Announcement of 14th "1stRound" Support Recipients and Nara Medical University's Participation

The University of Tokyo Collaborative Platform Development Co., Ltd. (東大IPC) has announced the selection of the 14th cohort for its "1stRound" academic startup growth support program. Additionally, Nara Medical University has newly joined the program. "1stRound" is the largest academic deep tech seed startup support program in Japan, aiming to connect technology seeds from universities and research institutions to social implementation through specialized business growth support. Over 9 years, "1stRound" has supported 110 teams, with a funding success rate of approximately 90% and a large grant adoption rate exceeding 50%. The program also fosters collaborations with corporate partners, with over half of the teams in each round achieving corporate partnerships. Global expansion support is provided, with some selected companies participating in overseas academic programs like StartX and Berkeley SkyDeck, and collaborations with international research institutions and accelerators such as Cyber Valley, University of Helsinki, and MassChallenge. Recently, the program has seen an increase in selected startups based in regional universities (approximately half of the recent three rounds are outside Tokyo) and overseas teams, strengthening connections with global research and entrepreneurial talent. The 15th call for applications for "1stRound" opened on April 13, 2026, and closes on May 25, 2026. In the 14th selection committee held in December 2025, eight teams were selected, including MicroCavitics, which is developing a new myocardial infarction treatment using ultrasound and microbubbles, and Hanasaka Bio. from Shizuoka University.