See the original story in Japanese. Japanese ad giant Dentsu (TSE:4324) and the San Francisco-based VC firm Scrum Ventures last month jointly held an explanatory meeting about Sports Tech Tokyo, the acceleration program focusing on sports tech. With 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics approaching, there seems to be the best momentum for sports tech to attract global attention. At the beginning of the event, Japanese footballer Keisuke Honda, also known as an investor for startups, provided a comment. The operation term of this acceleration program’s 1st batch is planned to be about one year, beginning in January of 2019. It is relatively longer than typical acceleration programs and consists of a six-month business starting round and a six-month activation round. This program commits not only to service / business development but also to establishment of business for participating teams. The system allows Play (eSports or fantasy sports), Watch (arena / stadium solution) and Support (player support technology) to apply this program, covering a wide range of services. 150 teams will be chosen from among applicant startups gathered from around the world next February, and a kick-off conference will be held in Tokyo during March of 2019. After next April,…
(L to R) Fumihiko Nakajima (Program Owner of Sports Tech Tokyo / Dentsu CDC) and Takuya Miyata (CEO of Scrum Ventures)
Japanese ad giant Dentsu (TSE:4324) and the San Francisco-based VC firm Scrum Ventures last month jointly held an explanatory meeting about Sports Tech Tokyo, the acceleration program focusing on sports tech. With 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics approaching, there seems to be the best momentum for sports tech to attract global attention.
At the beginning of the event, Japanese footballer Keisuke Honda, also known as an investor for startups, provided a comment.
The operation term of this acceleration program’s 1st batch is planned to be about one year, beginning in January of 2019. It is relatively longer than typical acceleration programs and consists of a six-month business starting round and a six-month activation round. This program commits not only to service / business development but also to establishment of business for participating teams.
The system allows Play (eSports or fantasy sports), Watch (arena / stadium solution) and Support (player support technology) to apply this program, covering a wide range of services. 150 teams will be chosen from among applicant startups gathered from around the world next February, and a kick-off conference will be held in Tokyo during March of 2019.
Partial list of Sports Tech Tokyo mentors
After next April, Sports Tech Tokyo will choose some 10 to 20 finalists and plans to provide mentoring to them based in Japan and San Francisco. The program will line up 100 famous Mentors including Daniel Brusilovsky (technology lead of U.S. basketball team), Kai Bond (investor of Comcast Ventures) and Ryan Hoover (founder of Product Hunt / investor of Weekend Fund).
Sponsored companies of Sports Tech Tokyo
Sports Tech Tokyo plans to have a world Demo Day in San Francisco, as the conclusion of business development round in July of 2019. To increase appearance opportunities of participating startups, the program will hold pop-up events within tech conferences in Japan during October of 2019. It has acquired about 20 supporters / sponsorships including sports-related company or media.
Takayuki Hioki (Sports Marketing Japan) introduced sports business trends around the world. He also spoke on the evolution of sports business.Takeshi Okada (ex-Manager of the Japanese national football team, right) and Kojiro Kurotobi (CEO of Sportsbull, left), along with Hiromu Nishiuchi (author of ‘Statistics is the most powerful knowledge,’ in center) delved into the potentials of sports tech.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based LPixel, the Japanese startup behind AI-powered medical image diagnostic support technologies, recently announced that it has raised about 3 billion yen (about $27 million US) in October. Participating investors include Olympus, Fujifilm and Cyberdyne. The company will use this funding to strengthen development of proprietary technologies to support a medical diagnostic imaging system called EIRL, in addition to marketing efforts and team structure enhancement. Spun off from the University of Tokyo, LPixel has been developing image analysis technologies specifically focused on the life science space. In partnership with the University of Tokyo, National Cancer Center Japan and other medical institutions, the company has been focused on medical diagnostic imaging R&D. They are reportedly in talks with the companies participating in this round for potential business partnerships. via PR TIMES Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Tokyo-based LPixel, the Japanese startup behind AI-powered medical image diagnostic support technologies, recently announced that it has raised about 3 billion yen (about $27 million US) in October. Participating investors include Olympus, Fujifilm and Cyberdyne. The company will use this funding to strengthen development of proprietary technologies to support a medical diagnostic imaging system called EIRL, in addition to marketing efforts and team structure enhancement.
