Tokyo-based Airporter (previously known as Willer), the Japanese startup offering the same-day travel luggage delivery service to/from Tokyo airports under the same name, announced on Monday that it has raised several tens of million yen (hundreds of thousands of US dollars) in an estimated seed round from Base Partners and Beenos (TSE:3328). Base Partners is a VC firm managed by Minoru Togawa (founder and former CEO of CA Mobile) and Takehiro Yamaguchi (former strategic investment department manager).
Airporter offers a low-cost luggage delivery service for visitors to Tokyo between their accommodation and Narita/Haneda airports so that they can enjoy hands-free travel in the city after or before their accommodation check-in.
We have seen several airports like Hong Kong or Incheon/Gimpo airports in Seoul, offering complimentary city check-in services so that visitors can drop their baggage before going to the airport, which gains good reputation among international travelers. Using the Airporter service, visitors to Japan can also enjoy a similar user experience in Japan (however, they will need to check-in for flight at the airport).
Airporter recently won the special award at an innovation encouragement initiative run by the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Ecbo Cloak, an on-demand luggage storage service run by another Japanese startup, also started luggage delivery service from selected railway terminals to traveler’s accommodations on a testing basis, and further service expansion into delivery to/from airports are also expected in the future.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Ascent Robotics, the Japanese startup developing AI (Artificial Intelligence) training software for autonomous driving, announced on Monday that it has raised about 1.1 billion yen (about $10.3 million US) in a series A round. This round was led by SBI Investment with participation from multiple angel investors including Bart Joseph Broadman. Regarding funding from SBI Investment, this is the first investment case from the company’s AI and Blockchain-focused fund. Following this funding, Ascent Robotics will prepare to set up new offices in Japan and the rest of the world to hire prominent researchers as well as engineers globally, aiming to realize PoC (proof-of-concept) on public roads in addition to accelerating R&D activities on their proprietary AI technologies. The firm has been developing autonomous driving software for Level 4 capable-vehicle (fully autonomous driving including steering, acceleration and braking without human input) under the Japanese road environment. The Tokyo company launched a beta version of the Atlas AI learning environment last November. By using both real and pseudo data for learning AI, the learning efficiency is increased to more than 50 times compared to that when using only real data. Utilizing the superiority of Atlas,…
Tokyo-based Ascent Robotics, the Japanese startup developing AI (Artificial Intelligence) training software for autonomous driving, announced on Monday that it has raised about 1.1 billion yen (about $10.3 million US) in a series A round. This round was led by SBI Investment with participation from multiple angel investors including Bart Joseph Broadman. Regarding funding from SBI Investment, this is the first investment case from the company’s AI and Blockchain-focused fund.
Following this funding, Ascent Robotics will prepare to set up new offices in Japan and the rest of the world to hire prominent researchers as well as engineers globally, aiming to realize PoC (proof-of-concept) on public roads in addition to accelerating R&D activities on their proprietary AI technologies. The firm has been developing autonomous driving software for Level 4 capable-vehicle (fully autonomous driving including steering, acceleration and braking without human input) under the Japanese road environment.
Since the Japanese or Asian road environment differ considerably from Western ones that DeepMind, Waymo and Uber are dealing with, Ascent Robotics focuses on Level 4 autonomy applicable for narrow streets with much traffic as is the case for conventional Japanese streets, and the team expects to lead the global market in this field. In particular, the industry’s expectation for the company will be increased because of the recent pedestrian fatality due to Uber’s autonomous driving vehicle.
