FI Japan/ Korea/ Taiwan Joint Global 2025 Fall Cohort Graduation (Online Event)
Join us as we celebrate the graduation of founders from the Founder Institute Japan, Korea, and Taiwan Joint Global Fall 2025 Cohort, a group of ambitious entrepreneurs building across borders, industries, and ecosystems.
This graduation marks the culmination of months of rigorous validation, iteration, and founder-first execution. You’ll hear from graduating founders as they share their journeys, insights, and next steps, alongside perspectives from experienced ecosystem leaders and investors shaping the future of startups in Asia and beyond.
Key highlights from this cohort include:
📌 𝟏𝟑 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝟑𝟐 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝟏𝟐 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬.
📌 𝟔𝟎+ 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝, 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟐𝟒 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲.
📌 𝟐𝟐 𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 (𝟏𝟑 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞 + 𝟗 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩-𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬).
📌 𝟒𝟎+ 𝐨𝐧𝐞-𝐭𝐨-𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝟏𝟑+ 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫.
📌 𝟑𝟎+ 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝟏𝟎𝟎+ 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐦.
You can check our Founder’s Testimonial from previous cohorts here- https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPkRPOjzO2Swodw0a8TUIfOcDSK6h7MhM&si=1m2MsiiXvOG0950A
Agenda
18:00 – Welcome
18:15 – Keynote Speaker by Jeffrey Paine
18:45 – Graduate Startups Pitching + Insights
19:50 – Mentors' Insights
20:00 – Networking
21:00 – Close
Graduation Keynote Speech Speaker:
Jeffrey Paine – Founding Partner, Golden Gate Ventures
Jeffrey Paine is the Founding Managing Partner of Golden Gate Ventures, a leading Southeast Asian VC firm with $250M+ AUM that has backed 90+ startups, including 9 unicorns. He’s also a long-time ecosystem builder and early-stage investor known for supporting ambitious founders across Asia from day one.
Moderators:
- Erdinc Ekinci - Founder, Investment Lead of Co-capital.vc, Co-Founder, CEO of Openfor.co, Managing Director of Founder Institute Japan/Korea/Taiwan
- Yu Li Shein, Co-Director, Founder Institute Korea/Japan & /Taiwan Co-founder, COO, Openfor.co, inc
Who Should Join:
-Founders & Aspiring Entrepreneurs looking for real-world startup lessons
-Investors & Mentors seeking early-stage, globally minded teams
-Startup Ecosystem Builders & Enthusiasts curious about cross-border innovation in Asia
Whether you’re an aspiring founder, an investor scouting early-stage talent, or simply curious about what’s being built across Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, this event offers real stories, practical insights, and meaningful connections.
🚀Graduating Startups & Founders
1. Leonid Posadskov- Founder at Luminari Inc- Luminari Inc. is a Tokyo-based security-first advisory bureau developing Siminari, a gamified security training simulator for enterprises, universities, and government organizations.
2. John Heinemann- Founder at flixfluent - Flixfluent is the world's first browser extension that enables every beginner to learn a language while watching their favorite TV show by deconstructing the subtitles.
3. Maryana Stefuryn- Founder & CEO at Unwind Minds- Unwind Minds | Creators of ElephAi - Elephant Intelligence for Mental Health. The first AI companion that combines biometrics, psychology, and human oversight in one continuous care loop.
4. Paul Conversy- Founder at InsightMatches- InsightMatches is a platform that lowers barriers of entry to Global R&D funding by automating grant proposals and connecting research teams.
5. Ray Ma- Founder at Kevoes- KEVOES is an AI-powered cultural brick brand that turns stories, emotions, and landmarks into collectible experiences. We offer three core services: personalized brick kits for consumers, limited-edition designer drops inspired by global culture, and co-branded collaborations with museums and tourism partners.
6. Alican Yildizalp- Founder at Miriel AI- Miriel provides the first hyper-personalized holistic solution for the $126B child health and wellness market, by putting a PhD-level AI nutritionist in parent’s pocket to help them engineer their child's optimal development and build lifelong healthy habits.
7. Jade Liao-CEO & Co-Founder at Mishkan Limited- Mishkan is building an omni-channel social CRM that empowers entertainment companies and influencer agencies to better manage artist/ influencer online presence, know their fans, and further act on fan data.
8. Prumsodun Ok- Founder at Bodhikara Ventures- Bodhikara Ventures is buddhist wisdom, made for everyone.
9. Brenda Naiyumi Wang- Founder at ZENYA- Optimizing wellness for gym-goers through freshly brewed drinks
10. Jeffrey Graves- Founder at P4k International, Inc
11. Mingyun Guan- Founder & CEO at Atolla Ocean- Atolla Ocean builds underwater visual intelligence — starting with divers by turning raw dive footage into structured species insights, and expanding toward marine monitoring and operations.
12. Hanna Jaff- Founder at FamLink
13. Julio Calanche- Founder at Sales Done Right Japan- SABI (by Sales Done Right Japan) is an AI thinking companion that helps creatives turn confusion into clarity and clarity into income by structuring their decisions in real time.
About Organiser:
-Founder Institute: Founder Institute, which originated in Silicon Valley, is a founder and idea stage accelerator, and with its Founder Capital, backs the best performing FI alumni as early as the angel stage. FI has over 8K+ startup portfolio (Including leading e-learning platform Udemy, IPO in Nasdaq $3,8B) across 200 cities in 100 countries around the world.) We are also the largest mentor network in the world, with over 35,000 mentors, and our alumni have already raised over $2 billion in US dollars and have recently exceeded the 10K mark of investors network as the FI-Venture-Network.
-FI’s sister program, called VC Lab, helps launch aspiring investors into launching VC firms. As an accelerator that allows both sides of the table, 70% of the activities we do are advocacy of entrepreneurship and ecosystem creation, which means we do way more activity than the accelerator to promote entrepreneurship to solve real-world problems with entrepreneurship in an economically feasible way, build a company that grows into a venture-scale.
-Openfor.co: A “Global Partnership Accelerator” originated in Silicon Valley that combined with an online platform and marketplace for learning, building, launching, monetizing, and growing partner ecosystems and a collaborative community around you for achieving effective marketing, sales, community building, GTM, fundraising, and many more.
-Co-Capital: Pre-seed & Seed stage new firm that focuses on hands-on GTM, sales, and partnership support, focusing on English-speaking Asian founders who have global ambitions from day ONE. Domiciled in the USA, with regional appearances in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Utilizes partnerships with the GTM expert network and the venture partner network across 20 major hubs and a network of 35 other VC networks who are willing to co-back our founders!