See the original story in Japanese. Japan’s Xenoma, developing a smart apparel product called E-skin, recently announced that it would start sales targeting individual users. E-skin has been sold for $1,000 targeting enterprise users in healthcare or sports training industries thus far, but the firm has established a mass production structure that makes it possible to provide the product at a lower price for individual users. The firm just kicked off a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter today and the product is priced at $479 for the first 100 orders. See also: 77: The Real Reason Japan Can’t Innovate & What to Do About It – Xenoma (Disrupting Japan) Xenoma was spun out from Someya Group of the University of Tokyo / JST (Japan Science and Technology Agency) ERATO Someya Bio-harmonized Electronics Project in 2015. In April of 2016, the firm fundraised 180 million yen (about $1.6 million) from Beyond Next Ventures and JST SUCCESS Program, and was chosen as an STS (Seed-stage Technology-based Startups) Support Program of NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization). E-skin consists of a compression-fit E-skin shirt with 14 stretch/strain sensors and a controller named E-skin Hub which is attachable to the shirt. These sensors…
Xenoma CEO Ichiro Amimori speaks at the press conference. Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Japan’s Xenoma, developing a smart apparel product called E-skin, recently announced that it would start sales targeting individual users. E-skin has been sold for $1,000 targeting enterprise users in healthcare or sports training industries thus far, but the firm has established a mass production structure that makes it possible to provide the product at a lower price for individual users. The firm just kicked off a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter today and the product is priced at $479 for the first 100 orders.
E-skin consists of a compression-fit E-skin shirt with 14 stretch/strain sensors and a controller named E-skin Hub which is attachable to the shirt. These sensors are directly mounted on shirts, so that it is lightweight and can detect the user’s motion accurately. The controller has a 3-axis accelerometer and is able to monitor overall body motion without requiring Lighthouse or other 3D scanner motion capture devices.
Additionally, Xenoma has developed apps for E-skin this time, and a case study combining the E-skin shirt and HoloLens was introduced at the press conference. The firm had initially been developing an app to provide a VR (Virtual Reality) experience, but slightly changed the concept of the app into one having more exercise factors rather than VR because the action experience wearing the shirt was more physically demanding than expected. If this crowdfunding campaign reaches its goal, the users will be rewarded with an E-skin shirt, an E-skin Hub controller and their choice out of the three mobile apps.
The users can enjoy the E-skin experience with using the app, as well as developing their own experience using SDK (Software Development Kit) provided by Xenoma. The supported platforms include Windows 10, Android, .NET C# and Unity as before, but in addition is to be available for Mac OS X, iOS 10, Java and Unreal Engine. For the convenience of developers, the firm provides the package in a form exportable to the TensorFlow deep learning library.
Xenoma is currently exhibiting these products at SIGGRAPH, the interactive technology show taking place in Las Vegas, aiming to draw the interest of early adopters from the US and global markets.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Tokyo-based Uuum, Japan’s leading YouTuber management agency, announced today that its IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on 30 August with plans to offer 302,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 77,500 shares in over-allotment options, for a total of 292,300 shares. Nomura Securities will lead the underwriting. Its share price range will be released on 10 August with bookbuilding scheduled to start on 14 August and pricing on 21 August. According to the consolidated statement as of May 2017, they posted revenue of 3.30 billion yen (about $29.7 million) with an ordinary profit of 221.7 million yen ($2.0 million) and a net profit of 185.9 million yen ($1.7 million). Led by the company’s CEO Kazuki Kamada (holding a 39.45% stake), its major shareholders include Anri (16.97%) and Jafco (TSE:8595 15.43%). Since its launch back in 2013 under its previous name of On Sale, Uuum has been becoming Japan’s largest multi-channel network (MCN) by employing renowned Japanese YouTubers such as Hikakin. The company recently partnered with Nintendo for a blanket agreement regarding the use of the latter’s game characters for livestreaming. See also: Japanese…
Image credit: Uuum
Tokyo-based Uuum, Japan’s leading YouTuber management agency, announced today that its IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on 30 August with plans to offer 302,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 77,500 shares in over-allotment options, for a total of 292,300 shares. Nomura Securities will lead the underwriting.
Its share price range will be released on 10 August with bookbuilding scheduled to start on 14 August and pricing on 21 August. According to the consolidated statement as of May 2017, they posted revenue of 3.30 billion yen (about $29.7 million) with an ordinary profit of 221.7 million yen ($2.0 million) and a net profit of 185.9 million yen ($1.7 million). Led by the company’s CEO Kazuki Kamada (holding a 39.45% stake), its major shareholders include Anri (16.97%) and Jafco (TSE:8595 15.43%).
