THE BRIDGE

News

Japanese fashion commerce site Muse&Co passes $1M in monthly sales

SHARE:

See the original story in Japanese. This is part of our coverage of the Infinity Ventures Summit Kyoto 2013 On day one of the Infinity Ventures Summit 2013 in Kyoto, I had a chance to speak with Hirotake Kubo, the CEO of Japanese fashion flash-sale commerce site Muse&Co. The startup was launched back in 2012, and raised 350 million yen (approximately $3.4 million) from several Japanese investment companies including Infinity Venture Partners back in May. According to Kubo, their monthly sales are now almost double what they were a half year ago, and have reached 100 million yen ($1 million). The Bridge: Your company has grown rapidly in the last half year. What happened? Kubo: We were only providing flash sale services, but it might not have been interesting enough for users. So we added curated content about fashion, and this helped us improve our conversion rate among our users. The Bridge: Adding curated content is not such a unique strategy to build a userbase. What was the key? Kubo: A list of items recommended by other users will not have such a great impact. So we used celebrities and asked them to recommend their favorite items on our site….

hirotake-kubo_at-ivs-2013-kyoto

See the original story in Japanese.

This is part of our coverage of the Infinity Ventures Summit Kyoto 2013

On day one of the Infinity Ventures Summit 2013 in Kyoto, I had a chance to speak with Hirotake Kubo, the CEO of Japanese fashion flash-sale commerce site Muse&Co. The startup was launched back in 2012, and raised 350 million yen (approximately $3.4 million) from several Japanese investment companies including Infinity Venture Partners back in May.

According to Kubo, their monthly sales are now almost double what they were a half year ago, and have reached 100 million yen ($1 million).

The Bridge: Your company has grown rapidly in the last half year. What happened?

Kubo: We were only providing flash sale services, but it might not have been interesting enough for users. So we added curated content about fashion, and this helped us improve our conversion rate among our users.

The Bridge: Adding curated content is not such a unique strategy to build a userbase. What was the key?

Kubo: A list of items recommended by other users will not have such a great impact. So we used celebrities and asked them to recommend their favorite items on our site. But consumers are very smart and will only buy items if they are good. So we carefully choose people who recommend good items, and we’re not so much focused on selling our products through that effort.

museco_screenshot

The Bridge: This kind of editorial operation is expensive I’m sure. How are your finances doing?

Kubo: I think they’re reasonable. Our editorial flow is not complete. We’re outsourcing the work, and managing it at all times with consideration of how to get better results for our money.

The Bridge: Can you share any specific growth figures?

Kubo: Our userbase keeps growing 15% every month. We have 30,000 monthly downloads of our mobile app and 40,000 new visitors on desktop. The growth rate more than doubled that of half a year ago.

The Bridge: What about the number of brands on site, and the number of users?

Kubo: We’re serving almost 1,000 brands to 400,000 users right now.

The Bridge: How much more sales you can expect to see?

Kubo: Our competitors are making around 5 billion yen ($50 million). So we can probably reach 400 million yen ($4 million) on a monthly basis.

The Bridge: Any idea on how to achieve that milestone?

Kubo: I have something in my mind, but I can’t disclose it. One thing I can share is that we’re looking to get our service out of the flash commerce business. Flash commerce helps us trigger potential customers, but we need to keep providing them with trending items at all times.

The Bridge: Thanks for talking with us!


Fashion magazine-style curated content can go a long way to helping users find things they like where a simple text search will not work. So I believe some media entities will launch e-commerce platforms in the near future, which may give consumers better accessibility to a wide variety of eye-catching items.

