Roppongi Venture Capital
Roppongi Venture Capital runs "Edge," an incubation program for exceptionally talented middle school, high school, and university students.
We do not engage in financial investment activities. Our focus is on investing in the next generation of talent.
Mission
"Choices, for every talent."
We want them to see a bigger world.
Japan has remarkably talented young minds. But daily life at top schools is often consumed by cram schools and exam prep, and career paths tend to converge on "Tokyo University," "medical school," or "large corporations and government." These are, of course, excellent paths. Yet opportunities to encounter other roads — "launching something with your own hands, starting with entrepreneurship" or "taking on challenges on the world stage" — remain limited during school years. We want to create that first spark.
Some things can't be learned from textbooks.
Classroom learning has immense value. But actually building something, collaborating with a team, rallying people when nobody knows your name, and gradually earning trust — these lessons can only come from experience. Even a small product, built and shipped by your own hands, becomes a source of confidence if it works, and a valuable lesson if it doesn't. These experiences will serve you no matter what path you choose. No need to take big risks. Small challenges, in a safe environment. We design with parents' peace of mind in mind.
Around the world, young talent is already in motion.
Demis Hassabis, co-founder of Google DeepMind, became a chess master at 13, skipped two years of school exams, developed the hit game "Theme Park" at 17, graduated top of his class from Cambridge, founded an AI company, and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2024. He didn't stop at studying — he built, founded, and changed the world. Frontier AI companies like Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic are filled with people who demonstrated exceptional STEM talent early, including Math Olympiad medalists.
The US already has an ecosystem for young talent to take on challenges.
Universities, investors, and experienced entrepreneurs form a connected ecosystem where it's not unusual for top university students to launch startups while still enrolled. A culture of trying, failing, and trying again is deeply rooted. Japan has world-class scientific and engineering capabilities. If this country's brightest young people had the option to tackle the world's biggest challenges — that would be enormously valuable, both for them and for society.
That's why we're building this.
Starting with STEM, we provide selected participants with the chance to meet exceptional peers and build something together as a team. We're also considering overseas opportunities for top performers. We welcome not only Science Olympiad achievers but also those from humanities, arts, sports, and other backgrounds. We believe that when diverse talents intersect, more interesting things emerge.
Vision
"A society where talent chooses its own challenge."
What we want to see, after years of pursuing our Mission, is a society where talented people — freed from entrance exams, deviation scores, parental expectations, and the weight of others' eyes — move toward challenges they have chosen for themselves.
The scale or importance of that challenge is not for us to decide. Tackling global issues like climate change or poverty is one valid answer. So is solving a small problem in a local community. So is deepening one's own curiosity. What we set as our Vision is not "what the challenge is" but the act of "choosing it yourself."
Edge
Incubation Program — Cohort 1
A hands-on program where exceptional middle school, high school, and university students find a problem, build a solution, and ship it — all in two months. Not lectures, but real action.
Test your thinking
Gateway to the Edge program
Thinking Style Diagnosis
Are you the investigative type, the creative type, or the enterprising type? 10 questions to discover your thinking tendencies. You might be surprised by what you find.
Try it →Cognitive Challenge
Test your raw cognitive ability through pattern reasoning. Find the rules governing a 3×3 grid and identify the missing piece. The number of rules to track increases as you progress.
Try it →Members
JIWA
What's happening in the world, and why it matters.
Where money flows, where talent goes, and what technology is changing.
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