Tokyo-based real estate startup Renoveru helps consumers to choose and buy existing homes or a second-hand flats while proposing renovation plans both online and offline. The company announced on Tuesday that it has fundraised 1.3 billion yen (about $11.8 million) from Japanese trading giant Mitsui & Co. (TSE:8031). In addition to these services, Renoveru also offers an online tool that allows homebuilders to easily share renovation plans and pictures with carpenters, construction supervisors and architects. The company also offers a distribution service of construction materials and equipments through its subsidiary. Upon funding by and partnership with Mitsui, Renoveru claims that it will focus more on developing a smart home business, which implements smart key solutions, connected consumer electronics and other IoT (Internet of Things) devices into existing homes. Since its launch back in April of 2010, Renoveru has secured funding from Tokyu Corporation (TSE:9005), Globis Capital Partners, Vector Group International, Aucfan (TSE:3674), GMO Venture Partners, Mitsui Sumitomo Insuarance Venture Capital, Seibu Shinkin Capital, and others. Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Tokyo-based real estate startup Renoveru helps consumers to choose and buy existing homes or a second-hand flats while proposing renovation plans both online and offline. The company announced on Tuesday that it has fundraised 1.3 billion yen (about $11.8 million) from Japanese trading giant Mitsui & Co. (TSE:8031).
In addition to these services, Renoveru also offers an online tool that allows homebuilders to easily share renovation plans and pictures with carpenters, construction supervisors and architects. The company also offers a distribution service of construction materials and equipments through its subsidiary.
Upon funding by and partnership with Mitsui, Renoveru claims that it will focus more on developing a smart home business, which implements smart key solutions, connected consumer electronics and other IoT (Internet of Things) devices into existing homes.
Since its launch back in April of 2010, Renoveru has secured funding from Tokyu Corporation (TSE:9005), Globis Capital Partners, Vector Group International, Aucfan (TSE:3674), GMO Venture Partners, Mitsui Sumitomo Insuarance Venture Capital, Seibu Shinkin Capital, and others.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based FinTech startup Emerada revealed on Wednesday that they have raised 200 million yen (around $1.8 million US) in a seed round. This round was led by D4V, the joint venture by US-based design studio Ideo and Tokyo-based investment fund Genuine Startups, with participation from two major unnamed financial institutions and several unnamed individual investors. The company says it will solve the problem of information disparity in funding and financial affairs that is unevenly distributed among smaller companies and startups. Emerada was established in June of 2016. Beginning with CEO Taiga Sawamura, and extending to many founding members and directors, it is a startup comprised of investment bankers from Goldman Sachs and others. During Sawamura’s days at Goldman Sachs, he had many opportunities to solve the financial problems of large businesses from the standpoint of an investment banker. These large enterprises often have bright, dedicated graduates of business school to serve as treasurers and raise funds, while there is also an abundance of investment banks to add their expertise and propose solutions. It can be said that both the side providing the advice and the the side receiving it thus have a high financial…
Tokyo-based FinTech startup Emerada revealed on Wednesday that they have raised 200 million yen (around $1.8 million US) in a seed round. This round was led by D4V, the joint venture by US-based design studio Ideo and Tokyo-based investment fund Genuine Startups, with participation from two major unnamed financial institutions and several unnamed individual investors. The company says it will solve the problem of information disparity in funding and financial affairs that is unevenly distributed among smaller companies and startups.
Emerada was established in June of 2016. Beginning with CEO Taiga Sawamura, and extending to many founding members and directors, it is a startup comprised of investment bankers from Goldman Sachs and others.
During Sawamura’s days at Goldman Sachs, he had many opportunities to solve the financial problems of large businesses from the standpoint of an investment banker. These large enterprises often have bright, dedicated graduates of business school to serve as treasurers and raise funds, while there is also an abundance of investment banks to add their expertise and propose solutions. It can be said that both the side providing the advice and the the side receiving it thus have a high financial literacy.
Meanwhile, from the viewpoint of cost effectiveness, general investment banks do not often take on smaller businesses or startups as customers. Even if such businesses and startups had the opportunity to receive advice from investment banks, there is a possibility that there may not be anyone in the company with enough professional knowledge to understand it. In other words, we can say that smaller businesses and startups are undeveloped in the areas of raising funds and solving financial problems. Sawamura’s strategy is to take advantage of this need.
