Tokyo-based startup VC firm Global Brain is holding an annual showcase conference called Global Brain Alliance Forum in Tokyo today.
The company announced at the event today that it will open a regional office in Seoul, Korea, in January 2015, as part of their intensified investment effort in Asia. Chester Jungseok Roh, a prominent angel investor in Korea as well as CSO of Korean startup 5Rocks, will be appointed as chief representative for the Seoul office. Roh has invested in notable Korean startups such as TicketMonster, PaprikaLab, Dialoid, Shakr Media, Noom, and Memebox, as well as having exited his own four startups via IPO and M&A with Google. He is also a co-founder of Korean incubator Fast Track Asia.
According to Global Brain CEO Yasuhiko Yurimoto, there are many investment opportunities coming to Roh from promising startups in Korea. The company plans to strengthen investment in Korea in partnership with Korea’s governmental business promotion company KOTRA, as well as local incubators.
Global Brain also announced that it will relocate its office to Shibuya, a startup hub in Japan. They will lease an entire building and focus on cultivating the startup community by deploying EIR (Entrepreneurs in Residence) activities.
See the original story in Japanese. Telepathy Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of Sunnyvale-based wearable device startup Telepathy, unveiled a new product today called Telepathy Jumper. The company will start accepting pre-orders this month, and begin shipping to corporate users in March 2015 and to consumers in summer of 2015. Telepathy had originally aimed to release the Telepathy One smartglass, but the new product, the Telepathy Jumper, is no more than a shadow of the original concept. It looks like a wearable device rather than a smartglass, and it is connected by a cable to a controller pad. According to Telepathy Japan President and CEO Kenichi Suzuki, Telepathy Jumper is to be worn from the neck, but only when necessary rather than being worn all the time. But for those who want to always wear the device, the company will provide a supplemental head mounting attachment as well as make its 3D data available so that users can create a customized attachment at DMM’s Tokyo 3D Printing Center. See also: Google Glass, you’ve got company! Sekai Camera inventor introduces Telepathy One Japanese Google Glass challenger raises $5 million Telepathy CEO discusses the future of wearable technology at TechCrunch Tokyo Telepathy Jumper…
Telepathy Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of Sunnyvale-based wearable device startup Telepathy, unveiled a new product today called Telepathy Jumper. The company will start accepting pre-orders this month, and begin shipping to corporate users in March 2015 and to consumers in summer of 2015.
Telepathy had originally aimed to release the Telepathy One smartglass, but the new product, the Telepathy Jumper, is no more than a shadow of the original concept. It looks like a wearable device rather than a smartglass, and it is connected by a cable to a controller pad.
According to Telepathy Japan President and CEO Kenichi Suzuki, Telepathy Jumper is to be worn from the neck, but only when necessary rather than being worn all the time. But for those who want to always wear the device, the company will provide a supplemental head mounting attachment as well as make its 3D data available so that users can create a customized attachment at DMM’s Tokyo 3D Printing Center.
Telepathy Jumper runs on Android 4.2 and has Sense-Core Engine, which manages multiple accelerometers and location sensors. So an app running on Telepathy Jumper will not need to receive metrics from multiple sensors respectively, but can receive the ones from the engine in a more contextual way, like whether or not you are standing or the device is in your bag. In this way, developers of apps for the device can decrease development and processing steps.
Telepathy Japan CEO & President Kenichi Suzuki
Based on the concept of co-creation, two apps called Eye Connect and Talent Buzz will be installed in the device as a factory default. Eye Connect allows users to share their visuals via one-click. If a user sets connection privileges to open to the public, a user can share sights with other users upon their connection requests. Talent Buzz is a platform allowing users to share their knowledge, skills, and experiences. It has many business applications such as transferring knowledge about manufacturing processes from skilled workers to trainees, or sharing how to better serve customers at a restaurant.
Regarding opportunities allowing third-party developers to create apps for Telepathy Jumper, the company has decided to disclose an API, but technical specifications like the Android Wear compatibility have not yet been decided.
Our original anticipation for Telepathy’s product was based on the novel design and concept of its hardware mock-up. In other words, the company will be more focused on manufacturing better hardware but rely on community-based activities for app development. Coinciding with the announcement of Telepathy Jumper, the company announced that it aims to provide a total user experience leveraging a combination of hardware, app, and the cloud, which can be highly regarded because they went beyond just developing a hardware product.
