JStories ー On May 8, 2025, seven startups competed in the grand finals of "SusHi Tech Challenge 2025," the pitch competition held during the annual startup conference SusHi Tech Tokyo 2025 hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Japanese startup 3D Architech, with its innovative hydrogen production technology using data center waste heat, claimed the 10 million yen grand prize.
SusHi Tech is an acronym for "Sustainable High City Tech," representing the Japanese capital's commitment to achieving sustainable urban development through advanced technology. The pitch event attracted startups worldwide that aligned with this theme.
SusHi Tech Challenge 2025 drew 657 startups from 46 countries and regions worldwide, competing for a prize of 10 million yen (about $69,500) by presenting cutting-edge technological solutions to global challenges. This article highlights the seven finalists.
Each entry was judged based on its technical excellence, practicality, scalability, social impact, and business model sustainability. The panel of judges for the finals consisted of:
- Ashley Grosh: Vice president of Breakthrough Energy, the climate tech investment and support organization founded by Bill Gates
- Joanna Drake: Co-founder and managing partner of Magnify Ventures, specializing in $6 trillion care economy
- Koichiro Nakamura: Co-founder and managing director of Sozo Ventures, with investment experience in companies like Zoom and Palantir
- Miwa Seki: General partner of MPower Partners, one of Japan's leading women-led VC firms
- Murat Aktihanoglu: Co-founder and managing partner of Remarkable Ventures, known for massive investments in climate tech startups
Solutions from the seven finalists
Grand Prize Winner: 3D Architech (Japan) — Revolutionizing hydrogen production through data center waste heat
Data centers are projected to consume up to 12% of total electricity in major markets like the United States by 2030, with global water consumption potentially doubling to over 1.2 trillion liters annually, as cooling systems account for a significant portion of both energy and water usage. This represents a serious challenge. Simultaneously, achieving global carbon neutrality requires an estimated 200 million tons of hydrogen by 2030, but high production costs remain a major barrier to widespread adoption.
3D Architech has developed a unique system that harnesses waste heat from data centers to produce hydrogen. Using proprietary gel materials, the company effectively utilizes waste heat energy that was previously discarded, enabling significant reductions in hydrogen production costs. Data center operators can reduce cooling costs while simultaneously generating added value through hydrogen production.
3D Architech maintains bases in Boston, USA, and Sendai, Japan, with international expansion in view. As its technology simultaneously achieves dramatic energy efficiency improvements and the realization of a sustainable hydrogen society, it has attracted significant attention from investors and industry players, drawing strong interest from both the data center and energy industries. The company is currently in the proof-of-concept stage with multiple enterprises and aims for commercial implementation in 2026.
Inspekly (Singapore) — AR-Powered facility management solutions
Traditional facility management relies heavily on paper-based checklists and manual training processes, leading to inefficiencies, human errors, and lengthy onboarding periods for new employees.
To address these challenges, Inspekly has developed facility management tools that leverage augmented reality (AR) technology. The company's system creates digital twins of buildings and places virtual checklists to streamline employee training and maintenance operations.
A unique feature of Inspekly's technology is its operation on smartphones and smart glasses without needing sensors. By digitizing paper-based checklists and providing visual guidance through AR, the system improves work efficiency. The AI-powered verification functionality that automates quality assurance has also been highly evaluated.
With implementation records across multiple industries like construction, manufacturing, and real estate management, Inspekly has contributed to facility management and training efficiency. The company has achieved rapid system construction and operation startup, especially in large-scale facility use, leading to early ROI.
General Prognostics (USA) — AI-Powered prevention of heart failure patient readmissions
With 64 million heart failure patients worldwide, heart failure ranks as the leading cause of hospitalization for those over 65, with 25% of patients readmitted within 30 days of discharge. Each hospitalization costs $15,000-20,000, and the incidence rate is predicted to increase by 50% by 2030. Additionally, women generally have worse prognosis, and hospitalization increases patients' physical and mental burden.
With 64 million heart failure patients worldwide, the condition poses a significant global health challenge. In the United States specifically, heart failure ranks as the leading cause of hospitalization for those over 65, with 25% of patients readmitted within 30 days of discharge. Each hospitalization costs $15,000-20,000, and the incidence rate is predicted to increase by 50% by 2030.
Additionally, women generally have a worse prognosis, and hospitalization increases patients' physical and mental burden.To address these critical healthcare challenges and reduce costly readmissions, General Prognostics has developed an AI-powered solution that integrates three key technologies.
General Prognostics aims to prevent heart failure readmissions through early detection and intervention. The company's innovation lies in the integration of three technologies designed to monitor patients remotely and enable timely medical responses.
