| Representative |
Yukihiro Ishida
Born in Kyoto Prefecture in 1981. Graduated from the Department of Clinical Engineering, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hiroshima International University. Worked for over 20 years as a clinical engineer, specializing in hemodialysis and medical device management. Founded a company in 2019 to support medical device development and shifted focus to diabetes-related foot amputation prevention in 2022. The company was reorganized as Second Heart Co., Ltd. in 2023. With the mission of “protecting the feet of people with diabetes and eliminating foot amputations,” the company provides education, diagnostic support, and foot care in Japan and ASEAN countries, centered around the remote foot-check app “Steplife.” Author of *How My Dream Came True After Giving a Presentation at an Izakaya*. |
| Main Achievements |
2026: Achieved 200% of the fundraising target on the equity-based crowdfunding platform ”FUNDINNO"
2026: Formed a capital and business alliance with MRT Co., Ltd., listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market
2025: Began joint research on diabetic neuropathy with Kyoto University Hospital
2025: Established Malaysian subsidiary “SECOND HEART ASIA Sdn. Bhd.”
2025: Selected for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s “Global South Future-Oriented Co-creation Project Grant”
2025: Selected for the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ “Support Program for the Overseas Expansion of Digital Infrastructure Ensuring Safety and Reliability”
2025: Selected for Phase 2 of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s “GlobalXpander Tokyo” program
2024: Released the remote foot check app “Steplife”; selected for Phase 11 of the Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation (SME Support, Japan)’s “FASTAR” program
2023: Participated in the J-StarX “Entrepreneur Development Support Silicon Valley Dispatch Program”; reorganized as Second Heart Co., Ltd.
2023: Finalist in the DEMO DAY of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s “Start-up Next Innovator 2022” program
2021: Published the book *How My Dream Came True After Giving a Presentation at an Izakaya*
2019: Founded Ishida Products LLC
2015: Launched presentation seminars for healthcare and nursing professionals (over 3,000 participants to date) |
| Childhood Dream |
It’s about taking over the local electronics store that my father, who passed away from diabetes, used to run. I wanted to be more than just a seller of home appliances; I wanted to be a presence in the community that people could rely on when they were in trouble—someone who was there for them in their daily lives. Even though my current job is different, my fundamental goal of “supporting the people close to me” hasn’t changed. |
| Influential People, Things, and Events |
Person: “A senior clinical engineer”
Thing: “The saying, ‘Sometimes to cure, often to relieve, always to comfort’”
Experience: “My senior taught me, ‘Don’t try to win over doctors or nurses—win over the patients!’” That lesson was a turning point for me. From then on, I began to place the patient at the center of my decision-making, rather than focusing on titles or job roles, and came to believe that true healthcare means offering comfort and support even when a cure is difficult to achieve. Since then, I have devoted myself wholeheartedly to practicing patient-first healthcare. |
| Motivation, Goals, and Ideal World |
In this era of 100-year lifespans, I want to create a way of working that allows healthcare professionals to continue contributing to patient care throughout their lives while leveraging their clinical experience. This is the starting point for my venture. As a clinical engineer, I have worked directly with patients. Time and again, I have witnessed amputations that might have been prevented if abnormalities in the feet had been detected earlier and appropriate care had been provided. Losing a foot can affect not only walking but also work, going out, social connections, and the will to live. On the other hand, the time available to see patients in a hospital is limited, and many abnormalities occur in daily life between medical visits. I wanted to fill this gap—which cannot be bridged by on-site efforts alone—through a systematic approach.
We were founded in 2019 as part of a medical device development support program, shifted our focus to diabetes-related foot amputation prevention in 2022, and reorganized as Second Heart Co., Ltd. in 2023. Currently, centered on “Steplife”—a platform that allows patients to share images of their feet and symptoms taken with a smartphone with healthcare professionals—we are integrating patient education, AI-assisted early detection, neuropathy screening, foot care, and collaboration between medical and long-term care services into a single, seamless process.
Our goal is to create a social infrastructure that does not rely solely on patients’ self-management or the dedication of healthcare professionals, but rather detects abnormalities even when the patient is unaware of them and connects them to necessary medical care. We aim to expand this system, born in Japan, to ASEAN countries where diabetes and foot amputations are more severe, and eliminate the loss of limbs due to differences in location, income, or access to medical resources. We will realize a world where everyone can walk on their own two feet, work, meet people, and continue participating in society until the very end. |
Media Produced by ASCII STARTUP