From here on, please understand that the following information about their business content is not concrete yet and subject to the approval of the Japanese Financial Services Agency.
Emerada offers two kinds of financing options for smaller businesses and startups: debt and equity.
In terms of debt, it will be a P2P (person-to-person) lending marketplace that connects lenders and borrowers of funds, but it does not cover areas like social lending where banks cannot approve credit. Funding Circle (UK) and Lending Club (US) are similar. In such an environment, investors are more likely to make business-like loan decisions, since the funds being sought are securitized.
Funds are mainly provided by institutional investors, and there is a possibility that financial institutions may be included (noticeable in Lending Club, etc., with indirect financing players moving toward direct financing). It is unnecessary for institutional investors to return excessively high loan interest rates if a convincing explanation is given to the balance between risk and return, so it will not be a two-digit percent interest rate as seen in social lending. They are aiming to develop a system that enables customers to quickly and efficiently undergo the process from credit to loan execution, while following those built by banks over many years.
Regarding equity, it seems that it will be in the form of crowdfunding by stock investment, including the context in which individual investors support companies. AngelList and FundersClub are two American companies doing similar work. According to Sawamura, from his role of filling a gap in the startup ecosystem, it may be better to realize an angel investment platform that anyone can participate in and startup-focused investment trusts rather than supporting general small and medium sized businesses.
Emerada plans to start testing their debt service in the second half of 2017. For equity services, they are aiming for a service launch in the middle of 2017.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Seak, the Japanese startup behind the Leap farming support platform, announced this week that they have received funding from Gree Ventures, Warehouse Terrada, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital. This was a series A round for the company, with Terrada and Mitsibushi UFJ Capital continuing their support from the earlier seed round back in September last year. Together with loans provided through the Japan Finance Corporation’s Young Farmer’s Fund, the total amount of funds raised this round was about 300 million yen (around $2.7 million US). The company plans to continue the strengthening of the Leap platform’s cultivation verification and developing the necessary systems for their franchise model. Along with this announcement, it was revealed that they are the first corporation to succeed in obtaining certification as a new farming company in Tokyo’s suburb of Fujisawa City. In doing so, it becomes possible for the company to provide preferentially secured agricultural land to their registered users. The goal of Seak’s modern tenant farming: Profitable farming Since its launch back in September of last year, the Leap platform has moved smoothly to the next phase. Seak’s CEO Hiroshi Kurita has experience in startups, previously working at…
Tokyo-based Seak, the Japanese startup behind the Leap farming support platform, announced this week that they have received funding from Gree Ventures, Warehouse Terrada, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital. This was a series A round for the company, with Terrada and Mitsibushi UFJ Capital continuing their support from the earlier seed round back in September last year.
Together with loans provided through the Japan Finance Corporation’s Young Farmer’s Fund, the total amount of funds raised this round was about 300 million yen (around $2.7 million US). The company plans to continue the strengthening of the Leap platform’s cultivation verification and developing the necessary systems for their franchise model. Along with this announcement, it was revealed that they are the first corporation to succeed in obtaining certification as a new farming company in Tokyo’s suburb of Fujisawa City. In doing so, it becomes possible for the company to provide preferentially secured agricultural land to their registered users.
The goal of Seak’s modern tenant farming: Profitable farming
Seak’s plastic greenhouses cut costs by nearly 40% by securing their own materials Image credit: Seak
Since its launch back in September of last year, the Leap platform has moved smoothly to the next phase. Seak’s CEO Hiroshi Kurita has experience in startups, previously working at Tokyo-based business incubator Archetype, and he subsequently served as a senior executive at Japanese personal mobility startup Whill. I get the impression that he made this next move with great care.
But, he deals with agriculture. Not only is it far from the Internet, but as a business there is an indispensable necessity for tangible assets such as greenhouses, land, fertilizer and so on making it that much more disparate from Internet businesses which are forced to employ net-specific management tools. Kurita cited two driving forces behind the funds procured this time around; they are to “establish KPIs for cultivation” and “prepare a franchise model.”
Tomatoes grown using Leap. KPIs are set for each crop, with earning over 2,000 yen (about $18) an hour. Image credit: Seak
First, with regards to establishing KPIs for cultivation, the figures were set down to the smallest detail, such as the harvest amount per unit area of 600 square meters, and depreciation expenses like the equipment cost, the cost of the crop, the cost of the greenhouses, etc., and the goal was to keep the final personnel expenses at a fixed level from this point on.
There is a tendency to have a low cost of labor in the field of agriculture, and there have been cases of laborers working at the significant level of hundreds of yen less per hour than the wage dictated by law.
The Leap platform aims to raise this wage from 2,000 yen (around $18 US) to 3,000 yen (around $27 US) by setting the hourly wage as a major parameter and improving the cost and efficiency of harvesting. Furthermore, soil science research expert Dr. Nakhshiniev Bakhtiyor was appointed as the Chief Development Officer, and a system is also in place to develop and verify the platform’s unique soil and cultivation solution management method.
Second, in order to establish a franchise model, the company is constructing a platform system that utilizes information technology such as online content for operational learning, a chat system that can communicate with cultivation management headquarters, and sensor cooperation that can acquire data from inside the greenhouses in real time. By linking up with the ID of a registered farm this will be useful in unifying the management of information.
According to Kurita, in correlation with the funds secured this round, the company plans to expand the Leap team to 20 people, and in particular are searching for responsible, talented individuals to help develop the platform, thereby promoting the strengthening of their management foundation for future business expansion.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Minrevi, a Japanese startup that connects bereaved families to funeral homes and other end-of-life service providers, announced on Monday that it has fundrased 1 billion yen (about $9 million) in a series C round. Participating investors are Globis Capital Partners, Spiral Ventures Japan, Mizuo Capital in addition to existing investors such as Global Brain and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital. The amount raised this time around includes 150 million yen (about $1.4 million) in loans from Japan Finance Corporation, one of state-run financial institutions aiming to back private sectors. Coinciding with the funding, Minrevi revealed that it has appointed Satoshi Shima as an external director, who previously worked fo the President’s office at SoftBank and subsequently served the firm and SoftBank Mobile as a special advisor. See also: Minrevi, Japan’s end-of-life startup, starts selling monk prayer service on Amazon Originally founded as a website reviewing funeral services back in 2009, Minrevi has released several services aiming at bringing more transparency into funeral planning. The firm has partnered with more than 500 funeral service providers and over 700 Buddhist monks across the country. They will use the funds to strengthen the development of new…
Tokyo-based Minrevi, a Japanese startup that connects bereaved families to funeral homes and other end-of-life service providers, announced on Monday that it has fundrased 1 billion yen (about $9 million) in a series C round. Participating investors are Globis Capital Partners, Spiral Ventures Japan, Mizuo Capital in addition to existing investors such as Global Brain and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital.
The amount raised this time around includes 150 million yen (about $1.4 million) in loans from Japan Finance Corporation, one of state-run financial institutions aiming to back private sectors.
Coinciding with the funding, Minrevi revealed that it has appointed Satoshi Shima as an external director, who previously worked fo the President’s office at SoftBank and subsequently served the firm and SoftBank Mobile as a special advisor.
Originally founded as a website reviewing funeral services back in 2009, Minrevi has released several services aiming at bringing more transparency into funeral planning. The firm has partnered with more than 500 funeral service providers and over 700 Buddhist monks across the country. They will use the funds to strengthen the development of new services, hiring new people, and expanding their existing services.
The Minrevi management team – L to R: Satoshi Fukushima (newly-appointed external director), Satoshi Shima (newly-appointed external director), Masashi Akita (managing director), Masaharu Ashizawa (CEO), Kazuyoshi Yamada (CFO), Kazuhiko Miyama (external director) Image credit: Minrevi
See the original story in Japanese. This is a part of our on-site coverage of Slush Tokyo 2017. Slush Tokyo 2017, one of the largest startup and technology events in Japan, was held at Tokyo Big Sight last week. In the pitch competition within the event, Korean startup Dot which is behind the Braille smart watch / tablet was chosen for first place from among four teams which survived the qualifying round contested by the 80 nominated teams over two days. Event contestant made a five-minute pitch followed by a Q&A session with judges. The followings were the four finalists. First Place: Dot (Korea) Supplemental prize: 5 million yen (about $45,000) from Recruit Holdings, 5 million yen investment from investors Dot developed a smartwatch capable of expressing Braille descriptions named Dot Watch, in addition to other Braille devices. Dot Watch enables the visually-impaired to exchange messages or to understand posts on social network services by touching the display. It will be welcomed as a gift item since costing only $290 which is much cheaper than conventional Braille keyboards costing about $5,000. The team succeeded in downsizing of the display on the face utilizing its 18 patents. This technology is applicable…
Slush Tokyo 2017, one of the largest startup and technology events in Japan, was held at Tokyo Big Sight last week. In the pitch competition within the event, Korean startup Dot which is behind the Braille smart watch / tablet was chosen for first place from among four teams which survived the qualifying round contested by the 80 nominated teams over two days.
Event contestant made a five-minute pitch followed by a Q&A session with judges. The followings were the four finalists.
First Place: Dot (Korea)
Supplemental prize: 5 million yen (about $45,000) from Recruit Holdings, 5 million yen investment from investors
Dot developed a smartwatch capable of expressing Braille descriptions named Dot Watch, in addition to other Braille devices. Dot Watch enables the visually-impaired to exchange messages or to understand posts on social network services by touching the display. It will be welcomed as a gift item since costing only $290 which is much cheaper than conventional Braille keyboards costing about $5,000. The team succeeded in downsizing of the display on the face utilizing its 18 patents. This technology is applicable to the guide display boards at subway stations, bank or bus stops.
It currently supports 35 languages and will do more by performing each scaling. Furthermore, the team has been developing the Braille tablet Dot Pad as its new step supported by Google. Dot Mini, the simplified version of Dot Pad for educational use, was distributed in Kenya as a trial operation and received favorable feedback. Since there are also more than 10 million visually-impaired people in India, the team expects a huge market.
JAL Award Inzpire.me (Norway)
Supplemental prize: complimentary mileage worth 275,000 miles from Japan Airlines
Norway-based Inzpire.me is a marketplace for connecting influencers and product brands. Under the current influence marketing environment, 10% of top influencers earn 90% of the total marketing budget demand. The team explains that this imbalance is caused by a lack of transparency and reliability as to influencer marketing.
Since launch of its beta version last year, Inzpire.me has gathered 6,500 influencers and the number of total followers for these reaches 300 million worldwide. Partnering with 60 brand companies, the team has been focusing at this time on business in Europe and US but also aims to expand into Asia in the future.
PR Times Award: MacroSpace (Japan)
Supplemental prize: one-year PR support
Macrospace is a Japanese startup developing system for tele-existence. Putting sensors on a controller’s body and sending acquired motion data via the Internet, it can control a remote robot with the same motion. The technological advantage of the team is being able to markedly suppress the communication delay between controller and robot by utilizing UDP (User Datagram Protocol) and Deep Learning. Thus it is possible to virtually “exist” in a different location simultaneously.
The existence of avatars in different places may realize “teleportation”; tele-diagnosis or tele-education will become technically possible by setting avatars in depopulated areas that lack doctors or teachers. Since the robot sizes are independent of the human body, larger robots can be controlled by users so that they can also be utilized for disaster rescues. By the way, CEO Sho Nakanose was chosen as a participant for a program at Singularity University which will be held this summer.
Elsius Bilmedical (Canada)
ECMO (Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation) is a life-saving technology used in ICUs (Intensive Care Units) or emergency rooms; it pumps and oxygenates for circulation of a patient’s blood from outside the body. The availability of conventional ECMO equipment was limited due to the need for power supply or blood dilution.
Elsius Biomedical developed compact and portable circulatory support system pCAS for easy-use ECMO. It incorporates blood pump and oxygen supplier, and is expected to save more lives.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Colorful Board, the Japanese startup offering a fashion coordination app leveraging artificial intelligence called Sensy, announced today that it has fundraised 800 million yen (about $7.2 million) from Mic, TSI Holdings (TSE:3608), and Vinx (TSE:3784). The latest funds means that the company has secured a total of more than 1.1 billion yen (about $9.9 million) since the launch. See also: Japanese startup invents fashion coordination app based on artificial intelligence Mic, one of the companies participating in this round, is a subsidiary of Haruyama Holdings which operates a leading men’s clothing store chain across Japan. Coinciding with funding, Mic also announced that it has partnered with TSI Holdings and Vinx. Colorful Board has been working on an AI-powered personalization marketing effort on fashion together with Haruyama Holdings, which is seeing a good result. In addition to strengthen the partnership, the company claims that they will start research and development on suggesting styling tips to users. Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Tokyo-based Colorful Board, the Japanese startup offering a fashion coordination app leveraging artificial intelligence called Sensy, announced today that it has fundraised 800 million yen (about $7.2 million) from Mic, TSI Holdings (TSE:3608), and Vinx (TSE:3784). The latest funds means that the company has secured a total of more than 1.1 billion yen (about $9.9 million) since the launch.
Mic, one of the companies participating in this round, is a subsidiary of Haruyama Holdings which operates a leading men’s clothing store chain across Japan. Coinciding with funding, Mic also announced that it has partnered with TSI Holdings and Vinx.
Colorful Board has been working on an AI-powered personalization marketing effort on fashion together with Haruyama Holdings, which is seeing a good result. In addition to strengthen the partnership, the company claims that they will start research and development on suggesting styling tips to users.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Hachimenroppi, the Japanese startup operating a food delivery service for restaurants, announced on Friday that it has fundraised 240 million yen (about $2.2 million) from SMBC Venture Capital, SBI Investment, Senshu Ikeda Capital, Sansei Capital Investment as well as individual investors. With the latest funding, the firm has secured a total of about 1.1 billion yen ($9.9 million) to date. See also: Japanese fish delivery startup Hachimenroppi secures $4.5 million funding Japanese fish delivery startup partners with JCB, eases restaurants’ credit purchases Japanese fish delivery startup finds underserved markets using heat maps Japanese fish delivery startup making waves, raises $1.5 million Since launch back in April of 2011, Hachimenroppi has been offering an e-commerce platform for restaurants in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. In addition to buying from central markets including Tsukiji Fish Market, the company has been forming its own logistics and a vast procurement network with food producers and regional markets across Japan to stably provide restaurants with high quality fishery products, fruits, vegetables as well as meat. Leveraging its IoT (Internet of Things)-based platform managing deliverers, the company has made many features possible to better serve restaurants, such as optimized deliverer…
Tokyo-based Hachimenroppi, the Japanese startup operating a food delivery service for restaurants, announced on Friday that it has fundraised 240 million yen (about $2.2 million) from SMBC Venture Capital, SBI Investment, Senshu Ikeda Capital, Sansei Capital Investment as well as individual investors. With the latest funding, the firm has secured a total of about 1.1 billion yen ($9.9 million) to date.
Since launch back in April of 2011, Hachimenroppi has been offering an e-commerce platform for restaurants in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. In addition to buying from central markets including Tsukiji Fish Market, the company has been forming its own logistics and a vast procurement network with food producers and regional markets across Japan to stably provide restaurants with high quality fishery products, fruits, vegetables as well as meat.
Leveraging its IoT (Internet of Things)-based platform managing deliverers, the company has made many features possible to better serve restaurants, such as optimized deliverer dispatching and notifying the estimated arrival time of an ordered food delivery. The company claims that it will use the funds to strengthen fulfillment and logistics, also planning to focus on web marketing efforts using private and open data management platforms.
