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Japan’s Spectee, news video aggregator for press, ready for North America expansion

The Bridge The Bridge
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This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Spectee, at an OrangeFab meetup in Tokyo outlining the program in Asia, noted that from September it will start expanding its presence abroad — most likely in the U.S. which has been the amateur-based newsfeed firm’s largest market. Founder & CEO Kenjiro Murakami worked at a Silicon Valley major prior to starting up Spectee, under a different name. The Tokyo firm is a second batch (the first which covered Japan, Korea and Taiwan) graduate of the accelerator run by the European telecom concern Orange. Spectee will showcase its service at an Austin, Texas confab next month to mark the launch of its active foray into North America. Many competing services are headquartered on this continent. The Japanese startup not only handles copyright management issues for the image data but applies Artificial Intelligence (AI) upon finding and matching the requisite data. It was underscored that by 2020 the Internet will be some 44 ZB (zettabytes) of information floating out on cyberspace, beyond the capacity of a normal human brain alone to thresh through. See also: Japan’s social news aggregator for press…

This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.

Spectee CEO Kenjiro Murakami introduces his service at a recent OrangeFab Asia meet-up.
Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy

Spectee, at an OrangeFab meetup in Tokyo outlining the program in Asia, noted that from September it will start expanding its presence abroad — most likely in the U.S. which has been the amateur-based newsfeed firm’s largest market. Founder & CEO Kenjiro Murakami worked at a Silicon Valley major prior to starting up Spectee, under a different name.

The Tokyo firm is a second batch (the first which covered Japan, Korea and Taiwan) graduate of the accelerator run by the European telecom concern Orange. Spectee will showcase its service at an Austin, Texas confab next month to mark the launch of its active foray into North America. Many competing services are headquartered on this continent.

The Japanese startup not only handles copyright management issues for the image data but applies Artificial Intelligence (AI) upon finding and matching the requisite data. It was underscored that by 2020 the Internet will be some 44 ZB (zettabytes) of information floating out on cyberspace, beyond the capacity of a normal human brain alone to thresh through.

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Spectee is currently working with Associated Press (AP) among other press organizations to disseminate its visual newsfeed network. Its system is also armed with multiple patents, which is rare for a startup with less than ten years of history, to be applied in expanding into new areas beyond the news field.

In addition to the Spectee talk, OrangeFab outlined its past efforts and announced it was ready to accept applications for the next program term from entrepreneurs. Creww also provided a spiel about the venue it runs (dubbed “docks”), which is a mid-Tokyo open innovation incubation and coworking space near Tokyo Tower, being used for the event series.

Earlier last month, Uzabase — offering the NewsPicks service and tied up with Dow Jones in the U.S. — announced its intention to buy digital-only business news service Quartz from Atlantic Media. Assuming the approximately month-long U.S. government approval goes smoothly, the Tokyo company can expect to be the new Quartz provider.

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Japan’s Creww foraying into coworking space business

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Creww, the Japanese startup behind a community platform offering open innovation opportunities to startups, announced on Wednesday that it is foraying into the coworking space business with the collaboration of major developers and real estate agencies. Named after Creww’s current headquarters called “Creww Dock” in Nakameguro, Tokyo, the new initiative will be conducted under the name of “Docks“. The company plans to unveil five Docks in Tokyo by April of 2018, the first of which is “Dock-Toranomon” and is set to open on October 30th in the Shiroyama Trust Tower (by Mori Trust) in Kamiyacho, Tokyo. Docks are not only for startups and entrepreneurs. General enterprises are also scheduled to move in and it is expected that they will contribute not only to physical space sharing but also to encouraging collaboration between companies and to fostering open innovation. In the so-called startup hub cities around the world the supply of coworking space exceeds the demand for startups, especially in Singapore and Seoul. In these cities, free spaces are provided by government agencies and local municipalities, but private coworking spaces are often more popular, many times dependent on the presence, or lack of, a…

A view of Dock-Toranomon
Image credit: Creww

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Creww, the Japanese startup behind a community platform offering open innovation opportunities to startups, announced on Wednesday that it is foraying into the coworking space business with the collaboration of major developers and real estate agencies. Named after Creww’s current headquarters called “Creww Dock” in Nakameguro, Tokyo, the new initiative will be conducted under the name of “Docks“.

