IVS2026 introduces Japan’s first "Referral Ticket" system, allowing you to invite people you’d like to go with! A free campaign for the first 3,000 people is also being offered.
IVS2026, the largest-scale startup conference in Japan, will be held over three days, from Wednesday, July 1 to Friday, July 3, 2026, with Miyakomesse, Hotel Okura Kyoto, and other venues as the main locations.
Starting this year, we will fully introduce the "referral ticket" system, the first of its kind in Japan for a domestic conference (*). To commemorate the launch, we will run a campaign offering IVS PASS (normally ¥39,800, tax included) for free to the first 3,000 people who register via a referral ticket.
* As the introduction of a referral-based ticket system for a domestic conference on the scale of 10,000 attendees (based on IVS research, as of April 2026)
Invite, for free, the people you want to go to IVS with, and make IVS even more meaningful.
IVS PASS uses the "referral ticket" system on the ticket platform "4S (Force)." Anyone who receives a referral code can get a PASS for free until the cap of 3,000 people is reached, and will also receive referral codes for two additional people.
Be referred → Participate → Refer someone yourself
That is the "referral ticket" system.
How referral codes are delivered
Referral codes are delivered in one of the following ways.
Referral from IVS STAFF:
Distribution from IVS STAFF will begin first
TEAM IVS2026 list is here
Referral from speakers:
Each speaker will distribute them to their own contacts
Referral codes are delivered in one of the following ways.
After receiving one, please obtain your PASS and send the referral code issued to you to the person you want to attend with
The number of people you can refer is two per person. These "two tickets" ensure the quality of referrals. It is not about inviting anyone without limit; you think of the people you truly want to go with and send them a referral code. That is why we believe it becomes a chain of trust.
In addition, information about who referred whom is expected to become viewable by participants on 4S. By making referral connections visible, it also creates a starting point for networking at the venue. Those who do not have a referral code can still purchase a PASS through general sales.
* Login to 4S is required
About the 4S platform
The "referral ticket" system operates on IVS's official participant platform, "4S." In addition to issuing and managing referral tickets, 4S is planned to support participant matching, searching for and registering for side events, and check-in across multiple venues.
From sending referral codes to visualizing referral connections, everything is completed on 4S.
Free campaign for the first 3,000 people
To celebrate the introduction of the "referral ticket" system, IVS PASS (normally ¥39,800, tax included) will be offered for free to the first 3,000 people who obtain a PASS via referral. Students will also be free for the first 1,000 people via referral (normally ¥4,800, tax included).
PASS | Referral price | General sale price |
|---|---|---|
IVS PASS | Free (first 3,000 people) | ¥39,800 (tax included) |
IVS PASS Student | Free (first 1,000 people) | ¥4,800 (tax included) |
* Free passes are available on a first-come, first-served basis and will end once the cap is reached.
* The number of free passes available may change.
After the free campaign for the first 3,000 people ends, if you purchase a PASS via a referral code, you will be able to buy an IVS PASS, normally priced at ¥39,800, for ¥9,800 (tax included) until June 14. From June 15 onward, it will be ¥19,800, and from July 1 onward, it will be ¥29,800.
* Login to 4S is required
Making networking scientific
Since its founding in 2007, IVS operated as a fully invitation-only closed conference until 2022. Attendance was only in the hundreds. Because it was a place where only trusted people gathered, the quality of encounters was naturally ensured.
In 2023, with the Kyoto edition, we shifted to a ticket-based format. This was a decision to further expand the community cultivated under the invitation-only model and increase the network of people connected to startups. Attendance quickly expanded to the 10,000-person scale. IVS2024 drew more than 12,000 attendees, and IVS2025 recorded a record high of 13,000. Thanks to that growth, we have become Japan's largest startup conference, but at the same time, a new question emerged: how can we create high-quality encounters among 10,000 people?
Over the past three years, IVS has continued to wrestle with that question. IVS is not an event owned solely by the organizers; it is a community created together by participants. A culture in which participants voluntarily launch side events has taken root, and the number of those events has grown from 150 in 2023 to more than 300 in 2024 and more than 500 in 2025. The "referral ticket" system extends this idea of "participants themselves creating the space" all the way to the ticketing mechanism.
At a conference with around 10,000 people, it is not easy to approach strangers on your own. But if a friend invites you by saying, "Let's go together," the barrier to participating becomes lower. If you are connected through a friend of a friend, conversations naturally begin.
Also, there are probably many people who are not good at initiating conversations themselves but can talk once they are introduced. The "referral ticket" system is also a mechanism for those people.
From the moment you hold the ticket, you start thinking about whom to invite and imagining who you will connect with. IVS2026 begins before you even step into the venue.
Important notes
The number of people you can refer is limited to two per person
Those who purchase a PASS through general sales will not receive referral rights
Even if you obtain a referral code after purchasing a PASS, you cannot convert it to a referral ticket
Once issuance of referral tickets reaches the limit, sales will shift to paid-only
The general sale price is the price on the day of IVS and will be higher than the paid price after the referral ticket limit is reached
The "referral ticket" system applies to IVS PASS. CORE PASS is fully invitation-only and is not eligible for referral tickets
Overview of IVS2026
IVS is Japan's largest startup conference, which began in 2007. Startups, investors, large companies, creators, and others from Japan and abroad gather together, and in 2026 it will be held in Kyoto under the theme "Japan is Back."
This year, we will launch two areas: the evolved, culmination version of the IVS area that builds on IVS2023, IVS2024, and IVS2025 held in Kyoto (Kyoto City Industrial Promotion Hall "Miyakomesse" and "ROHM Theatre Kyoto"), and the Reiwa-era fully invitation-only IVS "IVS CORE" area (Hotel Okura Kyoto). The event will be held across these two areas.
【IVS ("Miyakomesse" and "ROHM Theatre Kyoto")】
An area open to everyone who helps create the next generation: startup stakeholders, business companies, investors, aspiring entrepreneurs, supporters, government, research institutions, and students. It will feature stage sessions, the startup exhibition "Startup Market," and IVS's signature pitch event "IVS LAUNCHPAD."
【IVS CORE (Hotel Okura Kyoto)】* Newly established / fully invitation-only
A fully invitation-only area where only decision-makers participate, including startup executives, institutional investors, senior executives of large companies, and government and policy officials. With all sessions off the record, power matching among decision-makers, M&A matching, and more, it provides a place where concrete decisions can move forward.
An access pass is required to attend IVS2026. There are two types: the "IVS PASS," which grants access to the IVS area, and the fully invitation-only "CORE PASS," which grants access to the IVS CORE area. CORE PASS is a screening-based pass and can only be purchased by invitees.
Name: IVS2026
Theme: Japan is Back
Dates: Wednesday, July 1 to Friday, July 3, 2026
Venue: Kyoto City Industrial Promotion Hall "Miyakomesse," ROHM Theatre Kyoto, Hotel Okura Kyoto, and others
Organizer: IVS KYOTO Executive Committee (Headline Japan / Kyoto Prefecture / Kyoto City)
Official site: https://www.ivs.events/
Official X: https://x.com/IVS_Official
■ About the IVS KYOTO Executive Committee
For the Kyoto edition of IVS, Headline Japan Co., Ltd., Kyoto Prefecture, and Kyoto City jointly established this committee with the aim of further developing the startup ecosystem and promoting local industries even more. We will foster collaboration between companies, universities, research institutions, cultural resources, and startups concentrated in Kyoto, and connect that to the creation of new industries and the development of startup companies that can stand alongside the best in the world.
Headline Japan Co., Ltd., Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto City