Yukari Mitsuhashi
Bokete
SHARE:
Fukuoka City helps shorten visa screening process for foreign IT engineers
Masaru Ikeda
SHARE:
On Monday, Fukuoka City began operating the Engineer Visa program utilizing the National Strategic Special Zone. In 2019, the city requested the central government to approve a system to shorten and clarify the examination period for foreign IT engineers’ status of residence. Whereas the normal examination period for residency status for foreign nationals takes about one to three months, the special legislation can make it shorter to about one month with the city taking part of the examination process. This will lower the hurdle for Japanese startups based in the city to hire foreign engineers and for foreign startups to establish their base there. The first company to take advantage of the system is expected to be the Japanese subsidiary of VMO Holdings, an offshore development company in Vietnam. Fukuoka City has long been active in attracting overseas startups and encouraging local startups to expand overseas: in 2016, the city began collaborating with the French city of Bordeaux to support drone startups, and in 2017, it signed a memorandum of understanding with Taiwan’s Taipei city to support Fukuoka startups expand overseas and vice versa. In 2017, Fukuoka City established the Fukuoka Global Startup Center to strengthen mutual startup support between…
On Monday, Fukuoka City began operating the Engineer Visa program utilizing the National Strategic Special Zone. In 2019, the city requested the central government to approve a system to shorten and clarify the examination period for foreign IT engineers’ status of residence. Whereas the normal examination period for residency status for foreign nationals takes about one to three months, the special legislation can make it shorter to about one month with the city taking part of the examination process.
This will lower the hurdle for Japanese startups based in the city to hire foreign engineers and for foreign startups to establish their base there. The first company to take advantage of the system is expected to be the Japanese subsidiary of VMO Holdings, an offshore development company in Vietnam.
Fukuoka City has long been active in attracting overseas startups and encouraging local startups to expand overseas: in 2016, the city began collaborating with the French city of Bordeaux to support drone startups, and in 2017, it signed a memorandum of understanding with Taiwan’s Taipei city to support Fukuoka startups expand overseas and vice versa. In 2017, Fukuoka City established the Fukuoka Global Startup Center to strengthen mutual startup support between the city and other countries.
In 2012, the city declared “Startup City” and then established a startup support facility called FUKUOKA Growth Next on the site of the former Daimyo Elementary School. This year, the Fukuoka Daimyo Garden City building was completed adjacent to the facility, and Fukuoka Financial Group (TSE: 8354) opened its open innovation center called GROWTH I in the terrace annex of the building.
Japanese Government opens entrepreneurs’ base in SF Bay Area
SHARE:
The Japanese Government is establishing a center for entrepreneurs in Palo Alto called Japan Innovation Campus. Its arm METI, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, held a reception party to celebrate the launch of it on Sunday, inviting Yasutoshi Nishimura, the Japanese Economic Minister. Other guests included Palo Alto Mayor Lydia Kou, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and the head of Geodesic Capital John Ruus as well as local Japanese investors and entrepreneurs. The venue is conveniently located just three blocks from University Avenue, a major thoroughfare in the city, and close to Stanford University, which is known for producing many startups. It is managed by Mori Building and Accenture under contract from METI. About five companies will be selected as office members that can use private offices, and 50 companies will be selected as co-working members that can use shared space (up to three people per company) while applications have been already closed. The venue was established as part of the Japanese government’s “Five-Year Startup Development Plan,” and has been designated as one of the venues for J-StarX, a program promoted by the Ministry to send Japanese entrepreneurs to startup hubs in the overseas. By linking Japanese entrepreneurs,…
Image credit: METI
The Japanese Government is establishing a center for entrepreneurs in Palo Alto called Japan Innovation Campus. Its arm METI, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, held a reception party to celebrate the launch of it on Sunday, inviting Yasutoshi Nishimura, the Japanese Economic Minister. Other guests included Palo Alto Mayor Lydia Kou, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and the head of Geodesic Capital John Ruus as well as local Japanese investors and entrepreneurs.