This Japanese startup wants to open source its DNA amplifier

SHARE:

This is part of our coverage of the Infinity Ventures Summit Kyoto 2013 At Infinity Ventures Summit Kyoto, we saw a few new startups pitching at the Launchpad event. One of the most notable was the very last to come on stage, as Shingo Hisakawa, the founder of hardware startup Tori Ningen [1], pitched a DNA amplifier device. This amplification step is a sort of prerequisite, I understand, for many biological experiments. Shingo posited the problem that DNA sampler devices typically cost $4000 to $10000. But his company wants to reduce that by 1/10, and then offer it open source. The details of how the device actually works were relatively complex (and I won’t venture to summarize it based on a simultaneous translation). But the results of a test sample, after they are processed, can be viewed in a Chrome browser, so it doesn’t require any special software. The hardware itself can be viewed below, and at the end of the video above. In my view, this was the most passionate pitch, the founder proclaiming that ’the internet is part of our own DNA, and we should use it to leave a legacy behind. They have already has started selling…

This is part of our coverage of the Infinity Ventures Summit Kyoto 2013

At Infinity Ventures Summit Kyoto, we saw a few new startups pitching at the Launchpad event. One of the most notable was the very last to come on stage, as Shingo Hisakawa, the founder of hardware startup Tori Ningen [1], pitched a DNA amplifier device. This amplification step is a sort of prerequisite, I understand, for many biological experiments.

Shingo posited the problem that DNA sampler devices typically cost $4000 to $10000. But his company wants to reduce that by 1/10, and then offer it open source. The details of how the device actually works were relatively complex (and I won’t venture to summarize it based on a simultaneous translation). But the results of a test sample, after they are processed, can be viewed in a Chrome browser, so it doesn’t require any special software. The hardware itself can be viewed below, and at the end of the video above.

In my view, this was the most passionate pitch, the founder proclaiming that ’the internet is part of our own DNA, and we should use it to leave a legacy behind.

They have already has started selling domestically here in Japan, but they want to bring it overseas as well. In fact, they are already selling in Malaysia, and hope to open a factory in China.

Update: I previously referred to the device as a DNA sampler, which is incorrect.

DNA amplifer


  1. He used to make aircraft, hence the name ‘Tori Ningen’, or ‘bird person’. He says the company is comprised of himself, his wife, and his cat.  ↩

Japan’s Netprice.com raises $7.7M from Digital Garage, intensifies ties for global business

SHARE:

Japan-based internet giant Netprice.com (TSE:3328) recently announced that it has raised about 790 million yen (approximately $7.67 million) from fellow Japanese web conglomerate Digital Garage (TSE:4819). It will use the funds to intensify its efforts to discover new internet business opportunities in global markets. Both companies have been operating startup incubator Open Network Lab since 2010, and have also been working together on cultivating business opportunities in the Southeast Asian region, including co-investing in Indonesian payment processor Veritrans Indonesia back in 2012. Coinciding with this funding, the two companies intend to collaboratively discover more internet business opportunities in the US as well as emerging markets. Digital Garage purchased a multi-storey building in the heart of San Francisco last month, where it has set up an incubation space called DG717. To commemorate this, the city’s mayor Edwin Lee has declared November 5th as Digital Garage Day in San Francisco. Netprice.com is expected to make the use of the location to gain accessibility to high potential startups and other opportunities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our readers may also recall that Netprice.com has established its own incubation program, Beenos, which is separate from the aforementioned Open Network Lab initiative.

netprice.com-and-digitalgarage

Japan-based internet giant Netprice.com (TSE:3328) recently announced that it has raised about 790 million yen (approximately $7.67 million) from fellow Japanese web conglomerate Digital Garage (TSE:4819). It will use the funds to intensify its efforts to discover new internet business opportunities in global markets.

Both companies have been operating startup incubator Open Network Lab since 2010, and have also been working together on cultivating business opportunities in the Southeast Asian region, including co-investing in Indonesian payment processor Veritrans Indonesia back in 2012. Coinciding with this funding, the two companies intend to collaboratively discover more internet business opportunities in the US as well as emerging markets.

Digital Garage purchased a multi-storey building in the heart of San Francisco last month, where it has set up an incubation space called DG717. To commemorate this, the city’s mayor Edwin Lee has declared November 5th as Digital Garage Day in San Francisco. Netprice.com is expected to make the use of the location to gain accessibility to high potential startups and other opportunities in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Our readers may also recall that Netprice.com has established its own incubation program, Beenos, which is separate from the aforementioned Open Network Lab initiative.

