Tokyo-based Base, the e-commerce platform provider dubbed Japan’s answer to Shopify, announced on Thursday that it has fundraised 1.5 billion yen (about $13.3 million US) from Japanese VC firm Global Brain and Japanese accounting SaaS (Software as a service) provider Money Forward (TSE:3994). This round was led by Global Brain but no financial term of the deal has been disclosed. Base has partnered with Money Forward to share a potential user base of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) with each others. Using the funds, Base plans to strengthen hiring talents to solidify management foundation.
On the same day, Base announced that it has spun off payments platform businesses, such as PAY.JP and PAY ID, to set up a fully-owned subsidiary called Pay. Kenichi Takano, the current project leader for payment platform businesses at Base, was appointed CEO for the new company while Base CEO Yuta Tsuruoka joined the management board.
The highly anticipated e-commerce platform has been advanced to the next stage by serving 450,000 merchants and 3 million mobile app users while their payments business has processed transactions 40 times more than that one year ago. Tsuruoka showed his confidence by seeing some actual performance indicators are higher than disclosed ones while his company claims that it saw the greatest growth last year since its launch.
In response to our question about the situation of Base Live, the company’s recently-launched live commerce platform that enables merchants to introduce and sell products through live performance, he told us that it still gives them some impact on transactions while there are many apparel merchants whose monthly sales reach nearly 1 million yen ($8,800). However, the live commerce platform has become popular among merchants in view of another channel for creating a fan base.
This large-scale funding may be based on all these results. Regarding the purpose of the funding, Tsuruoka says:
Our funding purpose has been changed from surviving to growing.
No doubt that the payments business was spun off because this space has high potential for extensive growth. While the Base platform has been esteemed because it allows anyone to easily build an e-commerce presence, the company’s payments businesses have to deal with different types of data and serve diverse user demographics. So the company spin-out is reasonable in optimizing their decision-making process from now on.
The company now has a staff of about 100 people, which is doubled from last year, including 20 staffers in charge of payments businesses.
On a related note, Base unveiled on Thursday that it has launched another fully-owned subsidiary called Base Bank. They claim the new company will target a new business area but no further details have been disclosed. In view of Japanese C2C marketplace startup Mercari having invested in Base and founded a new business-focused subsidiary called Souzoh, Base Bank may aim at a similar goal like building various apps and diversifying businesses.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Money Forward (TSE:3994), the Japanese company providing SaaS (software as a service)-based accounting solutions, announced last week that it is launching a new division called MF Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Lab with the aim to develop new services leveraging such emerging technologies. The new project will be led by Money Forward’s CTO Takuya Nakade in addition to Junichi Kanda, Executive Director in charge of Business Development and External Affairs. Kanda was a former BOJ (Bank of Japan) and FSA (Financial Services Agency of Japan) official but joined the startup in September last year. The company says it intends to make a blockchain- and cryptocurrency-powered business the third business pillar for them following accounting SaaS platforms for individuals and companies. With curated members among their current employees and hiring new talents from outside the company, it aims to form a new 100-people division within three years. It’s not definite but is likely for the company to apply for a cryptocurrency service operator registration to FSA. There are a variety of blockchain- or cryptocurrency-powered applications. Given that remittance fee in Japan is higher than other countries, they will probably come up with a remittance service as…
L to R: Takuya Nakade (CTO, Money Forward), Junichi Kanda (Executive Director, Business Development and External Affairs) Image credit: Money Forward
Tokyo-based Money Forward (TSE:3994), the Japanese company providing SaaS (software as a service)-based accounting solutions, announced last week that it is launching a new division called MF Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Lab with the aim to develop new services leveraging such emerging technologies. The new project will be led by Money Forward’s CTO Takuya Nakade in addition to Junichi Kanda, Executive Director in charge of Business Development and External Affairs. Kanda was a former BOJ (Bank of Japan) and FSA (Financial Services Agency of Japan) official but joined the startup in September last year.
The company says it intends to make a blockchain- and cryptocurrency-powered business the third business pillar for them following accounting SaaS platforms for individuals and companies. With curated members among their current employees and hiring new talents from outside the company, it aims to form a new 100-people division within three years. It’s not definite but is likely for the company to apply for a cryptocurrency service operator registration to FSA.
There are a variety of blockchain- or cryptocurrency-powered applications. Given that remittance fee in Japan is higher than other countries, they will probably come up with a remittance service as a targeted one leveraging these technologies. Since the Japanese conventional remittance system has a cost problem and challenges to innovate its mechanism, a possible decentralized version would bring us significant benefits.
The possible blockchain-based remittance service would have high convenience and affinity with the company’s existing businesses which are mainly focused on helping users improve cashflow. Expected use case includes fee-free or low-free remittance service accompanying an automated erasure function upon money reception.
Money Forward has been aggressively pursuing new business after their IPO in August of 2017. The company launched a mobile piggybank app called Shiratama last September, followed by acquiring Klavis, the Japan-/Singapore-based startup behind accounting and book-keeping software Streamed. Also, the company founded a subsidiary called MF Kessai last June, aiming to launch a B2B postpay settlement service.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Every, the Japanese startup behind online recipe video media Delish Kitchen, announced on Thursday that it has raised about 2.06 billion yen (about $18.3 million) from WiL (World Innovation Lab), Itochu (TSE:8001), GMO Venture Partners, Ad Hack Ventures and DCM Ventures. This follows their previous round funding of about 3.37 billion yen (about $30 million) and brought their total funding amount up to 5.43 billion yen (about $48.2 million). Japanese startup Dely, running online video recipe media Kurashiru which is considered to be one of the closest competitors for Delish Kitchen, has fundraised 3.7 billion yen (about $32.8 million) to date. Dely’s latest funding has let them exceed Delish Kitchen in terms of how much funding amount has been secured in total. Through four video media channels, Every said it serves 44 million users every month. Kurashiru sees Delish Kitchen winning in terms of video play views per user according to App Ape Analytics while a Nielsen report says Delish Kitchen has a larger audience using the app to prepare lunch. Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Tokyo-based Every, the Japanese startup behind online recipe video media Delish Kitchen, announced on Thursday that it has raised about 2.06 billion yen (about $18.3 million) from WiL (World Innovation Lab), Itochu (TSE:8001), GMO Venture Partners, Ad Hack Ventures and DCM Ventures. This follows their previous round funding of about 3.37 billion yen (about $30 million) and brought their total funding amount up to 5.43 billion yen (about $48.2 million).
Japanese startup Dely, running online video recipe media Kurashiru which is considered to be one of the closest competitors for Delish Kitchen, has fundraised 3.7 billion yen (about $32.8 million) to date. Dely’s latest funding has let them exceed Delish Kitchen in terms of how much funding amount has been secured in total. Through four video media channels, Every said it serves 44 million users every month. Kurashiru sees Delish Kitchen winning in terms of video play views per user according to App Ape Analytics while a Nielsen report says Delish Kitchen has a larger audience using the app to prepare lunch.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Cyber Security Cloud, the Japanese startup behind a cloud-based web application firewall (WAF) called Kogeki Shadan-kun, unveiled a new product called WafCharm earlier this month. WafCharm uses artificial intelligence to automatically apply a WAF signature (rule set) setting for websites hosted on Amazon Web Services. It can be used for free until the end of January 2018. By introducing WafCharm, the information systems division of a company operating a cloud-based web server on AWS can automate the complicated tasks of selecting and applying optimal signatures for defense against attacks. Typical WAF systems can be categorized into software-based, appliance-based, and cloud-based ones. Cyber Security Cloud has been specialized in developing cloud-based WAF solutions to secure cloud-based web servers, launched Kogeki Shadan-kun in December of 2013. Since then, the service has seen a steady increase in clients, including NTT Docomo, ANA (All Nippon Airways), and SBI Securities, and has been adopted by 4,000 websites in about three and a half years since the launch. The monthly report that the dashboard outputs can be easily used for meetings within a company, and in the event of damage, insurance of up to 10 million yen (about $88.2K…
Tokyo-based Cyber Security Cloud, the Japanese startup behind a cloud-based web application firewall (WAF) called Kogeki Shadan-kun, unveiled a new product called WafCharm earlier this month. WafCharm uses artificial intelligence to automatically apply a WAF signature (rule set) setting for websites hosted on Amazon Web Services. It can be used for free until the end of January 2018. By introducing WafCharm, the information systems division of a company operating a cloud-based web server on AWS can automate the complicated tasks of selecting and applying optimal signatures for defense against attacks.
Typical WAF systems can be categorized into software-based, appliance-based, and cloud-based ones. Cyber Security Cloud has been specialized in developing cloud-based WAF solutions to secure cloud-based web servers, launched Kogeki Shadan-kun in December of 2013. Since then, the service has seen a steady increase in clients, including NTT Docomo, ANA (All Nippon Airways), and SBI Securities, and has been adopted by 4,000 websites in about three and a half years since the launch. The monthly report that the dashboard outputs can be easily used for meetings within a company, and in the event of damage, insurance of up to 10 million yen (about $88.2K US) is accompanied (for the moment, there have been no applicable cases). The fact that compensation of up to 10 million yen can be granted may also be a factor in the growth of the company.
The dashboard for “Kougeki Shadan-kun” Image credit: Cyber Security Cloud
Cyber Security Cloud collects tendencies of web attacks and security defense from Kougeki Shadan-Kun, and based on the findings obtained, then WafCharm applies optimal rule sets to user instances leveraging artificial intelligence (AI). The application of rule sets according to the software stack, supporting the OWASP Top 10 security risks, and the speedy addition of new rule sets in response to new weaknesses are all automatically done for user instances on AWS.
AWS also provides 11 rule sets by five security vendors (as of December, 2017) as WAF Managed Rules. This is intended to make it easier to operate even for users less familiar with security measures while customized setting is difficult because detailed settings are black-boxed. Having said that, it is a painstaking task to manually set rule sets one by one. WafCharm aims at solving this pain point.
Cyber Security Cloud CEO Hikaru Ono says:
AWS has 34% market share in the global cloud user base. To reach one-third of all cloud users (by offering the WAF optimization service for AWS) would be a great opportunity. I think that WafCharm could set these cloud users free from security risks.
In 2016, two years after the service launch, Kougeki Shadan-kun won the largest share in the cloud-based WAF market in Japan. By introducing the new product WafCharm, Cyber Security Cloud has its sights set on the number one position in the global automated WAF operation sector. As a short-term goal the company is looking to sign with 10,000 companies in 2018. While looking at future user trends, it is also considering deploying services to other cloud platforms such as GCP (Google Cloud Platform) and Microsoft Azure.
Cyber Security Cloud was established in August of 2010 (under the name of Amitie). The company raised around 100 million yen (about $883K US) from Ambition, Legend Partners, Epsilon Group, Real World, SBI Investment and other investors in January of 2016.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Cognitee announced last week that it had raised 150 million yen (about $1.3 million) in its pre-series B round. The lead investor was Global Brain this time and Mitsui Fudosan (TSE:8801) joined anew as an investor. This follows their series A round conducted in 2016 having investors including Global Brain, Alps Electric, beBit UCD Ventures, Glocalink (affiliated by Leave a Nest), Active and Company, plus SMBC-VC. Cognitee has fundraised 280 million yen (about $2.5 million) in total since its angel round. With this investment, the firm will strengthen its organization system by hiring additional core members and prepare for overseas development which will take place next year and beyond. Additionally, the firm announced it invited Kazuhiro Kondo as COO; he has careers as Corporate Officer of DeNA and VP of DeNA West (subsidiary of DeNA covering the West) after serving Sony, Sony Ericsson and DeNA where he engaged in development of social game platform. Visualization of communication Cognitee was founded in 2013 by CEO Rie Kawano who formerly worked at business strategy department in Sony or DeNA and also experienced startup in her university days. The firm develops and provides UpSighter, enabling employee…
L to R: Cognitee CEO Rie Kawano, COO Kazuhiro Kondo Image credit: Cognitee
Tokyo-based Cognitee announced last week that it had raised 150 million yen (about $1.3 million) in its pre-series B round. The lead investor was Global Brain this time and Mitsui Fudosan (TSE:8801) joined anew as an investor. This follows their series A round conducted in 2016 having investors including Global Brain, Alps Electric, beBit UCD Ventures, Glocalink (affiliated by Leave a Nest), Active and Company, plus SMBC-VC.