The venue is conveniently located just three blocks from University Avenue, a major thoroughfare in the city, and close to Stanford University, which is known for producing many startups. It is managed by Mori Building and Accenture under contract from METI. About five companies will be selected as office members that can use private offices, and 50 companies will be selected as co-working members that can use shared space (up to three people per company) while applications have been already closed.
The venue was established as part of the Japanese government’s “Five-Year Startup Development Plan,” and has been designated as one of the venues for J-StarX, a program promoted by the Ministry to send Japanese entrepreneurs to startup hubs in the overseas.
By linking Japanese entrepreneurs, students, and others with local accelerators, VCs, universities, JETRO and other government agencies, the program aims to support the global expansion of Japanese startups and the development of the ecosystem. Through organizing events, it also aims to encourage open innovation between the two sides of the Pacific.
Sagri partners with Thai conglomerate to roll out satellite data-based farm soil analysis
SHARE:
Sagri, the Japanese startup behind a satellite-based agricultural analytics platform under the same name, announced on Monday that it has agreed to conduct a proof-of-concept（PoC） project with Thailand’s largest conglomerate CP Group (Chalung Pokaphan Group). The startup will conduct tests of satellite data-based soil analysis with CP Group’s BKP (Bangkok Produce Merchandising). The tests will be conducted on corn farmland in the northeastern part of Thailand to confirm that Sagri’s soil analysis method can be performed more quickly and inexpensively than conventional ways. In the future, based on the the analysis result, the startup envisions a project to generate carbon credit derived from farmland by optimizing fertilizer application. This partnership was revealed during the 5th batch Demo Day of Rock Thailand, an open innovation-focused pitch event run by the Embassy of Japan in Thailand and CP Group since 2019. The event is part of the
Sagri, the Japanese startup behind a satellite-based agricultural analytics platform under the same name, announced on Monday that it has agreed to conduct a proof-of-concept（PoC） project with Thailand’s largest conglomerate CP Group (Chalung Pokaphan Group). The startup will conduct tests of satellite data-based soil analysis with CP Group’s BKP (Bangkok Produce Merchandising).
The tests will be conducted on corn farmland in the northeastern part of Thailand to confirm that Sagri’s soil analysis method can be performed more quickly and inexpensively than conventional ways. In the future, based on the the analysis result, the startup envisions a project to generate carbon credit derived from farmland by optimizing fertilizer application.
This partnership was revealed during the 5th batch Demo Day of Rock Thailand, an open innovation-focused pitch event run by the Embassy of Japan in Thailand and CP Group since 2019. The event is part of the 2nd batch of Rock Thailand in 2019. Starting with this opportunity, Sagri has begun researching its entry into the Thai market, established a Singapore subsidiary in January, and has been in ongoing discussions with CP Group.
Following securing 100 million yen ($1.4 million US in the exchange rate at the time) in a seed round in June of 2021, Sagri formed a capital and business alliance with Softbank’s SB Technology in 2022, and was subsequently selected for the 4th batch of the accelerator program run by Japan Agricultural Co-operatives for business collaboration.
