This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
1776 Challenge Cup － Regional Competition in Tokyo was held for the first time in Japan yesterday. Five winners from 23 “pitchers” at this year’s competition were chosen so they can be provided airfare and more to take part in the global 1776 pitch. The main Challenge Cup round is being held in Washington, DC this June.
Also, this venue was selected as a stage for the announcement of a partnership agreement between 1776 and Japan Innovation Network (JIN: an organization looking to promote as the name suggests innovation by the Japanese), a sponsor of this endeavor by the US company. Hiro Nishiguchi, Executive Managing Director of JIN, attended the session, as did a representative of the American Embassy.
The winners were, by alphabetical order, Dot from Seoul, Horsepower from Manila, local favorite Molcure (Tokyo), Pickatale from Beijing and Skootar from Bangkok, reflecting well the Tokyo round’s participant demographics. In review it should be noted that the quality and content of pitches － in this writer’s opinion especially those from Beijing including those not selected as a winner, like Alesca Life and GeiLi Giving － were very high at this event.
Dot makes a smartwatch that outputs Braille Text. Horsepower is a Fintech targeting freelancers and small/midsized firms (SMEs) for bill settlements. Pickatale’s a digital picturebook for kids. Molcure handles antibody discovery services. And Skootar links local reliable scooter messengers’ on-demand services to SMEs.
The panel of judges comprised Managing Director David Zipper from 1776 (which, for those unfamiliar with this VC firm, is based in the US capital city and has a focus on startups); Takashi Tsutsumi, CEO and Founder of Learning Entrepreneur’s Lab; James Riney, Partner at 500 Startups Japan; Tetsuji Kasahara, Head of Patient Care and Monitoring Solution at Philips (one of the Challenge Cup sponsors); and, Ryosuke Koyama from Business Model Innovation Association.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based PR Times, a Japanese promotion agency focused on distributing press releases on behalf of client companies, announced that its IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange has been approved on Friday. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on 26 March with plans to offer 300,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 114,000 shares in over-allotment options, for a total of 460,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by SBI Securities. Its share price range will be released on 10 March with bookbuilding scheduled to start on 1 March and pricing on 14 March. According to the consolidated statement as of February 2015, they posted a revenue of 845 million Japanese yen ($7.5 million) and an ordinary loss of 92 million yen ($816,000). In the latest fiscal quarter, they posted a revenue of 840 million yen ($7.4 million) and an ordinary profit of 194 million yen ($1.7 million). Led by Japanese promotion agency Vector (TSE:6058, holding a 85.6% stake), its major shareholders include GMCM Venture Capital Partners I Inc. (12.5%), the company’s CEO Takumi Yamaguchi (1.6%), and managing director Kensuke Yamada (0.3%). Previously known as Kijineta.com, PR Times was…
Tokyo-based PR Times, a Japanese promotion agency focused on distributing press releases on behalf of client companies, announced that its IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange has been approved on Friday. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on 26 March with plans to offer 300,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 114,000 shares in over-allotment options, for a total of 460,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by SBI Securities.
Its share price range will be released on 10 March with bookbuilding scheduled to start on 1 March and pricing on 14 March. According to the consolidated statement as of February 2015, they posted a revenue of 845 million Japanese yen ($7.5 million) and an ordinary loss of 92 million yen ($816,000). In the latest fiscal quarter, they posted a revenue of 840 million yen ($7.4 million) and an ordinary profit of 194 million yen ($1.7 million).
Led by Japanese promotion agency Vector (TSE:6058, holding a 85.6% stake), its major shareholders include GMCM Venture Capital Partners I Inc. (12.5%), the company’s CEO Takumi Yamaguchi (1.6%), and managing director Kensuke Yamada (0.3%).
Previously known as Kijineta.com, PR Times was launched in December of 2005 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vector. The company was rebranded to PR Times in 2007, followed by launch of press release distribution service as PR Times in April of the same year. They surpassed 10,000 companies as users in August 2015, then attained 5.9 million accumulated page views in October 2015.