The company plans to unveil five Docks in Tokyo by April of 2018, the first of which is “Dock-Toranomon” and is set to open on October 30th in the Shiroyama Trust Tower (by Mori Trust) in Kamiyacho, Tokyo. Docks are not only for startups and entrepreneurs. General enterprises are also scheduled to move in and it is expected that they will contribute not only to physical space sharing but also to encouraging collaboration between companies and to fostering open innovation.

Another view of Dock-Toranomon
Image credit: Creww

In the so-called startup hub cities around the world the supply of coworking space exceeds the demand for startups, especially in Singapore and Seoul. In these cities, free spaces are provided by government agencies and local municipalities, but private coworking spaces are often more popular, many times dependent on the presence, or lack of, a community centered around the coworking space.

WeWork recently announced its entry into the Japanese market in partnership with Mitsubishi Estate and expects to open 10 to 20 coworking spaces in Tokyo. In addition to this, recently Plug and Play Japan announced the start of an accelerator program in Tokyo and has made it clear that a coworking space will be set up in Shibuya for partner companies and startups. From the beginning of this year Nikkei started the “Nikkei Office Pass” which can be used across the coworking spaces of 25 metropolitan areas with a flat fee, and due to the renewal of the service, the trial service will close this month.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

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Creww sets up accelerator with Panasonic for high-potential startups from the world

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Creww, the Japanese startup behind a community platform offering open innovation opportunities to startups, announced today that it has launched the Panasonic Accelerator 2016 program in partnership with the consumer electronics giant and started accepting applications from startups. The program has three categories for entries – “home appliances and living” and “work,” plus “Advanced Technologies” – where Panasonic will offer their intellectual assets or human resources accordingly, such as their menu and recipe-suggestion websites, 250,000 employees around the world, offices and factories… in addition to bioelectronic sensing, spoken-language analysis as well as image diagnosis support technologies. Applications for the program are being accepted from July 13th to 28th. Following the screening of documents and presentations, selected applicants will participate in the program with a team from Panasonic, which is scheduled to start on September 2nd. Submitted ideas will be implemented in a closed environment controlled by Creww and Panasonic so that applicants will not need to worry about possible leaks of their ideas to third parties regardless of whether or not they can pass the screening process. Creww has partnered with over 50 Japanese corporations to date and helped them work with startups…

panasonic-advanced-technology-team
Panasonic’s Leading-Edge Technology Team (Image credit: Creww)

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Creww, the Japanese startup behind a community platform offering open innovation opportunities to startups, announced today that it has launched the Panasonic Accelerator 2016 program in partnership with the consumer electronics giant and started accepting applications from startups. The program has three categories for entries – “home appliances and living” and “work,” plus “Advanced Technologies” – where Panasonic will offer their intellectual assets or human resources accordingly, such as their menu and recipe-suggestion websites, 250,000 employees around the world, offices and factories… in addition to bioelectronic sensing, spoken-language analysis as well as image diagnosis support technologies.

Applications for the program are being accepted from July 13th to 28th. Following the screening of documents and presentations, selected applicants will participate in the program with a team from Panasonic, which is scheduled to start on September 2nd. Submitted ideas will be implemented in a closed environment controlled by Creww and Panasonic so that applicants will not need to worry about possible leaks of their ideas to third parties regardless of whether or not they can pass the screening process.

Creww has partnered with over 50 Japanese corporations to date and helped them work with startups in so-called open innovation efforts. As of this month, the company has received more than 1,600 business proposals from startups in total while over 200 ideas out of these have been adopted by partnered corporations. While Panasonic had been collaborating with startups by individual product or technology where necessary, the company made some of its IoT (Internet of Things) patents available for royalty-free use last year, followed by launch of facilities like Panasonic Laboratory Tokyo and Wonder LAB Osaka as hubs for open innovation activities focused on artificial intelligence, IoT, robotics and sensing technologies this spring.

Other examples of accelerators by renowned consumer electronics giants around the world include Siemens Accelerator (in Germany), Samsung Accelerator (in New York City and San Francisco), StarRocket by Foxconn (in Taipei), not to mention Seed Accelerator Program (SAP) by Sony in Tokyo.

