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Restaurant discovery app SynchroLife to be acquired by Livedoor’s parent company

The Bridge The Bridge
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Bridge learned that SynchroLife, the AI-powered social restaurant discovery app developed and managed by Ginkan, will be acquired by Minkabu the Infonoid (TSE:4436), the parent company of Japanese news portal site Livedoor. The terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed. Since Livedoor describes the move as a business transfer rather than a company acquisition, it may be possible that Ginkan will explore establishing another business after the deal. Details are unknown at this time but Bridge has reached out to Ginkan for further details. Launched back in October of 2012, SynchroLife has been dedicated to establishing a community leveraging blockchain technology and its SynchroCoin token to prevent arbitrary bias from influencing the posting of restaurant reviews. Originally launched by Tokyo-based startup AI Pacific, the app has been run by Hong Kong-registered Ginkan since 2015 to support crypto-powered functions. In July of 2019, the company started allowing users to earn tokens by dining at partnering restaurants. The app has earned 10,000 monthly restaurant reviews from users to date, which eventually exceeded 400,000 reviews in total as of August. In Japan, more than 1,800 restaurants are using it to help their marketing effort. Companies like credit card services, gas providers and…

SynchroLife
Image credit: Ginkan

Bridge learned that SynchroLife, the AI-powered social restaurant discovery app developed and managed by Ginkan, will be acquired by Minkabu the Infonoid (TSE:4436), the parent company of Japanese news portal site Livedoor.

The terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed. Since Livedoor describes the move as a business transfer rather than a company acquisition, it may be possible that Ginkan will explore establishing another business after the deal. Details are unknown at this time but Bridge has reached out to Ginkan for further details.

Launched back in October of 2012, SynchroLife has been dedicated to establishing a community leveraging blockchain technology and its SynchroCoin token to prevent arbitrary bias from influencing the posting of restaurant reviews.

Originally launched by Tokyo-based startup AI Pacific, the app has been run by Hong Kong-registered Ginkan since 2015 to support crypto-powered functions. In July of 2019, the company started allowing users to earn tokens by dining at partnering restaurants.

The app has earned 10,000 monthly restaurant reviews from users to date, which eventually exceeded 400,000 reviews in total as of August. In Japan, more than 1,800 restaurants are using it to help their marketing effort. Companies like credit card services, gas providers and local sports teams are assisting the startup expand the app’s merchant base.

Offering media services such as Livedoor News and Kstyle, Livedoor boasts 70 million monthly active users and 30 million social network followers. By acquiring the social app, the company intends to diversify its media service coverage into gourmet while offering their existing users with new customer experience and the token economy to increase loyalty. In addition, the company wants to enlarge the app’s user base through driving traffic from their conventional services.

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via Livedoor

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SynchroLife, blockchain-based restaurant discovery app from Japan, raises $720K

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Ginkan, developing and offering an AI-powered social restaurant discovery app called SynchroLife, announced on Friday that it has fundraised 80 million yen ($720,000 US) in a seed round. Tokyo-based internet marketing company Ceres (TSE:3696) and Fujio Komura, former chairman of Cybird Holdings, participated this round. For Ginkan, this follows their angel fundraising of 30 million yen (about $280,000 US) back in September of 2017. Komura, one of the investors participating in this round, has also participated in the previous round. The company has raised a total of 110 million yen (about $1 million US) since its foundation. Coinciding with the funding, Ginkan has partnered with Ceres to explore synergy with the latter’s mobile point media platforms serving 3.5 million active members as well as aim to develop a blockchain-based service which can be connected with offline businesses. SynchroLife is a mobile social networking app that allows users to connect with each others by sharing restaurant reviews. Ginkan rolled out a major update on the app earlier this month so that it can guarantee the accuracy and transparency of the reviews leveraging blockchain technologies. Users are incentivised by receiving SynchroCoin tokens in accordance with…

GInkan and Ceres teams
Image credit: Ceres / Ginkan

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Ginkan, developing and offering an AI-powered social restaurant discovery app called SynchroLife, announced on Friday that it has fundraised 80 million yen ($720,000 US) in a seed round. Tokyo-based internet marketing company Ceres (TSE:3696) and Fujio Komura, former chairman of Cybird Holdings, participated this round.

For Ginkan, this follows their angel fundraising of 30 million yen (about $280,000 US) back in September of 2017. Komura, one of the investors participating in this round, has also participated in the previous round. The company has raised a total of 110 million yen (about $1 million US) since its foundation.

Coinciding with the funding, Ginkan has partnered with Ceres to explore synergy with the latter’s mobile point media platforms serving 3.5 million active members as well as aim to develop a blockchain-based service which can be connected with offline businesses.

SynchroLife
Image credit: Ginkan

SynchroLife is a mobile social networking app that allows users to connect with each others by sharing restaurant reviews. Ginkan rolled out a major update on the app earlier this month so that it can guarantee the accuracy and transparency of the reviews leveraging blockchain technologies. Users are incentivised by receiving SynchroCoin tokens in accordance with how much their contributed articles are evaluated by other users.

SynchroLife boasts over 17,000 reviews with 420,000 pictures while about 20% out of all the users have posted their reviews. Available in English, Korean and Chinese as well as Japanese since July of 2017, the app can accept reviews of restaurants in 155 countries from around the world. The company has received user registrations from 82 countries and review posts from 48 countries.

SynchroLife’s business model
Image credit: Ginkan (click to enlarge)

Ceres has recently accelerated investments in blockchain startups including cryptocurrency exchanges such as Bitbank and Coincheck in addition to blockchain startups like Orb (Distributed Ledger Technology developer) and Sivira (blockchain app developer). In addition, the firm announced in April that it has partnered with Good Luck 3, the developer of a dApp game called Crypto-Oink.

Furthermore, Ceres has been offering ways to turn online value into real one by allowing users to convert rewards into real money or e-money. With regard to this context, Ceres recently unveiled it has partnered with Japanese crowdfunding platform Campfire to allow users to back campaigning projects using rewards within this year.

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Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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