Spun off from the University of Tokyo, LPixel has been developing image analysis technologies specifically focused on the life science space. In partnership with the University of Tokyo, National Cancer Center Japan and other medical institutions, the company has been focused on medical diagnostic imaging R&D. They are reportedly in talks with the companies participating in this round for potential business partnerships.
via PR TIMES
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Japan’s life science VC fund / accelerator Beyond Next Ventures (BNV), community builder Link-J and realty concern Mitsui Fudosan (TSE:8801) have announced that they will jointly launch a shared wet lab called Beyond BioLAB TOKYO in the basement of Nihonbashi Life Science Building in Tokyo. The facilities will be officially opened on February 1st, 2019, with operations and maintenance being handled in toto by BNV. Blockbuster Tokyo, the biopharma-focused startup accelerator run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, has selected 21 startups for the ongoing second batch, almost half of these startups seen using this floor as office venue. The Demo Day for the second batch is set for March 27th, 2019. BNV recently announced the launch of its second fund. The fund’s size is yet to be disclosed but BNV’s Ito says it will surpass the $50 million first fund. He also said 15 out of all 23 startups that secured investment from the first fund are related to medicine or healthcare. Ito emphasized the promising future of Beyond BioLAB TOKYO and the importance of city-based share labs for cultivation of life science startups, citing examples of San Francisco-based IndieBio (managed by SOSV) or Biolabs managing shared wet labs in…
L to R: Tsuyoshi Ito (CEO, Beyond Next Ventures), Takashi Ueda (Managing Executive Officer, Mitsui Fudosan) and Akihiko Soyama (Executive Director, LINK-J) Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
The facilities will be officially opened on February 1st, 2019, with operations and maintenance being handled in toto by BNV. Blockbuster Tokyo, the biopharma-focused startup accelerator run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, has selected 21 startups for the ongoing second batch, almost half of these startups seen using this floor as office venue. The Demo Day for the second batch is set for March 27th, 2019.
Beyond BioLAB TOKYO Image credit: Beyond Next Ventures
BNV recently announced the launch of its second fund. The fund’s size is yet to be disclosed but BNV’s Ito says it will surpass the $50 million first fund. He also said 15 out of all 23 startups that secured investment from the first fund are related to medicine or healthcare.
Ito emphasized the promising future of Beyond BioLAB TOKYO and the importance of city-based share labs for cultivation of life science startups, citing examples of San Francisco-based IndieBio (managed by SOSV) or Biolabs managing shared wet labs in seven US cities.
See the original story in Japanese. Foreign labor prospects are prompting great expectations in Japan, well known for its employee shortage. The recent introduction of a new bill in the Diet concerning foreign labor remains fresh in our memories. While the use of AI, and the social participation of women, the elderly, and young people is also expected, its influence is limited because, in the end, it does not increase the population. Which brings us back to our last hope: the foreign worker. Yolo Japan carries out employment placement and training for these foreign workers. Founder and CEO Taisuke Kaji experienced a near-death traffic accident 3 years prior that became the catalyst for moving away from his English conversation school business to starting a business that assists in creating a better society; and so, Yolo Japan was born. The biggest concern for foreigners staying in Japan is how to secure employment. As such, the company introduced unique short-term part-time job opportunities for foreigners such as drinking beer for 150 minutes and earning 13,000 yen (about $115 US) or shaving beards/trimming nose hair with trial razors/nose hair cutters for 8,000 yen (around $71 US). The company’s services are popular among the…
From left: Yolo Japan CEO Taisuke Kaji, COO Naoko Tsubaki, CFO Kensuke Akagi Image credit: Yolo Japan
Foreign labor prospects are prompting great expectations in Japan, well known for its employee shortage. The recent introduction of a new bill in the Diet concerning foreign labor remains fresh in our memories. While the use of AI, and the social participation of women, the elderly, and young people is also expected, its influence is limited because, in the end, it does not increase the population. Which brings us back to our last hope: the foreign worker.
Yolo Japan carries out employment placement and training for these foreign workers. Founder and CEO Taisuke Kaji experienced a near-death traffic accident 3 years prior that became the catalyst for moving away from his English conversation school business to starting a business that assists in creating a better society; and so, Yolo Japan was born.
The biggest concern for foreigners staying in Japan is how to secure employment. As such, the company introduced unique short-term part-time job opportunities for foreigners such as drinking beer for 150 minutes and earning 13,000 yen (about $115 US) or shaving beards/trimming nose hair with trial razors/nose hair cutters for 8,000 yen (around $71 US).
Image credit: Yolo Japan
The company’s services are popular among the foreign community for ensuring a simple source of income that is not bound by time constraints, and within the first year of beginning services it welcomed 10,000 registrants (Yolo Japan calls them Yolars). Today that number has reached 52,000 people from 217 countries, which is more than the participating country members of the UN.