Since its launch back in 2013 under its previous name of On Sale, Uuum has been becoming Japan’s largest multi-channel network (MCN) by employing renowned Japanese YouTubers such as Hikakin. The company recently partnered with Nintendo for a blanket agreement regarding the use of the latter’s game characters for livestreaming.
Astroscale, a Singapore- / Tokyo-based startup developing satellites to remove space debris from Earth’s orbit, announced on Friday that it has fundraised $25 million in a series C round. Japanese venture investment company aStart, ANA Holdings (TSE:9202), Japanese cutting tool manufacturer OSG (TSE:6136), Japanese government-backed investment fund Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), Jafco as well as Mitsubishi UFJ Capital participated in this round. INCJ, Jafco and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital have participated in the past rounds. Astroscale said that it will use the funds to expand the operations of their UK subsidiary and strengthen their management team. For Astroscale, this follows their $7.7 million series A round funding and $35 million series B round funding. Among the newly-joined investors, Astroscale has received sponsorship from OSG to start developing a a space debris detection satellite called IDEA OSG 1 in 2015. Astroscale plans to launch IDEA OSG 1 in early 2018 followed by a magnet-use space debris removal satellite prototype ELSA-d in the first half of 2019. The company aims to start commercializing its business in 2020. Astroscale claims that it expects ANA to share their knowledge about safe flight operations and control as well as OSG to provide tools for…
Image credit: Astroscale
Astroscale, a Singapore- / Tokyo-based startup developing satellites to remove space debris from Earth’s orbit, announced on Friday that it has fundraised $25 million in a series C round. Japanese venture investment company aStart, ANA Holdings (TSE:9202), Japanese cutting tool manufacturer OSG (TSE:6136), Japanese government-backed investment fund Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), Jafco as well as Mitsubishi UFJ Capital participated in this round. INCJ, Jafco and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital have participated in the past rounds. Astroscale said that it will use the funds to expand the operations of their UK subsidiary and strengthen their management team.
For Astroscale, this follows their $7.7 million series A round funding and $35 million series B round funding. Among the newly-joined investors, Astroscale has received sponsorship from OSG to start developing a a space debris detection satellite called IDEA OSG 1 in 2015. Astroscale plans to launch IDEA OSG 1 in early 2018 followed by a magnet-use space debris removal satellite prototype ELSA-d in the first half of 2019. The company aims to start commercializing its business in 2020.
Astroscale ELSA-d Image credit: Astroscale
Astroscale claims that it expects ANA to share their knowledge about safe flight operations and control as well as OSG to provide tools for producing satellites. In terms of ANA’s investments in space-related businesses, this is the second case following the one in Japanese spaceflight developer startup PD Aerospace (about $180,000) back in December of 2016. ANA launched their in-house R&D initiative Digital Design Lab in April of 2016, aiming to promote innovations in their group in order to expand themselves beyond aerospace business, by also running a crowdfunding site called WonderFLY.
See the original story in Japanese. In January of 2016 Japanese C2C (consumer-to-consumer) marketplace app Mercari announced a 450 million yen (about $4.1M US dollars) investment in Base, the Japanese version of Shopify, effectively shocking it back to life. Somehow it feels as if the Japanese entrepreneurial ecosystem has been enriched. On Tuesday Tokyo-based Mercari revealed their project “Mercari Fund” to invest in startups specialized in C2C products/services and marketplaces. It is an “investment project” with Mercari itself making the investments rather than establishing an investment arm or subsidiary. The companies invested in will also be considered for partnerships with Mercari’s services, such as Mercari (marketplace app) and Mercari Atte (a service enabling users to sell/buy stuff on a meeting basis). Up to now, Mercari has been investing in startups such as Base (Shopify-like instant e-commerce platform), Rentio (rental service of home appliances and camera), Flamingo (language learning service). In February of this year they acquired Zawatt, the Japanese startup which has been operating the Sumaoku flea market app. Although I confirmed the company’s goals, I feel that the main purpose is to create an economic zone with Mercari at the center, meet the needs of even more users, and…
In January of 2016 Japanese C2C (consumer-to-consumer) marketplace app Mercari announced a 450 million yen (about $4.1M US dollars) investment in Base, the Japanese version of Shopify, effectively shocking it back to life.
Somehow it feels as if the Japanese entrepreneurial ecosystem has been enriched.