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Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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Japan’s Creww partners with Toyota ITC to collect collaboration ideas from startups

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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Tokyo-based Creww, the Japanese startup that operates a community platform for startups, announced last week that it has partnered with Toyota InfoTechnology Center (Toyota ITC for short), the R&D arm of Toyota Motor (TSE:7203), and will launch a joint program accepting business collaboration ideas from startups in Japan and the rest of the world. For the R&D company, this is part of their open innovation efforts where corporations explore the potentials of creating businesses with startups. In this program, Toyota ITC wants applicant startups to submit their ideas for providing new car experiences to users at different stages of life or to create new contact points with users through Toyota’s wide range of products. In return for this, Toyota ITC will provide selected startups with assets and resources such as Toyota’s vehicle users, vehicle-related data, vehicles and funds to develop a prototype. Applicant startups have to submit their ideas online between October 13th and 23rd. Based on submitted proposals, selected startups will have a chance to discuss online with the Toyota ITC team to brush up their idea. Following a two-step qualification process by Creww and Toyota ITC, finalists will be announced at yearend and allowed to proceed to the collaborative development phase. Creww has partnered with over 30 Japanese corporations to…

creww-toyota-itc-collaboration_featuredimage

Tokyo-based Creww, the Japanese startup that operates a community platform for startups, announced last week that it has partnered with Toyota InfoTechnology Center (Toyota ITC for short), the R&D arm of Toyota Motor (TSE:7203), and will launch a joint program accepting business collaboration ideas from startups in Japan and the rest of the world. For the R&D company, this is part of their open innovation efforts where corporations explore the potentials of creating businesses with startups.

In this program, Toyota ITC wants applicant startups to submit their ideas for providing new car experiences to users at different stages of life or to create new contact points with users through Toyota’s wide range of products. In return for this, Toyota ITC will provide selected startups with assets and resources such as Toyota’s vehicle users, vehicle-related data, vehicles and funds to develop a prototype.

Applicant startups have to submit their ideas online between October 13th and 23rd. Based on submitted proposals, selected startups will have a chance to discuss online with the Toyota ITC team to brush up their idea. Following a two-step qualification process by Creww and Toyota ITC, finalists will be announced at yearend and allowed to proceed to the collaborative development phase.

Creww has partnered with over 30 Japanese corporations to date and helped them work with startups in so-called open innovation efforts. As of this month, the company has received more than 600 business proposals from startups in total while over 100 ideas out of these have been adopted by partnering corporations.

Meanwhile, Toyota ITC is known for having been exploring extensively the potentials of collaborative works with startups not only in Japan but also around the world. Our readers may recall that the company held a hackathon event in Tel Aviv last year in association with Japanese startup incubator Samurai Incubate. Toyota Motor, the parent company of Toyota ITC, also collaboratively works with Japanese 3D printing startup Kabuku as to the development process of the Toyota i-Road personal mobility vehicle.

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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Japan’s Creww, startup community platform operator, fundraises $2.2 million

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Creww, the Japanese startup that operates a startup community platform for startups, announced today that it has fundraised 270 million yen ($2.2 million) from Japanese financial company Orix (TSE:8591) and Mistletoe, an investment company by Japanese notable angel investor Taizo Son. This is the first startup investment for Orix. Creww plans to use the funds to strengthen “open innovation” activities leveraging their startup community, as well as launching a new financial service for the startup community in partnership with Orix. Details for the new service have not yet been disclosed but it seems similar to a crowdfunding site for startups that aims to help them fundraise and accelerate their business, according to unnamed sources. Founded in August of 2012, Creww secured an undisclosed sum in a seed funding round from Incubate Fund, followed by fundraising $1.2 million (at the exchange rate at that time) from Tokyo-based private broadcaster Nippon TV in September of 2013. The startup has been offering services for startups such as Collabo (encouraging startups and enterprise to collaboratively work together), Marketplace (offering discounts for buying products and services, specifically for startups), and Knots (offering lecture programs on open innovation for…

creww-all-team-members
The Creww crew.

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Creww, the Japanese startup that operates a startup community platform for startups, announced today that it has fundraised 270 million yen ($2.2 million) from Japanese financial company Orix (TSE:8591) and Mistletoe, an investment company by Japanese notable angel investor Taizo Son. This is the first startup investment for Orix.