As the number of Yolars increased, Yolo Japan began to handle not only short-term part-time work, but also more sophisticated long term positions. Here the new problems of foreign work visas and Japanese language ability emerged. For the former, Yolo Japan acts on behalf of the client for some interviews to reduce the risk to the client.
Diagram originally created by Yolo Japan, translated and arranged by The Bridge
However, the latter problem is difficult to solve. No matter how refined a person’s business skills are, they cannot get a job in Japan if they cannot handle Japanese satisfactorily. Therefore, Yolo Japan initially got involved in businesses that were not asking for high Japanese language skills, and from there it developed a system that allows for career advancement based on language acquisition progress. For example, having them start on a factory line, and gradually stepping up to the food industry and office work.
Naoko Tsubaki, who joined the team as COO, was until recently an intrapreneur with Japanese internet giant Voyage Group. She married a man from Brazil, had two children, and left Voyage three months ago after having spent many years with the company. At that time she had no clear plan for her next career move, but she decided to become a member of the Yolo Japan team after realizing her desire to support working mothers and foreigners.
Yolo Base, a lodging and co-working space expected to be set up in Osaka next year. Copyright (c) AIM Inc.
In May of 2017 Yolo Japan raised a total of 100 million yen (about $882K US) from Gurunavi (TSE: 2440), Mizuho Capital, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital. In September of 2018 the company procured 300 million yen (around $2.6M US) from Tokyu Land Corporation (TSE: 3289), Taisei (NSE: 4649), and Nankai Electric Railway (TSE: 9044). It was the first investment in a startup for Nankai Electric Railway. In September of next year, with the cooperation of Nankai Electric Railway, the company plans to open an inbound work training facility called Yolo Base which will be equipped with lodging and co-working space near Osaka’s Shin-Imamiya station.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a developmental condition that affects people by making it difficult prioritize, manage time, focus on details, and follow-through with work. One of the challenges faced by people with ADHD is that tasks tend to go unfinished regardless of whether they are personal or work-related and despite the intentions of the person. As a result, they tend to get reprimanded, causing them to lose their self-confidence and motivation. CEO Yoshua Kishi has also been diagnosed with ADHD and is aiming to reduce the symptoms with the help of technology. Kishi’s current project is Holoash, a holographic interface based on cognitive science. A character presented as a hologram speaks with the user, who suffers from ADHD, in an attempt to raise their self-confidence. This method is called “motivation interviewing” or “therapeutic communication”. The dialogue contained on Holoash is similar to that used by the AiOS “Samantha” in the movie Her. Following the company’s successful crowdfunding at Campfire held at the beginning of this year, it is currently in the process of hypothesis verification using its mobile app (video below) and conducting product/market fit research. Recently, it was adopted as a participant…
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a developmental condition that affects people by making it difficult prioritize, manage time, focus on details, and follow-through with work.
One of the challenges faced by people with ADHD is that tasks tend to go unfinished regardless of whether they are personal or work-related and despite the intentions of the person. As a result, they tend to get reprimanded, causing them to lose their self-confidence and motivation. CEO Yoshua Kishi has also been diagnosed with ADHD and is aiming to reduce the symptoms with the help of technology.
An image of Holoash
Kishi’s current project is Holoash, a holographic interface based on cognitive science. A character presented as a hologram speaks with the user, who suffers from ADHD, in an attempt to raise their self-confidence. This method is called “motivation interviewing” or “therapeutic communication”.
The dialogue contained on Holoash is similar to that used by the AiOS “Samantha” in the movie Her. Following the company’s successful crowdfunding at Campfire held at the beginning of this year, it is currently in the process of hypothesis verification using its mobile app (video below) and conducting product/market fit research. Recently, it was adopted as a participant of Y Combinator’s Startup School and was chosen as a finalist of the Accenture HealthTech Innovation Challenge. Additionally, the opportunities for use abroad are clearly discernible.
Kishi had the following to say about why holograms are the solution.
It is important to have something to focus on right in front of us in order to avoid distraction. And, since humans are not good at focusing on two dimensional objects, we want to stick to creating an environment where users see things in 3D and can then concentrate on them.
In recent times, apart from those trying to overcome ADHD, the surge in smartphone and social network usage has seen an increase in “healthy individuals” with ADHD. Kishi refers to this as “Digital Dementia”, and it is safe to assume that most everyone has experienced the never-ending barrage of push notifications from smartphones, etc., drawing their attention away from what needs to be done, and leading to difficulty maintaining priorities or even forgetting them altogether.
