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Whomor, Japan’s crowdsourced comic studio, raises $1.6M from Digital Garage

Masaru Ikeda 2015.12.16

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Whomor, the Japanese company offering a crowdsourcing platform focused on illustrations and 3D computer graphics, unveiled today that it has fundraised 200 million yen (about $1.6 million) from DG Incubation and DK Gate. DG Incubation is the investment arm of Japanese internet giant Digital Garage (TSE:4819) while DK Gate is a joint venture company of Digital Garage and Kodansha, a Japanese leading publishing company. Since its launch back in January of 2011, Whomor has established a crowdsourcing platform for comics and storyboards, enabling mass-produced high quality content by optimized job dilution in the production process from jotting down ideas, to drawing and finishing sketches. At Rising Expo 2015, a startup showcase event hosted by CyberAgent Ventures in August, Whomor CEO Mikiya Shibatsuji claimed in his pitch that the company has acquired 3,000 crowdsourced creators on the platform, while 70% of them are coming from Japan and the remaining 30% workforce from outside Japan. In addition to receiving outsourced comic productions, they have been developing original comic series based on their intellectual property as well as monetizing new comic media. Producing native advertising content using comics, the company started publishing these ads in the…

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Whomor, the Japanese company offering a crowdsourcing platform focused on illustrations and 3D computer graphics, unveiled today that it has fundraised 200 million yen (about $1.6 million) from DG Incubation and DK Gate. DG Incubation is the investment arm of Japanese internet giant Digital Garage (TSE:4819) while DK Gate is a joint venture company of Digital Garage and Kodansha, a Japanese leading publishing company.

rising-expo-2015-whomor-1 — Whomor CEO Mikiya Shibatsuji delivers his pitch at Rising Expo 2015.

Since its launch back in January of 2011, Whomor has established a crowdsourcing platform for comics and storyboards, enabling mass-produced high quality content by optimized job dilution in the production process from jotting down ideas, to drawing and finishing sketches. At Rising Expo 2015, a startup showcase event hosted by CyberAgent Ventures in August, Whomor CEO Mikiya Shibatsuji claimed in his pitch that the company has acquired 3,000 crowdsourced creators on the platform, while 70% of them are coming from Japan and the remaining 30% workforce from outside Japan.

In addition to receiving outsourced comic productions, they have been developing original comic series based on their intellectual property as well as monetizing new comic media. Producing native advertising content using comics, the company started publishing these ads in the game media section of Yahoo Japan this year. They also claimed they’ve enhanced partnerships with media websites introducing apps, intellectual property owners in the gaming industry in Japan and rest of the world, and comic-focused media websites in China and Korea.

Whomore has been massively collaborating with other comic publishing platforms through efforts like securing partnership with DeNA Mangabox and Manga Gift as well as acquiring Androbook from Voyage Group (TSE:3688). In addition to receiving outsourced comic productions, they have been developing original comic series based on their intellectual properties as well as monetizing new comic media. Producing native advertising content using comics, the company started publishing these ads in the game media section of Yahoo Japan’s portal this year. They also claimed they have enhanced partnerships with media websites introducing apps, intellectual property owners in the gaming industry in Japan and rest of the world, and comic-focused media websites in China and South Korea.

In partnership with Kodansha Advanced Media, DK Gate is dealing with digital distribution and global expansion of Japanese books and comic publications. Through the partnership with DK Gate upon latest funding, Whomor is expected to accelerate the global expansion efforts of their original content.

whomor-comics-sample — Examples of Whomor’s original comics

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

news

Japan’s Sekai Lab, crowdsourced app development platform, secures $3.3M funding

Masaru Ikeda 2015.11.02

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Monstar Lab, the company that provides crowdsourced offshore app development service Sekai Lab, announced today that it has fundraised 400 million yen (approximately $3.3 million) from Pasona Tech and DG Incubation. Pasona Tech is a system engineer focused-recruiting company of Japanese leading human resources conglomerate Pasona Group while DG Incubation is an investment arm of Japanese internet giant Digital Garage (TSE:4819). Regarding partnership with Pasona Tech, Sekai Lab will work with Pasona Group’s about 1,000 sales representatives and Pasona Tech’s 70 representatives, helping Pasona’s clients outsource their system development needs to more than 10,000 engineers who are working based out of Sekai Lab’s locations in 15 countries worldwide. According to Pasona Tech, job-offers/-seekers ratio in the company’s business has reached eight-to-one, indicating that it is difficult to cover the demand for human resources with Japanese engineers only. Due to the emerging demand for mobile app developers from clients, Pasona Tech decided to partner with Sekai Lab as part of efforts to decentralize the human resource supply sources, such as hiring engineers from rural areas in Japan. Having established a subsidiary in the US this September, Sekai Lab has started its local operations based out of San Francisco and Los…

sekailab-bangladesh — Sekai Lab Bangladesh Team (Image credit: Sekai Lab)

