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New Docomo startup fund invests in two up-and-coming Japanese companies

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As we reported back in February, NTT Docomo launched a new startup fund worth 10 billion yen (about $100 million), along with an incubation program with 500 Startups and Japan’s B Dash Ventures. Today, the telco-backed investment arm unveiled the first selection of companies for the fund: tech news media company Iid and CRM solution developer Repica. Iid was founded back in 2000 as a subsidiary of internet research company IRI. That company has been running 23 web media entities across 16 different genres, including the notable tech news site RBBToday.com. The company also has developed an e-commerce site solution called Marble ASP as well. With the new funds, the company expects to intensify further mobile optimization of these news sites for its e-commerce platform. IID’s sharehoders include Globis Capital Partners, Inspire Investment, Itochu Technology Ventures, and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings. Repica was founded in 2006 by former executives at Japanese mobile service giant Cybird Holdings. The company provides merchants with several customer-facing white-label CRM solutions such as a customer reward system, a gift coupon system, and a mobile-optimized e-mail distribution system. The company’s subsidiary Arara is known for running restaurant clipping app called Gugulog, as well as a smartphone app…

As we reported back in February, NTT Docomo launched a new startup fund worth 10 billion yen (about $100 million), along with an incubation program with 500 Startups and Japan’s B Dash Ventures.

Today, the telco-backed investment arm unveiled the first selection of companies for the fund: tech news media company Iid and CRM solution developer Repica.

IID's RBBToday.com
IID’s RBBToday.com

Iid was founded back in 2000 as a subsidiary of internet research company IRI. That company has been running 23 web media entities across 16 different genres, including the notable tech news site RBBToday.com. The company also has developed an e-commerce site solution called Marble ASP as well. With the new funds, the company expects to intensify further mobile optimization of these news sites for its e-commerce platform.

IID’s sharehoders include Globis Capital Partners, Inspire Investment, Itochu Technology Ventures, and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings.

Repica's Appli-sommelier
Repica’s Appli-sommelier

Repica was founded in 2006 by former executives at Japanese mobile service giant Cybird Holdings. The company provides merchants with several customer-facing white-label CRM solutions such as a customer reward system, a gift coupon system, and a mobile-optimized e-mail distribution system. The company’s subsidiary Arara is known for running restaurant clipping app called Gugulog, as well as a smartphone app review site called Appli-sommelier.

Repica raised 113.4 million yen, hoping to integrate its apps and services on smartphone devices, and to intensify its global business expansion.

Docomo publishes ‘Twitter Local Yellow Pages’ for Japan

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Japanese mobile carrier NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) has announced a new ‘Twitter local yellow pages’ mobile site in cooperation with Twitter Japan and local radio stations. The new mobile site, accessible at tw-yp.jp, will include recommended Twitter accounts, sorted into the categories of food, shopping, sight seeing spots, local reports, celebrities, and sports teams. Drilling down into each category, the listed recommended accounts can be further browsed according to Japan’s prefectures and cities. The intent here is very much in the same spirit of Twitter’s suggested users function. It aims to provide assistance to first time and beginner Twitter users who might not immediately know where they can find relevant information after signing up. In theory, this will help Japanese Twitter users stay better connected with important Twitter broadcasters in their local areas, a service which should prove valuable in the event of local emergencies when critical information might be disseminated through those channels. While the service is intended to be a mobile site, it is also accessible by PC. Docomo and Twitter Japan have working together as partners since May of 2011.

twitter-yellow-pages

Japanese mobile carrier NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) has announced a new ‘Twitter local yellow pages’ mobile site in cooperation with Twitter Japan and local radio stations.

The new mobile site, accessible at tw-yp.jp, will include recommended Twitter accounts, sorted into the categories of food, shopping, sight seeing spots, local reports, celebrities, and sports teams. Drilling down into each category, the listed recommended accounts can be further browsed according to Japan’s prefectures and cities.

The intent here is very much in the same spirit of Twitter’s suggested users function. It aims to provide assistance to first time and beginner Twitter users who might not immediately know where they can find relevant information after signing up.

In theory, this will help Japanese Twitter users stay better connected with important Twitter broadcasters in their local areas, a service which should prove valuable in the event of local emergencies when critical information might be disseminated through those channels. While the service is intended to be a mobile site, it is also accessible by PC.

Docomo and Twitter Japan have working together as partners since May of 2011.

twitter yellow pages

twitter yellow pages

Meet 4 of Japan’s hottest online fashion malls

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According to a recent study, the fashion and interior e-commerce market in Japan was about 636 billion yen (about $6.79 billion) in 2012, a 121.5% increase on last year. Many domestic apparel brands join fashion online malls instead of developing and running e-commerce sites on their own. And as a result we’re seeing lots of buzz around these fashion online malls. While it’s likely that brands will have their own e-commerce presences soon enough, the online fashion malls which are currently so popular also have intriguing plans for the future. Let’s take a closer look at a few of the major online fashion malls in Japan (in no particular order), as well as their upcoming plans. 1. Stylife ¶ Rakuten recently acquired Stylife for 1.1 billion yen (about $11,770,000), becoming the biggest shareholder in the company. This is a smart move by Rakuten as it eager to increase its reach into the fashion space. For a long time, what differentiated Stylife from other online fashion malls was its print catalogue, Look!s, that integrated with the online mall, although the company ceased publication of the print version in March of 2012. It is now available online as a web magazine. 2….