Kishi pitching at Silicon Valley’s TVLP (Technology Venture Launch Program) Image credit: TVLP
In other words, everyone may have similar obstacles to overcome, some big some small, be it someone who has been diagnosed with ADHD by a doctor, or simply a modern human. If Holoash’s hypothesis is proven true, its possibilities are sure to expand. In the near future, the company has plans to introduce a scheduling (one of the obstacles faced by people diagnosed with ADHD) feature, and if it is equipped with Amazon Alexa or similar we can expect use cases other than as a smart speaker.
Earlier this year Holoash raised funds from Indee Japan, Soga Takeshi (SGcapital), Takashi Shibayama (Blanq), Osamu Osagahara (AbbaLab) in the angel round for development of Holoash’s hardware prototype. The company has recently started raising funds in the pre-seed round. This month a visiting researcher in the field of medical therapy from Stanford University joined the team as an advisor and it is expected that the company will collaborate with the insurance and pharmaceutical industries and perform joint research with academia.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
Japanese drone startup Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory, ACSL for short, announced on Friday that its IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 21. Mizuho Securities will lead the underwriting. Founded by a former professor at Chiba University, Dr. Kenzo Nonami (who is now ACSL CEO), back in November of 2013, the company has been developing drones for industry use leveraging proprietary flying object control technology from his research and development over the years. Their flagship products include the ACSL-PF1 industrial drone platform introduced back in 2016 as well as the PF1-Vision non-GPS drone platform introduced back in 2017. According to the consolidated statement as of March of 2018, they posted a revenue of 370.2 million yen (about $3.3 million) with an ordinary loss of 454.2 million yen ($4.0 million) and a net loss of 460.4 million yen ($4.1 million). Led by UTEC (The University of Tokyo Edge Capital, 19.93%), its major share holders include CEO Nonami (14.23%), Rakuten (TSE:4755, 12.81%) and Kikuchi Seisakusho (TSE:3444, 9.96%). The video below (0m30s – 5m30s) contains a demonstration flight of ACSL-PF1 by the company’s CTO, Dr. Chris Raabe,…
ACSL CTO Dr. Chris Raabe introduces ACSL-PF1 at Drone Fund’s press conference back in August. Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Japanese drone startup Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory, ACSL for short, announced on Friday that its IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 21. Mizuho Securities will lead the underwriting.
Founded by a former professor at Chiba University, Dr. Kenzo Nonami (who is now ACSL CEO), back in November of 2013, the company has been developing drones for industry use leveraging proprietary flying object control technology from his research and development over the years. Their flagship products include the ACSL-PF1 industrial drone platform introduced back in 2016 as well as the PF1-Vision non-GPS drone platform introduced back in 2017.
According to the consolidated statement as of March of 2018, they posted a revenue of 370.2 million yen (about $3.3 million) with an ordinary loss of 454.2 million yen ($4.0 million) and a net loss of 460.4 million yen ($4.1 million). Led by UTEC (The University of Tokyo Edge Capital, 19.93%), its major share holders include CEO Nonami (14.23%), Rakuten (TSE:4755, 12.81%) and Kikuchi Seisakusho (TSE:3444, 9.96%).
The video below (0m30s – 5m30s) contains a demonstration flight of ACSL-PF1 by the company’s CTO, Dr. Chris Raabe, at their investor Drone Fund’s press conference back in August.
This guest post is authored by Hiroko Mamoto, Public Retalations at Bangkok-based recruiting platform startup TalentEx. Some of our coverage about TalentEx can be found here and there. See the originl story in Jaapnese. In partnership with Omise and Abeja – two outstanding and rapidly-growing startups in Southeast Asia led by Japanese entrepreneurs, the Japanese embassy in Thailand recently hosted a conference called Digital Transformation Summit (DX Summit for short) at the headquarters of Thai top property developer Ananda Development. The conference is a part of “Open Innovation Columbus (OIC)” through which the Japanese government and Thai conglomerates encourage strategic alliances between innovative Japanese startups and the Thai conglomerates. Approximately 50 representatives from 30 Thai conglomerates participated in the first summit, along with 30 representatives from 30 major companies from Japan. In addition to government officials and media from both countries, Global Brain CEO Yasuhiko Yurimoto and KK Fund General Partner Koichi Saito also participated. See also: Columbus charts course (Bangkok Post) Thailand, Japan join hands to develop local startups (Bangkok Post) เอกอัครราชทูตญี่ปุ่นประจำประเทศไทยสนับสนุน Start-up ญี่ปุ่น ลงทุนในไทย (Royal Thai Government) OIC was launched with the goal of developing successful Japanese startups around the world and to meet the demand for state-of-the-art…
Hiroko Mamoto
This guest post is authored by Hiroko Mamoto, Public Retalations at Bangkok-based recruiting platform startup TalentEx.