On Tuesday Tokyo-based Mercari revealed their project “Mercari Fund” to invest in startups specialized in C2C products/services and marketplaces. It is an “investment project” with Mercari itself making the investments rather than establishing an investment arm or subsidiary. The companies invested in will also be considered for partnerships with Mercari’s services, such as Mercari (marketplace app) and Mercari Atte (a service enabling users to sell/buy stuff on a meeting basis).
Up to now, Mercari has been investing in startups such as Base (Shopify-like instant e-commerce platform), Rentio (rental service of home appliances and camera), Flamingo (language learning service). In February of this year they acquired Zawatt, the Japanese startup which has been operating the Sumaoku flea market app.
Although I confirmed the company’s goals, I feel that the main purpose is to create an economic zone with Mercari at the center, meet the needs of even more users, and carve out a secure place for themselves. One example is Kauru, Mercari’s new service released in May, it takes the established market of books and gives an enriched user experience by providing them with estimated market prices from information gained when they input a barcode.
It is possible to tackle this type of specialized service through their own initiative alone, but if they are looking to expand the economic zone more speedily, investment will be a natural way. I also confirmed this, but we can assume there will be more cases of acquisition, similar to Zawatt. Regarding concrete methods of collaboration, the company is considering further collaborations with Mercari ID and Atte, and has plans to make this information public in the future.
Also, while the individual investment amount will not be disclosed, keeping in mind the considerable investment volume of 450 million yen in Base in January of last year, we can think of it as being in the investment amount range where business synergies are felt and adjust it individually. Unlike an investment fund that keeps external funds here and there, it will be an investment project purely for business synergy.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Rakuten Lifull Stay, a Rakuten Group company offering vacation rental services, and Expedia Group’s HomeAway jointly announced their partnership at a press conference in Tokyo on Monday. Rakuten Lifull Stay is a joint venture company (JV) between Rakuten (TSE:4755) and Japanese real estate giant Lifull (TSE:2120) with the aim of doing business under the Japanese Home-Sharing Business Act which will be effective January 2018. Through this new partnership, Rakuten Lifull Stay will procure and supply the properties from “hosts”, while HomeAway will attract visitors to Japan as “guests”. Rakuten Lifull Stay will supply HomeAway with domestic properties to be posted on the company’s up and coming website Vacation Stay (tentative name). HomeAway will utilize the power of their 40 million monthly website visitors to market to visitors of Japan, leading to an expansion of inbound travel demand. See also: Expedia buys HomeAway for $3.9B because Airbnb Rakuten Lifull Stay’s CEO Munekatsu Ota and HomeAway Japan’s Director Natsuko Kimura took the stage at the conference. Ota has previous experience as Rakuten International Travel’s Director and was also a general manager of Rakuten’s New Service Development Company, Sharing Economy Division. Kimura has prior work experience…
From Left: HomeAway’s Japan Head Natsuko Kimura, Rakuten Lifull Stay CEO Munekatsu Ota Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Rakuten Lifull Stay, a Rakuten Group company offering vacation rental services, and Expedia Group’s HomeAway jointly announced their partnership at a press conference in Tokyo on Monday. Rakuten Lifull Stay is a joint venture company (JV) between Rakuten (TSE:4755) and Japanese real estate giant Lifull (TSE:2120) with the aim of doing business under the Japanese Home-Sharing Business Act which will be effective January 2018.
Through this new partnership, Rakuten Lifull Stay will procure and supply the properties from “hosts”, while HomeAway will attract visitors to Japan as “guests”. Rakuten Lifull Stay will supply HomeAway with domestic properties to be posted on the company’s up and coming website Vacation Stay (tentative name). HomeAway will utilize the power of their 40 million monthly website visitors to market to visitors of Japan, leading to an expansion of inbound travel demand.
Rakuten Lifull Stay’s CEO Munekatsu Ota and HomeAway Japan’s Director Natsuko Kimura took the stage at the conference. Ota has previous experience as Rakuten International Travel’s Director and was also a general manager of Rakuten’s New Service Development Company, Sharing Economy Division. Kimura has prior work experience as Expedia’s Marketing Director in Japan.
In the US and other countries, HomeAway specializes in renting a whole house, so it is characterized by the fact that the property is concentrated in rural and resort areas, compared to Airbnb and similar players in the same industry. Additionally, while Airbnb meets the needs of many young people traveling alone, with HomeAway the users are often middle-aged families and group travelers. It is unclear whether Rakuten Lifull Stay and HomeAway will take a similar strategy in the Japanese market, as the demand for the renting accommodations of Japan-bound visitors is concentrated in urban areas.
