Shintaro Matsumoto, president and CEO of NEC X, discusses the Elev X! programs, highlighting their focus on transforming visionary ideas into commercial successes through collaboration, funding, engineering expertise, and comprehensive support. 

Can you provide an overview of the Elev X! programs and their main objectives?
Our programs, Elev X! Ignite and Elev X! Boost, transform visionary ideas into commercial successes via a blend of collaboration, funding, engineering expertise, extensive R&D resources and comprehensive support.

Elev X! Ignite provides early-stage founders with close support focusing on customer discovery and validation. Elev X! Boost empowers seed-stage startups for rapid growth and a successful series A round.

What sets the Elev X! programs apart from other startup incubators and accelerators?
Our corporate backing along with our startup-first approach makes us stand out. Entrepreneurs and startups don’t just rely on us for funding, but also gain hands-on collaboration, resources, expertise, and the chance to validate solutions with real customers and technologies of NEC to build meaningful solutions.

How does Elev X! tailor its support to meet the specific needs of startups in different industries?
During Elev X! Ignite, although it is a cohort-based program, early-stage startups will work closely with NEC X’s innovation team and engineers, NEC researchers, industry experts, coaches, mentors and advisors to refine their product.

During Elev X! Boost, more mature startups can integrate their innovations with NEC’s industry-leading technology to develop synergies, refine their product and scale faster leveraging NEC and its partners’ extensive network.

What criteria does Elev X! use to select startups for its programs?
Elev X! Ignite is ideal for founders in the ideation or prototyping phase, while Elev X! Boost is for seed-stage startups with a proven MVP that are ready to scale.

For all our programs, we are always seeking committed entrepreneurs whose innovations could potentially synergize with NEC’s technologies or businesses, with a clear vision and the potential for substantial market impact.

Can you describe the onboarding process for startups entering the Elev X! programs?
Startups can apply to Elev X! Ignite with just an idea and hypothesis, though a demo or prototype strengthens their application. After desktop judgement and pitch selection, the program begins with a virtual sprint to define customer-problem fit with 30 top teams.

Elev X! Boost is for seed-stage startups ready to scale. It typically begins with an assessment to determine how to best integrate and synergize within our technology ecosystem.

What types of support and resources do startups receive as part of the Elev X! programs?
NEC X is backed by NEC’s 125-year history in technology, over 45,000 patents, and $8 billion research network.

We provide up to $200K in equity funding, engineering expertise and R&D resources. Our support also includes access to our network, such as Alchemist Accelerator, ERA, THRIVE, and more, as well as hands-on coaching, leading tools for cloud and tech development, sales and marketing, financial management, and continued education.

How does Elev X! leverage NEC’s technological expertise and resources to benefit participating startups?
In Elev X! Ignite, we help early-stage innovators assess the potential market, develop a viable MVP, conduct POC, and pinpoint synergies with NEC technologies to accelerate growth and prepare for seed funding.

In Elev X! Boost, we offer investment and technological collaboration to prepare startups for scale and Series A fundraising. These startups can leverage our resources to make their product more scalable and profitable.

How important is mentorship in the Elev X! programs, and how do you match startups with mentors?
Our mentor network stands at the core of our support system, empowering founders with the insights, knowledge, skills, strategies and confidence needed to successfully navigate the complex and evolving startup landscape.

Based on a startup’s specific need or unique specialties we connect them with accelerators, academic experts, experienced NEC innovators and others that can provide workshops, hands-on support and strategic partnerships.

What opportunities do startups have to network with industry experts, potential investors, and other entrepreneurs through Elev X!?
Our portfolio startups can tap into our growing ecosystem, which features leading accelerators, investors, R&D labs, industry giants and academic powerhouses, each offering invaluable expertise, resources and opportunities to help startups scale to new heights.

Can you share some success stories of startups that have graduated from the Elev X! programs?
Since 2018, NEC X has supported and launched over 100 disruptive startups. Recent Elev X! graduates include:
Verdi– the first scalable platform for farm automation and personalized plant healthcare.
Multitude Insights– a transformative AI-powered solution enabling greater collaboration and faster case resolution for law enforcement
Qualitative Intelligence (QI)– “Voice of Customer AI” for real-time message testing and risk assessment

Please elaborate on the recent collaboration between NEC and Qualitative Intelligence, which graduated from Elev X!
QI’s new sentiment analysis capabilities can identify and analyze hundreds of multi-channel videos, images and texts in minutes, empowering brands to accurately predict audience responses while minimizing compliance and social risks.

Supporting this, NEC’s Semantic Model Technology is increasing the efficiency of QI’s large language model, training the platform in real-time to identify critical information and trends in user-generated content.

How has this collaboration helped Qualitative Intelligence and enabled it to grow?
This is our latest collaboration with QI, which graduated from Elev X! Ignite in Spring 2023.

QI’s newest features, supported by the technological synergies we foster at NEC X, provide a more efficient and accurate way for advertisers to develop more compelling messaging, without risking their perception. Currently brands struggle to avoid backlash. This valuable solution will drive long-term growth.

How do you see this collaboration inspire other startups in your program?
In our program, we help startups seize the right opportunities through technological synergies with NEC, partner connections, customer introductions and strategic design of proof-of-concepts (PoC).

QI’s new features are critical today, as brands navigate increased scrutiny around shifting customer expectations and social trends. Their story can inspire other startups to seize similar opportunities with feasible solutions that drive revenues.

What are your plans to expand the Elev X! program into new technologies or new geographies?
We are exploring the integration of more advanced technologies into our programs. Additionally, we are establishing systems to ensure these new technologies can be adopted efficiently to boost business growth globally, leveraging the NEC group network worldwide. Our primary goal is to drive tangible impacts in the real world.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of leading the Elev X! programs for you personally?
The startups we work with have a clear vision of what they want to accomplish. We simply guide them on the path to get there. The most rewarding aspect of my part in Elev X! has been seeing their ideas come to life and make a real-world impact. Together, we are fostering a culture to innovate with results.

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to join the Elev X! programs?
If you are an entrepreneur seeking to drive innovation, timing is critical, and often market conditions can be more restrictive than originally anticipated.

Rapidly understanding customer needs is vital to refine one’s ideas and product for real-world value and profitability. Delays can result in lost opportunities, so I frequently tell our startups, “Let’s aim for aggressive growth together.”