New Japanese iPhone game challenges you to have as many babies as possible

SHARE:

Lots of weird and wonderful apps pass through Apple’s App Store, and that seems to be especially true here in Japan. We’ve already written about a few of them in fact. But one game popped on our radar over the past few weeks, an unusual title by the name of Egg and Seed. While there is a sort of background story behind the game, it is pretty trivial and obviously contrived. As the human race faces extinction, you play the role of a special ‘super egg’ which has to avoid viruses and liaise with as many swimming sperm as you can. Sounds like a party, right? The purpose is simply to have as many babies as possible, and continue to try to beat your high score if you can. I myself had 80 babies just this morning, so I challenge you to top that if you can. Like any game this strange, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going through the heads of the folks who creates it. A response to Japan’s supposed no-sex crisis perhaps? I decided to get in touch with the developers to ask. It turns out that, for Ryo Shirakawa and ‘Ika’ [1], this game…

egg-seed-logo

Lots of weird and wonderful apps pass through Apple’s App Store, and that seems to be especially true here in Japan. We’ve already written about a few of them in fact. But one game popped on our radar over the past few weeks, an unusual title by the name of Egg and Seed.

While there is a sort of background story behind the game, it is pretty trivial and obviously contrived. As the human race faces extinction, you play the role of a special ‘super egg’ which has to avoid viruses and liaise with as many swimming sperm as you can. Sounds like a party, right?

The purpose is simply to have as many babies as possible, and continue to try to beat your high score if you can. I myself had 80 babies just this morning, so I challenge you to top that if you can.

Like any game this strange, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going through the heads of the folks who creates it. A response to Japan’s supposed no-sex crisis perhaps? I decided to get in touch with the developers to ask. It turns out that, for Ryo Shirakawa and ‘Ika’ [1], this game (their first and only game) was merely a trial to learn game programming. But after making it initially, they found they could make it better by adding a few extra features and functions. Unlike many made-in-Japan games, it’s ready to go for international users too, with an easy interface and a great app description on the App Store.


egg-seed-0 egg-seed-1

Surprisingly the end result, Egg and Seed, after briefly breaking into Japan’s top ten app rankings, still sits among the country’s top ten games in the action and adventure categories (see chart below), a pleasant result for what looks like a mere side project from its developers. The control mechanism for this one is smart, and I look forward to future games from these guys whenever they decide to get really serious.

The game is available over on the App Store if you’d like to give it a try.

egg-and-seed
Via App Annie

  1. Ika is the apparent nickname of one of the two developers.  ↩

Singapore-based Coda Payments raises $2.3M from several Japanese firms

SHARE:

See the original story in Japanese. In the Southeast Asia region, online payment systems still aren’t as developed as in other parts of the world [1]. To help compensate, Singapore-based Coda Payments provides users with mobile payment solutions in partnership with local mobile carriers in Indonesia and other countries. That company announced today it has secured series A funding worth of $2.3 million from GMO Global Payment Fund, Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten, CyberAgent Ventures, Singapore-based Gloden Gate Ventures, and Skype co-founder/angel investor Toivo Annus [2]. Golden Gate Ventures and Toivo Annus participated in the company’s $900,000 seed round investments last year. Coda Payments launched back in 2011 and has been providing payment services in Indonesia since last March in partnership with local mobile operators Axis and Esia. On the content provider side, the company has partnered with game publishers – such as Garena (Singapore), ChangYou (China), Boyaa Interactive (China), and CJ Internet (Korea) – to provide users with payment methods to purchasing virtual items in game via phone bill payments or prepaid airtime. Regarding this latest funding, Coda Payments CEO Neil Davison noted: We are delighted to have three of Japan’s most prominent technology firms in Coda’s investor group. GMO’s…

coda-payments-featuredimage

See the original story in Japanese.

In the Southeast Asia region, online payment systems still aren’t as developed as in other parts of the world [1]. To help compensate, Singapore-based Coda Payments provides users with mobile payment solutions in partnership with local mobile carriers in Indonesia and other countries. That company announced today it has secured series A funding worth of $2.3 million from GMO Global Payment Fund, Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten, CyberAgent Ventures, Singapore-based Gloden Gate Ventures, and Skype co-founder/angel investor Toivo Annus [2].

Golden Gate Ventures and Toivo Annus participated in the company’s $900,000 seed round investments last year.

