Japanese internet company CyberAgent recently launched a crowdsourcing platform called Mama & Crowd, which is focused on crowdsourced jobs for women with kids.
Many mothers typically want to work to supplement their household income, but it can be difficult to find a nursery that would allow for conventional work at an office. The platform aims to help these mothers work at home by giving them crowdsourced jobs they can do while still caring for their kids.
via CNET Japan
Japan’s Kakaku.com, the company that operates food review portal Tabelog, has announced that its premium membership (which costs 315 yen per month [1]) has now reached 350,000 subscribers as of March 16. The last time we checked in on these figures was last August, when it had 250,000 members. So we can say that growth since that time has been very impressive, especially in the face of challenges from new startups in the food space here in Japan. Tabelog’s premium service offers high discount coupons (ranging from 20% to 100% off), and mobile apps with advanced sorting/filtering preferences. This premium service began back in September of 2010. According to Kakaku.com, there are over 760,000 restaurants currently registered on Tabelog, with 5 million reviews, and 53 million monthly users split (almost evenly) among PC and smartphones. Or just over $3. ↩
Japan’s Kakaku.com, the company that operates food review portal Tabelog, has announced that its premium membership (which costs 315 yen per month [1]) has now reached 350,000 subscribers as of March 16. The last time we checked in on these figures was last August, when it had 250,000 members. So we can say that growth since that time has been very impressive, especially in the face of challenges from new startups in the food space here in Japan.
Tabelog’s premium service offers high discount coupons (ranging from 20% to 100% off), and mobile apps with advanced sorting/filtering preferences. This premium service began back in September of 2010.
According to Kakaku.com, there are over 760,000 restaurants currently registered on Tabelog, with 5 million reviews, and 53 million monthly users split (almost evenly) among PC and smartphones.
KDDI has announced that its au SmartPass a-la-carte app service has surpassed 10 million paid subscribers (as of March 17th), which is double its total subscriber base from around this time a year ago. It initially launched two years back in March of 2012. The monthly subscription service charges a fee of 390 yen per month, giving users access to hundreds of mobile applications, as well as other services like coupons, storage, security, and backup. KDDI/au had a total mobile subscriber base of about 40 million users in total in Japan in February. Via BCN
KDDI has announced that its au SmartPass a-la-carte app service has surpassed 10 million paid subscribers (as of March 17th), which is double its total subscriber base from around this time a year ago. It initially launched two years back in March of 2012. The monthly subscription service charges a fee of 390 yen per month, giving users access to hundreds of mobile applications, as well as other services like coupons, storage, security, and backup.
KDDI/au had a total mobile subscriber base of about 40 million users in total in Japan in February.
Osaka-based ‘Yume no Machi SoZo Iinkai‘ (literally meaning ‘committee creating a dream town’) is the company behind Japan’s leading food delivery site Demaecan. It recently announced that it has invested 100 million yen (approximately $983,000) in Tokyo-based Tamecco, a startup that has been developing a customer loyalty app using artificial intelligence technology. Tamecco has partnered with more than 300 restaurant and retail chains in Japan. Their app helps them establish a solid relationship with customers by leveraging its geographical and social media features. The company was launched back in 2012 by former investment banker Jonah Oh. They also have Google Japan’s former CEO Koichiro Tsujino on their advisory board. via Venture Now
Osaka-based ‘Yume no Machi SoZo Iinkai‘ (literally meaning ‘committee creating a dream town’) is the company behind Japan’s leading food delivery site Demaecan. It recently announced that it has invested 100 million yen (approximately $983,000) in Tokyo-based Tamecco, a startup that has been developing a customer loyalty app using artificial intelligence technology.
Tamecco has partnered with more than 300 restaurant and retail chains in Japan. Their app helps them establish a solid relationship with customers by leveraging its geographical and social media features.
The company was launched back in 2012 by former investment banker Jonah Oh. They also have Google Japan’s former CEO Koichiro Tsujino on their advisory board.
via Venture Now
Based on the original article in Japanese Touchten Games is a Jakarta-based game studio which raised Series B financing from Japan’s CyberAgent Ventures back in November 2013. And the games startup most recently announced that it has completed its Series B round, by raising funds from Japanese animation studio Tms Entertainment, Singapore’s UOB Venture Management, and Indonesian incubator Ideosource. The amount(s) of funds were not disclosed. Early this year, Tms Entertainment invested in Blina, an Indonesian E-commerce site for baby products. We hope to take a more detailed look at Tms’s involvement with Indonesian startups in the near future. Touchten, a startup that just celebrated its fifth year in business this March, is now focusing on developing its online-to-offline Touchten Platform (see above). Incorporating a gamification approach, the launch of this platform actually helped a lot as they were trying to complete their Series B round. On this platform, users can acquire points based on the result of the games they played. Those points can be exchanged for items at partnering retail stores, who then also benefit when those users enter the shops. Touchten Platform will be implemented in a new Touchten game to be released this month for the…
Based on the original article in Japanese
Touchten Games is a Jakarta-based game studio which raised Series B financing from Japan’s CyberAgent Ventures back in November 2013. And the games startup most recently announced that it has completed its Series B round, by raising funds from Japanese animation studio Tms Entertainment, Singapore’s UOB Venture Management, and Indonesian incubator Ideosource. The amount(s) of funds were not disclosed.
