Human resources provider DIP’s Gakucelerator has chosen four student-run startups for its latest batch and will provide up to $940,000 between them.
Japan-based recruitment firm DIP’s student-focused accelerator scheme, Gakucelerator, has held a demo day for its fourth edition and opened the application period for a new group.
Formed in April 2019, the three-month Gakucelerator programme supports startups founded by students from primary to graduate level. Participants can access resources in areas such as mentoring, data, public relations, human resources and fundraising.
DIP will invest up to ¥100m ($940,000) in total in participants after the demo day, providing millions to tens of millions of yen per company through the initiative, which has already supported more than 100 student entrepreneurs.
The latest cohort included Shōta Kamiya, the operator of YouTube channel Wave; Kazuma Tamura, the owner of job search social networking service Wors; and Kyōta Yamauchi, whose startup Dropy organises meet-up activities among friends.
Haruka Onozuka, Shun’ya Terui and Kenji Makino won the top prize, sponsored by non-profit organisation MIT Venture Forum, through their Adplus project, which allows users to earn money with an iPad.
DIP also operates an artificial intelligence technology-oriented incubator and accelerator scheme, AI.Accelerator, which recently announced its 13th batch.