Japan’s Stockmark launches open-source LLM with 13 billion parameters, less hallucinations
The Bridge
SHARE:
Tokyo-based Stockmark, the Japanese startup developing and offering sentence analysis AI solutions for businesses, launched a proprietary large language model (LLM) with 13 billion parameters called Stockmark-13b on Friday. This is the largest scale of any single Japanese language LLM and has been developed with assistance by the AWS LLM Development Support Program. Leveraging disclosed company information and patent updates the company has been collecting, the model is able to return more accurate answers to business questions compared other LLMs by suppressing so-called hallucinations. In addition, the new model can generate text about four times faster than ChatGPT. In August, Stockmark also introduced gpt-neox-japanese-1.4b, a Japanese LLM with 1.4 billion parameters based on the GPT-NeoX LLM learning library. Subsequently, the company was qualified by Amazon Web Services Japan for its LLM Development Support Program in September where they have been developing an LLM that can answer questions on business with higher accuracy and speed using the cloud platform’s proprietary AI accelerator Trainium. The company intends to build LLM that can be used in practice in specific business use cases, such as new business development, application exploration, and technology development Stockmark was founded in April of 2016 by four engineers, including…
Tokyo-based Stockmark, the Japanese startup developing and offering sentence analysis AI solutions for businesses, launched a proprietary large language model (LLM) with 13 billion parameters called Stockmark-13b on Friday. This is the largest scale of any single Japanese language LLM and has been developed with assistance by the AWS LLM Development Support Program. Leveraging disclosed company information and patent updates the company has been collecting, the model is able to return more accurate answers to business questions compared other LLMs by suppressing so-called hallucinations. In addition, the new model can generate text about four times faster than ChatGPT.
In August, Stockmark also introduced gpt-neox-japanese-1.4b, a Japanese LLM with 1.4 billion parameters based on the GPT-NeoX LLM learning library. Subsequently, the company was qualified by Amazon Web Services Japan for its LLM Development Support Program in September where they have been developing an LLM that can answer questions on business with higher accuracy and speed using the cloud platform’s proprietary AI accelerator Trainium. The company intends to build LLM that can be used in practice in specific business use cases, such as new business development, application exploration, and technology development
Stockmark was founded in April of 2016 by four engineers, including CEO Tatsu Hayashi, who had worked for a major Japanese trading company. Having developed various services by recommending and structuring disclosed news updates from websites, the company is currently offering a news clipping service for businesses called Anews as well as a tool visualizing market trends and competitors’ movements through structured analysis of business news updates called Astrategy. The company claims that about 25% of the companies nominated for the Nikkei 225 index use any of Stockmark’s products.
via PR Times
Japan’s AAIC announces second close of Africa-focused second healthcare fund
SHARE:
Updated on Nov.1 at 11am: Correction Line section was removed. AAIC Investment announced on Thursday that the amount raised by the Africa Innovation & Healthcare Fund (AHF) II, which was announced its first close in April, has reached $40 million US at its 2nd close phase. The company has set the final fund size at US$150 million and expects to continue raising funds in the future. Combined with AHF I ($47 million), which was launched in 2017, the firm’s AUM (assets under management) has reached $87 million so far. AHF II has apparently been funded by Asahi Intec (TSE: 7747), Eisai (TSE: 4523), Ohara Pharmaceutical Industry, Marubeni (TSE: 8002), Development Bank of Japan, QR Investment by Hokkoku Financial Holdings Group (TSE: 7381), and TOPPAN Holdings (TSE: 7911) and among others. Of these, Marubeni follows their previous investment in AHF I. AHF I has competed its mission by investing in 30 companies while AHF II has so far invested in 15 companies including Aumet (pharmaceutical B2B marketplace connecting pharmacies and suppliers in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia), The Baobab Network (startup accelerator based in Nairobi, Kenya), CredAble (digital banking service for sub-Saharan Africa), and Yodawy (pharmacy benefit management service in…
Updated on Nov.1 at 11am: Correction Line section was removed.
AAIC Investment announced on Thursday that the amount raised by the Africa Innovation & Healthcare Fund (AHF) II, which was announced its first close in April, has reached $40 million US at its 2nd close phase. The company has set the final fund size at US$150 million and expects to continue raising funds in the future. Combined with AHF I ($47 million), which was launched in 2017, the firm’s AUM (assets under management) has reached $87 million so far.
AHF II has apparently been funded by Asahi Intec (TSE: 7747), Eisai (TSE: 4523), Ohara Pharmaceutical Industry, Marubeni (TSE: 8002), Development Bank of Japan, QR Investment by Hokkoku Financial Holdings Group (TSE: 7381), and TOPPAN Holdings (TSE: 7911) and among others. Of these, Marubeni follows their previous investment in AHF I.