Early this year, Tms Entertainment invested in Blina, an Indonesian E-commerce site for baby products. We hope to take a more detailed look at Tms’s involvement with Indonesian startups in the near future.
Touchten, a startup that just celebrated its fifth year in business this March, is now focusing on developing its online-to-offline Touchten Platform (see above). Incorporating a gamification approach, the launch of this platform actually helped a lot as they were trying to complete their Series B round.
On this platform, users can acquire points based on the result of the games they played. Those points can be exchanged for items at partnering retail stores, who then also benefit when those users enter the shops.
Touchten Platform will be implemented in a new Touchten game to be released this month for the Indonesian market. We understand that the acquired points can be used in some of Indonesia’s biggest convenience stores, certain restaurants, karaoke cafes, or movie theaters. They plan to expand the platform in Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam by the end of this year, and are also now looking for potential partner companies in the Philippines and Malaysia.
A few months back my colleague Junya posted an article (on our Japanese site) about the typical questions that he usually asks entrepreneurs during interviews. So after I recently presented on a similar topic last weekend at a local iOS meet-up here in Tokyo, I thought perhaps I’d share some of the main points here – for Japanese startups and entrepreneurs especially. All my slides can be found here, if you’d like to read the extended version [1]. When it comes to covering technology companies and startups here in Japan, I’m always very surprised (and somewhat disappointed) that Japanese startups don’t reach out to me more often [2]. I usually tell companies not to hesitate in contacting me, even if it’s for just a small update. Even though I might not write about it, I’d still like to know what you’re doing and how you’re doing. For app developers in particular, such updates could be: Your initial app launch A new version with new features, new localization Download milestones A notable partnership A round of fundraising The question that I usually ask myself when deciding whether or not to share a story with readers is “Is this remarkable?” If I’m…
A few months back my colleague Junya posted an article (on our Japanese site) about the typical questions that he usually asks entrepreneurs during interviews. So after I recently presented on a similar topic last weekend at a local iOS meet-up here in Tokyo, I thought perhaps I’d share some of the main points here – for Japanese startups and entrepreneurs especially. All my slides can be found here, if you’d like to read the extended version [1].
When it comes to covering technology companies and startups here in Japan, I’m always very surprised (and somewhat disappointed) that Japanese startups don’t reach out to me more often [2]. I usually tell companies not to hesitate in contacting me, even if it’s for just a small update. Even though I might not write about it, I’d still like to know what you’re doing and how you’re doing. For app developers in particular, such updates could be:
The question that I usually ask myself when deciding whether or not to share a story with readers is “Is this remarkable?” If I’m not interested in it, then it’s hard for me to make readers interested. I also need to consider whether it’s a story that has already been covered or not. While many media sites tend to rewrite company press releases or other media reports, that’s something that I’d prefer to avoid in favor of communicating something that hasn’t yet been communicated [3]. We’d like to fill a real need rather than just re-blog.
It’s also important to keep in mind the scope of a tech publication before pitching your story. For example, we tend to target much of our content towards investors, so we will usually ask questions that we anticipate they might have. Before speaking to press, you should be aware of what you are willing to disclose and what you are not. If you disclose something you shouldn’t have, or something your investor would prefer kept secret, that’s your problem – not mine [4].
Startups can also prepare extensive ‘about’ and ‘FAQ’ pages that can answer many journalists’ questions in advance. Your backstory is important, and laying out a timeline of events in your company’s history is helpful. You should also prepare company logos, team photos, maybe an office photo (if your office does not suck), and screenshots (if you are an app developer). It’s always wise to provide high resolution versions of your images, because if you ever want to be covered by a magazine or newspaper, low-rez JPGs aren’t good enough.
Inviting journalists to beta test your app is also something I wish companies did more often, especially here in Japan. I’m not sure if there is any regional difference, but in my own experience it seems like Japanese developers aren’t as accustomed or willing to let writers preview early beta releases. But giving someone time to understand your product better will help ensure that they can better communicate what it’s about, rather than just give a superficial overview from your press release talking points. On top of that, making yourself or your company representatives available for an interview is obviously a big help as well. You don’t necessarily need to be in the same location, because interviews over email or Skype are always easy to arrange.
At the risk of making my own role unnecessary, I think startups should also maintain their own blog and social media presences too. Maybe this is obvious, but I don’t see too many companies taking advantage of this as well as they should. Capturing an audience pre-launch via Launchrock or building a newsletter using something like Mailchimp (as we do here) can be helpful in keeping in contact with people interested in your service. Sources can go directly to consumers when it suits them. Line Corporation is a good example of this [5].
For more information that might help when reaching out to press, do check out my slides in full, as it includes lots of links and external resources that you might find helpful.
This particular article/summary is written with many Japanese tech companies and startups in mind. ↩
Of course in some cases this is due to a language gap. But in most cases, I think it’s not. ↩
The redundancy of the tech press these days is absolutely agonizing. ↩
Compared to Western companies, Japanese companies and startups are surprisingly comfortable asking me for changes or adjustments after I publish. Taking information away from a reader after I give it to them is something like taking giving a child a cookie and then snatching it from his hands a moment later. But insofar as I can see, media in Japan often work to please companies more than they do to please their readers. ↩
Although they aren’t the most responsive when you send question their way. ↩
Masaru Ikeda
Rick Martin