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Monstar Lab, the company that provides crowdsourced offshore app development service Sekai Lab, announced today that it has fundraised 400 million yen (approximately $3.3 million) from Pasona Tech and DG Incubation. Pasona Tech is a system engineer focused-recruiting company of Japanese leading human resources conglomerate Pasona Group while DG Incubation is an investment arm of Japanese internet giant Digital Garage (TSE:4819).

Regarding partnership with Pasona Tech, Sekai Lab will work with Pasona Group’s about 1,000 sales representatives and Pasona Tech’s 70 representatives, helping Pasona’s clients outsource their system development needs to more than 10,000 engineers who are working based out of Sekai Lab’s locations in 15 countries worldwide. According to Pasona Tech, job-offers/-seekers ratio in the company’s business has reached eight-to-one, indicating that it is difficult to cover the demand for human resources with Japanese engineers only. Due to the emerging demand for mobile app developers from clients, Pasona Tech decided to partner with Sekai Lab as part of efforts to decentralize the human resource supply sources, such as hiring engineers from rural areas in Japan.

Having established a subsidiary in the US this September, Sekai Lab has started its local operations based out of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Coinciding with the latest funds from DG Incubation, Sekai Lab will set up an office in DG717, a co-working/incubation space in San Francisco run by Digital Garage, in order to cultivate app development demands from the fintech and digital marketing industries in Silicon Valley. Since Digital Garage has no in-house development team, Sekai Lab also aims to receive outsourced projects from Digital Garage and its invested companies.

Sekai Lab’s outsourcing service allows clients in Japan and the US to reduce the cost for app development down from a half to one-third that of a typical in-house development scheme. By arranging for an engineering team in Asia as well as appointing project directors in Japan or local “bridge system engineers,” Sekai Lab enables smooth app development process which will meet their client needs on a project-to-project basis.

In view of outsourced offshore app development, improving the quality of local engineers and securing their loyalty are quite important. Focusing on these points, Hiroki Inagawa, CEO of Sekai Lab and Monstar Lab, revealed that his team is making efforts to increase satisfaction of engineers by providing them jobs requiring high-level skills as well as creating a comfortable and friendly working atmosphere.

Our engineers (based overseas) are gaining the image that our company is rapidly growing. For instance, our lab center in Da Nang, Vietnam consists of 200 engineers working there, so local people think that we are one of the leading systems engineering companies around.

In contrast with Japanese companies where the seniority system still remains, our people are performance-oriented and can work while caring for delivery time and attendance management. Offshore development is a trend of the times. By standing in the middle between engineers in offshore locations and Japanese companies which are less likely to take risks, we want to help our clients fill their demand for human resources.

Founded back in 2006, Monstar Lab launched indie music service Monstar.fm and background music service Monstar.ch, followed by incorporating Sekai Lab as a wholly-owned subsidiary in Singapore in February of last year. Prior to the latest round, the company fundraised 120 million yen (about $1.2 million at the exchange rate then) from East Ventures, SMBC Venture Capital, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital back in August of last year.

See also:

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

news

Travel tech startup LCO-Creation Singapore secures funding from Digital Garage

Shintaro Eguchi 2015.06.04

See the original story in Japanese. LCO-Creation Singapore (LCO for short), the Japanese startup behind mobile app Travel Door, announced today that it has secured an undisclosed sum from Tokyo-based Internet company Digital Garage (TSE:4819). Since its launch in August 2012, LCO has been funded by Singapore’s technology incubator TechCube8 as well as National Research Foundation, the technology incubation scheme by the government of Singapore. The company is based in Blk71, a startup hub in Singapore, expanding their business into the Asian market, primarily focused on its home turf of Japan. Travel Door is a mobile app serving local travel information, maps, and a route planning function for 55 cities from 31 countries worldwide. Travelers can use it offline so that no international data roaming charge is required while being away from their home country. In partnership with local travel agents and other companies, the app offers coupons, tour packages, rewards services at travel destinations, travel search functions, and other campaigns allowing users to earn airline mileage points. In this way, the company explores O2O (online-to-offline) business models focused on the overseas travel sector. With the partnership with Digital Garage, LCO will focus ways to better serve tourists to Japan,…

See the original story in Japanese.