Ascent Robotics was founded in September of 2016 by Fred Almeida, the Canadian engineer who had successively held high-level positions at Salesforce and Pasona Tequila. According to Nikkei Robotics, the firm has already concluded a business contract with one of the major Japanese automakers. Ken Kutaragi, known as the father of PlayStation, has also joined the firm as an Outside Director.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Oct, the Japanese startup developing and providing the Andpad house construction management platform, announced earlier this month that it has fundraised about 400 million yen ($3.8 million US) from Draper Nexus Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Beenext, and individual investors. Details of the stock ratios, payment date, and individual investors were not disclosed. In accordance with this, Draper Nexus Venture’s Managing Director Akira Kurabayashi will be appointed as an Outside Director. The company plans to integrate the platform with Salesforce Sales Cloud in the early part of this year, aiming to offer sales updates and construction management information in an integrated manner. The company has been offering the cloud-based platform since April of 2016, helping architects and construction companies keep them updated with construction progress as well as onsite communication at their properties among them. It helps firms focused on constructing or renovating houses share blueprints and schedules with carpenters, electricians, and other project-related workers in addition to helping their managers consolidate reports like building inspections. According to Oct CEO Takeo Inada, the introduction of the service reduced onsite supervisors’ work by one hour per day, strengthening the operation efficiency for a major construction company….
Tokyo-based Oct, the Japanese startup developing and providing the Andpad house construction management platform, announced earlier this month that it has fundraised about 400 million yen ($3.8 million US) from Draper Nexus Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Beenext, and individual investors. Details of the stock ratios, payment date, and individual investors were not disclosed. In accordance with this, Draper Nexus Venture’s Managing Director Akira Kurabayashi will be appointed as an Outside Director.
The company plans to integrate the platform with Salesforce Sales Cloud in the early part of this year, aiming to offer sales updates and construction management information in an integrated manner.
The company has been offering the cloud-based platform since April of 2016, helping architects and construction companies keep them updated with construction progress as well as onsite communication at their properties among them. It helps firms focused on constructing or renovating houses share blueprints and schedules with carpenters, electricians, and other project-related workers in addition to helping their managers consolidate reports like building inspections.
According to Oct CEO Takeo Inada, the introduction of the service reduced onsite supervisors’ work by one hour per day, strengthening the operation efficiency for a major construction company.
The funding announced this time around follows that of January 2017 when the company raised an amount in the tens of millions of yen from individual investors. The number of contracted companies released at the time of the previous fundraising was 350, but as of January 2018 that number has increased to 800 companies, the majority of which pay to use the service. Going forward, the company’s goal is to sign with 10,000 companies soon. With the funds raised, it will also increase the number of staffers to 30 and focus especially on strengthening system development capabilities.
From a tool to an integrated management platform
The leap forward of B2B-focused SaaS (business-to-business focused software as a service) specialized in specific verticals has been a hot topic for these last two to three years. It provides online efficiency tools for the progress of specific industries, such as restaurant, education, logistics and distribution, and other businesses. Andpad is one example of them. With such tools, if the user experience proves good it leads to adoption, but because they are specialized in specific industries, using it only as a tool leads to inferior scaling when compared with accounting or personnel and labor relations services that can cross different industries.
Inada’s explanation of this point was clear.
First of all, the 800 companies currently announced are so-called project owners, and it seems that there are about ten times the number of issued accounts for free users (for example, carpenters and electric companies).
In other words, Andpad has a track record of having used nearly 8,000 related companies in the industry.
These naturally become candidates for the next paying users (pay contracts are necessary when creating projects, such as for new construction or renovation), and at the same time by utilizing this “aspect” there is a good possibility of evolving into an information platform for the construction/architecture industry.
Although it is still in the concept stage, Andpad accumulates a lot of architecture and construction data. Which makers are using which building materials frequently and what are the reactions? This kind of information is, of course, important marketing data for manufacturers and if they can draw some kind of connection with Andpad it will directly affect sales.
Unlike content media such as industry journals, touchpoints are necessary for business, so if the company can provide a well rounded plan it would be a very useful information platform for business operators. Incidentally, Inada declined capital alliances with specified businesses and makers.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Logica, the Japanese startup behind the Coinboard multiple crypto portfolio management tool, announced on Wednesday that it has raised 100 million yen (about $942K US) in funding. Participating investors are Ceres, Cyberagent Ventures, Adways, and Monex Ventures. Details such as the payment date and investment ratios were not disclosed. Coinboard allows users to manage their crypto portfolios by linking their registered crypto exchange accounts. As of this writing, the platform supports 10 exchanges in Japan and the rest of the world: Bitbank, BitFlyer, Coincheck, Quoinex, Zaif, Binance, Bittrex, Kraken, Liqui, and Poloniex. The Coinboard platform helps users aggregate their crypto balances, their transaction history, their total asset amount and the like from multiple different exchanges. We’ve seen similar services like Blockfolio and Cryptofolio but these require users to manually input all of their transaction history by themselves, which makes it inconvenient especially for those who trade often. The Coinboard platform has automated this input process using an API (application program interface). Given that other similar crypto platforms like Coin View having also recently supporting the same function, automated data import is becoming essential for a crypto portfolio management platform. Logica was founded in…
Tokyo-based Logica, the Japanese startup behind the Coinboard multiple crypto portfolio management tool, announced on Wednesday that it has raised 100 million yen (about $942K US) in funding. Participating investors are Ceres, Cyberagent Ventures, Adways, and Monex Ventures. Details such as the payment date and investment ratios were not disclosed.