At the press conference, Kimura explained they are focusing on pull marketing efforts (Showing users personalized results based on their search history on the HomeAway website, driving user traffic from Google ads etc.) for urban areas such as Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto which are in high demand of renting accommodations while they are also developing push marketing efforts that arouse demand for regions with high visibility. HomeAway introduced their promotion content for the Setouchi area facing inland sea in the western part of Japan, which it offers in 9 languages geared at 10 countries, as an example of such efforts.
In the field of vacation rentals, Airbnb is leading in sales and growth rate both in Japan and the rest of the world, and with HomeAway entering as a subsidiary of Expedia, and cooperating with other OTA (online travel agency) sites, they are actively aiming to acquire other companies in the same industry. In Japan, it can be said that this new alliance will be mutually beneficial for HomeAway, which has the urgent task of acquiring properties and hosts since they are entering the field later than their competitors, and Rakuten Lifull Stay, which needs to newly develop inbound demand from overseas.
Meanwhile, Tujia, a major Chinese vacation rental company, acquired the vacation rental service department of OTA companies Ctrip and Qunar last October. In February of this year, it was reported that Tujia will establish a Japanese corporation and enter the Japanese market in anticipation of the enforcement of Japanese Home-Sharing Business Act.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda
Yokohama-based Aperza, running the Cluez online catalogue site and the Aperza price comparison site specifically focused on industrial supply products, announced on Monday that it has secured a series A round from Jafco (TSE:8595) and GMO Venture Partners (GMO-VP). The amount of the funding is estimated 600 million yen (about $5.3 million). This funding succeeds the previous one with 150 million yen (about $1.3 million) from GMO-VP conducted back in November and the one with an undisclosed amount from Nobuyuki Idei (former chairman and group CEO of Sony, now CEO of Quantum Leaps), Toru Shimada (former executive vice president of Rakuten) and Fumiaki Koizumi (Director of Mercari) conducted this March due to their assumption of the management consultant. Aperza was founded in December of 2014 by the current CEO Makoto Ishihara (with the original company name of Cluez). In the Cluez portal site, about 1,600 trading companies dealing with industrial supply products had exhibited their catalogues as of last November. The firm revealed the number of exhibitor companies exceeded 3,000 this March and subsequently reached 4,000 this June, and the total number of catalogues is 13,000 now. With this fund, Aperza aims to secure human resources for existing business, as…
L to R: Tomotake Kitazawa (JAFCO), Makoto Ishihara (CEO of Jafco), Tomohiro Miyasaka (Partner of GMO-VP)
Yokohama-based Aperza, running the Cluez online catalogue site and the Aperza price comparison site specifically focused on industrial supply products, announced on Monday that it has secured a series A round from Jafco (TSE:8595) and GMO Venture Partners (GMO-VP). The amount of the funding is estimated 600 million yen (about $5.3 million).
This funding succeeds the previous one with 150 million yen (about $1.3 million) from GMO-VP conducted back in November and the one with an undisclosed amount from Nobuyuki Idei (former chairman and group CEO of Sony, now CEO of Quantum Leaps), Toru Shimada (former executive vice president of Rakuten) and Fumiaki Koizumi (Director of Mercari) conducted this March due to their assumption of the management consultant.
Aperza was founded in December of 2014 by the current CEO Makoto Ishihara (with the original company name of Cluez). In the Cluez portal site, about 1,600 trading companies dealing with industrial supply products had exhibited their catalogues as of last November. The firm revealed the number of exhibitor companies exceeded 3,000 this March and subsequently reached 4,000 this June, and the total number of catalogues is 13,000 now.
The recent growth of exhibitor companies on the Cluez catalogue portal Image credit: Aperza
With this fund, Aperza aims to secure human resources for existing business, as well as to foray into global service expansion and e-commerce business.
Aperza commented it will make preparation for serious expansion overseas of its service Cluez and Aperza, as the number of accesses to the two services from China or Southeast Asia has been gradually been increasing. The firm launched Cluez of Taiwanese version in August 2015. In addition, it concluded a strategic business alliance with the Chinese biggest portal for manufacturers Gongkong in 2016.
