As Japan becomes more serious about revving up its startup industry, more investors and accelerators are beginning to pay closer attention to the country’s startup scene — especially in Tokyo.

But even though the capital is full of startup energy, it still has a long way to go before it can match rivals such as Silicon Valley, London and Beijing.

According to Startup Genome, a U.K.-based company that specializes in researching and developing startup ecosystems, one thing that Japanese startups need more of is globalization.

“I think Tokyo's startup ecosystem is now entering into the next stage,” said Hiro Nishiguchi, president of Startup Genome Japan, adding that the firm, which has helped more than 150 projects worldwide and launched its Japan base last September, would not have considered coming to Tokyo before.

But the situation has changed a lot in the past few years, with the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida focusing on fostering startups and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government setting a goal of making the capital "the most startup-friendly" city in the world. Aiming to boost this momentum further, Startup Genome launched a program last month called Global Hypergrowth Tokyo, which is designed to support domestic startups wishing to expand their business overseas.

While many acceleration programs target young, early-stage startups, the Global Hypergrowth Tokyo initiative focuses on later-stage firms that already have a certain degree of experience. Twenty-two startups have been selected for the program.

Instead of teaching the basics of entrepreneurship or business management, the program offers mentoring sessions with experienced business people who can offer practical advice to those who want to go overseas and also helps participating firms build connections with potential new customers and investors.

“This is not a training program. This is a very practical, scaling-up program,” Nishiguchi said last week during a kickoff event for the mentoring initiative.

Japanese startups are generally seen as inward-looking and unwilling to take on the risks involved in expanding their businesses overseas — partly because the domestic market is fairly large — making globally competitive Japanese startups few and far between.

Many Japanese firms also face a language barrier. However, this is likely to be a minor issue for the 22 firms joining the program as they are keen to go overseas and all mentoring sessions will be conducted in English.

For them, overcoming more general challenges such as finding entry points to reach customers and investors will be key.

"These are actually common challenges for any startups that want to go global, in particular to go into the U.S. market,” Nishiguchi said. He added that even U.K. startups, which have no language barrier and have smaller cultural gaps compared to Japan, nevertheless face similar business challenges.

Thus, the initiative focuses on improving practical skills and providing opportunities to build connections with potential customers and investors, Nishiguchi added.

The 22 startups will be participating in the Global Hypergrowth Tokyo initiative for about 10 months. It is fully funded by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

During the program's kick-off event last week, representatives from the startups voiced their excitement and willingness to go global.

Pixie Dust Technologies, a Tokyo-based startup that develops products utilizing its sound-wave control technology and one of the participating firms, is seeking to gain a foothold in the U.S. market.

The startup joined this year’s CES tech expo in Las Vegas, where its transparent acoustic panels that can be installed on glass walls won an Innovation Award. Pixie Dust Technologies also made its debut on the Nasdaq last August.

“We are confident that our technology has gained recognition, but we are still not ready to sell our products in the U.S., as we have just started marketing there,” said Takayuki Hoshi, co-founder and an executive at the firm.

In that sense, “we would very much like to receive mentoring sessions (from this program) on how to expand our business in the U.S.”