AHF I has competed its mission by investing in 30 companies while AHF II has so far invested in 15 companies including Aumet (pharmaceutical B2B marketplace connecting pharmacies and suppliers in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia), The Baobab Network (startup accelerator based in Nairobi, Kenya), CredAble (digital banking service for sub-Saharan Africa), and Yodawy (pharmacy benefit management service in Egypt).
Image credit: AAIC
via PR Times
xGoogler founders-led startup Tonari launches new model of life-size video conferencing system
SHARE:
Tokyo-based Tonari, the Japanese startup developing and offering a next-gen communication service that connects remote locations under the same name, introduced on Wednesday a new product called ‘tonari lite’, along with the ‘tonari pro’ existing model. The lite version is also available on a subscription-based rental basis. Their products have been installed in many organizations and facilities over the past three years, but the company felt it needed to reduce costs and simplify installation for further expansion. The company improved the manufacturing process and redesigned the product to achieve versatile size and price optimization. This simplified the installation process and made it easier to fit into international deployments and smaller teams. The lite version maintains the functionality of the previous model while saving space, and is optimized for small-group communication, making it easy to use in small offices, medical facilities, educational institutions, and other locations where space is limited. In addition, the revised design significantly reduces installation work. The company expects the lite version to contribute to reducing the frequency of overseas business trips while maintaining smooth cross-border communication. Tonari was founded in 2018 by Taj Campbell, a former product manager at Google, and Ryo Kawaguchi, a former engineer at…
Tokyo-based Tonari, the Japanese startup developing and offering a next-gen communication service that connects remote locations under the same name, introduced on Wednesday a new product called ‘tonari lite’, along with the ‘tonari pro’ existing model. The lite version is also available on a subscription-based rental basis.
Their products have been installed in many organizations and facilities over the past three years, but the company felt it needed to reduce costs and simplify installation for further expansion. The company improved the manufacturing process and redesigned the product to achieve versatile size and price optimization. This simplified the installation process and made it easier to fit into international deployments and smaller teams.
The lite version maintains the functionality of the previous model while saving space, and is optimized for small-group communication, making it easy to use in small offices, medical facilities, educational institutions, and other locations where space is limited. In addition, the revised design significantly reduces installation work. The company expects the lite version to contribute to reducing the frequency of overseas business trips while maintaining smooth cross-border communication.
Tonari was founded in 2018 by Taj Campbell, a former product manager at Google, and Ryo Kawaguchi, a former engineer at Google (the product name was Continuum while the company name was WorkAnywhere at that time). The company has developed a life-size video system that seamlessly connects two remote locations, creating a smooth and realistic space with a natural eye contact mechanism, clear audio, and low latency.
The company secured 340 million yen (about $3.2 million US in the exchange rate at the timing) in a seed round (led by One Capital, with participation from Mistletoe Japan, Leave a Nest Capital, ABBALab, and several angel investors) in November of 2020, and subsequently 450 million yen (about $3.3 million US in the exchange rate at the timing) in a pre-series A round (from Real Tech Fund and One Capital) in June of 2022.