First, an algorithm that detects and predicts increases in NT-proBNP biomarkers, achieving 76% sensitivity and 99.5% specificity. This performance equals or exceeds that of implantable devices requiring surgical procedures.
Second, clinical software that helps physicians prescribe appropriate drug therapy, achieving 91% agreement with physician judgment and reducing hospitalizations by 79%. Third, the company is developing at-home blood potassium level measurement technology. Potassium is a crucial indicator in heart failure patient management, traditionally requiring frequent hospital blood tests. General Prognostics is developing devices that enable patients to conveniently measure potassium levels at home to address this challenge.
AVAtronics (Switzerland) — Next-Generation noise cancellation technology
Traditional noise-canceling technology falls short in many real-world environments. Although humans can hear sounds ranging from 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz (20 Hz to 20 kHz), conventional active noise cancellation only works up to 1.5 kHz. This limitation means it can handle low-frequency sounds like aircraft engines around 1 kHz, but struggles with the mid-frequency range (4 to 5 kHz) where much of human speech and urban noise occurs.
AVAtronics solved this challenge when founder and CEO Jeyran Hezaveh, with 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, applied high-frequency signal processing knowledge to the acoustic field. The company's technology achieved a 10-fold performance improvement, allowing users to selectively control sounds they want to hear and sounds they want to eliminate.
The company has achieved results across diverse fields, including ear protection at mining sites and projects for aircraft and high-speed rail seat manufacturers. With licensing agreements with OEM/ODM operators already signed, Avatronics’ technology is scheduled for market launch within the year. Avatronics raised 50,000 Swiss francs (approximately $55,000 or 7.9 million yen) from VentureKick in 2019 and closed its first round with 1.6 million Swiss francs (approximately $1.76 million) in funding.
Secai Marche (Malaysia) — Southeast Asian farm-direct B2B platform
In Southeast Asia, supply chains for agricultural products face significant inefficiencies that impact both farmers and consumers. Studies show that up to 40% of fresh produce is lost between farm and consumer due to poor logistics. Challenges include difficulty procuring fresh produce, frequent price fluctuations, and unstable product quality. Small-scale farmers have limited access to technology, markets, and resources, while restaurants suffer from quality issues, price instability, and limited supplier options.
Additionally, many agricultural products are discarded due to inadequate cold chain infrastructure — the network of refrigerated storage and transportation systems needed to maintain fresh produce quality from farm to table. Without proper temperature-controlled logistics, perishable goods spoil quickly, leading to significant food waste and economic losses.
Similar challenges have been addressed by other Southeast Asian agtech startups, including Filipino companies working to solve agricultural supply chain issues, highlighting the region-wide need for innovative solutions.
To solve these problems, Secai Marche has built a B2B platform directly connecting farmers and restaurants. The company has developed AI-powered demand forecasting, warehouse management systems specialized for fresh food, and proprietary cold chain logistics networks, delivering over 20 tons of fresh produce from farms to urban areas within 24 hours daily.
The company's uniqueness lies in its approach: rather than operating as a simple marketplace (intermediary), Secai Marche directly purchases produce from farmers, holds it as company inventory, and sells it to customers with a 30% profit margin. This enables complete control of quality and service while building trust relationships with purchasers.
Currently handling over 400 farmers and 4,000 products from Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and other regions, the company supplies over 1,800 hotels and restaurants in Malaysia. Occupying over 90% of the high-end restaurant market, Secai Marche has maintained 200% annual revenue growth since its 2019 founding. Last year, the company expanded into the Singapore market and diversified its business from vegetables and fruits to seafood, processed foods, and kitchen equipment.
Ryp Labs (USA) — Reducing food loss with natural compounds
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that about 4.4 billion tons of greenhouse gases are released through food waste every year, with food waste accounting for around 6% of total global emissions. To address this massive environmental challenge, Ryp Labs has developed the food preservation solution "StixFRESH" by leveraging natural volatile compounds known as secondary metabolites—including antimicrobial compounds similar to those found in lavender—that plants have used for self-defense over millions of years.
StixFRESH formulates natural components extracted from plants to food-safe standards, provided as stickers applied directly to fruit or small sachets packaged with food. The technology works in the vapor phase, meaning the stickers don't need direct contact with the produce—instead, they release volatile compounds that create a protective "cloak" around the fruit, mimicking how plants naturally emit secondary metabolites to defend themselves against environmental threats.
This vapor-based protection inhibits post-harvest diseases and slows down the over-ripening process while allowing fruit to reach optimal quality naturally. In demonstration experiments with mangoes, while untreated mangoes began spoiling on day 14, mangoes with stickers showed dramatically improved resistance to spoilage, doubling their preservation period.