See the original story in Japanese. Japan’s Moff, developing wearable sensor devices / services, last week announced that it has succeeded in fundraising in order to promote a platform for health / exercise / rehabilitation field utilizing its sensor. This time, the firm fundraised a total of 300 million yen (about $2.7 million) from Energy & Environment Investment, Mitsubishi Research Institute (MRI) and Tsuneishi Capital Partners. The platform for rehabilitation use currently under development is a system to encourage health enhancement, care prevention and preventive medicine mainly targeting the elderly, by distributing content linked to body motions detected by the wearable sensor on user wrists. Moff and one of the investors, MRI, had last December already agreed to a capital / business tie-up regarding utilization of the Moff devices in care prevention / rehabilitation field for the elderly. it should be noted that the fundraising this time and that of last December are the same. The concept of Moff was first revealed in February of 2014. Subsequent fundraising from Bandai Namco and others in September occurred the following year, and the firm has been expanding its services to “intellect training” or gamification fields. According to CEO of Moff Akinori Takahagi,…
Moff Band – capable of detecting body motion by mounted gyro sensors and sending it to smart device Image credit: Moff
Japan’s Moff, developing wearable sensor devices / services, last week announced that it has succeeded in fundraising in order to promote a platform for health / exercise / rehabilitation field utilizing its sensor. This time, the firm fundraised a total of 300 million yen (about $2.7 million) from Energy & Environment Investment, Mitsubishi Research Institute (MRI) and Tsuneishi Capital Partners.
The platform for rehabilitation use currently under development is a system to encourage health enhancement, care prevention and preventive medicine mainly targeting the elderly, by distributing content linked to body motions detected by the wearable sensor on user wrists.
Moff and one of the investors, MRI, had last December already agreed to a capital / business tie-up regarding utilization of the Moff devices in care prevention / rehabilitation field for the elderly. it should be noted that the fundraising this time and that of last December are the same.
The concept of Moff was first revealed in February of 2014. Subsequent fundraising from Bandai Namco and others in September occurred the following year, and the firm has been expanding its services to “intellect training” or gamification fields. According to CEO of Moff Akinori Takahagi, as its business basis has become gradually established, the firm decided to proceed to the next stage – health enhancement business for the elderly with the “2025 problem (the aging population problems in Japan which will become serious by 2025)” in the backdrop.
Takahagi looks forward the demand from the healthcare field:
In addition to Moff for children or packaged products with educational materials for nursery schools and kindergartens, we had promoted research and development focusing on healthcare for about a year.
As the “2025 problem” will become serious, one in five Japanese will become a late-stage elderly (75 years and over) and the reduction in the burden of nursing care as to manpower will be called for strongly.
Image of the elderly healthcare platform Image credit: Moff
Details of the service will be disclosed a little bit later, but I could take a look at the demo in advance. It appeared that the human motion was digitalized when rehabilitation training took place, by putting the well-known Moff Band on the wrist.
Body motions cannot be easily visualized. By entrusting such devices or apps to determine whether the correct movement is achieved or not, users can freely take on the cycle of health enhancement tasks while at home alone. Takahagi explained the aim of the service thus.
The firm much stressed the number of users willing to pay the monthly fees for apps or services through hardware products in its business model. Unlike conventional services for child users, a completely different future is expected in the business for the elderly. It is interesting as to what kind of business growth the firm will see.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo- / Bangkok- / Singapore-based Withfluence, the Japanese company providing an influencer marketing management platform for Asian markets under the same name, signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with Thailand’s second largest telco True on Wednesday. Withfluence was founded in May of 2016 by Hiroyuki Okamoto (current CEO) who previously ran a media and advertising company in Vietnam, and Keiichi Honma (current CTO) who had been developing web services and translation apps for foreigners visiting Japan. Before Withfluence, Okamoto and Honma had developed an instant e-commerce platform described as “Asia’s version of Shopify” and based in Thailand, but changed directions before attending Open Network Lab’s 12th Accelerator Program and launching Withfluence in August of last year. Included in this business alliance is to give the opportunity to act as an influencer on social media to actresses, actors, talent, and singers belonging to True Music (True’s entertainment division), as well as the development of processes to simplify promotion campaign requests from companies outside of Thailand, and optimizing the algorithms matching influencers with companies leveraging cognitive computing. Withfluence and True in making full use of each other’s management resources will collaborate on joint service development and…
The signing ceremony held at the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Bangkok, Thailand on Wednesday. In the front row, L to R: Hiroyuki Okamoto (CEO, Withfluence), Teerapon Tanomsakyut (Chief Innovation and Sustainability Officer, True) In the back row, L to R: Hiroki Mitsumata (Head of JETRO Bangkok office), Shiro Sadoshima (Japanese Ambassador to Thailand), Achaka Sriboonruang (Minister of Science and Technology of Thailand), Adhiruth Thothaveesansuk (Co-President of True and Group COO) Image credit: Fumi Tanaka aka Bunshow
Tokyo- / Bangkok- / Singapore-based Withfluence, the Japanese company providing an influencer marketing management platform for Asian markets under the same name, signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with Thailand’s second largest telco True on Wednesday.