Coda Payments launched back in 2011 and has been providing payment services in Indonesia since last March in partnership with local mobile operators Axis and Esia. On the content provider side, the company has partnered with game publishers – such as Garena (Singapore), ChangYou (China), Boyaa Interactive (China), and CJ Internet (Korea) – to provide users with payment methods to purchasing virtual items in game via phone bill payments or prepaid airtime.

Regarding this latest funding, Coda Payments CEO Neil Davison noted:

neil-davidson_portraitWe are delighted to have three of Japan’s most prominent technology firms in Coda’s investor group. GMO’s expertise in payments, Rakuten’s in e-commerce, and CyberAgent’s in gaming, in addition to the fact that all three are actively investing across Southeast Asia, ideally position them to help accelerate Coda’s growth.

The company will use these new funds to expand its footprint in Southeast Asia. In the Southeast Asian region where internet and mobile payments are limited in accessibility, many startups are fiercely competing to provide alternative options. To learn more about this space, check out Tech in Asia’s 10 startups that can beat PayPal in Southeast Asia.


  1. This is one reason why a system like Candy is being introduced in the region.
  2. Disclosure: Jeffrey Paine, one of the co-founding partners of Golden Gate Ventures, is our advisor.

Dragon Quest Portal app tops iOS, Android charts in Japan

SHARE:

The most popular mobile app in Japan right now (the top free app on both iOS and Google Play) is a mobile port of the original Dragon Quest. Publisher Square Enix, long under fire for its relatively overpriced mobile games, has given nostalgic gaming fans a freebie by rolling out this smartphone version of the 80s 8-bit classic. What’s interesting here is how the game was released, not as a standalone ‘Dragon Quest Classic’ app, but rather as a Dragon Quest Portal app, in which the original game is available as a ‘free’ in-app purchase. Other games in the series, like Dragon Quest II and Dragon Quest III will be subsequently made available from the portal as well, although I doubt they’ll be free as well [1]. If that’s the case, it looks like this will be a clever way to get customers in the door, and then profit from them later. The initial promotion was to make Dragon Quest available to the first 1 million people who downloaded it, after which it would be sold for 500 yen (or about $5). But apparently fan response has been very positive, with more than three million downloads to date, and the…

dragonquest

The most popular mobile app in Japan right now (the top free app on both iOS and Google Play) is a mobile port of the original Dragon Quest. Publisher Square Enix, long under fire for its relatively overpriced mobile games, has given nostalgic gaming fans a freebie by rolling out this smartphone version of the 80s 8-bit classic.

What’s interesting here is how the game was released, not as a standalone ‘Dragon Quest Classic’ app, but rather as a Dragon Quest Portal app, in which the original game is available as a ‘free’ in-app purchase. Other games in the series, like Dragon Quest II and Dragon Quest III will be subsequently made available from the portal as well, although I doubt they’ll be free as well [1]. If that’s the case, it looks like this will be a clever way to get customers in the door, and then profit from them later.

The initial promotion was to make Dragon Quest available to the first 1 million people who downloaded it, after which it would be sold for 500 yen (or about $5). But apparently fan response has been very positive, with more than three million downloads to date, and the promotion has been extended until December 10.

A couple of days after that, of course, Dragon Quest VIII drops, at the hefty price of 2800 yen (or almost $28).

But if you are in Japan and you’d like to re-live the original Dragon Quest, you still have a little over a week to get it for iOS or Android.

dragon-quest-2 dragon-quest-2


  1. If they are, maybe not for long I suspect.  ↩

Japanese crowdsourcing platform ‘Crowdworks’ raises $10.7 million

SHARE:

