From Hokuriku! Co-creating the Future of Energy and Living! Nihonkai Gas Kizuna Holdings and Six Startups Announce Collaboration Results

Nihonkai Lab Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Toyama City, Representative Director and President: Yotaro Nitta, hereinafter "Nihonkai Lab"), part of the Nihonkai Gas Kizuna Holdings Group, is operating the "NGAS-Accelerator Program 2025" hosted by Nihonkai Gas Kizuna Holdings Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Toyama City, Representative Director and President: Yotaro Nitta, hereinafter "Nihonkai Gas Kizuna HD") together with Zeroichi Booster Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director and CEO: George Goda, hereinafter "01Booster"). On Tuesday, March 17, 2026, a results presentation meeting (Demo Day) for this program was held at the Ensemble Hall on the 4th floor of Citizen Plaza (Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture). The six selected startups announced the results of their co-creation activities, which focused on themes such as well-being, decarbonization, energy saving, and real estate utilization, in collaboration with employees of Nihonkai Gas Kizuna HD. Group photo on the day of the results presentation meeting (Demo Day)

Overview of the NGAS-Accelerator Program 2025 The "NGAS-Accelerator Program" is a business creation program hosted by Nihonkai Gas Kizuna HD and jointly operated by Nihonkai Lab and 01Booster. It aims to provide new value to the Hokuriku region and promotes co-creation with startup companies. Six startups were selected from a large number of applications, and for approximately six months starting in September of this year, catalysts, who are employees of the Nihonkai Gas Kizuna HD Group, provided support.

At the results presentation meeting (Demo Day) held this time, each of the six companies presented the results of their co-creation activities, which focused on themes such as well-being, decarbonization, energy saving, and real estate utilization, in collaboration with employees of the Nihonkai Gas Kizuna HD Group. At the closing, Junichi Hirata, Vice President and Representative Director of Nihonkai Gas Kizuna HD, expressed his gratitude to the presenting companies and stated, "Through this program, we have been able to build a strong network for solving regional issues. This is not the end, and we hope to continue to engage with startups in various ways in the future." We will continue to consider future initiatives based on the results achieved so far with the six companies. The business content of each company and some of the co-creation content during the period are as follows.

Six Selected Companies (in Japanese syllabary order) M2X Inc. (https://m2xsoftware.com/) Presenter: Shintaro Okabe Business Content: Development and sales of software for improving equipment maintenance efficiency. Collaboration Content: Expanded awareness and approached regional companies by jointly holding web seminars, and verified the digitalization of equipment management through PoC at pharmaceutical companies within the prefecture. Explored the possibility of a new equipment maintenance business through collaboration with infrastructure companies.

KUROFUNE Inc. (https://kurofune-inc.com/) Presenter: Ryo Kurakata Business Content: Living support and human resource dispatch business for foreigners. Collaboration Content: Nihonkai Gas Kizuna HD's net