Some of our coverage about TalentEx can be found here and there.
The participants of the DX Summit. Japan’s Ambassador to Thailand Shiro Sadoshima stands in the center. Image credit: Hiroko Mamoto
In partnership with Omise and Abeja – two outstanding and rapidly-growing startups in Southeast Asia led by Japanese entrepreneurs, the Japanese embassy in Thailand recently hosted a conference called Digital Transformation Summit (DX Summit for short) at the headquarters of Thai top property developer Ananda Development. The conference is a part of “Open Innovation Columbus (OIC)” through which the Japanese government and Thai conglomerates encourage strategic alliances between innovative Japanese startups and the Thai conglomerates.
Approximately 50 representatives from 30 Thai conglomerates participated in the first summit, along with 30 representatives from 30 major companies from Japan. In addition to government officials and media from both countries, Global Brain CEO Yasuhiko Yurimoto and KK Fund General Partner Koichi Saito also participated.
OIC was launched with the goal of developing successful Japanese startups around the world and to meet the demand for state-of-the-art technology from the conglomerates lead by ASEAN. The Japanese government serves as mediator between the concerned parties, providing enriching support content such as matching and follow-ups, funds for expanding business in Thailand, and mentoring with Japanese entrepreneurs on the ground in Thailand.
Naoki Tonogi, CEO of Abeja Singapore Image credit: Hiroko Mamoto
The theme of this year’s DX Summit was AI (artificial intelligence) and blockchain, and one aim was to have designated knowledgeable persons assist the representatives from Thai conglomerates in gaining a deeper understanding of digital technology. Abeja Singapore Representative Naoki Tonogi and Omise Holdings CEO Jun Hasegawa served as speakers during the seminar.
Tonogi spoke passionately about technology up to present day that did not yet have AI, and how AI is innovative by answering the straightforward question, “What is AI?” He also introduced practical examples of AI provided by Abeja, and based on those, he discussed the future of AI technology and market considerations.
Jun Hasegawa, CE of Omise Holdings Image credit: Hiroko Mamoto
Hasegawa in turn used an explanation of products offered by Omise to showcase concrete examples of how blockchain can be used. His explanation included a basic outline, as well as the characteristics and merits of blockchain technology, and participants gains further understanding through question and answer time.
Japan’s Ambassador to Thailand, Shiro Sadoshima, imparted these words following the DX Summit.
I anticipate positive results through the cooperation of the decidedly flexible Thai companies and the technology and speed of Japanese startups.
Omise’s Hasegawa, who also serves as Chairman of the Japan-ASEAN Innovation Support Network (JAIS) [1] , related the following.
Just through breaching language barriers/ culture barriers/ market barriers, the methods of doing business can be improved. This is why, even as an entrepreneur myself who can understand the pain of doing business abroad, I’d like to continue to support events such as this which provide a space to connect with local companies.
Prior to the OIC, Sadoshima meets with Thai Prime Minister Kobsak Pootrakool to discuss cooperative relations
Prior to the OIC, Japanese Ambassador Sadoshima meets with Thai Prime Minister Kobsak Pootrakool to discuss cooperative relations. Image credit: Office of the Prime Minister, Thailand
Representatives from the Thai conglomerates also shared their positive impressions of the seminar.
Thanapong Na Ranong, First Senior Vice President of Kasikornbank / Managing Director of Kasikornbank’s investment arm Beacon Venture Capital, says,
I am very excited about this event and any future efforts. As the cultures of Japan and Thailand are very close, I expect good outcomes. After listening to today’s seminar, I’d like to try out the technologies with robots first.
Lena Ng, Chief Investment Officer at Amata Corporation, says,
We are developing a smart city in an industrial area, and there are many Japanese companies in the industrial area managed by our company. We believe we can use AI and blockchain technology to develop smart business in our industrial area, and this is why we’d like to incorporate it.