Tokyo-based Crowdworks, the startup behind the crowdsourcing platform of the same name, announced today it has raised 1.1 biillion yen ($10.7 million) from CyberAgent, DG Incubation, and Dentsu Digital Fund [1]. These investors will reportedly aid the company in its global business expansion and help diversify its services. Prior to this funding, the company raised 300 million yen (about $3 million) from Itochu Technology Ventutes, DG Incubation, and Suneight Investment. Since its initial launch in late 2011, the company has facilitated crowdsourced tasks from over 18,000 companies, worth a total of over 5 billion yen ($48.8 million). It has acquired 80,000 crowdsourced workers on its platform. Through partnerships with the aforementioned investors, the company will start running a logo contest campaign that lets users propose designs for celebrities blogs on Ameba, CyberAgent’s blogging platform. In addition, Crowdworks will establish a presence in San Francisco at DG717, a brand new co-working space operated by Digital Garage. We had previously interviewed (in Japanese) Crowdworks’ CEO Koichiro Yoshida, where he told us how he plans to evolve the business. Please stay tuned for an English translation of that article. DG Incubation is the investment arm of Japanese web conglomerate Digital Garage. Dentsu Digital…

crowdworks_signboard-mascot

Tokyo-based Crowdworks, the startup behind the crowdsourcing platform of the same name, announced today it has raised 1.1 biillion yen ($10.7 million) from CyberAgent, DG Incubation, and Dentsu Digital Fund [1]. These investors will reportedly aid the company in its global business expansion and help diversify its services. Prior to this funding, the company raised 300 million yen (about $3 million) from Itochu Technology Ventutes, DG Incubation, and Suneight Investment.

Since its initial launch in late 2011, the company has facilitated crowdsourced tasks from over 18,000 companies, worth a total of over 5 billion yen ($48.8 million). It has acquired 80,000 crowdsourced workers on its platform.

Through partnerships with the aforementioned investors, the company will start running a logo contest campaign that lets users propose designs for celebrities blogs on Ameba, CyberAgent’s blogging platform. In addition, Crowdworks will establish a presence in San Francisco at DG717, a brand new co-working space operated by Digital Garage.

We had previously interviewed (in Japanese) Crowdworks’ CEO Koichiro Yoshida, where he told us how he plans to evolve the business. Please stay tuned for an English translation of that article.


  1. DG Incubation is the investment arm of Japanese web conglomerate Digital Garage. Dentsu Digital Fund is an initiative of Japanese ad agency Dentsu.

Japan-based restaurant finder app Retty raises $3.2M

SHARE:

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Retty, the startup behind the restaurant finder app of the same name, announced today that it has raised 330 million yen (approximately $3.2 million) in a series B round from Itochu Ventures, Mizuho Capital, and other investors. Prior to this round, the company raised $22 million yen ($285,000) from CyberAgent Ventures and an angel investor back in August of 2011, and 100 million yen ($1.2 million) from Gree Ventures, NTT Investment Partners, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital back in October of 2012. Our readers may recall the app surpassed 1 million monthly unique visitors back in October. The app renewed its interface back in its interface back in August, which has helped spur user growth to almost twice its previous rate. But Retty still has a huge obstacle to overcome. Its competitor Tabelog has 25.77 million desktop users, 22.97 million users on mobile, and a surprisingly 1.14 billion unique page views in a month [1]. It will be interesting to see how Retty will position itself in this race. We’ll explore the company’s future plans in an upcoming chat with CEO Kazuya Takeda. So please stay tuned! This is according to the announcement from…

retty-featured

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Retty, the startup behind the restaurant finder app of the same name, announced today that it has raised 330 million yen (approximately $3.2 million) in a series B round from Itochu Ventures, Mizuho Capital, and other investors. Prior to this round, the company raised $22 million yen ($285,000) from CyberAgent Ventures and an angel investor back in August of 2011, and 100 million yen ($1.2 million) from Gree Ventures, NTT Investment Partners, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital back in October of 2012.

Our readers may recall the app surpassed 1 million monthly unique visitors back in October. The app renewed its interface back in its interface back in August, which has helped spur user growth to almost twice its previous rate.

But Retty still has a huge obstacle to overcome. Its competitor Tabelog has 25.77 million desktop users, 22.97 million users on mobile, and a surprisingly 1.14 billion unique page views in a month [1].

It will be interesting to see how Retty will position itself in this race. We’ll explore the company’s future plans in an upcoming chat with CEO Kazuya Takeda. So please stay tuned!


