On top of the reasonable renting costs available in Hokkaido, the city of Sapporo is offering a subsidy to relocate an office to Sapporo by discounting 50% of rent in one of the co-working spaces, and utilizing their own office spaces to help easing the 5 million JPY criteria for Business Manager Visa applicants.

As we all know, the criteria to apply for a Business Manager Visa is

1. Investing 5 million JPY initial capital
2. 2.5 million JPY + 1 full-time employee without any restriction on residential status
3. Hiring 2 full-time employees without any restriction on residential status

Did you know that you might be able to apply for a Business Manager Visa with 3 million JPY ?

Counting office rent as your 5 million JPY capital

In 2018, Immigration Services Agency of Japan announced a special initiative to further support international founders in order to ease the capital requirements for those getting support from municipalities.

Original source :
https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/content/930003552.pdf
https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/publications/materials/nyuukokukanri07_00160.html

As we all know, a Business Manager Visa applicant must invest 5 million JPY capital in order to acquire a Business Manager Status.

Good news for all of you — if the applicant is using an office space owned by a local municipality and is accepted as a founder receiving support from the municipality, the rent (up to 2 million JPY per year) can be counted as a part of 5 million JPY capital investment.

Both Sapporo Business Innovation Center & Sapporo City Electronics Center are owned by Sapporo City — and we are actively working on making this special initiative a reality in Sapporo.

What exactly?

1. Register your company in a space owned by Sapporo City

One of the ways to counting office rent as the part of your initial capital investment is registering your office at one of the dedicated office spaces that Sapporo City owns.

“Startup Project Rooms” available in Sapporo Business Innovation Center

Sapporo Business Innovation Center offers in total 18 Startup Project Rooms (SPR), 8 rooms for small teams, 5 rooms for middle sized startup teams, and 5 rooms for scaleups.

Plans

• ¥23,000 per month for a 10 square meters room
• ¥62,000 per month for a 27 square meters room
• ¥117,300 per month for a 51 square meters room

Please note that you will need to go through an interview process to get into SPR. If you plan to start using SPR as soon as you arrive in Japan and if there is an available room option, you will need to physically attend the interview.

Sapporo City Electronics Center

Sapporo City Electronics Center offers different types of rooms for IT-related, BioTech, and FoodTech startups. Depending on how much space you need for your R&D activities, you can choose the best room.

Plans (From smallest to largest)

• ¥129,600 per month for a 58.2 square meters room
• ¥216,400 per month for a 97.2 square meters room
• ¥324,500 per month for a 145.8 square meters room
• ¥378,600 per month for a 170.1 square meters room

Please kindly note that :

✅ Depending on the timing of your application and availability of the office spaces, you may not be able to get the office spaces that you are initially planning to apply for.

✅ Aside from the options above such as SPR & Sapporo City Electronics Center, we have a list of private office spaces available in Sapporo City.

✅ If you already have a specific plan on which date to incorporate your company and when you are start using the office space, please let us know in advance about the schedule so that we can confirm the availability of the space.

✅ “Business Office Address” that you write on your Startup Visa Application is not guaranteed, and there is a possibility that you have to choose a different office address depending on the timing and availability of the office spaces.

2. Get consultation from consultants staying in the office spaces

Sapporo Business Innovation Center has several consultants supporting startups, and these consultation fees that Sapporo City pays on behalf of the startups can be counted as a part of the expenditures in addition to the construction cost, office equipment purchases and recruitment costs.

Financial incentive — yes, we have!

3. Make use of the 2.5 million JPY subsidy to launch a new startup in Sapporo

1 million JPY for office set up cost

As we discussed in the article “Up to 2.5 million JPY subsidies for startups launching a new office in Sapporo City”, we can count up to “1 million JPY” of

• ½ of the construction cost
• ½ of office equipment purchases
• ½ of recruitment costs

as Designated Facility Establishment Cost.

Please kindly note that you will need to fulfill the primary conditions as follows.

1. Applicants must develop at least a 3-year business plan that incorporates growth through using cutting-edge technology, adding value to existing industries, or inducing innovation, and must continue to operate within the city during that period.

2. Applicants must establish a business office in Sapporo (including moving into an incubation facility, etc.) and start the above-mentioned business.

1.5 million JPY for hiring local talents

In addition, if you hire local talents to join your team as directors and regular employees, each of them can get either “300,000 JPY or 500,000 JPY” based on the number of people who meet the subsidy requirements.

More support is coming!

Networking opportunities

Startup City Sapporo has been working on building a local network for PoC opportunities and finding local talents, and we will do our best for founders to get connected with the local companies, talents and opportunities available in Hokkaido.

Startup Visa

On top of all the support, we are working hard to make Startup Visa applications accessible to founders by simplifying the process and shortening the time required for filing it.

32 million JPY subsidy for R&D-focused startups

Sapporo City offers several kinds of subsidy programs, and one of the attractive subsidies for R&D startups is available! For more details, check this article!

Loan program support for Startup Visa holders

Not only the city office, but also Japan Finance Corporation and the other startup supporters are interrelated in order to create a better startup ecosystem in Hokkaido. As we discussed in our previous article “Japan Finance Corporation’s loan program for Startup Visa holders” there is a loan program for Startup Visa holders.

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