LCO-Creation Singapore (LCO for short), the Japanese startup behind mobile app Travel Door, announced today that it has secured an undisclosed sum from Tokyo-based Internet company Digital Garage (TSE:4819).

Since its launch in August 2012, LCO has been funded by Singapore’s technology incubator TechCube8 as well as National Research Foundation, the technology incubation scheme by the government of Singapore. The company is based in Blk71, a startup hub in Singapore, expanding their business into the Asian market, primarily focused on its home turf of Japan.

Travel Door is a mobile app serving local travel information, maps, and a route planning function for 55 cities from 31 countries worldwide. Travelers can use it offline so that no international data roaming charge is required while being away from their home country. In partnership with local travel agents and other companies, the app offers coupons, tour packages, rewards services at travel destinations, travel search functions, and other campaigns allowing users to earn airline mileage points. In this way, the company explores O2O (online-to-offline) business models focused on the overseas travel sector.

With the partnership with Digital Garage, LCO will focus ways to better serve tourists to Japan, aiming to build a new business model using sightseeing content provided by local governments in Japan.

The Travel Door app is available on Google Play and on the iTunes AppStore.

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by Kurt Hanson
Proofread by “Tex” Pomeroy

news

Japan’s Digital Garage invests in Utah-based FinTech startup MX Technologies

The Bridge 2015.05.04

This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. On Friday, Tokyo-based Digital Garage invested in MX Technologies (MX), a provider of Digital Money Management and omnichannel banking solutions for their online banking, mobile banking and financial institution partners. The investment was completed through the Japanese firm’s investment/incubation subsidiary DG Incubation (DGI). MX is a five-time winner of the Best of Show award at Finovate, one of the largest U.S. conferences for financial technology (FinTech) startups. Since June of 2010, MX has grown to become a major entity in the U.S. recently, with over 500 financial institution clients now. MX offers a host of omnichannel banking solutions for banks and other financial institutions, giving its partners the power to provide their account holders with a software that works across virtually any device or OS including smartphones, tablets and desktops. These tools can be configured in virtually any way to match each bank’s unique offerings, achieving an intuitive user interface for account holders. MX’s solution set also provides banks with powerful analytics tools, allowing them to view and manage their data like never before. Banks can use it to target…

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

On Friday, Tokyo-based Digital Garage invested in MX Technologies (MX), a provider of Digital Money Management and omnichannel banking solutions for their online banking, mobile banking and financial institution partners. The investment was completed through the Japanese firm’s investment/incubation subsidiary DG Incubation (DGI). MX is a five-time winner of the Best of Show award at Finovate, one of the largest U.S. conferences for financial technology (FinTech) startups. Since June of 2010, MX has grown to become a major entity in the U.S. recently, with over 500 financial institution clients now.

MX offers a host of omnichannel banking solutions for banks and other financial institutions, giving its partners the power to provide their account holders with a software that works across virtually any device or OS including smartphones, tablets and desktops. These tools can be configured in virtually any way to match each bank’s unique offerings, achieving an intuitive user interface for account holders. MX’s solution set also provides banks with powerful analytics tools, allowing them to view and manage their data like never before. Banks can use it to target appropriate offers and ads to users through the MX-powered interface.

DGI has seen value-added services that MX provides to its customers, and expects the company to continue growing in the U.S. FinTech market. Additionally, DGI believes that the Japan market is ripe for bank-facing B2B and omnichannel banking solutions, leading to the investment in MX. The Digital Garage group is currently working with MX to map out ways to help the company grow in the Japan market, including working with domestic financial institutions, while supporting other expansion activities.

Through this investment and collaborative partnership, MX and DGI aim to expand the company’s services, to provide end users with powerful tools.

MX was established in March, 2010 and is headquartered in Utah. It helps financial institutions provide their account holders with cross-platform, versatile Digital Money Management and omnichannel banking tools.