via PR Times
Japan’s Hakki secures $10M+ funding to empower Kenyan cab drivers with own vehicles
SHARE:
Tokyo-based Hakki Africa, the Japanese startup offering micro-finance services for cab drivers in Kenya, announced on Tuesday that it has secured 1.58 billion yen (about $10.6 million) in the 1st close of its series B round. This round is led by SBI Investment with participation from QR Investment (by Hokkoku Financial Holdings), Deepcore, Hakobune, Music Securities in addition to debt from an undisclosed Japanese megabank and Hokkoku Bank. For the company, this follows their seed round in December of 2020 (secured 30 million yen) and Series A round in March of 2022 (secured 220 million yen including debt). The latest round brought their funding sum up to date to more than 1.83 billion yen (about $12.3 million). In Africa, it is very difficult to borrow unsecured loans due to the underdevelopment of financial services. The company offers a micro-finance service focused on used cars in the continent, especially in Kenya. It offers a loan screening based on a cab driver’s credit rating, with points deducted for multiple debts based on the history of the M-PESA mobile money usage, and points added for stability of cab sales on a weekly basis, offering the opportunity to purchase a car. In this particular…
Image credit: Hakki Africa
Tokyo-based Hakki Africa, the Japanese startup offering micro-finance services for cab drivers in Kenya, announced on Tuesday that it has secured 1.58 billion yen (about $10.6 million) in the 1st close of its series B round. This round is led by SBI Investment with participation from QR Investment (by Hokkoku Financial Holdings), Deepcore, Hakobune, Music Securities in addition to debt from an undisclosed Japanese megabank and Hokkoku Bank.
For the company, this follows their seed round in December of 2020 (secured 30 million yen) and Series A round in March of 2022 (secured 220 million yen including debt). The latest round brought their funding sum up to date to more than 1.83 billion yen (about $12.3 million).
In Africa, it is very difficult to borrow unsecured loans due to the underdevelopment of financial services. The company offers a micro-finance service focused on used cars in the continent, especially in Kenya. It offers a loan screening based on a cab driver’s credit rating, with points deducted for multiple debts based on the history of the M-PESA mobile money usage, and points added for stability of cab sales on a weekly basis, offering the opportunity to purchase a car.
In this particular area, some of our readers may recall a startup called Moove, offering vehicle financing to private business owners in several African countries. Backed by Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Innovation Partners, the company recently secured $10 million in debt in August this year.
See also:
via PR Times
Shizen Capital produces first female investor from Sprout GP-in-training initiative
SHARE:
This guest post is authored by Mark Bivens. Mark is a Silicon Valley native and former entrepreneur, having started three companies before “turning to the dark side of VC.” He is a venture capitalist that travels between Paris and Tokyo (aka the RudeVC). He is the Managing Partner of Shizen Capital (formerly known as Tachi.ai Ventures) in Japan. You can read more on his blog at http://rude.vc or follow him @markbivens. The Japanese translation of this article is available here. Just prior to the summer we announced our new Sprout initiative at Shizen Capital. Our hypothesis was that female venture capitalists were far too scarce in Japan, and not for lack of talent. We believe that diversity in venture capital teams is important for maximizing financial performance of a fund, as well as for identifying and supporting women and minority startup founders, who are also disadvantaged in venture ecosystems worldwide, and by extension funding innovative projects which merit backing yet fall off the conventional radars. The diversity issue in our view is complex and systemic, and there is no single magic bullet of a solution to address it. However, as active investors in the market, we believe that we hold some…
This guest post is authored by Mark Bivens. Mark is a Silicon Valley native and former entrepreneur, having started three companies before “turning to the dark side of VC.”
He is a venture capitalist that travels between Paris and Tokyo (aka the RudeVC). He is the Managing Partner of Shizen Capital (formerly known as Tachi.ai Ventures) in Japan. You can read more on his blog at http://rude.vc or follow him @markbivens. The Japanese translation of this article is available here.
Just prior to the summer we announced our new Sprout initiative at Shizen Capital.
Our hypothesis was that female venture capitalists were far too scarce in Japan, and not for lack of talent. We believe that diversity in venture capital teams is important for maximizing financial performance of a fund, as well as for identifying and supporting women and minority startup founders, who are also disadvantaged in venture ecosystems worldwide, and by extension funding innovative projects which merit backing yet fall off the conventional radars.
The diversity issue in our view is complex and systemic, and there is no single magic bullet of a solution to address it. However, as active investors in the market, we believe that we hold some accountability for the problem and hence have a role to play in solving it. Rather than discussing the topic ad infinitum in pursuit of the perfect solution, we chose to act.