This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese. Tokyo-based Money Forward, the startup behind the personal accounting app of the same name, announced today that it has raised 1.5 billion yen (about $12.6 million) from Japanese investment company Jafco, credit card company Credit Saison, packaged software developer Source Next, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, Dentsu Digital Holdings, and GMO Venture Partners. Details of the investment have not been disclosed. This follows their previous round fundraising $5 million from Jafco last year. Money Forward provides online personal accounting for individuals, allowing them to easily manage their daily expenses by integrating with their bank passbooks and credit purchase history with information scraped from their web bank and credit accounts. The service is also available for desktop, as well as iOS and Android platforms. Coinciding with the funds, the company announced that it will launch a payroll service in March 2015. This will be the third line-up for them, following a cloud-based tax-return and accounting solution and a cloud-based invoicing platform.
This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese.
Tokyo-based Money Forward, the startup behind the personal accounting app of the same name, announced today that it has raised 1.5 billion yen (about $12.6 million) from Japanese investment company Jafco, credit card company Credit Saison, packaged software developer Source Next, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, Dentsu Digital Holdings, and GMO Venture Partners. Details of the investment have not been disclosed. This follows their previous round fundraising $5 million from Jafco last year.
Money Forward provides online personal accounting for individuals, allowing them to easily manage their daily expenses by integrating with their bank passbooks and credit purchase history with information scraped from their web bank and credit accounts. The service is also available for desktop, as well as iOS and Android platforms.
Coinciding with the funds, the company announced that it will launch a payroll service in March 2015. This will be the third line-up for them, following a cloud-based tax-return and accounting solution and a cloud-based invoicing platform.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based incubator 01Booster announced today that it would launch a startup acceleration program called Morinaga Accelerator in partnership with Japanese confectionery giant Morinaga & Company (TSE:2201). This is part of the Okashinnovation project, an innovation initiative launched by the confectionery company last April, that aims to stimulate people’s interest and creativity by leveraging the attraction of confections. The program will bring Morinaga, entrepreneurs, and SMEs together to complement each other in order to make innovation happen. While we have not seen many incubation initiatives by the food industry, companies like Samuel Adams, Procter & Gamble, and Coca Cola have their own investment or incubation arm. Morinaga Accelerator will begin receiving applications from entrepreneurs in January 2015, followed by a launch of the first batch in April 2015. 01Booster announced the launch of Gakken Accelerator in partnership with Japanese leading education service company Gakken (TSE:9470) in October. 01Booster expects to increase partnerships with more established companies and accelerate Open Innovation initiatives in the startup community.
Tokyo-based incubator 01Booster announced today that it would launch a startup acceleration program called Morinaga Accelerator in partnership with Japanese confectionery giant Morinaga & Company (TSE:2201).
This is part of the Okashinnovation project, an innovation initiative launched by the confectionery company last April, that aims to stimulate people’s interest and creativity by leveraging the attraction of confections. The program will bring Morinaga, entrepreneurs, and SMEs together to complement each other in order to make innovation happen.
While we have not seen many incubation initiatives by the food industry, companies like Samuel Adams, Procter & Gamble, and Coca Cola have their own investment or incubation arm. Morinaga Accelerator will begin receiving applications from entrepreneurs in January 2015, followed by a launch of the first batch in April 2015.
01Booster announced the launch of Gakken Accelerator in partnership with Japanese leading education service company Gakken (TSE:9470) in October. 01Booster expects to increase partnerships with more established companies and accelerate Open Innovation initiatives in the startup community.
This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese. Gugen, the annual hardware contest aimed at encouraging engineers to develop futuristic products, held its second edition last week, where Japanese functional pacifier device called Oshaburi Sensor won the top prize followed by nine other contestants. At last year’s contest, functional prosthetic hand Handiii won the top prize and subsequently secured funds to develop its first prototype through a crowdfunding campaign. Some 126 submissions were made to the competition; let’s have a quick look at the most outstanding devices. Oshaburi Sensor: Sensor-enabled pacifier device This device allows parents to see how strongly their baby sucks on a pacifier. Based on a recording of the pattern of sucking, the device can detect the condition of a baby and alert a parent if necessary. Scopion: Distance measurement device Scopion is a distance measurement device that counts the number of people that have passed in front of the device or measures the distance between the device and an obstacle. The measured metrics can be transmitted to a smartphone via BlueTooth to alert the user of the results. Raplus: Rehabilitation assistance device This device is an attachable, robotic rehabilitation assistant for the knee….
