Startup Genome launched the first cohort of the Global Hypergrowth Tokyo late-stage scaling program in March 2024 in partnership with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The initiative aims to propel the best Tokyo tech companies into successful global commercialization and expansion into international target markets.

The program addresses a significant support gap for fast-growing startups, recognizing them as drivers of economic growth and competitiveness, and creators of sustainable jobs and societal wellbeing. In its inaugural cohort, Hypergrowth provides 21 companies from Tokyo with access to global mentors, expert scaling advice from leading executives, go-to market support, and connections to potential new customers and investors.

The companies selected represent a variety of sub-sectors, including Deep Tech, Life Sciences, and AI, and have raised close to $100 million in total funding as they look to expand overseas.

In this article series, Startup Genome introduces the cohort companies, exploring the groundbreaking technologies each startup is developing to make a positive impact on the world.

Introducing AI Startup I’mbesideyou

Tokyo-based I’mbesideyou provides continual emotional knowledge based on an increasing repository of AI-analyzed data gathered from tens of thousands of sources. By evaluating facial expressions and voice, it can provide observations and advice on users’ emotions such as causes for anxiety or ways to improve communication skills.

“I started our company after COVID-19 happened and our vision is that the whole world becomes a school, creating a society where people respect each other and learn from each other,” said Shozo Kamiya, founder and CEO of I’mbesideyou. “Our perspective is that technology has been through the big data (knowledge) revolution starting in 2003, and then the GPT (wisdom) revolution in 2015; now we’re ushering in a new revolution that is focused on understanding emotion.”

I’mbesideyou offers a two-fold solution: video analysis of patients and an AI-supported therapist available to patients at all times. Its comprehensive and robust video AI technology has been the basis of 250 international patent applications.  

A Comprehensive Solution for Mental Health Professionals

The company’s first product, TheraWin, is a web-based platform for mental health professionals that simplifies administrative tasks, automates notetaking, and provides early detection of mental health concerns and ongoing assessment of therapy quality. With its solution, every session is recorded and the patient’s face, gaze, and gestures are analyzed.

Through its AI analytics, the company is able to create a patient emotion map and provide a diagnosis. The product also generates progress notes in the therapist’s preferred language format, allowing them to send assessments, admission forms, and appointment workflow all through the app. TheraWin has been found to reduce therapists’ post-patient workflow by 80%.

Patients can take the TheraWin Free AI Assessment, which guides them based on the company’s algorithm, whether it's anxiety, relationship issues, or something else. After the assessment, TheraWin provides a list of licensed therapists tailored to that patient’s needs. TheraWin offers different therapy approaches, including cognitive behavioral therapy, marriage counseling, and more with in-person and teletherapy options. The platform also allows patients to filter their search by language proficiency, ensuring they can connect with therapists fluent in Hindi, English, Japanese, and more.

Patient-Tailored Care

I’mbesideyou’s AI therapist service supports patients at all times, even when a therapist isn’t available. Around-the-clock care is especially important as studies have shown that suicides are far more likely to occur after midnight, when mental health support is harder to attain. Using the same techniques as with TheraWin, the company analyzes patients’ faces, voices, and behaviors to personalize the AI therapist.

Over 4,400 users in India alone have registered for I’mbesideyou’s mental health solutions.

For a deeper look at the Tokyo ecosystem and to learn more about the Global Hypergrowth Tokyo cohort companies, Explore Tokyo.