Accordingly, we expect that the first incarnation of our Sprout initiative will be imperfect, but we are confident that we can improve and refine it along the way. We’re essentially applying The Lean Startup methodology toward addressing the complex problem of lack of diversity in venture capital. We’ve structured the Shizen Capital Sprout initiative as an apprenticeship program for emerging female VC fund managers.
Although only a few months in, we’ve already witnessed several market characteristics validating our initial hypothesis.
Image credit: Braid Technologies
For one, the volume of inbound applicants from truly impressive individuals debunks any myth of a scarcity of female VC talent in Japan. Our single blog post announcing the program — not even in Japanese for a role requiring native fluency — has appeared to tap an artery. As a small team, we regret that we could not hold extensive conversations with every candidate, but among the short list of those with whom we did, we found it difficult to narrow our selection to only one. For the others — and you know who you are — we are deeply grateful for the opportunity to have explored a collaboration with each of you. In our philosophy, there is a non-negligible chance that destiny will bring our professional paths together again in the future.
Another discovery during this preliminary phase: a tendency toward organizational hierarchy pervades the market. An elaborate degree of hierarchy is understandable in large and incumbent corporations. In venture however, our view is that excessive hierarchy serves as an impediment to investing in innovation. In other emerging venture ecosystems, we’ve witnessed how this can contribute to a dearth of early-stage capital, insufferably long due diligence cycles, and a proliferation of unwieldy investment syndicates that eschew stepping outside comfort zones. We respectfully encourage flatter fund organizations before this becomes a problem in Japan.
One final observation: several applicants approached us by leading with an apology that they lacked direct VC experience. This illustrates exactly the vicious cycle we are hoping to break ! The entire raison d’être of Sprout is to enable candidates with the right attitude and aptitude to become VC fund managers, regardless of their prior experience and career background.
As the inaugural Sprout participant, Mayumi has joined Shizen Capital as a full-time Investment Director on a track to become full GP. Mayumi impressed us with her global mindset as well as her long-term ambition to build a VC fund focused on the African market, in pursuit of financial return and social impact, a commendable aspiration which Shizen endeavours to support in the future.
We are thrilled to count Mayumi as our newest member of the Shizen Capital family! Please feel free to introduce yourselves when you see her out at events.
‘Dots for’ secures $670K to help Africa’s unconnected population benefit from digital economy
SHARE:
Japanese startup Dots for, the company aiming to help digitalizing rural villages in Africa with distributed communications using mesh network technology, announced on Friday that it has secured 100 million yen (about $670,000 US) in a seed round. Participating investors arew Anobaka, Quantum Leap Ventures (QXLV), G-Startup Fund, and unnamed several angel investors. QXLV followed their previous investment in the startup’s pre-seed seed round in September of 2022. The company says that it will use the funds to help people in rural areas of African gain access digital services and spend daily lives comparable to those in cities. It also expects to contribute to improving the incomes of rural residents through allowing them to remotely obtain jobs from developed countries and urban areas in Africa through efforts including matching sales of agricultural products. Dots for was founded in October of 2021 by Carlos Oba, who has worked at Amazon, Recruit, and C Channel, among others, in business startups and management. Prior to launching Dots for, he led the launch of a service for motorcycle cab operators in Tanzania and other countries as a new business manager at Wassha, the Japanese startup delivering electricity to off-grid areas in Africa. While urban…
Japanese startup Dots for, the company aiming to help digitalizing rural villages in Africa with distributed communications using mesh network technology, announced on Friday that it has secured 100 million yen (about $670,000 US) in a seed round. Participating investors arew Anobaka, Quantum Leap Ventures (QXLV), G-Startup Fund, and unnamed several angel investors. QXLV followed their previous investment in the startup’s pre-seed seed round in September of 2022.
The company says that it will use the funds to help people in rural areas of African gain access digital services and spend daily lives comparable to those in cities. It also expects to contribute to improving the incomes of rural residents through allowing them to remotely obtain jobs from developed countries and urban areas in Africa through efforts including matching sales of agricultural products.
