I hope that by my being here, by this company being here, we’ll be able to accelerate scientific progress by 10 or even 20 years for the benefit of all humankind — and if not, I don’t think there would be any point to me or this company existing at all.

I decided to start this company when I was in the United States for my previous job. In my experiences there I felt a strong drive to push humanity forward. If a technology is deemed “necessary for humanity,” then we act on realizing it by pooling talent, pooling capital, and developing it. In the United States, startups don’t worry about whether something can be done or not, they just take those first steps towards getting it done. Not everything is going to be a success, of course, but this approach has given rise to ventures like Genentech, Moderna, and Tesla to help move us forward. As we speak, a continuous flow of new startups are launching, developing new materials and technologies to solve the problems of our times such as climate change. I am convinced that the US will continue to be a central player in this progress for the foreseeable future. And as long as it creates essential value for human progress, it’s only natural that these startups enjoy a high profitability as a result.

I think Japan should follow the same path. Considering the technology and talent at its disposal, Japan’s startup scene doesn’t seem to be living up to its huge potential. In fact, in terms of potential-to-outcome, I would even argue that Japan is the biggest underachiever in the world. On the other hand, this also means there is great scope for progress here. If there were entrepreneurs on the Elon Musk level in Japan, they would absolutely use Japan’s technology and other assets to drive human progress. And if there aren’t any, that’s an opportunity to become one yourself. That’s what I was thinking when I started this company, and it’s brought me this far.

We believe the wonderful technology we are building has the potential to really change the world. Printing metal (metal nanoparticle ink) is a paradigm-changing manufacturing technology. Its resource and energy efficiency is essential for humanity, and it’s founded on the basic technologies of nanotech and ultra-high precision MEMS which have seen dramatic progress in the past 20 years. These are all reasons I believe we really have to do this now, for the sake of the future.

It’s also important that our business is profitable. After all, a company can only drive humanity forward if it can stay afloat financially. ESG doesn’t neglect making profits — indeed, its whole concept is to make profitability sustainable in the long run. This technology offers intrinsic value with tremendous benefits for both us and our customers by requiring far fewer materials and processes than ever before. Furthermore, the use of Elephantech’s state-of-the-art and proprietary inkjet printing system allows for a highly profitable business model that is less vulnerable to price competition. All the pieces are in place for our technology to really drive humanity even further forward. offers intrinsic value with tremendous benefits to both us and our customers by requiring far fewer materials and processes than before, and the use of its state-of-the-art materials and equipment allows for business models that are less prone to price competition while generating significant profits and moving humanity further forward.

I think there have been very few cases of startups in Japan developing world-class cutting-edge technology to benefit society, but we aim to set a successful example by fully leveraging the technological expertise and competitive advantages of the country’s world-leading inkjet printhead, ink and production equipment manufacturers.. We have a clear path to becoming a business that people come from all over the world to buy from, a business that “the world can’t go around without,” like some semiconductor companies are today.

So to all our employees, suppliers, customers, business partners, shareholders, and all other stakeholders now and in the times to come: let’s build our future together.

Elephantech Inc.
Co-founder & CEO Shinya Shimizu