Aperza’s blueprint for the timeline of their business expansion plan, created as of their company’s launch Image credit: Aperza
Regarding the view of e-comerce business field, the firm is going to enhance the Aperza price comparison site. Ishihara had once showed us a blueprint wherein he planned to develop Aperza from a price comparison website into a marketplace or an e-commence site capable of selling products directly, and the plan was announced this time in accordance with the blueprint.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based HoloEyes, the Japanese VR (virtual reality) startup specialized in the medical field by developing surgical simulation content for doctors, announced today that it has fundraised 150 million yen (about $1.3M US) from Nissay Capital in a series A round. This follows a seed round in which the company fundraised 10 million yen (around $89K US) from Japanese VR-focused acceleration program Tokyo VR Startups (TVS) after graduating from its its 2nd batch. HoloEyes was founded back in October of 2016 by app developer Naoji Taniguchi (CEO and CTO), surgeon and visiting professor/associate professor at more than a few universities Dr. Maki Sugimoto (Managing Director and COO), and Kenichi Shinjo (Managing Director and CSO), who has previous work experience as the producer of AllAbout and COO of Appliya. In December of 2016 they won the Tech Lab Paak award at the Tech Lab Paak’s 6th batch Demo Day, and in January of 2017 they were awarded the Amazon AWS prize at the Demo Day of the 1st batch of “Brave”, the acceleration program by Tokyo-based life science-focused startup VC/accelerator Beyond Next Ventures’. Images used for medical diagnosis such as CT scans, MRIs, and X-rays, are…
Tokyo-based HoloEyes, the Japanese VR (virtual reality) startup specialized in the medical field by developing surgical simulation content for doctors, announced today that it has fundraised 150 million yen (about $1.3M US) from Nissay Capital in a series A round. This follows a seed round in which the company fundraised 10 million yen (around $89K US) from Japanese VR-focused acceleration program Tokyo VR Startups (TVS) after graduating from its its 2nd batch.
HoloEyes was founded back in October of 2016 by app developer Naoji Taniguchi (CEO and CTO), surgeon and visiting professor/associate professor at more than a few universities Dr. Maki Sugimoto (Managing Director and COO), and Kenichi Shinjo (Managing Director and CSO), who has previous work experience as the producer of AllAbout and COO of Appliya. In December of 2016 they won the Tech Lab Paak award at the Tech Lab Paak’s 6th batch Demo Day, and in January of 2017 they were awarded the Amazon AWS prize at the Demo Day of the 1st batch of “Brave”, the acceleration program by Tokyo-based life science-focused startup VC/accelerator Beyond Next Ventures’.
L to R: Dr. Maki Sugimoto (Director / COO), Naoji Taniguchi (CEO / CTO), Kenichi Shinjo (Director / CSO)
Images used for medical diagnosis such as CT scans, MRIs, and X-rays, are generally expressed in two dimensions. However, surgeons often assemble a three-dimensional image in their heads based on these images, perform diagnosis based on what they learn using their stethoscope, and then perform surgery. HoloEyes developed a VR content solution for medical use called HoloEyes VR with the idea that surgeons and other medical staff can understand more intuitively when they are provided with 3-dimensional images. Currently, the company provides cloud services that can convert patient-specific CT data into polygons and freely view them in 3D space via VR devices.
Collecting the data from CT scans, forming 3D human body models, and accumulating it creates a so-called medical VR database. For example, it could be possible by searching with the keywords “60s male prostate cancer” to retrieve 3D images of a similar case which can be used by a doctor for diagnosis, and then used for training for surgery. The possible use cases include pre-operative conferences (surgical planning), sharing surgical plans among medical staff, education for young doctors and students, and as explanation to patients, etc. They are assuming a business model that provides VR viewers to hospitals and sells the data gathered with patient consent to medical universities and pharmaceutical companies.
HoloEyes plans to use the funds raised this round to build the system and business base for HoloEyes VR and expand its staff.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Campfire, one of leading crowdfunding sites in Japan, announced earlier this month that it has fundraised 600 million yen (about $5.5 million US) from JAFCO (TSE:8595) and SBI Investment. Details such as the payment date and investment ratio were not announced. The company also revealed that their total funding so far has reached 1 billion yen (around $9.1M US). See also: Japanese crowdfunding site Campfire secures $3M to launch social lending service Since the company’s beginning in 2011, they have seen over 6,500 projects, had 240,000 backers participate in crowdfunding while the total amount of deals transacted on the platform has reached 2.4 billion yen (about $22M US). In particular, they have experienced remarkable growth in the past year, and in 2017 the total value of transactions has increased to 12 times that of the period from January to March of 2016. With this funding, the company expands into cryptocurrency, P2P payments, and investment businesses. One year since founder’s return as CEO It has been awhile since the idea of crowdfunding appeared. Around eight years ago Kickstarter took the lead in 2009. If we look at the annual review published by them we can…
Campfire, one of leading crowdfunding sites in Japan, announced earlier this month that it has fundraised 600 million yen (about $5.5 million US) from JAFCO (TSE:8595) and SBI Investment. Details such as the payment date and investment ratio were not announced. The company also revealed that their total funding so far has reached 1 billion yen (around $9.1M US).
