Date: Sunday, March 8, 2026 Venue: Toranomon Hills — Mori Building Organizer: Transpose Platform Co-organizer: UTokyo IPC Sponsor: Mori Building Co., Ltd. Time: 9am - 7pm Language: English
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🏆 Prizes & Perks
**🥇 1st Place: USD 5,000 (¥750,000+) 🥈 2nd Place: USD 2,000 (¥300,000+) 🥉 3rd Place: USD 1,000 (¥150,000+)
🤝 Special Benefit: Invitation to YC Partner Office Hours 🎁 Additional Benefit: TBD**
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Transpose Platform, as a Significant Investor in the world's premier accelerator Y Combinator (YC), is advancing a project to support applications to the YC program. This initiative aims to help next-generation entrepreneurs, students, and young researchers acquire the "world-class capabilities" needed to compete globally.
The first hackathon, 'VIBE25', held in November 2025, was co-hosted with Digital Garage and saw 270 applicants (140 participants), making it a highly successful event.
This second edition will be co-hosted with "UTokyo IPC," an investment company wholly owned by the University of Tokyo. Furthermore, we are honored to have the support of Mori Building, a leading Japanese urban development company responsible for large-scale mixed-use developments such as Roppongi Hills, Toranomon Hills, and Azabudai Hills.
Y Combinator is the world's premier accelerator, providing $500,000 (approximately ¥75 million) to every startup that makes it through its competitive selection process, along with hands-on mentoring and access to a network of 10,000 founders.
Since 2005, it has invested in over 5,000 companies, with a cumulative market capitalization of approximately ¥120 trillion. It has produced over 100 unicorn companies, including Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox, Zapier, Coinbase, and Deel.
Sam Altman, who leads OpenAI (developer of ChatGPT), is an early YC graduate and former CEO.
As these success stories demonstrate, participation in YC serves as a crucial springboard for entrepreneurs competing on the global stage.
As those in the startup scene know, participation in global accelerators like Techstars, 500 Global, and Alchemist has been relatively accessible from Japan.
However, there has been almost no connection with YC.
Transpose, which invests in YC, is leading the initiative to create this connection for Japanese participants.
The theme for the 2nd Hackathon is focused on YC's "Request for Startups (RFS) Spring 2026," a program where participants will conceptualize, develop, and present (via video) an AI product in just half a day.
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Apply here 👇 (Registration closes once capacity is reached) c0mpiled - San Fransokyo 2026 · Luma
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