Disclosure: PR Times is an investor in The Bridge.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Open8, a Japanese female-targeted mobile video ad network, announced earlier this month that it has acquired The Clip, an app prototyping and engineering startup. Details of the acquisition have not been disclosed. The Clip was founded in 2013 by CEO Kento Yamamoto (designer) and managing director Hisatake Ishibashi (engineer). They have been producing design concepts for large companies and startups. [1] After the acquisition, Yamamoto and Ishibashi will continue to manage Open8 in its design and engineering work and will also be involved in the company’s business and human resource development. See also: Japan’s Counterworks launches Shopcounter, Airbnb for retail spaces Acqui-hiring in Japan In October 2015, Open8 fundraised 800 million yen ($6.6 million) from Jafco, TBS Innovation Partners, iStyle and Excite Japan. [2] The acquisition project started right after the fundraising. Yukou Takamatsu, CEO of Open8, recalls the negotiation of this acquisition. Harikita [Yohei Harikita, executive officer of Open8] and Yamamoto were originally friends and that gave us an idea of this acquisition. Our business has gone well, the next thing we needed was talented people. We needed a group of professionals. It is not so easy to meet this kind of group…
Front-row L to R: Hisatake Ishibashi (Managing Director of The Clip), Kento Yamamoto (CEO of The Clip) Back-row L to R: Yohei Harikita (Executive Officer of Open8), Yukou Takamatsu (CEO of Open8)
Tokyo-based Open8, a Japanese female-targeted mobile video ad network, announced earlier this month that it has acquired The Clip, an app prototyping and engineering startup. Details of the acquisition have not been disclosed.
The Clip was founded in 2013 by CEO Kento Yamamoto (designer) and managing director Hisatake Ishibashi (engineer). They have been producing design concepts for large companies and startups. [1]
After the acquisition, Yamamoto and Ishibashi will continue to manage Open8 in its design and engineering work and will also be involved in the company’s business and human resource development.
In October 2015, Open8 fundraised 800 million yen ($6.6 million) from Jafco, TBS Innovation Partners, iStyle and Excite Japan. [2] The acquisition project started right after the fundraising. Yukou Takamatsu, CEO of Open8, recalls the negotiation of this acquisition.
Harikita [Yohei Harikita, executive officer of Open8] and Yamamoto were originally friends and that gave us an idea of this acquisition. Our business has gone well, the next thing we needed was talented people. We needed a group of professionals. It is not so easy to meet this kind of group of talented people in mid-career recruitment. It took us about 2-3 months to conclude this negotiation.
The startup scene in North America tends to acquire corporates in focusing on its human resources, not on its services – it is called “Acqui-hiring”. This Open8 acquisition was not exactly the same way but the purpose was quite similar.
The Clip’s production portfolio of websites and apps
This method makes it possible for startups to find experienced managers under difficult circumstances. But it might not work well if both companies’ culture do not match. In Japan, there were several cases where the managers in unprofitable companies were acquired but broke up after being acquired.
However, it is one of the advantages that The Clip is in a growing phase and in a good state.
Yamamoto said:
At first we started as freelance. Once we incorporated, we started to have a wide variety of clients especially for projects of setting up new business. In the second term we increased sales and it became profitable. Then we started thinking about what to do next.
They could have chosen to continue receiving outsourcing orders in recruiting new staff. Yamamoto and Ishibashi are about 30 and young enough to stand the strain. When asked if Yamamoto could simply have chosen to continue the outsourcing job, he replied:
I simply thought it might be interesting.
L to R: The Clip CEO Kento Yamamoto and managing director Hisatake Ishibashi
When I talked with Yamamoto and Ishibashi, I felt that they have a new career image of specialized professionals as designers and engineers. Talented person who can stay at the same company until retirement and continue the same profession is very rare. To survive in the field, we all have to face management issues.
Yamamoto continued:
I think it is not so bad that there will be more designers who can deal with those management issues. We can emphasize it in remaining in our company after the acquisition. It is a kind of “exit”.
On the other hand, it was very difficult for Takamatsu who had to pass a board resolution, because the board members simply thought that they could just entrust the works to The Clip.
Takamatsu added:
As a resolution of the board, it was not so simple and they said “Why don’t we just entrust the works to them?” We needed time to make them understood, and we also needed time to make Yamamoto and Ishibashi understood this process.
It looks that there are more and more people or scenes with new concepts of career or working styles around Japanese startups. It might be a crowdsourcing, a startup, or this type of acquisition.
While continuing professional works on a small scale, you might take action if there is a great opportunity like this. When it comes to the end, you can move on.
