ikigai Launchpad S'25 Demo Day!
Our inaugural ikigai Launchpad Demo Day!
The first-ever ikigai Launchpad Demo Day is in the books!
Over this past summer, we backed a batch of early-stage startups in this cohort of ikigai Launchpad. Each team was armed with $100K from us, a plethora of seasoned mentors (aka, the 886 Studios partners) by their side, and a gritty but fun 3-month program packed with office hours with the Partners, workshops, and guest speaker sessions.
The culmination of the program was Demo Day. We hosted one virtual session for our investor friends in the US in the early morning, and another in-person event later in the afternoon in Taipei.
Let’s take a look at the startups from this Summer 2025 (S’25) batch:
EchoTree
EchoTree is an AI mental health companion that provides 24/7 support through empathetic conversations using science-backed methods. Unlike most mental health apps that only chat, EchoTree transforms therapy techniques into 30-second practices embedded directly in conversations. So users don’t just talk, they actively practice real-time coping skills.
One in four people face mental health challenges each year, but most never get help due to the high cost of therapy, long wait times, and the stigma that comes along with it. EchoTree meets users when they need it the most: at 2 AM during panic attacks, before big presentations, and whenever traditional therapy isn’t available. Life is tough. It’s easy to get caught in a spiral where negative feelings and thoughts echo in our heads. EchoTree offers a “different kind of echo”. One that gives you the space to talk, reflect, and feel better.
The founding team is Tim Chen (engineer) and Sharon Wu (designer), 2× founders who’ve built six apps reaching over 500,000 users and $600K ARR in six months. Starting from their own mental health struggles, they’re building an app that packages their experiences and healing tools to help not just themselves, but 3 billion people worldwide facing similar challenges.
They are now raising $750K.
Check out their app here.
Connect with the founders here.
Tell It Now
Tell It Now is a platform that connects brands with nearby creators through location-based “missions” dropped on a map. When creators walk near stores, they receive notifications to step inside, experience the business, and create authentic content. This results in a win-win scenario where the creator earns money on the spot while brands get hyper-local UGC they can reuse across their marketing channels.
Their vision is to democratize marketing by turning everyone with a phone into a potential marketer, creating an experience where people have the opportunity to earn money alongside their daily routine.
They’ve already activated major clients like Family Mart (25,000 stores globally), Pizza Hut, and GNC, generating 600+ campaigns and $100,000+ in creator budgets within six months.
The founding team includes Ryan Yang (CEO), a second-time founder who graduated from Carnegie Mellon and is a former engineer at Cisco and Palo Alto Networks, and Pacha Chen (COO), who came from Trend Micro and Arc Dev.
They are now raising $1M to expand their AI-powered matching engine to reach $3M ARR within the $97.6B influencer marketing industry.
Check out their app here (iOS) and here (Android).
Connect with the founders here.
InstaPodz
InstaPodz is Duolingo for any topic, helping busy professionals learn anything on the go through personalized AI podcasts.
It’s targeting 2.4 billion auditory learners globally who are frustrated with current audio learning platforms that offer lengthy, irrelevant content or lack follow-up options.
Instead of fixed content libraries like traditional podcast platforms, InstaPodz generates custom conversational podcasts tailored to exactly what each user wants to learn, and automatically creates follow-up episodes that progressively deepens understanding. Their mission is to make learning efficient, consistent, and entertaining for the 2.4 billion auditory learners worldwide.
The founding team consists of Ansen Huang (CEO), along with Po Yu Huang and JJ Liou, all builders who’ve worked together for six years with experience at PicCollage (an app with over 260 million users) and launching multiple AI-native consumer apps.
They are now raising $500K.
Check out their app here.
Connect with the founders here.
PictureCook
PictureCook is your child’s AI companion for language learning. It adapts to their level, inspires daily English conversation, and helps them grow through story-based learning.
Instead of traditional apps that teach kids through flashcards and drills, PictureCook creates an AI friend that children can naturally converse with, play with, and practice language skills through genuine interaction.
They’re addressing an over $100B global market in foreign language learning, with an initial focus on Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.
The founding team includes Yaohua Yang (CEO), who brings experience in children’s development services and building an FDA-approved medical device, Hogan Sung (CTO) who brings large-scale engineering experience from Roblox and Yelp, and Ling Chiu (CPO) who brings consumer product success with 100M+ downloads and her perspective as a design professor.
The team came together after realizing how much games and digital platforms shape children’s growth and how important it is to create more positive, meaningful experiences. They are positioning themselves at the forefront of the “AI-Native Generation,” believing that within 5-10 years, AI companions will be as common in children’s lives as tablets are today.
They are now raising $700K.
Check out their app here (iOS) and here (Android).
Connect with the founders here.
Sugar AI
Sugar AI is building a platform that licenses characters from IP creators and allows users to chat with their favorite anime and manga characters through an AI messaging app.
For the past one hundred years, the characters in our favorite movies, TV shows, and anime, lived within the bounds of the page, trapped in stories while we could only watch and wonder. Sugar AI is now turning these one-sided relationships with fictional characters into genuine, two-way interactions where fans can talk to, connect with, and build relationships with the characters they love. And they’re working directly with creators to make this happen.
The founding team includes Jarshan Chen (CEO), a former machine learning engineer at LINE, and Jerry Lee (CTO), a former AI engineer at ITRI (the organization that launched TSMC). The two met at Garage+ incubator, worked together for two years on their first startup, and won awards at the Google Annual Development Competition and NASA Global Development Hackathon.
They are now raising $700K.
Check out their app here.
Connect with the founders here.
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Feel free to reach out to any of the teams you’re interested in, and if you’d like, we’d be more than happy to help connect you.
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Thank you to everyone who joined the Virtual Demo Day and the in-person Demo Day in Taipei for this special occasion!
And thank you for the support from the 886 Studio mentors: Phil Chen, Jacob Hsu, Chris Wang, Jameson Hsu, Joe Hei, James Hong, Charles Huang, Kevin Chou, Steven Chiang, Tim Chen, and last but not least the ikigai Batch Partners, KAI & KEVIN, the LifeLike Capital partners: Jason Lin and Randy Lee, our guest mentors and speakers who joined throughout the program: Jenny Hsu, Annie Hseih, Christine Orchard, Insik Rhee, Maureen Fan, and Patrick Lee, and for the 886 Studios team: Freya Wu, Ginny Wu, and Carter (me, lol).
And congratulations to the 5 teams for their hard work and achievements! You’ve only just begun!
Thanks for reading and see you soon,
Carter