According to a recent study, the fashion and interior e-commerce market in Japan was about 636 billion yen (about $6.79 billion) in 2012, a 121.5% increase on last year. Many domestic apparel brands join fashion online malls instead of developing and running e-commerce sites on their own. And as a result we’re seeing lots of buzz around these fashion online malls. While it’s likely that brands will have their own e-commerce presences soon enough, the online fashion malls which are currently so popular also have intriguing plans for the future.

Let’s take a closer look at a few of the major online fashion malls in Japan (in no particular order), as well as their upcoming plans.

1. Stylife

Rakuten recently acquired Stylife for 1.1 billion yen (about $11,770,000), becoming the biggest shareholder in the company. This is a smart move by Rakuten as it eager to increase its reach into the fashion space.

For a long time, what differentiated Stylife from other online fashion malls was its print catalogue, Look!s, that integrated with the online mall, although the company ceased publication of the print version in March of 2012. It is now available online as a web magazine.

stylife

2. Magaseek

Just a month or so ago, mobile carrier NTT Docomo snatched up online fashion mall Magaseek, acquiring more than 41.67% of the company’s stock. Magaseek targets female mobile users in their 20s, and its previous owner was general trading company Itochu which still owns 25% of its shares. Similar to Rakuten, NTT Docomo’s plan is to solidify its competitiveness in fashion commerce by cooperating with Itochu, the largest general trade company in the textiles industry.

magaseek

3. FashionWalker

FashionWalker is another online mall which has aspirations of expanding its business to the Asian market, most notably to Korea and Taiwan. To that end, back in November of 2012 it launched an fashion e-commerce service for Korea. Its parent company is ‘World’.

FashionWalker is more content-focused compared to other online malls, creating dedicated sections for fashion stylists to introduce their latest look-books, under the category of ‘Shibuya Style Village‘.

fashion-walker

4. Zozotown

Another fashion online mall that’s accelerating its business in the Asia region is Zozotown (operated by Start Today) which was founded way back in 2004. In addition to zozotown.jp which serves the Japanese market, the company also runs zozotown.com where items can be delivered to 82 countries. In addition to the global online mall, Zozotown will launch ZozoConnect on Feburary 28 where it will introduce international brands — especially brands from Asia — to the world. At the time of launch, the site will focus on five Korean brands, including Bratson.

zozotown-f


This is part of our ‘Japanese internet in-depth’ series (RSS). Stay tuned for more features that aim to explain what makes the internet unique in Japan.

Japan’s mobile wars intensify: Docomo moves up ultra-high speed data launch to 2015

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We noted yesterday that even though NTT Docomo (TSE:9437) had reached 10 million LTE subscribers, it still lags behind its competitors in speed. And today – as if on cue – the telco has reportedly moved up the scheduled launch of its ultra high-speed mobile data service to 2015, according to the Asahi Shimbun. This new service will adhere to the LTE Advanced standard, and it was expected to launch in 2016. But with intensifying competition against the other major Japanese telecoms, KDDI and Softbank Mobile, it appears as though the Docomo has decided to kick it up a notch. The new mobile data standard will enable a maximum speed of 1Gbps, which is five times faster than the current LTE service in Japan. That will allow subscribers to make the most of their smartphone subscription, able to consume a variety of rich media content on mobile, such as BeeTV [1] , d-Market Video Store (inaccessible outside Japan), Hulu, and interpretation services. In a recent report by UK consultation company Open Signal, Japan was (disgracefully) ranked the worst in the mobile data speeds out of the nine countries in the study. BeeTV is an IP-based TV service for Docomo’s subcscribers, in partnership with music…

docomo_lte-advanced

We noted yesterday that even though NTT Docomo (TSE:9437) had reached 10 million LTE subscribers, it still lags behind its competitors in speed. And today – as if on cue – the telco has reportedly moved up the scheduled launch of its ultra high-speed mobile data service to 2015, according to the Asahi Shimbun.

This new service will adhere to the LTE Advanced standard, and it was expected to launch in 2016. But with intensifying competition against the other major Japanese telecoms, KDDI and Softbank Mobile, it appears as though the Docomo has decided to kick it up a notch.

The new mobile data standard will enable a maximum speed of 1Gbps, which is five times faster than the current LTE service in Japan. That will allow subscribers to make the most of their smartphone subscription, able to consume a variety of rich media content on mobile, such as BeeTV [1] , d-Market Video Store (inaccessible outside Japan), Hulu, and interpretation services.

In a recent report by UK consultation company Open Signal, Japan was (disgracefully) ranked the worst in the mobile data speeds out of the nine countries in the study.