OIC plans to hold pitch events and arrange matching opportunities for Thai conglomerates and Japanese startups within the year.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
There are separate organizations for each country under JAIS: JTIS (Japan-Thailand), JMIS (Japan-Malaysia), JVIS (Japan-Vietnam), JIIS (Japan-Indonesia), JPIS (Japan-Philippines), JSIS (Japan-Singapore). For more information on the initiations of the first organization, JTIS, please see here. ↩
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Readyfor, the Japanese startup behind a crowdfunding site of the same name, has announced that it has raised 530 million yen (around $4.7M US) from Globis Capital Partners (GCP), Mistletoe, Yasuharu Ishikawa (President and CEO of Stripe International), and Fumiaki Koizumi (President and COO of Mercari). Together with this fundraising, the company appointed lawyer Atsuo Kusahara, who joined Readyfor back in July, as Chief Legal Officer (CLO), GCP’s Minoru Imano as an Outside Director, and Ishikawa, Koizumi, Mistletoe’s Taizo Son, and University of Tokyo Assistant Professor Yutaka Matsuo as Advisors. Furthermore, with the goal of strengthening Readyfor’s brand, the company appointed Dentsu’s Executive Creative Director/Creative Technologist Kaoru Sugano as Creative Advisor. The crowdfunding site began services in March of 2011, when Haruka Mera started it as one of University of Tokyo-spinoff startup Ohma’s businesses. In July of 2014 Mera became the CEO and took over the site from Ohma, establishing Readyfor as its own new business. The company is perceived as a prominent figure in the startup world, but this is the first time it has raised funds through equity financing. Readyfor has grown its business to the current secure state because it…
Back row, from left: Ayako Yamamoto (GCP), Kaoru Sugano, Fumiaki Koizumi, Yasuharu Ishikawa, Yutaka Matsuo, Kentaro Watanabe (Mistletoe) Front row, from left: Minoru Imano (GCP), Uryo Motoda (Readyfor), Haruka Mera (Readyfor), Naoki Hiura (Readyfor), Atsuo Kusahara (Readyfor) Image credit: Readyfor
Tokyo-based Readyfor, the Japanese startup behind a crowdfunding site of the same name, has announced that it has raised 530 million yen (around $4.7M US) from Globis Capital Partners (GCP), Mistletoe, Yasuharu Ishikawa (President and CEO of Stripe International), and Fumiaki Koizumi (President and COO of Mercari).
Together with this fundraising, the company appointed lawyer Atsuo Kusahara, who joined Readyfor back in July, as Chief Legal Officer (CLO), GCP’s Minoru Imano as an Outside Director, and Ishikawa, Koizumi, Mistletoe’s Taizo Son, and University of Tokyo Assistant Professor Yutaka Matsuo as Advisors. Furthermore, with the goal of strengthening Readyfor’s brand, the company appointed Dentsu’s Executive Creative Director/Creative Technologist Kaoru Sugano as Creative Advisor.
The crowdfunding site began services in March of 2011, when Haruka Mera started it as one of University of Tokyo-spinoff startup Ohma’s businesses. In July of 2014 Mera became the CEO and took over the site from Ohma, establishing Readyfor as its own new business. The company is perceived as a prominent figure in the startup world, but this is the first time it has raised funds through equity financing. Readyfor has grown its business to the current secure state because it has stuck to its vision of providing funds for projects that were not funded with existed methods.
Mera says,
When we started business in 2011, no one knew about crowdfunding. It wasn’t like we could just advertise and immediately see growth. Of course, there were ways to get funding at the beginning stages of a business, but it may have resulted in the business changing its form (to pursue profit). I’ve been devoted to verifying models and then growing them.
Image credit: Readyfor
The company passed five terms without raising funds, and is continuing business as usual in the black thanks to soaring sales. The funds raised at this time was probably due to ripe opportunites. Readyfor has major plans planned for these funds, 3 plans specifically.
One is the development of SaaS (Software as a Service) for fan relation management. Often raising funds through crowdfunding sees a lot of activity at the time the project launches, so this plan would be an attempt at supplying the project owner with continuous financing. The company is looking to form a community where money can be gathered into projects for self-actualization by creating a means to connect project owners and backers.
The second plan is to strengthen the local partnership program. Readyfor, which offers government crowdfunding services that can be used as donations in hometowns under tax payment system, hopes to increase cooperation with local companies and promote the use of crowdfunding throughout Japan. In rural areas, as the demand for fostering social infrastructure and community becomes more pronounced, there is also a move to reduce local tax refund and returns. Readyfor appears to be trying to supplement this in a new way driven by the private sector.
The third and final plan is to expand the support system for companies that provide the means to meet SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). Readyfor has collaborated with the Asahi Group, J-COM, Panasonic, etc. and has developed the “Matching Gift Program,” which provides money to social projects together with CSR (corporate social resposibility) support from businesses. In recent years, requests from companies that are required to contribute to SDGs are increasing, so Readyfor will launch the “Social Impact Division” in response.
Readyfor currently has around 80 employees, but as the company establishes business models and puts the foundations for growth in place, it will concentrate on securing personnel who can sympathize with its vision for expanding business.