Since the company’s beginning in 2011, they have seen over 6,500 projects, had 240,000 backers participate in crowdfunding while the total amount of deals transacted on the platform has reached 2.4 billion yen (about $22M US). In particular, they have experienced remarkable growth in the past year, and in 2017 the total value of transactions has increased to 12 times that of the period from January to March of 2016. With this funding, the company expands into cryptocurrency, P2P payments, and investment businesses.
One year since founder’s return as CEO
Kazuma Ieiri, Founder and CEO of Campfire Image credit: Takeshi Hirano
It has been awhile since the idea of crowdfunding appeared.
Around eight years ago Kickstarter took the lead in 2009. If we look at the annual review published by them we can get a general feel for their numbers. About 580 million dollars is invested in nearly 58,000 annual projects, and since the numbers published by Campfire are cumulative it is difficult to compare the two.
In February of last year Kazuma Ieiri returned as CEO of Campfire. At that time he expressed a feeling of crisis.
It’s been five years since we began Campfire out of love for crowdfunding, but honestly if Campfire itself and crowdfunding as a whole is left as it is, I’m worried about shrinking.
At the time, Ieiri was grappling with a 5% cut to commission fees.
I want to launch 1000 individual projects for 50,000 yen (about $460 US) from one large project totaling 50 million.
This train of his thought lead to the concept of the “democratization of funding.”
His next move was swift.
They made a rapid fire succession of announcements about use cases leveraged by the crowdfunding platform: Local businesses that promote local initiatives, fan clubs that are allowed to charge on a subscription basis, in addition to music performance supporting projects currently showing great growth.
In addition to cutting fees, the company also gradually removed hurdles so that more people could participate in crowdfunding, for example, adding the “All-In” function that allows projects to receive funds even if they do not reach their target. As a result, the total transaction amount will increase greatly, and after seeing an increase in capital, etc. via external funding, they will once again be on the path to growth.
Breaking away from crowdfunding
So, what are Ieiri’s views on crowdfunding and the future?
First, it is easier to understand by organizing the new business expansions announced this time around. The business will be comprised of the FireX cryptocurrency exchange (recently launched), a P2P (peer-to-peer) payments service called Polca (scheduled to launch in June), investments, and their major existing business area dealing with crowdfunding projects.
The overall picture presented by Campfire
What they all have in common is the matching of people who intend to start something and those who wish to support them. Of course, their cryptocurrency business is not solely for trading; an even bigger incentive is likely that they are more easily able to decide rules based on comparisons with legal currency.
Polca is an extremely personal support/financing project, and Campfire a slightly larger project, with the businesses that could stem from them bringing investments and loans. Through the use of crothe ghosts of transaction fees that haunt them at every turn can be exorcised.
To tie it all together, the hazy picture the company paints of their platform, with people connecting at the center and the goal of support through distribution of their own money effectively creates an economy.
The next stage of the “Democratization of Funding”
Speaking with Ieiri at Infinity Ventures Summit in Kobe. Image credit: Takeshi Hirano
In an interview conducted in November of last year, Ieiri confided his thoughts on expanding the scope of the project from crowdfunding to a social and money lending business. He reiterated those sentiments this time around.
He said:
Japan is full of challenges–so much so, that they even say we’re a developed country with problems. […] A redistribution of wealth, I think is what it’s called–I believe it’s necessary to create a system to circulate money from private citizens who have it to those who do not. However, it remains, how to do it through a steady business scheme rather than charitable activities.
Crowdfunding was supposed to be the ideal democratization method for Ieiri. However, as the beginning numbers show, the wall remains high to make it even bigger and turn it into a financial method anyone can access. The announced funding appears to be a way to break through the wall.
At the time of this news was revealed, I was able to get in contact with Ieiri in Kobe during the invitation only conference, Infinity Ventures Summit. He had this to say on the funding:
It’s been about one year, February of 2016, since returning full-scale to Campfire, which had 3 employees at the time. Now that number has increased to nearly 70, and we moved offices just the other day. In regards to finance, as we announced, we have earned nearly 1 billion yen cumulatively.
