The qualifying round of the Global EdTech Startup Awards（GESA）and its awarding ceremony were held for the first time in Japan

EduLab, Inc. (Location: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Junichi Takamura; hereinafter referred to as “EduLab”), which develops business in the field of EdTech, hosted a qualifying round of the Global EdTech Startup Awards (GESA) on December 13 (Wed) and 14 (Thur) in 2017, and its awards ceremony on December 20. It was the first time the event has ever been held in Japan. The Global EdTech Startup Awards (GESA) recognizes remarkable EdTech startups and is the biggest EdTech competition in the world.

The Activity Summary

The Global EdTech Startup Awards (GESA) is the biggest EdTech Competition in the world where qualified startups from 10 countries gather. Over 650 startups from around the world participated in the competition this year and the 15 qualifying companies won the right to participate in the main competition in London, which will be held on January 23, 2018. 
As part of the competition, EduLab hosted the first qualifying round held in Japan and eight selected companies participated. The judges include Norihisa Wada, Executive Vice President and CMO of EduLab as well as one of the final judges of the main competition in London (see profile here), and the following two people.

Judges of the Japan qualifying round

The Global EdTech Startup Awards (GESA) official website

https://www.globaledtechawards.org

The winner

As a result of the strict screening by the three judges, Arcterus Co., Ltd. was chosen to be the most remarkable EdTech startup in Japan’s qualifying round. The company was given the right to participate in the main competition in London and received an all-expenses-paid trip between Tokyo and London as a prize from EduLab.

(From left: Judge Nishiuchi, Judge Wada from EduLab, and Mr. Arai, the president of Arcterus Co., Ltd.)

Arcterus Co., Ltd.

Arcterus Co., Ltd. provides a study notebook sharing app called “Clear”, which has over 1.6 million users all over the world. They strive to provide a service valuable to all the people, including junior high and high school students, who make use of a notebook to study.

Value propositions

• In the current environment with image and letter recognition technologies advancing more each year, they have been able to compile and organize a vast amount of data from notebooks on various subjects.
• Their services depend less on language or culture and therefore are possibly better adapted for scaling up in this globalized world.
• Their services enable users to enjoy the benefits of technology innovation on a large scale while maintaining the familiarity provided by the services.
• The growth in the number of users, the expansion into the global market, their wide range of business development, and their high-quality app.

The companies in 2nd and 3rd place

The following companies were chosen as 2nd and 3rd place after Arcterus Co., Ltd.

2nd place: Hanamaru Lab, Inc.

Hanamaru Lab Inc. provides “Think! Think!”, an app to build thinking abilities. The app has over 8,000 problems in 40 categories that develop abstract thinking ability. Specializing in “developing children’s ability to think while having fun”, it has over 300 thousand users in 100 countries.

3rd place: Digika Co., Ltd.

Digit Co., Ltd. provides “SoroTouch”, a new mental arithmetic learning method, which applies an abacus-like mechanism on the iPad. It promotes continued learning with the help of patented technologies and data helping learners acquire skills efficiently in a short period of time to “mentally calculate visually” (the abacus method of mental arithmetic), which will be a lifetime asset for them.

EduLab will continue to discover, support, collaborate with, and invest in prospective EdTech startups as well as contribute to global education and the development of the EdTech market.

About EduLab Group

EduLab, Inc. realizes educational solutions for the next generation based on the latest learning science, which includes building new businesses and investment in the field of Edtech, providing IT solutions and platforms for the education industry, and supporting next generation education and school management systems. We have offices in Tokyo, Seattle, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Bangalore, and Pune.
More information can be found at https://www.edulab-inc.com/en/