JR East Local Startup Investment Limited Partnership (Location: Minato-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "JR East Local Startup Fund") and S Innovation Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture; hereinafter "S Innovation") have commenced a comprehensive collaboration aimed at fostering the creation and growth of regional startups and promoting business co-creation in the Niigata area. By combining the JR East Group's touchpoints and business foundation with stations, station buildings, and areas along its railway lines, with S Innovation's network cultivated in Niigata encompassing regional companies, startups, local governments, and financial institutions, the two companies will work to create a system where challenges undertaken by startups and regional businesses pursuing second careers can be born, nurtured, and expanded into successful ventures both within and outside Niigata. 1. Background Challenges undertaken by startups and second careers in regional areas often emerge from community roots and daily interactions, and their growth requires the establishment of deep, ongoing relationships within the region. As the CVC of the JR East Group, JR East Startup has promoted the creation of new businesses centered around stations, railways, and areas along its lines through investments in and collaborations with startup companies. In 2023, it established a system to co-create with locally rooted startups, and in 2024, it launched the JR East Local Startup Fund with a long-term perspective and a 20-year operational period, advancing initiatives that lead to regional business creation originating from startups and enhancing the value of areas along its lines. Based in Niigata, S Innovation has been working to solve regional issues and create new businesses in the Niigata area through investments in and incubation of seed-stage startups, support for second careers and business succession for regional companies, and promotion of open innovation. The regional innova