Japan–India Cross-Border Platform

We build the cross-border business
as a platform — and we run it ourselves

Not a bridge. An operating company on both ends.

Saiterace develops and operates its own services for the Indian market. For customers who buy on quality and expertise, we run software we built ourselves alongside Japanese products that have not yet reached India — on a single platform.

The first-party data, developer network and distribution we accumulate by operating that business is what we put to work for others: taking Japanese companies into India, bringing India-proven IT and software services into Japan, and staffing offshore development. In every case, we own the execution.

Talk to us
Why India / 01

Building markets in India, with what Japan does best

The scale is obvious. The granularity is not.

1.4 billion people. 490 million of them middle and affluent class, on track to reach 880 million by 2030. The affluent segment is compounding at 11.7% a year.

Treat that as one market and you will get it wrong. Delhi and Chennai differ in water hardness, in climate, in the income mix of who is actually buying. The same product, at the same price, does not sell the same way in both.

India has not yet reached the stage other Asian markets went through, where low-cost cross-border e-commerce fills every shelf. There is still room to be chosen on quality and expertise. But the shelves are starting to fill.

490M
Middle and affluent class
35% of the population. Projected to reach 880M (58%) by 2030.
11.7%
Annual growth, affluent segment
Households above Rs 3M annual income. From 56M to 169M by 2030.
27M
Software developers in India
One in seven new developers worldwide. Largest developer population globally by 2028.
450K
IT talent shortfall in Japan, 2030
METI mid-case scenario. 124K in advanced IT roles alone.

Talent is skewed the same way. India has 27 million software developers and will hold the world's largest developer population by 2028. Japan will be short 450,000 by 2030.

Meanwhile quality control, tooling and die, beauty — the disciplines Japan spent decades building are the ones India is now reaching for. Each side is short of what the other has. Saiterace operates the platform that runs in both directions.

Our launch projects are a beauty and personal-colour diagnostic service, and a marketplace for beauty products that have not yet entered India. Neither enters an existing market. Both create one.

Income segment figures from PRICE (ICE 360° Survey, 200,000 households, 2020–21 prices). Developer counts from GitHub. Japan's IT talent shortfall from METI estimates.

What We Do / 02

What we do

One platform, running in both directions.

We operate Maison Saika, a personal beauty and colour diagnostic service for Indian customers who buy on quality and expertise.

It pairs the craft of Japanese beauty professionals with AI, and delivers it across language and distance. Curators work entirely in Japanese and diagnose clients in India without leaving Tokyo.

The platform this business creates — demand side and supply side on the same rails — is what we extend into bringing Japanese products into India and putting Indian software talent to work in Japan.

How It Works

The questionnaire and the photography are completed in-app, in conversation with a human-form AI avatar. Hair stylists, colour analysts and beauty advisors work as Skin Curators and Hair Curators, covering skin and hair as two separate lines.

Five photographs and the questionnaire are overlaid with environmental data for the client's city and analysed by AI. A Curator adds the qualitative reading. Japanese–English translation and report quality control are handled by our own AI and machine learning. Turnaround: 72 hours.

What arrives is a report with the density of an in-person expert consultation, and product recommendations drawn from it. Those products can be selected and tried on the same platform.

Services

What we take on

i.
Japan ▸ India
Testing a product in the Indian market
We list your product in small volume on our own platform and put the physical goods in front of local customers through our Curators. You get purchase behaviour and qualitative response back as the evidence base for a full entry decision.
FormatSmall-volume listing / Response data capture
ii.
India ▸ Japan
Entering the Japanese market
For software, applications and products with a track record in India, we handle GTM design for Japan, first-customer acquisition, adaptation to Japanese business practice, and distributor network build-out.
FormatGTM design / Sales execution / Distributor network
iii.
Engineering
Development capacity
A product owner on the Japan side, working directly with engineers in India. Also available as an external CTO plus development team. We build our own services with the same structure.
FormatDiscovery / One-off Build / Retainer
iv.
Sales Execution
Rebuilding the sales organisation
We diagnose the sales organisation structurally, sit in on live deals, and stay with you through to closed business. What made the deal work stays behind as a repeatable pattern. We also run our own AI deal-analysis platform.
FormatAudit / Sales Lab / Playbook
Also
Earlier-stage conversations are welcome

The four above are the core, but we also take questions at the "should we be in India at all" stage. Write to us and we will tell you plainly what we think.