Takamatsu was the one who marked an epoch as one of executives at style with his colleagues. It is impossible that the same profession and the same growth continue forever.
The way to start a startup for young professionals is not only to create a new application in taking a risk with one’s own money. Rather than the transaction value, this acquisition might look very meaningful in terms of new style and concept of working.
Translated by Minako Ambiru via Mother First Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy, Kurt Hanson, and Masaru Ikeda
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. This is part of our coverage of The Bridge Fes 2016. Our Japanese article covering this session is available here. Stephen Plumlee, Chief Operating Officer of R/GA Media Group based in New York, held a special session on “Open Innovation” on the collaborative activities his firm provides to help startups succeed. Open Innovation is aimed at enhancing innovation by leveraging the synergy produced by the sharing of assets like human resources, networking, know-how, and intellectual property portfolios, among others. Plumlee outlined R/GA’s strategy to drive their plan by exploiting the power of Open Innovation on the client’s behalf. It entails the gathering of tech prowess and acquiring a good grasp of the innovation process. One example provided by Plumlee was R/GA’s joint work with TechStars, which as a result now has a thorough understanding on the Internet of Things (IoT), upon initially setting up two Accelerator Programs on sensor network projects and related IoT. R/GA then leveraged the Los Angeles Dodgers network to launch a sport-tech Accelerator Program for content-related activities. This was followed by another Accelerator Program with Metro…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
R/GA Global COO Stephen Plumlee (right) speaks with his moderator Dentsu Ventures’ Katsuyuki Hasegawa.
This is part of our coverage of The Bridge Fes 2016. Our Japanese article covering this session is available here.
Stephen Plumlee, Chief Operating Officer of R/GA Media Group based in New York, held a special session on “Open Innovation” on the collaborative activities his firm provides to help startups succeed. Open Innovation is aimed at enhancing innovation by leveraging the synergy produced by the sharing of assets like human resources, networking, know-how, and intellectual property portfolios, among others.
Plumlee outlined R/GA’s strategy to drive their plan by exploiting the power of Open Innovation on the client’s behalf. It entails the gathering of tech prowess and acquiring a good grasp of the innovation process.
One example provided by Plumlee was R/GA’s joint work with TechStars, which as a result now has a thorough understanding on the Internet of Things (IoT), upon initially setting up two Accelerator Programs on sensor network projects and related IoT. R/GA then leveraged the Los Angeles Dodgers network to launch a sport-tech Accelerator Program for content-related activities. This was followed by another Accelerator Program with Metro AG in Germany for innovation involving enhancement of business in the food and hospitality field.
Plumlee explained that in addition to evaluating the success of their programs, the metrics of being able to delve deeper into the respective tech space and of applying such knowledge to R/GA’s core business were adopted. This strategy covers consulting for clients among other services. He underscored the need to clarify the strategies and the business goals of the participants to attain success for the programs.
It was also noted that the lineup and scale of the programs will double this year and that R/GA plans to open an office in Tokyo in 2016.
Los Angeles Dodgers Accelerator with R/GA – Image credit: Los Angeles Dodgers Accelerator
See the original story in Japanese. Japan’s leading property company Mitsui Fudosan (TSE:8801), also known for its Venture Co-Creation Project, or 31 Ventures, announced at a news briefing today in Tokyo the launch of their first strategic investment fund in association with Tokyo-based investment firm Global Brain, and it is expected to be valued at 5 billion yen ($45 million). Redeemable in ten years, the fund targets seed-, early-, and middle-stage startups in Japan, North America, Europe, Israel, and Asian countries in all sectors, but excluding biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, with a focus on real-estate, IoT (Internet of Things), security, environment, energy, sharing economy, e-commerce, fintech, robotics, and life sciences. Mitsui Fudosan plans to invest in 500 Startups and Draper Nexus Ventures through the fund, so we see it has a so-called ‘fund of funds’ structure. To support the global expansion of startups, Mitsui Fudosan has partnered with Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator in New York as well as NUS Enterprise, the startup incubation arm of National University of Singapore. Mitsui Fudosan has been primarily conducting their open innovation efforts at their startup hubs, such as Kashiwa-no-ha Open Innovation Lab, or KOIL, in a suburb of Tokyo. In addition to having invested in…
L to R: Yasuhiko Yurimoto (CEO, Global Brain), Yoshikazu Kitahara (Executive Managing Director, Mitsui Fudosan), Akira Sugawara (General Manager, Venture Co-creation Project by Mitsui Fudosan)
Japan’s leading property company Mitsui Fudosan (TSE:8801), also known for its Venture Co-Creation Project, or 31 Ventures, announced at a news briefing today in Tokyo the launch of their first strategic investment fund in association with Tokyo-based investment firm Global Brain, and it is expected to be valued at 5 billion yen ($45 million).