Demonstrations with Walmart extended strawberry preservation by 2-4 days, doubled grape preservation periods, and extended citrus preservation by approximately 20 days. The company closed a Series A round of $8.1 million in 2023 and won the Best Global Startup Award at the UN Climate Conference "COP27" in 2022, receiving a $100,000 prize.
Emulsion Flow Technologies (Japan) — Circular Solutions Born from Nuclear Technology
IIn modern society, smartphone charging, electric vehicle adoption, and clean water access have become commonplace, but behind these modern-day conveniences lies a serious problem: environmental pollution from battery waste and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Lithium-ion batteries contain rare metals, including lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which can be harmful to the environment.
Emulsion Flow Technologies (EFT), a spinoff from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, addresses these problems by establishing technology that creates water-oil emulsions through mechanical design and special solvent recipes, extracting specific materials from liquids with high purity and efficiency.
EFT's technology can address diverse challenges on a single platform, from extracting critical minerals from lithium-ion batteries to recovering rare earth elements from industrial wastewater and removing PFAS. Through a "capture and reuse" approach, the company can decompose and reuse PFAS, closing manufacturing plant circulation loops.
Compared to conventional battery recycling plants, EFT achieves significant improvements including cost reduction, size reduction, low carbon emissions, and low energy and water input through its innovative emulsion flow technology. The company describes their technology as enabling high-purity, low-cost, low-environmental impact, and compact recycling solutions.
The battery recycling market is expected to grow significantly over the next 10-20 years due to EV adoption. After raising 1.35 billion yen (approximately $9.3 million) in March 2024 from investors including Honda Motor, the company opened research facilities and headquarters, aiming for growth through diverse models including plant construction, technology licensing, and offtake agreements.
Global expansion challenges and opportunities
Many finalists have already begun international expansion or have clear plans for it. These include General Prognostics' expansion across America, India, and Japan; Avatronics' bases in Switzerland and Denmark; Secai Marche's Southeast Asia and Japan expansion; and Ryp Labs' demonstration experiments worldwide.
Despite their technological achievements, these startups face a common challenge: business expansion across nations brings numerous barriers that persist beyond innovation. Conference participants highlighted how regulatory differences, market characteristic variations, cultural acceptance differences, and building relationships with local partners present challenges that cannot be solved through technological superiority alone. For example, in the sustainable technology field, complying with each country's environmental regulations and industrial policies holds the key to success.
Conversely, since sustainability challenges are inherently global, successful cases in one country have high potential to become powerful drivers for expansion to other countries. Climate change, food security, and energy security are common concerns transcending national borders, with global demand for effective solutions.
Competitive advantages and challenges of Japanese companies
There were two Japanese companies among the finalists: 3D Architech and EFT. Both possess advantages based on advanced technological development capabilities, yet each approaches global markets with different strategies, which is noteworthy.
3D Architech has built an international structure based on research at the California Institute of Technology, with bases in Boston and Sendai. Meanwhile, EFT, as a spinoff from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, adopts an approach of commercializing Japan's advanced technology for civilian use.
Analyzing these companies' trajectories reveals that Japanese companies' technological development capabilities and quality management abilities are highly valued in global markets. Particularly in fields where Japan traditionally holds strengths — precision manufacturing technology, materials science, and chemical engineering — these advantages translate into startup competitiveness.
However, room for improvement remains in market development and business scaling. Compared to overseas companies, Japanese companies tend to take more cautious approaches, which may hinder rapid market expansion. Success in global markets requires aggressive marketing and strategic partnership building in addition to technological superiority.
New trends in sustainable technology investment
This contest revealed changes in sustainable technology investment trends. While conventional clean tech investment concentrated on large-scale infrastructure like solar and wind power, current focus has shifted toward specialized technologies solving individual industrial challenges.
Judging panel comments reveal an emphasis on clear business models and profitability beyond simple environmental contribution. This reflects lessons learned from the first-generation cleantech boom's overreliance on government subsidy-dependent business models, where many companies failed to adapt to market changes.
Current sustainable technology investment sees external factors — ESG investment expansion, carbon pricing introduction, and regulatory environment changes — combining with pure technological merits to support investment decisions. This creates increasingly favorable investment environments for sustainable technology companies while demanding higher levels of business execution capability.
JStories, Japan's solutions-focused multilingual news service, is an official media partner for SusHi Tech Tokyo 2025, Asia's largest startup conference. This collaboration aims to amplify the event's mission of fostering open innovation and addressing global urban challenges through cutting-edge technology and diverse ideas.
Written by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by Desiderio Luna
Top photo: Masaru Ikeda
For inquiries regarding this article, please contact jstories@pacificbridge.jp
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