In terms of the total transaction voume, this year it’s expected to be around 3.5 billion yen, bringing the total to 5 billion. We’ve seen some growth, but we still have a ways to go. Until now we were ‘Campfire for Crowdfunding’, but from here on out we will evolve into Campfire–aiming for a world where anyone can raise their voice for any funding needs, including crowdfunding. I intend to use the funding to advance our new image, one that goes beyond the framework of crowdfunding in order to advance the democratization of funding.
I plan to continue checking the trend of how the crowdfunding model evolves in Japan.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Bizcast, the Japanese startup behind a matchmaking platform for YouTuber marketing called BitStar, announced on Monday that it has fundraised 300 million yen (about $2.7 million) from Japanese investment firm Global Brain. This round succeeds their seed round where they fundraised an undisclosed amount from East Ventures backed in 2014 followed by their series A round where they have raised an estimated amount of several million dollars from Japanese gaming company Colopl (TSE:3668) back in August last year. This is a actual series B round, but the secured amount scale and the investment conditions apparently correspond to a series A round. Due to this funding, Kazuhiko Miyama (Partner of Global Brain) is appointed to Outside Director of Bizcast. Since this round has not closed yet, Bizcast implied the possibility of additional funding within the round from other companies having a potential of business synergies with it. Founded back in July 2014, Bizcast launched the BitStar platform that matches YouTubers with their client companies in September 2015. Currently, the platform has more than 1,500 YouTubers who do not belong to specific MCNs (multi-channel networks) and have more than 80 million followers in all. In…
L to R: Kazuhiko Miyama (Partner of Global Brain), Yasuhiko Yurimoto (CEO of Global Brain), Taku Watanabe (CEO of Bizcast), Nao Harada (COO of Bizcast), and Yuta Yamashita (CTO of Bizcast)
Tokyo-based Bizcast, the Japanese startup behind a matchmaking platform for YouTuber marketing called BitStar, announced on Monday that it has fundraised 300 million yen (about $2.7 million) from Japanese investment firm Global Brain. This round succeeds their seed round where they fundraised an undisclosed amount from East Ventures backed in 2014 followed by their series A round where they have raised an estimated amount of several million dollars from Japanese gaming company Colopl (TSE:3668) back in August last year. This is a actual series B round, but the secured amount scale and the investment conditions apparently correspond to a series A round.
Due to this funding, Kazuhiko Miyama (Partner of Global Brain) is appointed to Outside Director of Bizcast. Since this round has not closed yet, Bizcast implied the possibility of additional funding within the round from other companies having a potential of business synergies with it.
Founded back in July 2014, Bizcast launched the BitStar platform that matches YouTubers with their client companies in September 2015. Currently, the platform has more than 1,500 YouTubers who do not belong to specific MCNs (multi-channel networks) and have more than 80 million followers in all.
In typical MCNs, about 20% of monthly ad incomes from YouTube is charged as the commission fee; however, Bitstar aims acquisition of major YouTubers by allowing registration for free and by offering business matters, as well as accompanying services such as tax returns procedures or exposure support. According to the company, over 1,000 video clips are served via the platform while the repeat ratio of their clients reaches 51%.
Bizcast has developed unique tools on its own to crawl audience reactions on social media regarding YouTubers registered to the platform. By analyzing which YouTuber will have the most powerful effect for each topic, Bizcast brings the best matchmaking to satisfy with both YoutTuber and client companies.
Finding next YouTube stars and overseas expansion
Originally started as a matching platform for YouTube marketing, BitStar wants to enhance the functions of producing high-quality video content and managing its own media channels in order to expand the area of activities of YouTubers, seeking to collaborate with entertainment business companies having lots of artists or performers. The company’s vision can be seen in, for example, the “WEGO YouTube” channel jointly provided by WEGO, a popular Japanese apparel brand among the younger generation, as well as a recent partnership with China’s up-and-coming news app Toutiao which is now entering into the Japanese market.
Taku Watanabe (CEO of Bizcast) told that it will also focus on accelerating the cycle of finding talents, raising personnel, and monetization:
I think it is a great advantage that we already have a close relationship with clients since we started as an advertisement platform. We know which kind of needs clients have and which type of talents to raise.
Coincidentally with this funding, Bizcast also announced that it has tied up with Japanese travel agency giant JTB. There is a background factor to this tying-up that BitStar was used in the promotion of one of JTB’s travel product series. By enforced marketing efforts using BitStar-suggested YouTubers, the staying time of JTB website increased four-fold and the daily page view increased seven-fold at most; therefore, JTB evaluates BitStar highly for driving a new traffic of young customers.