Withfluence was founded in May of 2016 by Hiroyuki Okamoto (current CEO) who previously ran a media and advertising company in Vietnam, and Keiichi Honma (current CTO) who had been developing web services and translation apps for foreigners visiting Japan. Before Withfluence, Okamoto and Honma had developed an instant e-commerce platform described as “Asia’s version of Shopify” and based in Thailand, but changed directions before attending Open Network Lab’s 12th Accelerator Program and launching Withfluence in August of last year.
Included in this business alliance is to give the opportunity to act as an influencer on social media to actresses, actors, talent, and singers belonging to True Music (True’s entertainment division), as well as the development of processes to simplify promotion campaign requests from companies outside of Thailand, and optimizing the algorithms matching influencers with companies leveraging cognitive computing. Withfluence and True in making full use of each other’s management resources will collaborate on joint service development and distribution of the social media marketing business in Southeast Asia.
This business alliance is born from Withflurnce’s participation in the Embassy Pitch event organized by the Embassy of Thailand and the JETRO Bangkok Office in September of last year, and which also triggered the launch of the Japan-Thailand Innovation Support Network (JTIS; of which, Okamoto is serving as a director). This partnership was carried out through True Incube, True’s investment and innovation division, and the signing ceremony was held at the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Thailand on Thursday the 29th, including not only Okamoto and the True management team, but also Shiro Sadoshima, the Japanese ambassador to Thailand and Atchaka Sibunruang, the Minister of Science and Technology of Thailand.
The following is an excerpt for Okamoto’s comments.
The Government of Thailand in becoming unified with the public under the slogan of “digital economic policy” is aiming to become a hub in Southeast Asia.
We believe True, with their own TV channel, will be our strongest partner in the entertainment business of Southeast Asia. And, to meet expectations from True, we are willing to support their business development of True in other Asian countries including Japan.
Withfluence currently offers services in Japanese, English, Thai, Vietnamese, and Traditional Chinese (for Taiwan and Hong Kong). In allying with True, it appears the company is concentrating on fundraising and expanding their sales, and also focusing on new Asian markets.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. IMJ Investment Partners (IMJ-IP), a Japanese startup-focused vc firm based in Singapore and Tokyo, last week announced that it changed the company name to Spiral Ventures. To be more precise, it becomes a group under the umbrella of the Singapore-based corporation Spiral Ventures Pte Ltd (IMJ-IP, the former name), consisting of Spiral Ventures Asia Ltd (newly organized) focusing on investment activities in Japan India / Southeast Asia and Spiral Ventures Japan LLP (IMJ-IP Japan, the former name) focusing on Japan / East Asia. Yuji Horiguchi, the former Managing Partner of IMJ-IP, is appointed to CEO of Spiral Ventures Pte Ltd / Spiral Ventures Asia Ltd. Tomokazu Okuno, the former Managing Partner of IMJ-IP Japan, is appointed to General Partner of Spiral Ventures Japan LLP as well. Along with that, the firm revealed that it succeeded in MBO (management buyout). Horiguchi and other shareholders purchased the majority of the shares from the major shareholder Culture Convenience Club (CCC). Spiral Ventures Japan LLP is organized by joint capital investment of Spiral Ventures Pte Ltd and Okuno. IMJ-IP originated in the company which Horiguchi founded in 2012 while being engaged in foreign investment works at IMJ. It…
Yuji Horiguchi (CEO and Managing Partner of Spiral Ventures Pte Ltd / Spiral Ventures Asia Ltd, right) and Tomokazu Okuno (General Partner of Spiral Ventures Japan LLP, left)
IMJ Investment Partners (IMJ-IP), a Japanese startup-focused vc firm based in Singapore and Tokyo, last week announced that it changed the company name to Spiral Ventures. To be more precise, it becomes a group under the umbrella of the Singapore-based corporation Spiral Ventures Pte Ltd (IMJ-IP, the former name), consisting of Spiral Ventures Asia Ltd (newly organized) focusing on investment activities in Japan India / Southeast Asia and Spiral Ventures Japan LLP (IMJ-IP Japan, the former name) focusing on Japan / East Asia.