Creww plans to use the funds to strengthen “open innovation” activities leveraging their startup community, as well as launching a new financial service for the startup community in partnership with Orix. Details for the new service have not yet been disclosed but it seems similar to a crowdfunding site for startups that aims to help them fundraise and accelerate their business, according to unnamed sources.

Founded in August of 2012, Creww secured an undisclosed sum in a seed funding round from Incubate Fund, followed by fundraising $1.2 million (at the exchange rate at that time) from Tokyo-based private broadcaster Nippon TV in September of 2013. The startup has been offering services for startups such as Collabo (encouraging startups and enterprise to collaboratively work together), Marketplace (offering discounts for buying products and services, specifically for startups), and Knots (offering lecture programs on open innovation for enterprises).

Creww has a staff of 17 people, but going forward the company aims to strengthen their team by hiring engineers, designers, business development managers, as well as a person to manage business expansion to the Asian markets.

Edited by Kurt Hanson

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Japan’s Creww now offering a credit card for startups

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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The folks over at Tokyo-based startup community Creww.me have announced an interesting new addition to their marketplace, with a new credit card offering in cooperation with Credit Saison. A representative explains: Startups often don’t have enough credit to obtain corporate credit cards. So this card was created for startups to be more flexible in this regard. Startups often pay for things like ads or server costs using their personal credits cards, since payment for such services are often by credit card only. So it’s a problem all startups have. We think this credit card should solve this problem.

The folks over at Tokyo-based startup community Creww.me have announced an interesting new addition to their marketplace, with a new credit card offering in cooperation with Credit Saison. A representative explains:

Startups often don’t have enough credit to obtain corporate credit cards. So this card was created for startups to be more flexible in this regard. Startups often pay for things like ads or server costs using their personal credits cards, since payment for such services are often by credit card only. So it’s a problem all startups have. We think this credit card should solve this problem.

creww
The Creww crew

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Creww raises $1.2M from Nippon TV, will continue to spotlight Japanese startups

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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Last week I had a chance to speak with Tokyo-based Creww.me, a company here in Japan that has been working to improve local startup scene. Creww does a number of things, such as matching third party corporate clients with startups who might be able to meet their needs in some way. They also are building a database of Japanese startups, which we certainly think is a worthwhile task. Creww also features a Creww Marketplace where startups can find services that might be useful to them, sort of in the same fashion as AnyPerk. I met with CEO Sorato Ijichi and public relations manager Kozue Ishii, and the pair revealed to me that Creww had just raised $1.2 million in series A funding from Nippon TV (the official announcement is today), and they will be using those funds to further grow their business, especially their marketplace. Creww also plans to translate its database into five languages in order to help make Japanese companies more visible globally, especially outside of Asia. Creww plans to translate its startup database into 5 languages. They’ll be hiring new staff, including engineers and marketers, and they also mentioned that a play for Asia will be on…

creww

Last week I had a chance to speak with Tokyo-based Creww.me, a company here in Japan that has been working to improve local startup scene. Creww does a number of things, such as matching third party corporate clients with startups who might be able to meet their needs in some way. They also are building a database of Japanese startups, which we certainly think is a worthwhile task. Creww also features a Creww Marketplace where startups can find services that might be useful to them, sort of in the same fashion as AnyPerk.

I met with CEO Sorato Ijichi and public relations manager Kozue Ishii, and the pair revealed to me that Creww had just raised $1.2 million in series A funding from Nippon TV (the official announcement is today), and they will be using those funds to further grow their business, especially their marketplace. Creww also plans to translate its database into five languages in order to help make Japanese companies more visible globally, especially outside of Asia.

Creww plans to translate its startup database into 5 languages.

They’ll be hiring new staff, including engineers and marketers, and they also mentioned that a play for Asia will be on the horizon. The team will be moving into a new office very soon too, and we hope to show you what that looks like after we get a chance to visit.

I’m told that Creww worked with Nippon TV back in May of this year as a part of their startup collaboration program. The television company, as part of its 60th anniversary, had looking for a startup to collaborate with, and they received more than 60 proposals from registered Creww startups. Subsequently more than 10 of those visited the Nippon TV office, and currently some of those are being considered to be put into use in Nippon TV’s business.

Creww was established back in August of 2012. They share many of the same goals and values of us here at SD Japan, so we hope they too can continue to help build the local startup scene as they have been doing thus far.

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