The Readyfor Team Image credit: Readyfor
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based MakeLeaps, the startup behind a cloud-based invoicing platform under the same name, announced on Friday that it has agreed to be acquired by Japanese photocopier giant Ricoh (TSE:7752). The acquisition price is not disclosed but Nikkei estimated it to be tens of million US dollars in their report. Ricoh is scheduled to complete acquiring all MakeLeaps shares on November 30. As far as has been disclosed, MakeLeaps raised several million US dollars from Rakuten Ventures in a series A round back in July of 2016, an undisclosed sum from Kima Ventures (a seed startup-focused fund led by renowned French entrepreneur Xavier Niel) in a seed round back in September of 2014, plus $600,000 from AngelList, Dave McClure and other investors in an angel round back in August of 2014. See also: Cloud-based invoicing startup MakeLeaps wins IE-KMD Venture Day in Tokyo Since its launch in October 2011 by Australian serial entrepreneur Jay (Jason) Winder, MakeLeaps has been offering an invoicing platform that targets freelancers as well as small/medium-sized enterprises. Their users can simplify and streamline their process of issuing estimates, purchase orders, bills, receipts, etc. in addition to even mailing all these to…
Tokyo-based MakeLeaps, the startup behind a cloud-based invoicing platform under the same name, announced on Friday that it has agreed to be acquired by Japanese photocopier giant Ricoh (TSE:7752). The acquisition price is not disclosed but Nikkei estimated it to be tens of million US dollars in their report. Ricoh is scheduled to complete acquiring all MakeLeaps shares on November 30.
As far as has been disclosed, MakeLeaps raised several million US dollars from Rakuten Ventures in a series A round back in July of 2016, an undisclosed sum from Kima Ventures (a seed startup-focused fund led by renowned French entrepreneur Xavier Niel) in a seed round back in September of 2014, plus $600,000 from AngelList, Dave McClure and other investors in an angel round back in August of 2014.
MakeLeaps CEO Jay Winder delivers his pitch at B Dash Camp 2015 Spring in Fukuoka. Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Since its launch in October 2011 by Australian serial entrepreneur Jay (Jason) Winder, MakeLeaps has been offering an invoicing platform that targets freelancers as well as small/medium-sized enterprises. Their users can simplify and streamline their process of issuing estimates, purchase orders, bills, receipts, etc. in addition to even mailing all these to their clients.
According to Ricoh’s announcement, the company expects to integrate MakeLeaps solutions to its photocopiers and multi-functional printing machines while adding on to various third-party systems for customer management, accounting and sales management, aiming to transform into a B2B platform operator by helping enterprises digitalize their workflows. MakeLeaps CEO Winder says in his statement that there will be no change in service offerings and terms of delivery even after the acquisition.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Digital Garage hosted the Demo Day for its Open Network Lab acceleration program earlier this month. The program celebrated its 17th batch and has supported 97 companies so far, with 60% of these successfully raising funds. This year 90 companies applied, and it appears female entrepreneurs, medical services, and inbound travel have become the prominent trends. Recruitment for the 18th batch began on October 9th. Six companies that received support such as mentoring over three months beginning in July took the stage to to share their results. After review, the medicine management platform 9lione (pronounced Kulione) was awarded the Best Team and Audience prizes, while the mental health support app KibunLog secured the Special Award. (Below is an introduction to each companies’ pitch.) Best Team & Audience Awards winner: 9lione Medical facilities using medicines experience the problem of having to discard medicine due to incorrect orders and other reasons. The total amount lost due to discarded medicine is 770 billion yen (nearly $6.9 billion US; estimated to be 10% of the total cost of medicine), which brings the loss per institution to 5 million yen (about $45K US) per year or roughly equivalent to…
Award winners and other graduating teams from the 17th Batch Image credit: Takeshi Hirano
Digital Garage hosted the Demo Day for its Open Network Lab acceleration program earlier this month. The program celebrated its 17th batch and has supported 97 companies so far, with 60% of these successfully raising funds. This year 90 companies applied, and it appears female entrepreneurs, medical services, and inbound travel have become the prominent trends. Recruitment for the 18th batch began on October 9th.
Six companies that received support such as mentoring over three months beginning in July took the stage to to share their results. After review, the medicine management platform 9lione (pronounced Kulione) was awarded the Best Team and Audience prizes, while the mental health support app KibunLog secured the Special Award. (Below is an introduction to each companies’ pitch.)
Best Team & Audience Awards winner: 9lione
9lione
Medical facilities using medicines experience the problem of having to discard medicine due to incorrect orders and other reasons. The total amount lost due to discarded medicine is 770 billion yen (nearly $6.9 billion US; estimated to be 10% of the total cost of medicine), which brings the loss per institution to 5 million yen (about $45K US) per year or roughly equivalent to the operating profits of a privately run hospital.
