Startup & Tech Scouting
Identify and partner with breakthrough technology startups
We Help Energy and Industrial Companies Turn Innovative Technologies into Real-World Decarbonization.
Decarbonizing industry across Japan and Asia requires accelerating the adoption of breakthrough technologies. Asia Focus makes it happen.
Tokyo + Boston
Who we serve
- Electric Power Utilities
- Renewable Energy Investors
- Data Center Operators, Developers
- IT and System Integrators
- Corporate Venture Capital
- Engineering & Construction Companies
Our services
Strategic Sales & Support
Go-to-market in Japan and Asia
GX/DX Business Transformation
Digitalization of energy systems & infrastructure
Global Innovation Tours
Curated tours of North American leading energy ecosystems
Affiliations
Energy & AI NEXUS
Software Intelligence · Grid-Responsive AI Infrastructure
The landscape
The grid is built for 40 years. AI outruns it every 6 to 8 months.
Four drivers shape the power system. A fifth cuts across them all.
Real-world drivers
Electrification
As transport, buildings, industry and computing electrify, demand grows rapidly and load profiles change.
Low-carbon power
Scale growth of zero and low-carbon power fast enough: renewables + storage, geothermal, nuclear, gas + CCS.
Grid resilience
Expand and modernize T&D, clear interconnection bottlenecks, built-in flexible load and secure energy access.
Social impact
Ensure community acceptance on land use, water, noise, and electricity costs to permit, finance, and construct AI data centers.
AI factories are today's data centers
Scaling AI data center infrastructureAI factory challenges
Cross-cutting objectiveMaximize tokens per watt
1 MWAI racks, next-gen
800 V DCPower delivery redesigned
LiquidCooling goes mandatory
StorageBandwidth limits GPU utilization
6×Data center demand growing faster than the grid
18–24 moTo build a data center
The Solution
AI is the fastest-growing new load on the grid.
The fastest new capacity is the load you can call on.
Swipe sideways to see the full chart.
Phoenix, Arizona, 2025: a live AI cluster of 256 GPUs cut 25% for three hours at peak, with no loss of service. EPRI DCFlex field demonstration; Colangelo et al., arXiv:2507.00909.
- 256 GPUs
- −25% at system peak
- 3 h held
- 0 loss of service
Startups
From the University Lab to a Field Trial in Japan
We accelerate the deployment of breakthrough energy technologies in Japan and Asia.
Methodologies
for Corporate Innovation
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1
Introduce Innovation Hub
Engage with innovation ecosystem stakeholders: universities, investors, startup community and public sector climate agencies.
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2
Promote Strategic Interests
Position business expertise and breadth of customers to provide value to innovation ecosystem stakeholders.
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3
Position for Member Services
Recommend partnership to incubator having startups aligned on vision, technology expertise and competitive strengths.
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4
Business Services (optional)
Services from techno-economic assessment - to verifying market readiness - to custom-designed workshops - to in-depth due-diligence on target startups.
for Technology Startups
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1
Market Readiness
Guidance on market landscape and drivers, regulations, early adopters companies.
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2
Pilot/PoC Matching
Align to projects supported by public funding. In Japan METI and MOE and subagencies NEDO, JOGMEC plus progressive municipal governments.
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3
Sales & Marketing
Sales of technical solution through managed PoC and technology evaluation to closure of license agreements.
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4
Business Services
Lead sales activities, qualify new opportunities, develop strategic sales & service partners, setup local operation, hire initial employees.
Featured startups
Emerald AI
Emerald AI makes AI factories power-flexible; its Phoenix field demonstration with EPRI is the proof point behind our Energy & AI Nexus work.
Read the Phoenix demonstrationSesame Sustainability
The Industrial Decarbonization Platform
Sesame provides users a consistent, unified, and collaborative platform to expertly identify and analyze technologies for cost-effective decarbonization.
- Life cycle analysis (kgCO2/kg), techno-economic analysis ($/kg) and cost of avoided carbon ($/tonCO2)
- Applications in SAFs, power, hydrogen and derivatives, low-carbon and conventional fuels, steel and cement
Equipcast DigiEngineer
Holistic neural network AI platform
The Equipcast Generative AI DigiEngineer Platform provides a holistic, real-time Asset Operational Risk Indicator (AORi) that combines subject matter expertise with operational data for prognostic system health, with optional autonomous control.
- Predicts issues throughout the operational chain, for energy and power fixed assets and maritime transportation
- Automates thousands of control room and field decisions that require subject matter expertise
- Complete mobility: any device, anywhere, any time
Contact
Contact & Report
From Future of the Grid 2026
Get the Data Center Flexible-load Report
The Report from our booth: how AI data centers become grid resources, the Phoenix field results, and the DCFlex shared definition of flexibility.
Thanks — your Report is ready.
Talk to us
Utilities, data center operators, investors and startups — tell us what you are working on.
Thank you. We reply within two business days.
