MangaChat lands $195K DBS grant built on Tohoku University patents
What's the deal? MangaChatDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Global, a Singapore-based children's mental health AI startup, has won a US$183.3K (≈$195,000) grant from DBS FoundationDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The money will fund development of its AI Help-Bot and health screening tools.
What does it do? MangaChat uses generative AI to turn a child's text into manga in real time — an emotional journaling technique for ages 8 to 12. It pairs AI-made animations with gamified cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to help children record feelings naturally.
What's the endgame? The platform spans classroom social-emotional learning to non-diagnostic early screening for ADHD, ASD, anxiety, and depression. It is building technology that auto-annotates children's daily interaction data to bridge everyday behaviour and expert assessment.
The screening function runs on patents MangaChat received from Japan's Tohoku University — the first time a Japanese university has transferred IP through the IPHatch programme, run by Piece Future with Tohoku's industry-liaison office and Panasonic Holdings.
By the numbers: MangaChat now serves 150,000-plus users across 163 schools, NPOs, and medical institutions, concentrated in Singapore and Taiwan. In Taiwan, it secured citywide school adoption in Keelung and a recommendation from the education ministry.
The company has also signed a joint research agreement with the lab of associate professor Chihiro Hosoda at Tohoku University, studying children's language and emotional development. The work feeds into CCC 2.0, a parenting AI project under Japan's Moonshot Goal 9.
What's next? The IPHatch route opened MangaChat's path into Japan via Piece Future's network. It exhibited at the IPHatch Panasonic Demo Day in December 2025 and signed an MOU with Artec, a maker of school materials and educational toys, to push into Japanese classrooms.
What they said: "Without Piece Future and IPHatch in Sendai, the Tohoku University patent technology, the Panasonic Demo Day, and the Artec MOU would not have happened," said co-founder and chief executive officer Joe Huang (translated from Japanese). "Opening children's hearts with manga and animation, and connecting families with experts through automated annotation technology — that is our next stage."
The signal: The grant sits in the lower band of deals its size — modest capital, but notable as proof that the IPHatch model can move university patents into a startup and support international expansion at once.
Read more: prtimes.jp
Image credit: PlaSmart Inc
