SusHi Tech Tokyo: A 60,000-Person Deal Room, Not a Conference
▼ Summary
– SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 is a large tech conference designed for practical deal-making, featuring 10,000 pre-arranged business meetings.
– Its official app functions as an AI-powered matchmaking engine to connect attendees and facilitate meetings before and during the event.
– The event includes a reverse pitch format where corporations and city governments present challenges for startups to solve.
– It hosts 750 startup exhibitors, with 400 being international, and includes dedicated pavilions for global connection.
– The conference offers a robust remote participation option where on-site staff facilitate real-time, face-to-face interactions for virtual attendees.
Forget the traditional tech conference model of passive panels and forgotten business cards. SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 is engineered as a high-volume deal-making engine, a purpose that becomes clear when examining its core infrastructure. The event expects 60,000 attendees, 750 startup exhibitors, and 151 sessions. Yet the most telling figure is the 10,000 facilitated business meetings arranged in advance through its proprietary platform. This pre-event matchmaking transforms the gathering from a spectacle into a strategic business forum.
The official event app functions as a digital matchmaking engine, not merely a schedule. Participants create detailed profiles outlining their objectives before arriving. An AI then recommends connections, opens direct messaging, and allows users to reserve dedicated meeting spaces at Tokyo Big Sight. On the floor, QR code exchanges replace paper cards, a simple innovation that underscores the event’s mission to eliminate friction between potential partners.
This transactional focus shapes even the startup pitch competition. From the event’s semifinalists, TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield program manager, Isabelle Johannessen, will select one company particularly suited for the North American market. That startup earns a direct advancement to the TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield 200, securing a coveted spot on a major global stage.
A defining feature of SusHi Tech is its reverse pitch format. Here, the dynamic flips: instead of startups pitching to corporations, large companies and city governments present their specific challenges to innovators. This year, entities like Moreton Bay and Rome will host these sessions, effectively issuing global RFPs to the startup community. Sixty-two corporate partners, including Sony, Google, Microsoft, and Mizuho, are hosting Open Innovation exhibits to actively scout for collaborators. Furthermore, twelve new industry clusters in fields like logistics, life sciences, and climate tech are exhibiting, each seeking genuine co-creation with startups.
The exhibitor list reflects a truly global scope. Of the 750 startups present, 400 are international. City partners from 25 regions are bringing cohorts with a direct mandate to link their startups with Japanese capital and partners. A new group of 45 growth-stage Japanese companies, backed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and dubbed “SusHi Tech Global Startups,” will also make their worldwide debut in a dedicated pavilion. For international observers, the event represents the most efficient gateway into the Japanese market ever assembled.
For those unable to travel, the event offers substantive remote participation. Beyond standard livestreams, a unique service provides on-site staff support for remote attendees. Representatives on the floor will carry a device displaying a participant’s face, enabling real-time, face-to-face interaction with exhibitors and other attendees. All ticket holders also have access to streamed sessions online, ensuring the core programming remains accessible globally.
SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 is scheduled for April 27–29 at Tokyo Big Sight, with dedicated business days on the 27th and 28th followed by a free Public Day on the 29th.
(Source: TechCrunch)