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Japan’s WAmazing secures $8.5M series B from railway operators to serve foreign visitors

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based WAmazing, the Japanese startup offering free SIM cards and tourism services to foreign visitors to Japan, announced today that it has secured 930 million yen (about $8.5 million US) in a series B round funding. This round was led by Tokyo-based private railway operator Tokyu Corporation (TSE:9005) with participation from JR West Innovations (corporate venture capital of the Japanese railway company covering western part of Japan), JR East Startup (the one covering eastern part of Japan), Yamaguchi Capital, Pola Orbis Holdings (TSE:4927), Nihon Unisys’ investment arm Canal Ventures as well as several unnamed angel investors. For WAmazing, this follows their previous $9.2 million funding back in September of 2017 (it’s supposed to be a series A round, and the amount includes loans from financial institutions). WAmazing distributes free SIM cards to foreigners visiting Japan and provides tourism information via a mobile app. Foreign tourists register their personal information on the WAmazing website before embarking on their trip and then can pick up the SIM card upon arrival at 20 international airports in Japan (covering 90% of overseas tourist inflow routes). WAmazing directs tourists to activity providers and in doing so takes a 10%-15%…

wamazing-at-kaohsiung-travel-exhibition
WAmazing exhibits a booth at International Travel Fair in Kaohsiung, Taiwan last week, in partnership with Tokyu Corporation’s resort hotel promotion.
Image credit: WAmazing

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based WAmazing, the Japanese startup offering free SIM cards and tourism services to foreign visitors to Japan, announced today that it has secured 930 million yen (about $8.5 million US) in a series B round funding. This round was led by Tokyo-based private railway operator Tokyu Corporation (TSE:9005) with participation from JR West Innovations (corporate venture capital of the Japanese railway company covering western part of Japan), JR East Startup (the one covering eastern part of Japan), Yamaguchi Capital, Pola Orbis Holdings (TSE:4927), Nihon Unisys’ investment arm Canal Ventures as well as several unnamed angel investors. For WAmazing, this follows their previous $9.2 million funding back in September of 2017 (it’s supposed to be a series A round, and the amount includes loans from financial institutions).

WAmazing distributes free SIM cards to foreigners visiting Japan and provides tourism information via a mobile app. Foreign tourists register their personal information on the WAmazing website before embarking on their trip and then can pick up the SIM card upon arrival at 20 international airports in Japan (covering 90% of overseas tourist inflow routes). WAmazing directs tourists to activity providers and in doing so takes a 10%-15% sales commission.

In two years and more since the service launched the app has been installed 240,000 times, mainly in Taiwan and Hong Kong Users are also expanding in China and Southeast Asia. The startup has made excellent results at many startup showcase events, such as winning B Dash Camp 2017 Spring in Fukuoka, the Tokyu Prize (equivalent of First Prize) at Tokyu Corporation’s 3rd accelerator batch Demo Day, Morning Pitch’s 2019 year-beginning edition, and JR East’s 1st accelerator batch Demo Day.

In contrast with their series A round backed by VC firms mainly, business companies including railway operators participate in the series B round at this time. Since these companies are strengthening their inbound and regional revitalization businesses all across Japan, WAmazing recognizes they can share the same marketing strategy and aim to work collaboratively.

WAmazing, offering free SIM cards for foreign visitors to Japan, secures $9.2 million

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This is the abridged version from our original article in Japanese. Tokyo-based WAmazing, the Japanese startup offering free SIM cards and tourism services to foreign visitors to Japan, announced today that it has secured funding in the latest round. Participating investors in this round were SBI Investment, Mizuho Capital, Sony Innovation Fund, Beenos, Opt Ventures and Shizuoka Capital, as well as two angel investors, Naoki Aoyagi (former Gree CFO) and Nobuhiro Ariyasu (founder of Coach United / member of Tokyo Founders Fund). Coinciding with loans from government-backed Japan Finance Corporation along with Mizuho Bank and Shizuoka Bank, WAmazing secured a total of 1 billion yen (about $9.2 million) in funding and debt but the financial terms have not been disclosed. The company claims that the funds will be used to enhance service development and human resources. See also: This startup offers free SIM cards at airport to help foreign visitors get around Japan The service packages together a SIM card, a tour guide app and information on reservations by working with smartphones. In addition to an iOS app which has been available since the launch of the service, they released an Android app back in August and expanded the locations…