This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese.
Gugen, the annual hardware contest aimed at encouraging engineers to develop futuristic products, held its second edition last week, where Japanese functional pacifier device called Oshaburi Sensor won the top prize followed by nine other contestants.
At last year’s contest, functional prosthetic hand Handiii won the top prize and subsequently secured funds to develop its first prototype through a crowdfunding campaign.
Some 126 submissions were made to the competition; let’s have a quick look at the most outstanding devices.
Oshaburi Sensor: Sensor-enabled pacifier device
This device allows parents to see how strongly their baby sucks on a pacifier. Based on a recording of the pattern of sucking, the device can detect the condition of a baby and alert a parent if necessary.
Scopion: Distance measurement device
Scopion is a distance measurement device that counts the number of people that have passed in front of the device or measures the distance between the device and an obstacle. The measured metrics can be transmitted to a smartphone via BlueTooth to alert the user of the results.
Raplus: Rehabilitation assistance device
This device is an attachable, robotic rehabilitation assistant for the knee.
RulerBot: Digital scale ruler
This digital scale ruler takes measurements that are longer than the ruler so that a line can be drawn that is longer than the ruler while also measuring total length.
Oriev: Folding electric motorcycle
Oriev is a folding electric motorcycle that is easy to tote by hand.
OTOPOT: Water pot voice message recorder
OTOPOT records short messages when a user lifts the lid and speaks into the pot. When the lid is lifted again the recorded message is played. Tilting the pot deletes the message.
PRS: Personal home security system
PRS is a personal security system for homes or shops. It sends an email alert to a smartphone if changes are detected in the area being monitored.
Hikari x Tsumiki: Playable functional blocks
Every block from this product has a different function that allows users to create a variety of functionalities according to the pattern of the connected blocks.
Mouth motion-based user interface for the physically changed
Designed for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) patients and the physically challenged, this device allows users to control their PC or motorized wheelchair via mouth movements.
Korokoro Plug: Measuring wheel device for smartphone
Korokoro Plug is a measuring wheel device for smartphones. No battery is needed because it is plug-in powered via earphone jack.
See the original story in Japanese. Japanese Internet company Adways (TSE:2489) announced today that it has secured a comprehensive business partnership with Taiwanese startup VMFive, the company behind AdPlay. AdPlay lets users demo an app before purchasing it with no pre-installed software or SDKs required from developers. As part of this effort, Adways has integrated its app pre-registration platform Yoyaku Top 10 (also known in English as PreLaunch Party) with VMFive’s AdPlay, which lets users demo an app before its launch. The new feature based on this integration is called Teaser Play. See also: Japan’s Adways launches pre-registration platform in US, helping game developers better monetize Adways plans to integrate AdPlay into the company’s app tracking tool PartyTrack as well, aiming to better support game developers from the pre-launch phase to the post-landing phase for their titles. See also: Adways’ Party Track begins integration with 5Rocks to create one-stop mobile analytics solution The Teaser Play feature is available in the Japanese edition of Yoyaku Top 10, but will soon expand to the Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, and US editions.
Japanese Internet company Adways (TSE:2489) announced today that it has secured a comprehensive business partnership with Taiwanese startup VMFive, the company behind AdPlay. AdPlay lets users demo an app before purchasing it with no pre-installed software or SDKs required from developers.
As part of this effort, Adways has integrated its app pre-registration platform Yoyaku Top 10 (also known in English as PreLaunch Party) with VMFive’s AdPlay, which lets users demo an app before its launch. The new feature based on this integration is called Teaser Play.
Adways plans to integrate AdPlay into the company’s app tracking tool PartyTrack as well, aiming to better support game developers from the pre-launch phase to the post-landing phase for their titles.
The Teaser Play feature is available in the Japanese edition of Yoyaku Top 10, but will soon expand to the Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, and US editions.
The screen transition of the Teaser Play-enabled PreLaunch Party platform.
Masaru Ikeda
Takeshi Hirano
Junya Mori