The MX platform comprises the following 5 technologies: Helios, WideNet, Nexus, Insight and Target:

Helios, WideNet, Nexus: Core Services
These three key technologies power the tool at the core of the MX experience. These products enable their partners to offer an immersive DMM experience across virtually all devices and operating systems, enabling handling of transaction information from virtually every source. For end users, these tools provide unparalleled functionality and allow for all account information to be viewed as well as manipulated across all devices.

Insight, Target: Data Analysis and Advertising Solutions
These services make it possible for banks to quickly and easily understand everything about their clients, to provide appropriate solutions faster and more comprehensively. Additionally, this enhanced level of insight allows banks to target only the most appropriate customers with the right advertisements in addition to offering them over various channels, including the core MX interface.

news

Japan’s NetPrice.com and Digital Garage jointly invest in Indian payments processor Citrus

Masaru Ikeda 2013.12.25

Japanese internet company Netprice.com (TSE:3328) announced today that its Singapore-based investment arm, Beenos Asia, has invested in Indian payment processor Citrus. The investment was jointly made with Hong Kong-based econtext Asia (1390:HK), a payments solution company under Digital Garage (TSE:4819). Specific financial details of the investment are not disclosed. India is showing rapid growth in internet businesses these days, and broadband internet has been growing at an annual rate of 25% as of early 2013 [1]. The e-commerce market in India is growing by over 30% every year [2], and that trend has been helping Mumbai-based Citrus grow rapidly, as it provides e-commerce platforms and public service providers with credit card payments, bank transfers, debit payments, cash on delivery, and installment payments. Through this partnership, Netprice.com expects to stay ahead e-commerce trends and payment needs in the region. Our readers may recall that the company also recently invested in Turkish payment processor Iyzi Payments back in July, and made a joint investment in Jakarta-based payments processor PT MidTrans last year in partnership with Digital Garage. Citrus was founded back in 2011 by a group of software, UX, and finance professionals. They raised series B funding worth $5.5 million from Sequoia…

Japanese internet company Netprice.com (TSE:3328) announced today that its Singapore-based investment arm, Beenos Asia, has invested in Indian payment processor Citrus. The investment was jointly made with Hong Kong-based econtext Asia (1390:HK), a payments solution company under Digital Garage (TSE:4819). Specific financial details of the investment are not disclosed.

India is showing rapid growth in internet businesses these days, and broadband internet has been growing at an annual rate of 25% as of early 2013 ^[1]. The e-commerce market in India is growing by over 30% every year ^[2], and that trend has been helping Mumbai-based Citrus grow rapidly, as it provides e-commerce platforms and public service providers with credit card payments, bank transfers, debit payments, cash on delivery, and installment payments.

Through this partnership, Netprice.com expects to stay ahead e-commerce trends and payment needs in the region. Our readers may recall that the company also recently invested in Turkish payment processor Iyzi Payments back in July, and made a joint investment in Jakarta-based payments processor PT MidTrans last year in partnership with Digital Garage.

Citrus was founded back in 2011 by a group of software, UX, and finance professionals. They raised series B funding worth $5.5 million from Sequoia Capital earlier this month, following the previous $2 million in funding from the investment firm back in March.

See Budde.com.au. ↩
According to a survey by IAMAI, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). ↩

news

Japanese UX design firm Goodpatch raises $1M from Digital Garage

Masaru Ikeda 2013.12.09

See the original story in Japanese. Goodpatch is a Tokyo-based startup focused on giving web companies a better user experience and user interface for their projects [1]. The company announced today that it has raised $100 million yen (approximately $1 million) from DG Incubation, the investment arm of Digital Garage (TSE:4819). The startup was launched back in August of 2011, and is known for its role in designing the slick Japanese news curation app Gunosy. Since investments in startups are usually made based on the scalability of their business, it is curious why a startup like this that has no product would receive funds. We spoke with the company’s co-founder and CEO Naofumi Tsuchiya to hear a little more about what’s behind this funding. The Bridge: What was the purpose of this funding? Isn’t it hard for companies like yours with no scalable product to do so? Tsuchiya: We faced tough times in the beginning, but your colleague Eguchi-san previously posted an article and it made many people aware of the fact that we designed Gunosy. Then we gradually started receiving more offers for work, far more than we could do. Our business became profitable, but we needed to pay…

See the original story in Japanese.

