There's also a participatory program, "IVS AMA (Ask Me Anything)." Continuing from the previous year, attendees place a sign on a table saying, "I can talk about this topic, gather here if you'd like to talk," and people interested in the same theme, such as AI or defense, gather and casual conversations spring up. At a scale of 10,000 people, it's easy to not know whom to talk to or how. So the organizers provide large, medium and small networking spaces divided finely by theme. Shimakawa urged people to actually jump in rather than watch from the sidelines. Because IVS is designed so that you get the most benefit when you're the one taking the initiative, Shimakawa wants attendees to make things happen rather than stay passive.

Of the people invited through referral invitations, the first 3,000 can attend for free. The organizers had initially considered making it paid with a discount. However, having to pay after being invited is awkward for the person who did the inviting, too. So, as a campaign, they made it free for up to 3,000 people.

When Okui described the overall design as thoughtful, Shimakawa talked about the organizers' philosophy. If you try to build a conference rationally, they all end up the same. Internally, they say, "Let's value 10% madness," because without playfulness and passion, it would become just another rational, look-alike conference. That's why they value those aspects.

Finally, Shimakawa announced that this year's IVS will be held from July 1 to 3 in Kyoto at Miyako Messe, ROHM Theatre Kyoto and Hotel Okura Kyoto. With a scale of more than 10,000 people, major investors and entrepreneurs from Japan and abroad will gather at once. It's a networking-focused event where attending lets you learn the latest startup trends and find people you'll do business with in the future. Shimakawa said they want people who want to take on new challenges to come with the mindset of making friends rather than business partners. That, Shimakawa said, is the way to make good use of IVS.