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Commendation Ceremony Held for the Nippon Startup Awards 2025
Telexistence Inc., which uses robots with artificial intelligence to solve labor shortages in the logistics and retail industries, wins the Prime Minister's Award
August 27, 2025
On Tuesday, August 26, 2025, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) held a commendation ceremony for the Nippon Startup Awards 2025 at the Prime Minister's Office. Telexistence Inc., which contributes to resolving labor shortages by providing robots with artificial intelligence to perform tasks such as stocking products in retail and logistics sites, was selected as the winner of the Prime Minister’s Award. In total, ten startups were recognized as the award winners, including WHILL Inc., which aims to realize an inclusive society where everyone can move freely through short-distance mobility, and which was selected as the winner of the METI Minister’s Award.
1. Details of the commendation ceremony
In the ceremony, Prime Minister Ishiba and the ministers of the related ministries presented the winning startups with certificates of commendation. In addition, they observed the booth of each award-winning startup, heard explanations about the products and services of the winning startups and offered their praises and encouragement to the business owners of the startups.
2. Winners of the Nippon Startup Awards
| Prime Minister’s Award (Nippon Startup Award) | Telexistence Inc. |
| METI Minister’s Award (Nippon Startup Excellence Award) | WHILL Inc. |
| MAFF Minister’s Award (Agriculture Startup Award) | Regional Fish Institute, Ltd. |
| MEXT Minister’s Award (University-Oriented Startup Award) | Axelspace Holdings Corporation |
| MHLW Minister’s Award (Health and Welfare Startup Award) | Fast Doctor, Inc. |
| MLIT Minister’s Award (Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Startup Award) | Terra Drone Corporation |
| MIC Minister’s Award (Information and Communications Startup Award) | RevComm Inc. |
| MOD Minister’s Award (Defense Startup Award) | Synspective Inc. |
| Special Jury Award | SHE, Inc. |
| Special Jury Award | Unifa Inc. |
3. Outline of the awards program
This awards program aims to honor outstanding startups for their creation of new businesses with a socially positive impact that may provide role models for people in the next generation. By doing this, it raises public awareness of the importance of proactively taking on challenges and disseminates evaluation results about entrepreneurs, thereby encouraging people throughout society to take on new challenges. Launched in 2015 as the Nippon Venture Awards, this awards program was renamed in 2022.
Related Material
Division in Charge
Startup Promotion Office, Innovation and Startup Promotion Division, Innovation and Environment Policy Bureau
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