Goodpatch is a Tokyo-based startup focused on giving web companies a better user experience and user interface for their projects ^[1]. The company announced today that it has raised $100 million yen (approximately $1 million) from DG Incubation, the investment arm of Digital Garage (TSE:4819).

The startup was launched back in August of 2011, and is known for its role in designing the slick Japanese news curation app Gunosy. Since investments in startups are usually made based on the scalability of their business, it is curious why a startup like this that has no product would receive funds.

We spoke with the company’s co-founder and CEO Naofumi Tsuchiya to hear a little more about what’s behind this funding.

The Bridge: What was the purpose of this funding? Isn’t it hard for companies like yours with no scalable product to do so?

Tsuchiya: We faced tough times in the beginning, but your colleague Eguchi-san previously posted an article and it made many people aware of the fact that we designed Gunosy. Then we gradually started receiving more offers for work, far more than we could do. Our business became profitable, but we needed to pay a lot of tax. It will require more time than we expected to save money to launch our next business.

We first thought production companies like us would have no chance to receive investments. However, our advisor Kimiyuki Suda told us that there was potential for our company to get investment from Digital Garage.

Digital Garage was co-founded by Kaoru Hayashi and Joi Ito (the director of MIT Media Lab), and they became one of the greatest global internet companies, coming from a tiny web production. Since my team is looking to do more global business, they are one of the role models we should follow. That’s why we were keen to receive investments from Digital Garage. They are a business company, and have many ways to exit other than IPO and M&As. That’s different from typical investment firms.

The Bridge: What do you expect from this investment?

Tsuchiya: I have been managing the company alone, and I know I’ll reach my limit soon. I’m keen to get advice from the folks at Digital Garage through the partnership.

In addition, Digital Garage acquired a company called Neo back in November of last year, which specializes in giving UX consultation for enterprises and governments. They have many offices around the world. The partnership with Digital Garage will help us collaborate with that UX consultancy, and also help us keep our clients updated with the best of cutting-edge UX methods from San Francisco. For example, if we can send some of our employees to San Francisco every several months and give them a chance to learn the best UX methods, it will also help us hire good talent at our Tokyo office too.

What we do is not web or app production outsourced from our clients, but we get directly involved in making their products. If our client’s concept has no potential to make a reputation in the market, we would refuse their project offer.

Tsuchiya told us the company is now working on a new service focused on improving user interface and user experience design. It will be launched by the end of this year.

Prior to launching this company, he was working as an intern at Btrax, a digital agency based out of San Francisco. Coinciding with these funds, we heard message from Tsuchiya’s former boss Brandon Hill, complimenting the milestone of his old colleague:

It is my great pleasure to see the success of one of our interns. At the same time, I feel a bit funny that although Mr. Tsuchiya did not have the shiniest resume, he definitely has the makings of an entrepreneur – passion, courage, action, and determination.I truly admire him for recovering from a disastrous situation back in 2012. Just over a year ago, he lost his founders, staff, and customers. At that time, I had asked him what he was going to do. He just said “I won’t give up.” Now with over 30 employees, he’s in the process of creating a real business.

It is said that ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’, but I’ve been skeptical how much impacts a news site like ours can have on real businesses. So I was pleased to learn my colleague’s article made a bit of an impact on this startup during its rough time, helping them back on the road to success.

goodpatch-office-view — Over two years passed since the launch, they are now an over 30-people team.

goodpatch-stickers — A bunch of Ideas from employees for improving web designs for clients on the boards.

The company’s name is derived from Dogpatch Labs, a well-known incubation space based out of San Francisco. ↩

news

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

Masaru Ikeda 2013.12.03

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

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

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

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

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

news

Downloaded by half of Japan’s iPhone girls, Papelook attracts more investment

Rick Martin 2013.07.10

Two Japanese mobile trends that we have been following closely over the past few months are high-quality Japanese photo apps, and the evolution of cute culture into an exportable mobile commodity. Popular made-in-Japan collage app Papelook lies at the intersection of these two trends, and that means it has lots of potential to grow, even beyond Japan’s borders. Today Digital Garage announced that it would be investing in Papelook, though the exact sum was not disclosed, the company will take 5% of the startup’s outstanding shares. The announcement also noted that Papelook has surpassed the 6 million downloads milestone (see chart below), boasting that among teenage girl iPhone users in Japan (specifically, those aged 10 to 20) it’s estimated that one in every two have downloaded Papelook. But the app has proven popular in overseas markets, currently ranking as a top 25 iOS photo app in South Korea, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Australia. On Android, It’s performing well in South Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Papelook is an Open Network Lab startup, and our readers may recall that it took the top prize at the accelerator’s Demo Day back in May. The parent company of ONL is Digital Garage. For those…