The cause of the problem is simple: information management is still largely done with general-purpose tools such as handwriting and Excel. It is this point that “9lione honed in on.
The company uses a SaaS model to make pharmaceutical management more efficient. It is equipped to read prescriptions using OCR (optical character recognition), can manage the medicine per capsule, and has a function that can keep track of expiration dates using the barcodes of the medicine. Some healthcare providers saw a loss improvement of 75% after introducing the beta version because it is able to manage and propose the optimal order quantity based on consumption data.
The company’s traction is also on the up and up, with 91 companies submitting advance applications in two weeks. The business model is based on monthly subscriptions, with 150,000 medical institutions apart from pharmacies as potential customers. In the future, the company’s aim is to become a buying/selling platform like Amazon which utilizes inventory data.
Special Award winner: KibunLog
KibunLog
There are 300 million people suffering from depression worldwide, with 5 million of those in Japan alone. It is a difficult illness to cure with just medicine, and while treatment using psychotherapeutics based on “emotional records” is widely known, it is difficult for depression sufferers to accurately grasp and record their symptoms.
Kimamani’s KibunLog is a support app for improving users’ mental health and looks to solve this problem. Psychotherapy work can be carried out in the app itself, and emotions can be recorded and analyzed to make control easier.
The company has prepared an interface that can record situations accurately with the app, and the recorded emotions can be analyzed by easy-to-understand mood classifications. There is also a community function for interested users, and support for mental health improvement with psychotherapy. In terms of business, the company anticipates a community pricing model through sales of content to improve consumers’ health, an online salon, etc.
Giftpack
Giftpack is an on-demand gifting service that can deliver gifts from remote locations. The company is focusing particularly on gift giving experiences; for example, it offers the fun experience that involves local delivery people singing as they give the gift.
The company began the service after interviewing some 70,000 people, 70% of whom reported dissatisfaction with deliveries and experiences. Deliveries occur within three hours. The fee is 20%-30% and it aims to become the new gifting platform preferred by the millennial generation and as such has implemented a campaign in partnership with the 17 livestreaming app. The company is developing services in five countries, focusing mainly on Taiwan and San Francisco.
Everyplus
For care recipients at nursing facilities, more than half of the day is spent at leisure. Recreational activities are one way to use this time, but EveryPlus is focusing on the efficiency of this. It is necessary to improve satisfaction with recreational options amongst the elderly using nursing facilities, and while the budget for such places is between 10,000 and 500,000 yen (around $89-$4,445 US), it does not receive priority, so we end up with cases like the facility organizing a magic show for care recipients, who suffer from dementia, who cannot understand it.
Every Plus has partnered with companies, prepared a recreation package for singing karaoke at care facilities, and provides a matching service that takes into consideration the degree of care required and size of the facility. As a result, facility business hours can be reduced more than 700 hours a year, and the number of times the service has been implemented has increased to 3500.
Signature
Signature focuses on craft beer trends among the 30,000 brewing companies globally. Today, the craft beer market in Japan is attracting attention from all over the world because of the momentum exemplified by the 20% annual growth rate; however, it faces a roadblock in that just 2% succeed in expanding overseas. The reason lies in the alcohol licensing required by each country, and with businesses who possess licenses unwilling to take on inventory risks. Futhermore, when expanding to multiple countries, it is necessary to negotiate with each of them.
Signature is a marketplace that makes these inconvenient points more efficient. The company has eliminated inventory risks with an advance booking model, and has additionally removed the roadblock by offering liquor license bundles. The result is 70% of trial users repeatedly coming back. It is considering a D2C (direct-to-consumer) model in the future based on user data acquired by the company.
Mediction
Mediction allows “medical tourist” users to settle the procedures required for medical treatment in Japan online. It targets visitors in particular from China as they account for 70% of the 430,000 medical tourists that come to Japan for treatment purposes.
When a user uploads their clinical records to the service, it translates them and matches them with relevant medical providers. Additionally, the service introduces hospitals, seeks missing information, and prepares examination reports. Usually, with this treatment process it takes two months to produce a diagnosis. While it takes one month for the treatment, translation and other processes can be reduced from three weeks to two days, thereby improving efficiency.
The diagnosis plan will check if treatment in Japan is necessary and can be used for 150,000 yen (about $1,334 US). In the future, the company plans to provide treatment services to affluent people by accumulating the medical record data.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
Masaru Ikeda
The Bridge
Takeshi Hirano