Foreign visitors picking up a free SIM card from a WAmazing vending machine at Chubu Centrair Airport
Image credit: WAmazing

This is the abridged version from our original article in Japanese.

Tokyo-based WAmazing, the Japanese startup offering free SIM cards and tourism services to foreign visitors to Japan, announced today that it has secured funding in the latest round. Participating investors in this round were SBI Investment, Mizuho Capital, Sony Innovation Fund, Beenos, Opt Ventures and Shizuoka Capital, as well as two angel investors, Naoki Aoyagi (former Gree CFO) and Nobuhiro Ariyasu (founder of Coach United / member of Tokyo Founders Fund).

Coinciding with loans from government-backed Japan Finance Corporation along with Mizuho Bank and Shizuoka Bank, WAmazing secured a total of 1 billion yen (about $9.2 million) in funding and debt but the financial terms have not been disclosed. The company claims that the funds will be used to enhance service development and human resources.

See also:

The service packages together a SIM card, a tour guide app and information on reservations by working with smartphones. In addition to an iOS app which has been available since the launch of the service, they released an Android app back in August and expanded the locations of vending machines offering SIM cards from all three terminals at Narita Airport into Chubu Centrair Airport in central Japan, near Nagoya. The number of hotels that users can book through the app has reached 10,000 as of now.

In response to our question to Fumiko Kato, CEO of WAmazing, she told us the app had been installed 35,000 times and 12,000 SIM cards had been distributed as of the end of August. These stats are only for iOS app users and do not include that of Android users.

Kato shared their future outlook:

About 80% of visitors from Hong Kong and Taiwan, the demographics we are targeting, are using Android handsets. According to the survey we conducted among our 2,000 users, we found that about 70% of them had visited Japan at least once an year.

Since the interval between their visits to Japan is shorter than expected, we expect these repeat users to contribute more to our user growth. We aim to surpass 100,000 users by the end of next March.

The company recently added a payments function to its mobile app so that users can complete payments when booking a hotel online. Now they are planning to introduce a robot for distributing SIM cards to users at more locations, aiming to gain 80% of the market for foreign visitors using all airports across Japan within this year.

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

This startup offers free SIM cards at airport to help foreign visitors get around Japan

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See the original story in Japanese. I can safely introduce this startup as the favorite among domestic companies focusing on inbound business opportunities. Tokyo-based startup WAmazing launched their app earlier this week, which offers free SIM cards and tourism services to foreign visitors to Japan. The service packages together a SIM card, a tour guide app, and information on reservations by working with smartphones. The company’s target is the some 40 million foreign visitors expected to visit Japan in 2020, with prospective users first downloading the app, and then inputting their personal information, length of stay, and payment information such as credit card number while still in their home country in order to obtain their QR code. Upon arrival in Japan they will be able to use their QR code at any of the four free SIM card vending machines located at international arrival areas of Narita Airport’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd terminals to receive the card. Once the user has installed the SIM card on their smartphone, they have 5 days, up to 500 MB of free mobile service with no initial fees. When the user opens the WAmazing app, it will be possible to purchase additional mobile data,…

WAmazing founders: CEO Fumiko Kato (right), CTO Yuichi Tateno (left)

See the original story in Japanese.

I can safely introduce this startup as the favorite among domestic companies focusing on inbound business opportunities.

Tokyo-based startup WAmazing launched their app earlier this week, which offers free SIM cards and tourism services to foreign visitors to Japan. The service packages together a SIM card, a tour guide app, and information on reservations by working with smartphones.