JTB, also being a LP (limited partner) of the Global Brain’s 6th fund in 20 billion yen ($180 million)-scale, aims to push on business collaborations in attracting foreign visitors and overseas promotion support for the Japanese companies in anticipation of 2020 Tokyo Olympics, for example, the cooperation with Fun Japan Communications, a JTB-affiliated digital marketing company specifically targeting the Asian market.
As seen in cooperation with Toutiao, Bizcast seemingly attempt to advance into the Chinese influencer market as well. There is a possibility that the firm will expand into Taiwan within this year, and may become a competitor of AdAsia Holdings, the leading player in this field. As an aside, AdAsia Holdings announced last week that it appointed a new vice president to enhance the entry into the Taiwanese market.
The following is one of JTB’s video clips that promote travels to Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, made by a BitStar-suggested YouTuber.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Pulit, the Japanese startup developing distribution technologies for digital image and video content, announced on Wednesday that it has closed a pre-series A round. The investors participating and the scale of funding were not revealed, but some sources say that the investors are the corporate venture capital of a leading ad agency and an IT business company both of which can see potential synergy with Pulit’s business. This follows Pulit’s previous funding 50 million yen in a seed round back in August of 2016. In the Super Distribution Scheme (SDS) developed by Pulit, as content holders or creators upload videos to be distributed onto cloud, Robust Image Watermark is embedded on the cover image and direct access link (URL) is issued for each video. Clicking the direct access link, OS-native players are activated and then users are allowed to watch the videos on PC or smart devices. Also, DRM (digital rights management) control is available, so that users can save the videos on local environment or watch them again according to conditions set by content holders or creators. After the launch of their business announcement last year, Pulit carried out PoCs (Proof of…
Tokyo-based Pulit, the Japanese startup developing distribution technologies for digital image and video content, announced on Wednesday that it has closed a pre-series A round. The investors participating and the scale of funding were not revealed, but some sources say that the investors are the corporate venture capital of a leading ad agency and an IT business company both of which can see potential synergy with Pulit’s business. This follows Pulit’s previous funding 50 million yen in a seed round back in August of 2016.
In the Super Distribution Scheme (SDS) developed by Pulit, as content holders or creators upload videos to be distributed onto cloud, Robust Image Watermark is embedded on the cover image and direct access link (URL) is issued for each video. Clicking the direct access link, OS-native players are activated and then users are allowed to watch the videos on PC or smart devices. Also, DRM (digital rights management) control is available, so that users can save the videos on local environment or watch them again according to conditions set by content holders or creators.
After the launch of their business announcement last year, Pulit carried out PoCs (Proof of Concept) with 6 major Japanese private TV broadcasters (3 in Tokyo and 3 in Osaka), 4 major publishing companies, 3 animation studios from March to April this year (Low-Fidelity PoC). From May-June this year PoC was carried out by participating new media companies and social network services in addition to 10 TV broadcasters, 6 big publishing companies, and 3 animation studios (Middle-Fidelity PoC). From here, they plan to hold closed beta tests from July to August (which will also serve as High-Fidelity PoC), followed by open beta tests from September to October, with the goal of launching this service alongside Android/iOS viewer apps within the year.
Until now, when content holders and producers distribute content, they had to rely on a distribution platform run by third-party operators. Because of this, it was difficult for content holders to distribute their top tier content since it was impossible to implement marketing measures freely, and there was a minimum guarantee (a minimum fee for delivery consignment paid by the content holder to the platform operator regardless of the user’s viewing number), making it difficult to handle niche content.
According to Pulit CEO K.W. Lee, by introducing Pulit, content holders can directly distribute their own content without using any other content distribution platform, so it is easier to distribute top tier content, as well as niche content, and they hope that a long tail market will be born from this as well. He remarked that he plans to extend the service categories beyond to microcontent, picture books, photographs of comics, novels and magazines in the future through partnerships with broadcasters and publishers all over Japan,
If we investigate video content IP holders in Japan, we come across three companies in total, with Pulit pulling through as the dominant company if all the three were left to duke it out. Although the details remain unknown, it is thought that the funding sources are closely related to this strategy.
In response to this funding, Pulit says it will strengthen the organization from the current 4 to 6 people (to 10 people including the external development collaborators).
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
Masaru Ikeda
Takeshi Hirano