Team
Steven F. ThomasRepresentative Director · Tokyo + Boston
Read bio
Steven Thomas is a senior sales executive with a long track record of building profitable revenue growth for advanced IT and renewable energy companies in Japan and across Asia. He leads Japan market expansion for venture-backed energy technology startups, accelerating industry adoption of digital and green transformation solutions. In leadership roles, Steven has closed or helped close strategic OEM agreements worth tens of millions of US dollars with Panasonic Corporation, Fujitsu and Mitsubishi Corporation.
Steven serves as Japan Representative for the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI). His expertise spans advanced computing, renewable energy project finance, enterprise software, data analytics and industrial IoT (IIoT) systems. He supports corporate decarbonization and business development initiatives in Japan and Southeast Asia.
Education: Graduate degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Sam MatsumotoSenior Director
Read bio
Sam Matsumoto is a seasoned, bilingual Japan market entry strategist who has guided more than 100 global and Japanese firms in IT and energy to commercialization. He helps overseas companies build business development strategies to enter Japan, and helps Japanese companies develop global partnerships. Sam is highly skilled at assessing new technologies, identifying their strategic value and designing go-to-market plans to commercialize them in Japan’s energy sector.
Sam has served as Executive Director at a major wholesale energy settlement company and as Managing Director of a leading energy consulting firm in Japan. Working closely with Japan’s government ministries, he has held leadership roles in multiple demand response programs sponsored by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). His expertise spans system design for wholesale energy procurement, demand response, distributed energy resource integration, IoT applications, telecommunications systems and cybersecurity.
Education: B.S., Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science, Presbyterian College
Track record
Asia Focus G.K. – Bridging Innovation and Industry for a Decarbonized Future
Asia Focus accelerates the adoption of breakthrough technologies to decarbonize energy-intensive industries and modernize power systems. Partnering with utilities, energy companies and corporate venture capital across Japan and East Asia, we identify, evaluate and pilot emerging solutions in clean energy, grid digitalization and AI for energy. Through targeted technology scouting and early-stage commercialization support, we help clients generate new revenue and build lasting competitive advantage.
Industrial manufacturing
For Renewable Energy Company (REC Solar) negotiated the company’s first global OEM agreement with Panasonic Corp valued at US$ 180Million for the mass production of a customize designed solar module. Gross annual revenues to REC Solar averaged 28% of worldwide revenues over two years.
Solar power-plants
Developed 50MWs pipeline of bankable mega-scale solar power-plants from origination to financial closure. Secured initial equity from private equity, managed oversight of technical design, PPA & grid-interconnection applications and selection of EPC for power-plant design and construction.
Renewable energy project financing
Structured US$ 300M investment platform to permit and finance construction of portfolio of renewable energy projects through partnership with NTT Facilities, a leading engineering company, SunEdison and selected project developers.
Enterprise software license agreements
Closed US$ 20Million in licensing agreements and sourced US$ 15Million in investments from leading companies in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China and India.
Energy client and partner engagements
- Senior Consultant for Business Model Transformation and Growth Strategies. Lead market assessment, business planning & implementation for the fastest growing US energy retailers entering Japan’s electricity market. Principal analyst and author of Japan Electricity Market Landscape Report, issued January 2015.
- Principal Consultant to Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Open Innovation Initiative task to design a master plan to foster innovative new businesses and services to compete in Japan’s newly deregulated electricity market, estimate USD 75Billion.
- Marketing Analyst for Kansai Electric Power System Solution Company. Provide implementation service to new energy supplier in Japan’s electricity system operated by the Organization of Cross Coordinating Transmission Operators (OCCTO).
- Consulting & training to one of Asia’s largest electric utility to develop new business models, products and services target for a single-buyer market and plans to operate in partial deregulated market structure. Project planning and assessment are on-going
- Led Japan market development for Enviva (EVA) the world’s largest supplier of wood pellets. Developed 430MWs pipeline of bankable, high-quality biomass projects. Company closed exclusive sourcing agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation and Kansai Electric Power mixed coal & biomass power-plants.
- Senior Business Development Representative for Energy Services Group, the largest private-owned energy service company. Launched business services, including customer & sales management and load forecasting cloud platform implemented by three electric retailers, US, UK and Japan.
- Lead Consultant for TEPCO’s Open Innovation team business plan to launch a subsidiary electric retailer to compete in the deregulated electricity market. Also, led business development and release for the company’s customer management services platform.
- Corporate Training specialist for Japan market entry. Provide consulting services and training to new entrant energy companies for launch in Japan and across Asia. Training on power utility and software market landscape and guidelines for successful growth strategies.
Reference client and partner companies
- REC Solar
- Panasonic
- SunEdison
- NTT Facilities
- ORIX
- Shinsei Bank
- Japan Asia Group
- etop
- Hitachi
- Fujitsu
- NEC
- TEPCO
- KS Solutions
- Enviva
- Energy Services Group (ESG)
- Customized Energy Solutions
- Skipping Stone
- Innovate UK
Boston
48 Meacham RdSomerville, MA 02144
USA
info@asiafocus.biz