Coinboard allows users to manage their crypto portfolios by linking their registered crypto exchange accounts. As of this writing, the platform supports 10 exchanges in Japan and the rest of the world: Bitbank, BitFlyer, Coincheck, Quoinex, Zaif, Binance, Bittrex, Kraken, Liqui, and Poloniex.
The Coinboard platform helps users aggregate their crypto balances, their transaction history, their total asset amount and the like from multiple different exchanges. We’ve seen similar services like Blockfolio and Cryptofolio but these require users to manually input all of their transaction history by themselves, which makes it inconvenient especially for those who trade often.
The Coinboard platform has automated this input process using an API (application program interface). Given that other similar crypto platforms like Coin View having also recently supporting the same function, automated data import is becoming essential for a crypto portfolio management platform.
Logica was founded in November of 2015 by Masaru Matsunaga who previously worked for Japanese news curation app Gunosy as an engineer. With the support of angel investors he originally worked on image analysis products. After several trial and errors, including a hotel comparison site, he arrived at Coinboard last summer. At first glance it may seem inconsistent among all the services he had developed to date, but in fact all these were concerned with information aggregation, and are manifestations of Matsunaga’s interest in improving the convenience of amounts of information.
Using the funds raised this time, the company plans to strengthen its engineering capabilities for developing a mobile app as well as integrating the platform with more crypto exchanges including DEX (decentralized exchange).
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based inbound travel promotion startup EXest announced on Tuesday that it has raised 50 million yen (about $470K US) from Mizuho Capital, SMBC Venture Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Hidekazu Watanabe (CEO of Concord Executive Group) and TV Shin-Hiroshima. The company claims it will use the funds to strengthen product design, improve of user interface and experience, in addition to extending media reach. EXest was founded back in December of 2016 by Yukihiro Nakabayashi, who previously worked for Hiroshima TV and video creation startup Viibar. In conjunction with EXest, he recently founded a sales support agency called Pool & Moon. The company provides the WOW U platform that connects inbound visitors to Japan with licensed interpreters and tour guides in addition to WOWU-media offering potential visitors to Japan with video clips introducing must-visit spots and popular local souvenirs on Facebook. To create these video clips, WOWU-media gets license and uses video footage from local TV broadcasters across Japan, so that EXest can obtain high quality materials for affordable cost while the broadcasters get additional revenue stream by licensing their video footage asset. It doesn’t seem like WOWU-media can monetize themselves but works as an effective…
Tokyo-based inbound travel promotion startup EXest announced on Tuesday that it has raised 50 million yen (about $470K US) from Mizuho Capital, SMBC Venture Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Hidekazu Watanabe (CEO of Concord Executive Group) and TV Shin-Hiroshima. The company claims it will use the funds to strengthen product design, improve of user interface and experience, in addition to extending media reach.
EXest was founded back in December of 2016 by Yukihiro Nakabayashi, who previously worked for Hiroshima TV and video creation startup Viibar. In conjunction with EXest, he recently founded a sales support agency called Pool & Moon.
The company provides the WOW U platform that connects inbound visitors to Japan with licensed interpreters and tour guides in addition to WOWU-media offering potential visitors to Japan with video clips introducing must-visit spots and popular local souvenirs on Facebook. To create these video clips, WOWU-media gets license and uses video footage from local TV broadcasters across Japan, so that EXest can obtain high quality materials for affordable cost while the broadcasters get additional revenue stream by licensing their video footage asset. It doesn’t seem like WOWU-media can monetize themselves but works as an effective marketing engine to drive potential inbound visitors to the WOW U matching platform.