Cognitee has fundraised 280 million yen (about $2.5 million) in total since its angel round. With this investment, the firm will strengthen its organization system by hiring additional core members and prepare for overseas development which will take place next year and beyond. Additionally, the firm announced it invited Kazuhiro Kondo as COO; he has careers as Corporate Officer of DeNA and VP of DeNA West (subsidiary of DeNA covering the West) after serving Sony, Sony Ericsson and DeNA where he engaged in development of social game platform.
Visualization of communication
UpSighter Image credit: Cognitee
Cognitee was founded in 2013 by CEO Rie Kawano who formerly worked at business strategy department in Sony or DeNA and also experienced startup in her university days. The firm develops and provides UpSighter, enabling employee training / monitoring excluding cognitive bias targeting enterprise users. The service offers easier communication methods for conveying meaning by analyzing and digitizing speech, sales talk or presentation. Kawano demonstrated the service:
For example, we picked up five Steve Jobs’ speeches and five Japanese politicians’ speeches and then calculated the mean number of topics incorporated into these speeches. In the Jobs’ speeches, topics referring the background of the launch or the reason for the size of the product accounted for 40% of the whole story. On the other hand, as you can see, each politician made mentions of some different topic in one speech and it includes too many content.
Cognitee had initially tackled ‘visualization of thinking’ through a provision of services for meeting efficacy improvement / brainstorming support / planning correction. However, the firm pivoted its approach later; with the basic concept as it was, it changed the application field to ‘visualization of communication’ and then succeeded in gaining strong supports from major enterprises that conventionally had to depend on external consultants for human resource development such as training of salespersons.
Kouno continued:
Taking pharmaceutical companies as an example, MRs (medical representatives) have to learn about clinical trial data and give presentation to doctors to sell new drugs. You may think they should show a larger amount of data, but too much data will not result in good sales. Our analysis revealed that the MRs who spare much time to present specific data about efficacy, benefit and especially risk of the drug are more likely to be in the high-ranking group.
The same can be said of settlement negotiation with non-life insurance companies. UpSighter figures out modeling of communication style that leads to good negotiation. By applying it to each practical negotiation case and distributing assessment sheets, staffers in charge of these cases can compare their own methods with the model case. For enterprises, operation improvement can be achieved without requiring instructions cost.
Implementation of UpSighter will benefit enterprises in reduction of instructions cost, as well as the fact that each staff can grasp unnecessary / insufficient factors in his / her own speeches quantitatively. The Cognitee team consists of several members including Kawano and Kondo, and they do not carry out outbound marketing so actively but often receive inquiries from top executives of major enterprises who intend bottom-up of internal human resources.
Pursuing scalability without AI
Part of Output sample of UpSighter Image credit: Cognitee
The firm’s name ‘Cognitee’ and its service contents — analysis / digitization of speech is somehow associated with artificial intelligence (AI), but no general AI is used in UpSighter services at this time.All processes required for the service provision of UpSighter are contributed by 150 remote workers in and out of Japan. They carry on transcription of speech, subdividing of the contents, and analysis / evaluation of subordinate relationship of the contents. It is like a form of Factory Automation (FA) for intelligent labor driven by Internet; by dividing its process thoroughly and assigning each small process unit to individual workers, the factory-like quality control and production management is realized.
