Hitachi Construction Machinery Begins Soliciting Ideas for the "LANDCROS Innovation Studios Mining Challenge"
Tokyo, November 4, 2025 - Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. (TSE:6305, President and Executive Officer: Masafumi Senzaki; "Hitachi Construction Machinery") announced today that they have launched the "LANDCROS Innovation Studios Mining Challenge," a project which solicits ideas from startup companies around the world. This year's challenge will target the field of mining, and the application deadline is January 20, 2026.
Under the "LANDCROS Innovation Studios Mining Challenge," Hitachi Construction Machinery will solicit ideas from startup companies across the following three mining-related challenge themes:
- SMARTER MACHINES
- SMARTER MINE SITES
- LOW IMPACT & SUSTAINABLE MINING (reducing the environmental impact across mining operations and achieving sustainable resource mining)
Hitachi Construction Machinery will select approximately three companies per theme up to a total of 10 companies from among the applicant companies. Successful applicants will be invited to a pitch event to be hosted on April 16, 2026, at the event venue in Brisbane, Australia (Oceania region), which is the world's largest mining market. One company will ultimately be selected as the winner for each theme, and Hitachi Construction Machinery plans to collaborate with the selected companies. This project will be jointly implemented together with Founders Factory Ltd. (Headquarters: London, England), a leading global tech accelerator and venture studio with extensive knowledge and experience in scaling innovation across mining and industry.
LANDCROS Innovation Studios is a "forum for collaborative innovation" to accelerate ties with startup companies and the creation of new businesses that Hitachi Construction Machinery is expanding globally. Its goal is to function not only as a physical location but as an ecosystem where Hitachi Construction Machinery's Group companies, customers, startup companies, and challengers from various industries intersect and jointly create future forms of value. The current "LANDCROS Innovation Studios Challenge" is one representative initiative as an open innovation project in which Hitachi Construction Machinery collaborates with external startup companies for the purpose of developing next-generation solutions. Last year's "Hitachi Construction Machinery Challenge 2024" solicited ideas regarding the development of connected construction machinery and received applications from 127 companies around the world. Hitachi Construction Machinery is currently collaborating with the three winning companies.
Hitachi Construction Machinery's mining business focuses on open-pit mining, and its strength lies in the ability to offer products and solutions that solve customer challenges across diverse touch points from "Pit to Plant" in the mining site, which is achieved not only through the mining process where mining machinery is used but also by welcoming companies responsible for mine operation management and data analysis, mill liners and other wear-resistant parts used in mineral processing, and remanufacturing and maintenance services through M&A. Through this current project, Hitachi Construction Machinery will further strengthen ties with startup companies and co-create innovative solutions in the mining field.
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About Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.
Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. (TSE: 6305), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a construction machinery manufacturer that globally deploys development, manufacturing, sales, and service businesses for its hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, compaction equipment, and mining machinery, etc. In addition to its new machinery business, Hitachi Construction Machinery is expanding its "value chain businesses" of parts and services, remanufacturing (parts and machines), rentals, and used equipment as it continues to grow together with customers as a solutions provider that offers innovative solutions to customers. With roughly 26,000 employees around the world, the consolidated sales revenue for Hitachi Construction Machinery was 1,371.3 billion yen for fiscal year 2024 (ended March 2025) with an overseas sales revenue ratio of 84%. For more details, please see the company's website.
The company plans to change its trade name to "LANDCROS Corporation" and its corporate brand to "LANDCROS" on April 1, 2027.
About Founders Factory Ltd.
Founders Factory builds and funds startups together with exceptional entrepreneurs and the world's leading companies. Created by IPO-exited founders and operating globally, including London, New York, Berlin, Milan, Perth and Singapore, Founders Factory offers founders capital, operational support from a team of hands-on experts, and unrivalled access to a coalition of industry leading corporate partners.
Founders Factory's Venture Studio co-founds businesses from inception, developing new ideas, technologies and business models into high growth companies.
Operating sector-focused Accelerator programs and Venture Funds for pre-seed and seed stage startups, Founders Factory invests in talented and diverse founding teams across industries and geographies—with a current focus on Mining, Nature, FinTech, Health, Climate, and Deep Tech.
Since 2015, Founders Factory's 400+ portfolio companies have raised over $4 billion follow-on funding from leading funds and investors.
Information contained in this news release is current as of the date of the press announcement, but may be subject to change without prior notice.