  1. This is according to the announcement from Tabelog’s parent company Kakaku.com. As of October 2013.

Japanese website helps divorcees find love online

SHARE:

According to article from Japanese economic news outlet Sankei, roughly one in three married couples in Japan end up getting a divorce [1]. The needs of people trying to get married for the first time and for those who have already been married and divorced are probably not the same. One Japanese company, Bridal Recipe, has launched the first ever Japanese online dating site for divorced people looking for a spouse. The new website is called Re:Marriage. The site only allows divorced people to register, so that they can find people who are sympathetic and understanding of each other’s conditions. Although the site can be used anonymously (without revealing any real name or identity), users are asked to provide basic information such as age, residential area, yearly income, job description, as well as the reason for the divorce and whether or not they have any children. Since these sort of awkward topics are disclosed from the start, people can jump right in to getting to know each other. Registered users can search for partners on their own, but Re:Marriage also suggests partners by matching up users by various criteria like age, interests, and hobbies. For safety reasons, the site requires…

ReMarriage

According to article from Japanese economic news outlet Sankei, roughly one in three married couples in Japan end up getting a divorce [1].

The needs of people trying to get married for the first time and for those who have already been married and divorced are probably not the same. One Japanese company, Bridal Recipe, has launched the first ever Japanese online dating site for divorced people looking for a spouse. The new website is called Re:Marriage.

The site only allows divorced people to register, so that they can find people who are sympathetic and understanding of each other’s conditions. Although the site can be used anonymously (without revealing any real name or identity), users are asked to provide basic information such as age, residential area, yearly income, job description, as well as the reason for the divorce and whether or not they have any children.

Since these sort of awkward topics are disclosed from the start, people can jump right in to getting to know each other. Registered users can search for partners on their own, but Re:Marriage also suggests partners by matching up users by various criteria like age, interests, and hobbies.

For safety reasons, the site requires that all members provide identification such as a drivers’ license or passport, but this will not be disclosed on the site.

Re:Marriage requires a monthly membership fee of 3,980 yen (or about $39). To mark the site’s launch, the membership fee is free for the entire month of December.


  1. While this number seems extreme, it is apparently based on figures from the Japanese Ministry of Health, and likely not far fetched.  ↩

Cerevo’s futuristic smart power strip, with mobile integration, now available for pre-order

SHARE:

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Cerevo, a startup focused on manufacturing internet-enabled gadgets, recently introduced Otto, a smart power strip that lets you control your home appliances even while you’re out. Our readers may recall we mentioned the prototype shown at CES 2013. But we’re happy to tell you that the company has finally begun accepting pre-orders, with shipments coming in January or February for a retail price of 23,800 yen (approximately $232). Cerevo is known for having introduced interesting hardware like the livestream encoder LiveShell, as well as SmartTrigger a remote shutter for your DSLR camera that can be used from your iPhone or Mac. Otto, the new product, has been developed using the company’s own crowdfunding site Cerevo Dash. It has eight power supply sockets and can enclose AC adapters, keeping them hidden from sight. A power supply for every single socket can be controlled over the internet using the mobile app which is provided for free. Two of them can even be controlled by a dimmer, letting you dim or brighten lights with your smartphone. This enclosure was designed by UK-based Japanese product designer Satoshi Yanagisawa, who is famous for having designed portable power generator…

otto

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Cerevo, a startup focused on manufacturing internet-enabled gadgets, recently introduced Otto, a smart power strip that lets you control your home appliances even while you’re out. Our readers may recall we mentioned the prototype shown at CES 2013. But we’re happy to tell you that the company has finally begun accepting pre-orders, with shipments coming in January or February for a retail price of 23,800 yen (approximately $232).

Cerevo is known for having introduced interesting hardware like the livestream encoder LiveShell, as well as SmartTrigger a remote shutter for your DSLR camera that can be used from your iPhone or Mac.

otto_connect_640

Otto, the new product, has been developed using the company’s own crowdfunding site Cerevo Dash. It has eight power supply sockets and can enclose AC adapters, keeping them hidden from sight. A power supply for every single socket can be controlled over the internet using the mobile app which is provided for free. Two of them can even be controlled by a dimmer, letting you dim or brighten lights with your smartphone.

This enclosure was designed by UK-based Japanese product designer Satoshi Yanagisawa, who is famous for having designed portable power generator Cyclus.

The below demonstration video shows you how the device can control lighting with its pre-programmed ‘bonfire’ dimmer mode.