Source: Open Signal, Inc.  http://opensignal.com/reports/state-of-lte/
Source: Open Signal


  1. BeeTV is an IP-based TV service for Docomo’s subcscribers, in partnership with music company Avex, actor/entertainer agency HoriPro, and Fuji Television.  ↩

Despite slower speeds, NTT Docomo quick to surpass 10 million LTE subscribers

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Japanese carrier NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) has just announced that it has surpassed 10 million LTE subscriber milestone. This comes after the company topped the five million subscriber mark back in August of 2012. Docomo initially launched its ‘Xi’ LTE service back in December of 2010, much earlier than its rivals Softbank and KDDI, both of which launched their own LTE services in September of last year respectively. However, according to a recent global LTE report from OpenSignal.com, Docomo’s LTE network lags behind its competitors in terms of speed. Softbank boasts 16.2 Mbps, and KDDI is close behind at 14.8 Mbps — but the report says that Docomo’s speeds were by far the slowest at 5.5 Mbps. Nevertheless, Docomo appears to be collecting customers at a reasonable enough speed, as you can see in our interactive chart below. Download image version of this chart

Japanese carrier NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) has just announced that it has surpassed 10 million LTE subscriber milestone. This comes after the company topped the five million subscriber mark back in August of 2012.

Docomo initially launched its ‘Xi’ LTE service back in December of 2010, much earlier than its rivals Softbank and KDDI, both of which launched their own LTE services in September of last year respectively.

However, according to a recent global LTE report from OpenSignal.com, Docomo’s LTE network lags behind its competitors in terms of speed. Softbank boasts 16.2 Mbps, and KDDI is close behind at 14.8 Mbps — but the report says that Docomo’s speeds were by far the slowest at 5.5 Mbps.

Nevertheless, Docomo appears to be collecting customers at a reasonable enough speed, as you can see in our interactive chart below.

Download image version of this chart

NTT Docomo launches startup incubation program, partners with 500Startups and B Dash Ventures

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See original story in Japanese Japan’s largest mobile telco NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) today announced its new incubation program called ‘Docomo Innovation Village’ (first alluded to back in October) has launched. Its goal will be to intensifying business partnerships with startup companies. In connection with the start of this program, the company is planning to launch a new 10 billion yen fund (approximately $107 million) (called Docomo Innovation Ventures) by receiving all shares of NTT Investment Partners, a fund managament company belonging to NTT group’s stock holding company. The fund will be established in late February. Docomo is a relative late-comer in the Japanese incubation industry, but many entrepreneurs are certainly happy about this announcement because the telecom’s brand will lend an element of trust to any invested company. The program starts receiving applications today, and each of five to six qualified startups will be able to receive a grant of 2 million yen, as well as office space for system development and mentoring. The startups will be asked to finish their development in five months, and then present their results at a release event scheduled for late September. NTT Docomo executive Toshiki Nakayama explained that standout candidates will receive an offering…

20130207-105926

See original story in Japanese

Japan’s largest mobile telco NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) today announced its new incubation program called ‘Docomo Innovation Village’ (first alluded to back in October) has launched. Its goal will be to intensifying business partnerships with startup companies.

In connection with the start of this program, the company is planning to launch a new 10 billion yen fund (approximately $107 million) (called Docomo Innovation Ventures) by receiving all shares of NTT Investment Partners, a fund managament company belonging to NTT group’s stock holding company. The fund will be established in late February.

Docomo is a relative late-comer in the Japanese incubation industry, but many entrepreneurs are certainly happy about this announcement because the telecom’s brand will lend an element of trust to any invested company.

The program starts receiving applications today, and each of five to six qualified startups will be able to receive a grant of 2 million yen, as well as office space for system development and mentoring.

The startups will be asked to finish their development in five months, and then present their results at a release event scheduled for late September. NTT Docomo executive Toshiki Nakayama explained that standout candidates will receive an offering to collaborate, as well as promotional and marketing assistance plus additional investments from the fund.

For further details about the program, visit this page [1].

Where does Docomo fit in the startup ecosystem?

So what should entrepreneurs think of this new program? We can help but compare it with KDDI Mugen Labo and KDDI Open Innovation Fund, both operated by Japan’s second largest telco, KDDI, Docomo’s closest competitor.

The Docomo program aspires to differentiates itself others by aggressively partnering with other accelerators. It has partnered with 500 Startups, a Silicon Valley-based seed accelerator which has invested in more than 450 startups in the last two years. Japanese startups in its portfolio include online translation service Gengo, online ticketing and event promotion startup PeaTix, and social lending service AQUSH. The Docomo program allows qualified startups to receive mentoring by 500 Startups partners, and also offers multi-faceted support for startups interested in doing business in North America. It was also announced that the program will also include a partnership with B Dash Ventures, a Japanese investment fund focused on startups.

But the bottom line is that startups will have to be qualified to receive all these privileges. The program intends to help participating startups go global, but if all are doing domestic-centric business, the partnership with 500starups will not work at all. So it will be interesting to see what kind of programs get accepted for the program, and we look forward to hearing what they roll out post-development in September.


  1. Not yet online at the time of writing.  ↩