The company’s target is the some 40 million foreign visitors expected to visit Japan in 2020, with prospective users first downloading the app, and then inputting their personal information, length of stay, and payment information such as credit card number while still in their home country in order to obtain their QR code.

Upon arrival in Japan they will be able to use their QR code at any of the four free SIM card vending machines located at international arrival areas of Narita Airport’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd terminals to receive the card. Once the user has installed the SIM card on their smartphone, they have 5 days, up to 500 MB of free mobile service with no initial fees.

When the user opens the WAmazing app, it will be possible to purchase additional mobile data, as well as browse a variety of sightseeing information, allowing them to reserve or purchase on the spot. On top of this, the app can also be used to “call” a taxi; simply input a location and one of the 12,000 taxis operating in Tokyo can be dispatched right then and there. Picture this: purchasing an activity package for touring from the convenience of the hotel, where the taxi will come to whisk you away on your day of leisure.

And with that, enough with the introduction. Here are the points to pay attention to:

  • The SIM card vending machines are installed at Narita Airport
  • It is designed to obtain payment information from tourists before arrival
  • They developed a service that includes a unique taxi dispatch and tourism concierge

With the government’s goal of increasing inbound tourism figures to 40 million people by 2020, the year of the Tokyo Olympics, it is estimated that consumption will rise to 8 trillion yen (around $70 billion US), which is twice that of 2015.

Meanwhile, it is very clear that the domestic development of a free communication infrastructure, for example Wifi hotspots, has its share of problems, language barriers often being touted as one. In the past we introduced a startup called Bridge providing similar services to solve these problems. However, WAmazing appears to cover a more extensive range.

The company was founded in July of 2016 when Yuichi Tateno, previously of Hatena (TSE:3930) and Cookpad (TSE:2193), joined with Fumiko Kato, whose background includes launching Jalan.net (one of the largest hotel/traditional inn booking sites in Japan) and Hot Pepper Gourmet (Japan’s largest gourmet website), as well as the regional tourism promotion project “Maji☆Bu.” In contrast to Kato’s time spent at Recruit (TSE:6098), the company behind “Maji☆Bu,” her current inbound business is a “mature” startup.

For example, when asked about where the tourism information provided by WAmazing originates, the answer was that they prepare it themselves, rather than partnering with an outside service. Without thorough knowledge, preparing such info quickly is difficult.

In addition, where you would expect them to partner with existing services for taxi dispatching, they announced their unique approach of using API to cooperate directly with the system of the Tokyo Hire-Taxi Association. As mentioned above, this gives them access to dispatch the nearly 12,000 taxis in Tokyo. To get into the specifics, when a taxi connected to the network is dispatched using WAmazing, the details are displayed on the hired taxi’s in-vehicle unit, allowing the operation to work smoothly for overseas customers.

Even at this beginning stage great care is being taken for even the smallest of details, leaving the impression wherever they go from here, they will be bringing a considerably high level of service with them. Of course, as the service has not yet been launched, there is still much to be done, like finishing the development of the control screen.

Because businesses and systems involved in sightseeing and support for foreign visitors are intertwined in a complicated manner, the bargaining power WAmazing seems to be in possession of gives me the impression that their place on the playing field is a secure one. In fact, in cooperation with Narita Airport, they will not be charged for setting up the SIM card vending machines. Furthermore, the SIM card they will provide is the same as Bridge’s and the infrastructure will use Soracom (a Mobile Virtual Network Operator using NTT Docomo’s network).

According to Kato, as an initial target they have developed marketing directed at travelers living in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and the goal at their current stage is for 1 in every 8 people to be using it by 2020, so a platform that supports 5 million users.

As they are concerned with a wide range of subjects and still operating 100% on personal funds, their future growth strategy, and the fact that Cookpad’s former CTO (Tateno) has joined the development team, is worth paying attention to. Once the service has kicked off and numbers start to come in, I’d like to talk more about it.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda