MTR Lab Company Limited (“MTR Lab”) and CROSSBIE JAPAN K.K. (“CROSSBIE”), a leading cross-border innovation accelerator based in Yokohama, Japan, have announced a strategic partnership to drive sustainable mobility and smart city innovation. This partnership will connect MTR Lab, an innovation investor based in Hong Kong, with Japanese innovators and potential partner corporations to explore opportunities to collaborate, focussing primarily on mobility and smart city solutions.
This is MTR Lab’s first strategic partnership in Japan, marking a significant milestone and establishing its presence in the Japanese market. Through the partnership, both parties aim to create strategic value by promoting technological advancement and innovation, fostering carbon-neutral urban communities across Asia-Pacific and beyond.
At the heart of this partnership is the mission to connect ecosystems across regions using the unique strengths of each organisation. MTR Lab focuses on early-to-growth-stage technology ventures that align with its core sectors. This includes Mobility as a Service (MaaS), rail tech, new mobility modes, property and construction tech, new retail, and financial and data services—with a strong commitment to sustainability and smart city development.
CROSSBIE, operating from “TECH HUB YOKOHAMA” and managing “The Drivery Japan", excels at promoting open innovation by connecting corporations, governments, startups, and investors, and enabling cross-border collaborations. Through this partnership, CROSSBIE will play a pivotal role in helping MTR Lab strengthen its presence in Japan by connecting it with high-potential startups and major corporations for future collaborations.
By introducing promising startups in Japan to MTR Lab, CROSSBIE is connecting innovators to MTR Lab’s ecosystem, helping them explore markets beyond Japan. As a collaborative platform, MTR Lab will connect startups and help them expand in different markets to advance its smart city vision.
“MTR Lab is dedicated to driving sustainable mobility and smart city innovation, while being a catalyst for startups. Through the partnership with CROSSBIE, we hope to enhance the innovation and technology ecosystem and match the innovative solutions in Japan with potential opportunities in our ecosystem, to empower startups and bring them to other markets,” said Jing Shi, Head of Investments at MTR Lab.
Chika Yamamoto, CEO of CROSSBIE JAPAN K.K., added, “We are confident that combining Japan's innovative technologies with MTR Lab's strategic investment capabilities will bring substantial impact to the mobility and smart city sectors. We are not merely intermediaries but will be involved in the entire value creation process—from discovering promising technologies to realising collaborative partnerships.
