On 6 August, Phoenixi, with support from the Umekita Future Innovation Organization (U-FINO) and Tobias Mathiasen of the Swedish investment firm Katalysen Ventures, hosted “Kansai-Europe Night #4: Cross-Community Meetup in Kyoto” at its residential incubation facility, toberu, in Kyoto. The event brought together over 100 researchers, creators, entrepreneurs, investors, and government officials from 30 countries.
- Opening remarks | Co-moderators: Yutaka Iijima (Phoenixi) | Tobias Mathiasen (Katalysen Ventures)
- Opening remarks: Haruka Takenaka (U-FINO)
- Networking
- Invited speakers’ 3-min pitches
- Surprise session: “You Pick the Speaker!” | 1-min talks by those nominated
- Networking
🙌 Special thanks to: Masahiro Fukumori, Haruka Takenaka (U-FINO) | Tobias Mathiasen | Takayuki Otani (Miyako Capital) | Hirotaka Saso (Horiba) | Phoenixi Fellows and staff: Toshiyuki Yamada, Kaori Tada, SuKha, Agnes Pandi, Brian Roy Tan, PhD, Yvonne Hung, Ian Knives, Kazuki Taoka, Soraya Umewaka, Hiroki Yoshida, Kazuya Goto, Hiroko Nakajima, IO
📸 Photography and videography: Yoshitaka Orita
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About Kansai-Europe Night
Kansai-Europe Night (Europe Night) is a networking event originally started by U-FINO and Tobias Mathiasen with the vision of fostering collaboration across Kansai, national borders, and continents to build a better society. Since its launch in April 2026, the event has been held three times (#1 | #2 | #3) in Umeda, Osaka. This time, following a proposal from U-FINO, Phoenixi will serve as the organizing institution and bring Europe Night to Kyoto for the first time.
About Phoenixi Co Ltd
Phoenixi operates a residential incubation program and a fund for program graduates to foster both business ideas that address social challenges and the entrepreneurial talent behind them. Program participants (Phoenixi Fellows) — including corporate employees, university faculty, students, and entrepreneurs — live for four months at the company’s facility “toberu”, where they engage in daily cross-sector interactions, startup-focused skill training, and personalized mentoring and coaching. Through this process, they develop new businesses that generate both profit and social impact. Founded in 2018 in Kyoto by CEO Yukiko Hashitera, Dr Sachiko Kuno, and Izumi Kobayashi, Phoenixi is built around the concepts of “creating corporate-born ventures” and “sharing unusual time and space.” Since its inception in 2019 and run by COO Yutaka Iijima, the company has supported a total of 13 cohorts and 96 Fellows (44 sponsored Fellows and 52 independent Fellows), with 31% women and 21% international participants.