In the process from original speech content (the input) to analyzed / digitized assessment sheet (the output), more than 10 remote workers relay intermediate products in succession. A worker understands what to do with his / her own task but does not need to have knowledge about the other tasks. With this system, UpSighter needs no consultants with specialized knowledge but can leave all works to housewife workers who passed the test after one-month training.
Kouno said:
We did not even know what tendency exists until we stored data about 1,500 matters. However, the details of analysis gradually dawned on us and we have been applying patents relating to our rule or framework in Japan, the U.S and EU countries.
Kondo added:
Typical AI learning require Big Data. Moreover, I think it is impossible to trust what human does not understand to AI.
As AI is applied to everything these days, the firm’s approach appears quite fresh. Even AI takes certain cost and time for implementing or tuning, and above all, training data is necessary. UpSighter can extract model case if only it has data about three cases (for example, speeches by three high-achieving salespersons) no matter what kind of business type / condition they are, and assess other speeches based on it.
In general, it is difficult to secure scalability in tasks depending on the person, but there is no limit on the business development of UpSighter which implemented the concepts of FA or remote workers in its work process. As a larger amount of data is accumulated, the Cognitee can replace from man to AI in some process units partially as needed.
Currently, UpSighter is mainly used in sales department that tends to invest a large amount of budget into human resource development in enterprise, but the firm will positively explore the possibility of application or implementation into other departments in the future.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Japanese social gaming giant Ateam (TSE:3662) announced today that it has acquired the entire stake in Tokyo-based Increments, the Japanese startup offering the Qiita knowledge-sharing platform for programmers, for 1.45 billion yen (about $13 million US). Qiita was launched back in September of 2011 by Hiroshige Umino, who had worked for Google and Japanese internet company Hatena as a programming intern while attending Kyoto University. The team graduated from Tokyo-based seed accelerator Open Network Lab‘s 4th batch, over the 2011-12 period. The platform has served more than half the population of all programmers in Japan. In addition to the Qiita open community platform, the company launched Qiita:Team back in 2013, designed for a company’s in-house use upon knowledge-sharing among their programming employees. According to the consolidated statement as of December 2016, the company posted revenue of 89.95 million yen (about $793,000), with a final deficit of 80.22 million yen (about $708,000). Ateam said in a statement: Qiita is very active in the sector where we cannot easily expand into on our own. By gaining the entire stake in Increments, we think we can accelerate our business expansion effort through leveraging of their assets and…
Japanese social gaming giant Ateam (TSE:3662) announced today that it has acquired the entire stake in Tokyo-based Increments, the Japanese startup offering the Qiita knowledge-sharing platform for programmers, for 1.45 billion yen (about $13 million US).
Qiita was launched back in September of 2011 by Hiroshige Umino, who had worked for Google and Japanese internet company Hatena as a programming intern while attending Kyoto University. The team graduated from Tokyo-based seed accelerator Open Network Lab‘s 4th batch, over the 2011-12 period. The platform has served more than half the population of all programmers in Japan. In addition to the Qiita open community platform, the company launched Qiita:Team back in 2013, designed for a company’s in-house use upon knowledge-sharing among their programming employees. According to the consolidated statement as of December 2016, the company posted revenue of 89.95 million yen (about $793,000), with a final deficit of 80.22 million yen (about $708,000).
Ateam said in a statement:
Qiita is very active in the sector where we cannot easily expand into on our own. By gaining the entire stake in Increments, we think we can accelerate our business expansion effort through leveraging of their assets and experience. We are certain this acquisition will contribute to our growth over the mid- to long-term perceptive in addition to improving our corporate value.
Takeshi Hirano
Masaru Ikeda
The Bridge