Two Japanese mobile trends that we have been following closely over the past few months are high-quality Japanese photo apps, and the evolution of cute culture into an exportable mobile commodity. Popular made-in-Japan collage app Papelook lies at the intersection of these two trends, and that means it has lots of potential to grow, even beyond Japan’s borders.

Today Digital Garage announced that it would be investing in Papelook, though the exact sum was not disclosed, the company will take 5% of the startup’s outstanding shares.

The announcement also noted that Papelook has surpassed the 6 million downloads milestone (see chart below), boasting that among teenage girl iPhone users in Japan (specifically, those aged 10 to 20) it’s estimated that one in every two have downloaded Papelook.

papelook-growth — Papelook’s journey to 6 million downloads

But the app has proven popular in overseas markets, currently ranking as a top 25 iOS photo app in South Korea, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Australia. On Android, It’s performing well in South Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan.

Papelook is an Open Network Lab startup, and our readers may recall that it took the top prize at the accelerator’s Demo Day back in May. The parent company of ONL is Digital Garage.

For those not familiar with Papelook, check out our demo video below from a few months back.

news

Japanese legal portal Bengo4.com raises $208,000 from Kakaku.com

Masaru Ikeda 2013.03.12

Japan’s legal consultation portal site Bengo4.com, owned by Tokyo-based law office Authense, announced on Monday that it has raised about 20 million yen (approximately $208,000) from price comparison site Kakaku.com (TSE:2371). Prior to this fundraising, the portal site raised 100 million yen ($1.04 million) from DG Incubation, the investment arm of Japanese tech conglomerate Digital Garage (TSE:4819). Founded in 2005, Bengo4.com provides legal consultation services from participating lawyers for free, and allows consumers to get estimates from lawyers and compare them. As of March 8th, it has consulted on more than 246,599 cases and acquired 5,688 lawyers. To put that latter figure in perspective, that’s about 17% of Japan’s entire lawyer population. With this new partnership, the legal site expects to explore a sort of service integration with Kakaku.com site and its restaurant recommendation site Tabelog. On its website, Bengo4.com also announced it had partnered with Yahoo Japan (TYO:4689) to provide legal and tax-related Q&A content to Yahoo Chiebukuro, one of Japan’s largest knowledge-sharing community services.

Japan’s legal consultation portal site Bengo4.com, owned by Tokyo-based law office Authense, announced on Monday that it has raised about 20 million yen (approximately $208,000) from price comparison site Kakaku.com (TSE:2371). Prior to this fundraising, the portal site raised 100 million yen ($1.04 million) from DG Incubation, the investment arm of Japanese tech conglomerate Digital Garage (TSE:4819).

Founded in 2005, Bengo4.com provides legal consultation services from participating lawyers for free, and allows consumers to get estimates from lawyers and compare them. As of March 8th, it has consulted on more than 246,599 cases and acquired 5,688 lawyers. To put that latter figure in perspective, that’s about 17% of Japan’s entire lawyer population. With this new partnership, the legal site expects to explore a sort of service integration with Kakaku.com site and its restaurant recommendation site Tabelog.

On its website, Bengo4.com also announced it had partnered with Yahoo Japan (TYO:4689) to provide legal and tax-related Q&A content to Yahoo Chiebukuro, one of Japan’s largest knowledge-sharing community services.

digital garage

Whomor, Japan’s crowdsourced comic studio, raises $1.6M from Digital Garage

Japan’s Sekai Lab, crowdsourced app development platform, secures $3.3M funding

Travel tech startup LCO-Creation Singapore secures funding from Digital Garage

Japan’s Digital Garage invests in Utah-based FinTech startup MX Technologies

Japan’s NetPrice.com and Digital Garage jointly invest in Indian payments processor Citrus

Japanese UX design firm Goodpatch raises $1M from Digital Garage

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

Downloaded by half of Japan’s iPhone girls, Papelook attracts more investment

Japanese legal portal Bengo4.com raises $208,000 from Kakaku.com

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