BBA2026 Official Nominees | New Market Entrant of the Year 2026
Among 54 shortlisted applications to the British Business Awards 2026 - The Nineteenth Evening, the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan is delighted to announce the five (5) candidates for this year's New Market Entrant of the Year Award.
The New Market Entrant of the Year Award recognises an individual or organisation that has entered the Japanese market within the past 12 months through strategic investment, partnerships, operations or other significant business activity, demonstrating long-term vision and potential for growth, innovation and broader impact.
Here, we introduce each nominee's executive summary (reason for applying), in alphabetical order below.
To learn more about the British Business Awards 2026, visit our navigation page here.
NEW MARKET ENTRANT OF THE YEAR
BRITISH BUSINESS AWARDS 2026 OFFICIAL NOMINEES
Cumulus Neuroscience Limited
Cumulus entered the Japanese market in 2025 through a strategic customer relationship with Shionogi, one of the leading Japanese pharmaceutical companies, to provide our expertise in neuroscience for their clinical trial. We have established local operations and fully localised our platform into Japanese to support the trial and future projects in Japan.
Eatron Technologies Japan G.K. イートロンテクノロジーズジャパン合同会社
Eatron Technologies, a leading developer of embedded AI for safer, better-performing and longer-lasting batteries, established its Tokyo office in 2025 after selection for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government GX Programme. This built on its engagement in Japan since 2022 and accelerated local commercial growth.
Lifebit
Lifebit, the UK company behind Genomics England's 60-petabyte genomic library, has entered Japan with Mitsui Knowledge Industry (MKI). Its federated research platform is now live at the University of Tokyo and is the foundation of the GeMJ project, giving Japan a way to use sensitive health data at national scale without ever moving it.
NorthStandard
After doing business in Japan for 25 years and establishing an office in Tokyo in 2012 and achieving significant growth so that our share of the shipping market is approximately 12% it was decided that we should open an office in Imabari in 2025 to enhance the service that we can provide to shipowners in Western Japan. This should assist our further growth ambitions
Sylvera
Sylvera, the London-HQed carbon ratings and market intelligence company, entered Japan in early 2025 by appointing a Tokyo-based Country Manager Yuki Katsumura ahead of mandatory GX-ETS. It has since won Japanese major utilities, trading houses, shipping company, and developers as clients, embedded its ratings in Tokyo Metropolitan Government's market place, and convened Japan's market on credit quality.
In great thanks to our BBA Partners
This year's British Business Awards has been cherished and elevated by the below Partners. We are delighted to have their support for The Nineteenth Evening.