Yuji Horiguchi, the former Managing Partner of IMJ-IP, is appointed to CEO of Spiral Ventures Pte Ltd / Spiral Ventures Asia Ltd. Tomokazu Okuno, the former Managing Partner of IMJ-IP Japan, is appointed to General Partner of Spiral Ventures Japan LLP as well.
Capital relationship of Spiral Ventures group
Along with that, the firm revealed that it succeeded in MBO (management buyout). Horiguchi and other shareholders purchased the majority of the shares from the major shareholder Culture Convenience Club (CCC). Spiral Ventures Japan LLP is organized by joint capital investment of Spiral Ventures Pte Ltd and Okuno.
IMJ-IP originated in the company which Horiguchi founded in 2012 while being engaged in foreign investment works at IMJ. It was a purely independent VC (venture capital) having many LPs (limited partners), not a CVC (corporate venture capital) under IMJ as its name appears to indicate. In this situation, Accenture acquired a major stake in IMJ from CCC last April. Although there had been no direct capital ties between IMJ and IMJ-IP originally, IMJ-IP no longer need to call itself IMJ anymore.
One of the purposes for renaming itself this time is seemingly to clearly appeal to the current / potential LPs and the investment targets that it is a pure VC with high-level independence.
Under the new system, a new fund is about to be established. According to Horiguchi, Spiral Ventures Asia has been setting up a fund for Southeast Asia and India named Spiral Asia Global Fund, especially focusing on growth-stage startups in Southeast Asia (targeted early-stages under the old system) and early-stage startups in India.
Spiral Ventures is recognized for digging up promising startups in the Southeast Asia region from a long time ago. As an outstanding example, the portfolio startups highly recommended by Spiral Ventures, namely McClinica, PawnHero and Docquity, won the startup conference held in Osaka — HackOsaka — for three years in a row.
Horiguchi said:
Currently, the firm has one staffer in Jakarta and four in Singapore. In India, the firm utilizes the partnership with New Delhi-based Technology 9 Labs supporting the growth hack for startups. The investment target of Asia Global Fund covers a wide range of countries / regions, including seven ASEAN countries, India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
On the other hand, Spiral Ventures Japan continues the operation of IMJ-IP Japan Fund as in the past with a new name, Spiral Ventures Japan Fund. It has gathered more than 5 billion yen (about $45 million) for the 6 billion yen (about $54 million)-scale fundraising, and Okuno said that he aims to settle it down to a 70 billion yen (about $63 million)-scale fund. LPs of Japan Fund include Japanese major enterprises and the Japanese Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation.
Okuno explains the view of Japan Fund:
As the integration with real business or the innovation of conventional business has been become a hot topic in Japan recently (rather than simple mobile techs), our investment target covers a lot of X-Tech startups. Since we had once assisted the open innovation of CCC or Tokyu (Tokyo-based private railway company), I think we have an advantage as to collaboration support between such real techs and startups.
However, that does not mean we will focus especially on open innovation. This is just a fund, so that we can deal with it if LPs have such needs.
Although the investment target of Japan Fund includes Korea and China, it is still limited to within Japan at this time due to the limitation in terms of human resources. Spiral Ventures Japan plans to increase the number of its staffers to seven, and Masao Hirano, who experienced the representative of McKinsey or Carlyle in Japan, joins the firm as Senior Advisor and Takashi Chiba, who is a Okuno’s junior since working at Deutsche Bank, also joins the firm as Principal.
Spiral Ventures Asia had invested in 39 startups while Spiral Ventures Japan had done so in 10 startups thus far, including the investment as IMJ-IP. With the establishment of the new fund and the improvement of business speed, we will likely see the name of Spiral Ventures more frequently in the news concerning fundraising.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Masaru Ikeda
Takeshi Hirano
The Bridge