Why Saiterace / 03

Why Saiterace

We have done this before.
i.
Running an overseas subsidiary
for one of Japan's largest manufacturers

Twenty-four years in sales and business development, ten of them in emerging markets. In Japan, driving CASE product sales and business strategy for major automotive OEMs. In Brazil, heading sales to Japanese OEMs. In India, Representative Director and Senior Vice President of Denso's local subsidiary, with sales, marketing and new business under him. Negotiations with conglomerate-group manufacturers. Pitches to ministers in both governments. Sourcing local startups and vendors. In each country, we know how a deal actually gets decided.

ii.
A market position on both
the B2C and B2B side

Maison Saika delivers diagnostics to Indian consumers, and Japanese brands place products on that same platform. Demand side and supply side are both our own customers. Customer needs and purchase behaviour by region, age, income band and season come to us as first-party data — not as someone else's research.

iii.
Building a business
in India from zero

At Denso's Indian subsidiary, our founder led the launch of the SaaS business "Solwer" as its owner. Five applications for manufacturing and mobility taken to commercial release and subscription billing. The customer base expanded from Japanese firms in India to domestic and international companies, and in 2025 the business was selected for METI's Global South Future-Oriented Co-Creation Program. From launch to revenue, end to end.

A network across government and industry in Japan and abroad. The operating discipline of a large-company career. The record of building a business in India from nothing. Those three rarely sit in one place. That is the reason to choose Saiterace.

Data Asset / 04

Demand data on 1.4 billion people,
at a granularity no one else holds

Granularity no one else has.

Purchase data exists in India. Purchase data tied to skin type, hair type and daily habit does not. Maison Saika's B2C business is our direct contact surface with the Indian market. Raw data from actual transactions keeps a demand heat map by region and income band continuously current. Companies weighing entry into India get the evidence before the decision, not after.

What We Collect
The dataset
  • Customer needs by city, age band and income segment
  • Living environment by city (water quality, UV, air pollution across 57 cities) and its correlation with concerns and purchases
  • Price acceptance by income segment
  • Purchase outcomes and post-use ratings for recommended products
  • Seasonal shifts in concerns and buying
What It Answers
What it decides
  • Market viability before entry, by city and income band
  • The basis for product mix and pricing
  • Which cities to enter, and in what order
  • For companies already present, whether the formulation and the pitch still fit

External access opens in stages as the dataset builds.

Traction / 05

Already in motion

Live engagements, not proposals.

We are running sales in the Japanese market for an AI startup with operations in Japan, India and the United States. The "entering the Japanese market" service described above is a live engagement.

Several further collaborations with major Japanese corporations and consulting firms are in discussion.

Offices / Japan × India

One operation across two countries

Building one operation across two countries.

Development spans both countries. Japan holds product management and decision rights. India runs local operations.

[ HQ · JP ] ACTIVE
Japan headquarters
NAGOYA, AICHI
RoleData Processor
FunctionsProduct management / Decision rights / Contracts in Japan

Product design and decision-making sit here, along with contracting with Japanese companies and the execution of market-entry and sales engagements.

[ SUB · IN ] ESTABLISHING
India subsidiary
INDIA
RoleData Controller
FunctionsLocal operations / Development / Intake for Japan

Local operation of Maison Saika and product implementation. Also the intake point for Indian products headed to Japan.

Founder / 06

Founder

Twenty-four years, ten of them overseas.
Shinya Watanabe

Shinya Watanabe

Founder & CEO, Representative Director
Career
2002
Joined Keyence Corporation. Major automotive accounts.
2006
Joined Denso Corporation. Head office OEM sales — CASE product growth and business strategy for major automotive OEMs.
2013
Seconded to Denso do Brasil Ltda. Head of sales to Japanese OEMs.
2017
Denso Corporation, head office OEM sales.
2020
Denso International India Pvt. Ltd., Representative Director and Senior Vice President — sales, marketing and new business. Led the launch of the SaaS business "Solwer".
2026
Founded Saiterace Inc.
Late 2026
India subsidiary (planned).
Recognition
2022
NNA (Kyodo News Group) reports on a cold-chain logistics pilot — subscriber only, in Japanese
2025
Selected for METI's Global South Future-Oriented Co-Creation Program
2026
The Nikkei and NNA (Kyodo News Group) report on the business and its founder — subscriber only, in Japanese
2026
Invited as head of an AI-driven local subsidiary business to pitch to ministers of both governments (Cabinet Office official X)

All relating to "Solwer", the SaaS business at Denso's Indian subsidiary.

Company / 07

Company

Saiterace Inc.
Legal name
Saiterace Inc.
Japanese name
Saiterace株式会社
Founded
September 2026
Representative Director
Shinya Watanabe (Founder & CEO)
Head office
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Overseas subsidiary
India (planned, late 2026)
Business
Development and operation of proprietary platforms / Bidirectional Japan–India market entry / Offshore and contract development / Sales organisation transformation
Services operated
Maison Saika Tokyo (beauty and personal-colour diagnostics for the Indian market)
Contact
info@saiterace.com
Web
https://saiterace.com
https://www.maisonsaika.com
Let's Talk

Dormant expertise,
to markets it never reached

No stage is too early.

Considering India, standing up an operation there, or bringing an Indian product into Japan — all of it starts with an email.

Japan ▸ India
Test our product in India
India ▸ Japan
Sell our product in Japan
Engineering
Secure development capacity
Sales Execution
Rebuild our sales organisation

If none of these fit, write to info@saiterace.com.

Depending on the nature of the request we may not be able to take it on. We will tell you plainly either way.