FRI AM News: WisBusiness: the Podcast with Andrew Seaborg, honorary consul of Japan in Wisconsin; MMAC, other groups suing Port Washington over ballot measure

January 30, 2026

— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Andrew Seaborg, honorary consul of Japan in Wisconsin.

He provides insights on the newly launched Wisconsin-Japan Strategic Investment Partnership, which will help companies in the state understand Japan’s “historic” Strategic Investment Initiative. This pledge to invest $550 billion in the United States over the next three years was announced last year as part of a trade agreement with the Trump administration.

“It’s important to remember that Japan has been the largest foreign direct investor in the United States for more than a decade,” Seaborg said. “Total foreign investment in the United States already approaching a trillion dollars … I kind of view this as they’re speeding up their timetable for investment over the next couple of years.”

The White House entered into a memorandum of understanding with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi outlining the program, though Seaborg noted “there’s not a ton of detail on this” at this stage.

Still, it’s clear the SII will focus on key sectors including advanced manufacturing, biohealth, energy, semiconductors, critical minerals and ship building, he said. He noted projects under SII need to have an established Japanese partner or “nexus” to be considered.

“It’s a massive opportunity,” he said. “One of the reasons … we started WJSIP is to give Wisconsin companies the longest possible runway and the biggest headstart.”

The trade deal that led to the half-trillion dollar pledge was reached after the U.S. government had initially levied tariffs of 25% to 50% on Japan, Seaborg noted. While the deal secured lower tariffs for Japan, he said “it’s a little unfortunate that we went after our friends.”

Seaborg also touted Japan’s approach to international business.

“Japan is an absolutely brilliant partner … they respect intellectual property, they have a wonderful track record for creating very high paying, family-sustaining jobs,” he said. “They take a long-term approach to all of their investment in the United States.”

The effort was launched with the support of former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, who chairs the WJSIP.

Listen to the podcast and see the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts.

See more in a recent story.

— The MMAC and other business groups are suing Port Washington over an April ballot measure related to requiring electorate approval for certain economic development projects.

The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce and other organizations yesterday announced the lawsuit, which seeks an injunction against the ballot measure. It would mandate electorate approval for any economic development project that uses Tax Incremental District financing of $10 million or more, according to the release.

MMAC President and CEO Dale Kooyenga says the measure would conflict with state law, noting it already spells out the process for approving TIDs. He argues the ballot measure would be “devastating” for economic development in Port Washington and set a harmful precedent.

“Drastic measures like the one we’re embarking on with this lawsuit are not taken lightly,” he said in a statement.

MMAC argues state law doesn’t authorize voter referendums for creating a TID, or allow municipalities to change this process on their own.

Tom Larson, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Realtors Association, says TIDs provide stability to communities in the state as they seek to attract business development.

“Injecting political uncertainty through referenda would delay projects, discourage builders and employers and make Port Washington – and ultimately Wisconsin – far less competitive when investors decide where to commit their capital,” he said in the MMAC release.

Other groups involved in the lawsuit include Associated General Contractors of Greater Milwaukee, Building Advantage, Commercial Association of REALTORS Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Realtors Association, NAIOP Wisconsin and Sid’s Sealants LLC.

See the release.

See a recent story on data center issues, which includes remarks from Port Washington leadership.

— Legislation circulating this week would create new requirements for virtual currency kiosks, sometimes called bitcoin ATMs, to help prevent fraud.

Rep. Patrick Snyder, R-Weston, Sen. Jesse James, R-Thorp, and other lawmakers recently sent a co-sponsorship memo for LRB- 5468/1. It’s one of several bills recommended by the Speaker’s Task Force on Elder Services, which is chaired by Snyder.

Bill authors say the kiosks they’re targeting are often used by scammers pretending to be government officials, technical support or bankers. Those being targeted are directed to put thousands of dollars into these machines, which converts them into cryptocurrency for the scammers, according to memo.

The push for new regulations in Wisconsin comes amid rising bitcoin ATM fraud nationally, with related scams reaching $333 million in losses last year based on FBI findings. That’s up 33% from 2024, the memo shows.

Lawmakers note the companies operating these kiosks collect fees of up to 30% for making a transfer.

They also reference a report from Iowa showing more than 98% of the money state residents reported sending through a company called Bitcoin Depot were scam transactions. It notes most scam victims and bitcoin ATM users were above age 60.

Last year, the state Department of Financial Institutions issued regulatory guidance on bitcoin ATMs, warning of an “alarming uptick in reports of fraud” linked to these machines. The agency noted bitcoin ATMs are used for illegal transactions twice as often as the overall cryptocurrency industry.

Wisconsin reportedly has about 1,000 bitcoin ATMS.

Under the proposed legislation, virtual currency kiosk operators would have to be licensed with the state, and would be required to display fraud warnings at their kiosks and provide physical and electronic receipts for every transaction. User deposits would be limited to $500 per day, and transaction charges would be capped at 3% of the transaction or $5.

The lawmakers are also seeking to force kiosk operators to verify the identity of depositors before transactions, provide a full refund within 30 days when a fraudulent transaction occurs, and provide live customer service for scam prevention whenever their kiosks are operable.

Bitcoin ATMs also couldn’t be located within five feet of an actual ATM.

The co-sponsorship deadline is noon today.

— UW-Madison and university spin-off company Immuto Scientific will seek to identify new drug targets to improve treatments for colorectal cancer patients.

The university yesterday announced the collaborative agreement with the Madison-based company, which has a specialized platform for identifying new therapeutic targets that can’t be found by other approaches.

These “surface protein conformations,” or SPCs, could be used for safer and more precise treatments for solid colorectal cancer tumors, according to the announcement.

While the joint effort will hinge on the company’s platform, Immuto Scientific will also get access to unique human tissue models of cancer through the partnership.

This work will be led by Dr. Dustin Deming, a professor of medicine with the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. He says the university’s collection of patient-derived cancer models “enables exploration of tumor biology and therapeutic vulnerabilities” in ways that aren’t possible with traditional models.

Faraz Choudhury, co-founder and CEO of Immuto Scientific, says working with the university on this project is “an exceptional opportunity” to study colon cancer.

“By integrating patient-derived models with our structural surfaceomics platform, we can reveal previously unseen, disease-specific surface structures for drug targets that open new possibilities for therapeutic intervention,” he said in a statement.

Immuto Scientific is based on technology created by UW-Madison’s electrical engineering and biochemistry departments and patented by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

See the release.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

Sign up here.

— A Madison tech company called Frilly has launched a platform to help other businesses prepare for AI-powered internet searches.

The tech company is releasing a beta version of two products: Smart Discovery and Smart Chat. The former offers free, AI-ready profiles optimized for traditional search engines and AI assistants through structured data and machine-readable formats, while the latter is an embeddable AI agent trained on business content that answers website visitor questions in plain language.

“Traditional [search engine optimization] focuses on ranking high in search results, but when AI assistants provide answers directly, there are no rankings to climb, only recommendations to earn,” Frilly founder and CEO Jorge Reyna said in a statement. “Frilly is being built to help local businesses speak the language AI understands while giving them tools to engage their website visitors more effectively.”

Frilly’s first customer, 100state, is a startup co-working space in downtown Madison.

See more at Madison Startups.

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