Redeemable in ten years, the fund targets seed-, early-, and middle-stage startups in Japan, North America, Europe, Israel, and Asian countries in all sectors, but excluding biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, with a focus on real-estate, IoT (Internet of Things), security, environment, energy, sharing economy, e-commerce, fintech, robotics, and life sciences.
Mitsui Fudosan plans to invest in 500 Startups and Draper Nexus Ventures through the fund, so we see it has a so-called ‘fund of funds’ structure. To support the global expansion of startups, Mitsui Fudosan has partnered with Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator in New York as well as NUS Enterprise, the startup incubation arm of National University of Singapore.
Mitsui Fudosan has been primarily conducting their open innovation efforts at their startup hubs, such as Kashiwa-no-ha Open Innovation Lab, or KOIL, in a suburb of Tokyo. In addition to having invested in a “real-tech” fund led by Japanese biotech company Euglena, the company annually organizes the Asian Entrepreneurship Award to support startup ecosystems in Japan and the rest of the world.
The company says it will form a community called 31 Ventures Club, allowing participating startups to use four co-working spaces at various locations in Tokyo with a single membership. Furthermore, the company will also establish new startup hubs in two locations in Tokyo, planning to curate life science-focused startups in Nihonbashi near Tokyo Station.
This is part of our coverage of The Bridge Fes 2016. See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based C Channel, a video-based digital fashion media for young women, announced on 19 February that it will launch C Channel Thailand in association with Ookbee, a Thai startup operating e-publication and UGC (user generated content) businesses in Southeast Asia. Launched by Line’s former CEO Akira Morikawa in April 2015, C Channel has been attracting lots of attention because of a unique screen specification adopting vertical video layouts and a content curation system leveraging “clippers,” or aspiring TV stars and fashion models. Their video clips have been played more than 37 million times in the ten months since the launch. Galaxy, the globally renowned smartphone brand from Samsung, was recently appointed as an official sponsor for the C Channel video portal. Known as Amazon in Southeast Asia, Ookbee has been serving 6.5 million users with e-publications, games, apps and others since its launch in 2011. In the C Channel session at The Bridge Fes 2016 event, Ookbee founder and CEO Natavudh Moo Pungcharoenpong spoke before a packed audience: More than half of Ookbee users are teenagers and they are eagerly adopting Japanese make-up…
Tokyo-based C Channel, a video-based digital fashion media for young women, announced on 19 February that it will launch C Channel Thailand in association with Ookbee, a Thai startup operating e-publication and UGC (user generated content) businesses in Southeast Asia.
Launched by Line’s former CEO Akira Morikawa in April 2015, C Channel has been attracting lots of attention because of a unique screen specification adopting vertical video layouts and a content curation system leveraging “clippers,” or aspiring TV stars and fashion models.
Their video clips have been played more than 37 million times in the ten months since the launch. Galaxy, the globally renowned smartphone brand from Samsung, was recently appointed as an official sponsor for the C Channel video portal.
Known as Amazon in Southeast Asia, Ookbee has been serving 6.5 million users with e-publications, games, apps and others since its launch in 2011.
In the C Channel session at The Bridge Fes 2016 event, Ookbee founder and CEO Natavudh Moo Pungcharoenpong spoke before a packed audience:
More than half of Ookbee users are teenagers and they are eagerly adopting Japanese make-up and hairstyles. Thailand is the second-largest country following Japan in terms of the population of Line users, which indicates a high affinity for Japanese culture. We would like to grow together with C Channel in the ASEAN market.
Signing with selected local girls in Thailand as “clippers” through Ookbee, C Channel will provide Thai users with original content curated by them in their local language, anticipating to expand to the shopping business using video clips online.
The Bridge
Takeshi Hirano
Masaru Ikeda
Junya Mori