Based on a partnership with Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, EXest has has been insuring their interpreters and tour guides to prepare for a possible accident at work since last month. In addition, the company has been applying traveler insurance to all visitors who have agreed to tour with these guides. Since its launch back in the beginning of this year, WOWU-media has partnered with 20 local TV Stations all across Japan and has surpassed an accumulated 1.5 million monthly video plays. Going forward, the company aims to partner with more than 50 TV stations across the country by April of this year.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Delighted, the Japanese startup offering an iPad-powered unmanned reception system called Receptionist, announced on Wednesday that it had fundraised 120 million yen (about $1.13M US) from Daiwa Corporate Investment, Tsuneishi Capital Partners, and an undisclosed private investment partner in a series A round. The investment ratios and payment dates are undisclosed. Receptionist is a cloud-based reception service that substitutes existing messaging tools from Facebook, Slack, etc., through an iPad app for companies that are dependent upon internal landlines. When a visitor chooses a contact person with the iPad app, a notification of the visit is sent directly to his or her messaging tool. It has also a management function to collect the visitor’s information, such as the visitor’s name and company name (only when provided) in addition to the number of visits or visit times by contact person. The company is currently promoting service development and implementation with a team of about 20 people, and will further strengthen its personnel with this funding. Supporting Smartphones to Improve Usability Following the announcement of answering accumulated 10,000 calls at receptions across their user base as of March 2017, the unmanned reception app has steadily increased…
Tokyo-based Delighted, the Japanese startup offering an iPad-powered unmanned reception system called Receptionist, announced on Wednesday that it had fundraised 120 million yen (about $1.13M US) from Daiwa Corporate Investment, Tsuneishi Capital Partners, and an undisclosed private investment partner in a series A round. The investment ratios and payment dates are undisclosed.
Receptionist is a cloud-based reception service that substitutes existing messaging tools from Facebook, Slack, etc., through an iPad app for companies that are dependent upon internal landlines. When a visitor chooses a contact person with the iPad app, a notification of the visit is sent directly to his or her messaging tool. It has also a management function to collect the visitor’s information, such as the visitor’s name and company name (only when provided) in addition to the number of visits or visit times by contact person.
The company is currently promoting service development and implementation with a team of about 20 people, and will further strengthen its personnel with this funding.
Supporting Smartphones to Improve Usability
Following the announcement of answering accumulated 10,000 calls at receptions across their user base as of March 2017, the unmanned reception app has steadily increased their users. It has grown up to 210,000 calls in total as of March this year, and according to Delighted CEO Mariko Hashimoto there are examples among them of companies on a scale of 500 people.
The company is also preparing for new services that are compatible with smartphones. Those that have used Receptionist probably understand, but entering the name of the contact person on the iPad or inputting one’s own name or company name is still troublesome (however, writing it out by hand is more so). It was said that the smartphone app currently under development will eliminate such poor usability, but unfortunately the details cannot be published yet.
I often come across the unmanned reception app now in my visit to companies. Regarding use cases, some examples include: in a development room when you do not want to put a landline due to the noise it causes, or if you move seats or change the floor layout and do not want to use a landline because they are cumbersome to move around. Essentially, it solves problems often found at companies with a lot of movement, especially Internet-based ones.
On the other hand, I also looked into cases of companies that did not introduce it, and on the contrary, some said they prefer the sound of a landline, and for those companies where internal communication equals telephones with the fixed concept of “telephone families” it appears difficult to accept such a new tool.
As a slight digression, I believe the way people are thinking about the telephone, even around me, has changed considerably. While there are many people taking the “tactless” way of calling suddenly and depriving each other of time for communication purposes, there are also those times where it is better to explain important issues, especially when trouble arises, with voice. With the number of tools increasing, perhaps we have to think more about what’s the right tool for the right place.
Additionally, it appeared the company was considering various uses of the visitor data gradually accumulated in each company. News regarding this will be released as development progresses.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda