Meet LAUNCHPAD Entertainment’s Winners

A hearty congratulations to all of the winners!

LAUNCHPAD Entertainment happened last Friday and it certainly was a thrilling evening. In case you missed it, you can catch the recorded stream on YouTube (in Japanese). For our 29th LAUNCHPAD, the theme was Entertainment, which we defined as “services that excite and entertain people,” and all of the most exciting Japanese startups in the space were on our stage. (Check out the full list of finalists here.)

Perhaps the greatest surprise of the evening was that two teams knocked it out of the park with scores that tied for first place. One was the e-commerce app that’s innovating the way you shop online, KAUCHE, Inc., and the other was SNS gifting service, Engate, that gives fans a direct connection to their favorite athletes.

We were highly impressed by all of the creative presentations by all the entertainment startup founders, and wish a great big congratulations to all of the winners. We’re proud to announce the full list of winners below.

The next LAUNCHPAD will be on September 17, 2021 at Nasu. We hope to see you there!

First Place (Tie): KAUCHE, Inc., 門奈 剣平（Kempei Monna）

KAUCHE, the e-commerce app that doesn’t let you shop alone.

First Place (Tie): Engate, Inc., 城戸 幸一郎（Koichiro Kido）

Gifting SNS service Engate allows fans and athletes to connect directly.

Third Place: VARK, Inc., 加藤 卓也（Kato Takuya）

Enjoy live events in the virtual space with virtual entertainment SNS, VARK.

Fourth Place: TORIHADA, Inc., 大社 武（Takeru Okoso）

Fanme is a fan community service for creators to create and monetize their creations.

Fifth Place: JUNGLE X CORP., 直江 文忠（Panja Naoe）

JUNGLE Bet is the first online sports betting company in Japan.