Dots for was founded in October of 2021 by Carlos Oba, who has worked at Amazon, Recruit, and C Channel, among others, in business startups and management. Prior to launching Dots for, he led the launch of a service for motorcycle cab operators in Tanzania and other countries as a new business manager at Wassha, the Japanese startup delivering electricity to off-grid areas in Africa.
While urban areas in African countries are experiencing economic development and digitalization, rural areas with low incomes are facing a variety of unresolved issues, including Internet connectivity. The company uses mesh network technology to build wireless network infrastructure called d.CONNECT in rural villages in Africa at an overwhelmingly low cost and in a short period of time.
via PR Times
Japan, Europe-focused VC Nextblue launches $33.6M 2nd fund for women’s wellbeing
SHARE:
Tokyo-based VC firm Nextblue announced on Tuesday that it has launched its second fund. It has not yet reached its final close but aims to eventually reach a size of 5 billion yen (about $33.6 million US). The new fund aims to create social impact to improve the women’s wellbeing in Japan through the realization of DEIB (Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging). Three business companies including electric power company JERA and Japanese leading PR firm Sunny Side Up Group (TSE: 2180) and several anonymous individual investors have invested in the latest fund. JERA is a 50-50 power generation company owned by TEPCO Holdings (TSE: 9501) and Chubu Electric Power (TSE: 9502). JERA currently has 26 thermal power plants across Japan. The company’s goal is to achieve zero-emission power generation by 2050 through thermal power generation mixing hydrogen with natural gas, zero-emission thermal power generation using hydrogen and ammonia as fuel, and the introduction of renewable energy. The investors in the latest fund are expected to provide an environment for Japanese and European portfolio companies to conduct PoCs (proof of concepts) on women’s wellbeing businesses. Nextblue’s managing partner Kanako Inoue says that JERA’s participation indicates that the power company is committed…
Tokyo-based VC firm Nextblue announced on Tuesday that it has launched its second fund. It has not yet reached its final close but aims to eventually reach a size of 5 billion yen (about $33.6 million US). The new fund aims to create social impact to improve the women’s wellbeing in Japan through the realization of DEIB (Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging).
Three business companies including electric power company JERA and Japanese leading PR firm Sunny Side Up Group (TSE: 2180) and several anonymous individual investors have invested in the latest fund. JERA is a 50-50 power generation company owned by TEPCO Holdings (TSE: 9501) and Chubu Electric Power (TSE: 9502).
JERA currently has 26 thermal power plants across Japan. The company’s goal is to achieve zero-emission power generation by 2050 through thermal power generation mixing hydrogen with natural gas, zero-emission thermal power generation using hydrogen and ammonia as fuel, and the introduction of renewable energy.
The investors in the latest fund are expected to provide an environment for Japanese and European portfolio companies to conduct PoCs (proof of concepts) on women’s wellbeing businesses. Nextblue’s managing partner Kanako Inoue says that JERA’s participation indicates that the power company is committed to changing the world from within the company, as it has been working on new challenges in the energy industry,.
The first fund invests in 39 companies, 4 companies exited
The firm’s first fund was launched in April of 2020 and subsequently announced its first close in March of 2021. The fund size at that point was estimated at 3 billion yen ($28 million in the exchange rate at that time). According to Inoue, investments were made in 39 companies from the first fund, of which about half were Japanese startups and the other half were European startups.
In terms of vertical category, she said, most of their Japanese investees were SaaS startups, in line with industry trends in Japan, while their investments in Europe were largely made into the healthcare and food sectors. This is because, while DTx (Digital Therapeutics) startups have emerged, they are not always effective in treating chronic diseases and other conditions, so the focus was more on somewhat mix of healthcare and food, which usually provides something directly consumed by the body.
In a recent interview with Bridge, Inoue says,
With the first fund, we wanted to prove that Japanese VCs were valuable to European startups and that we could bring European startups to the Japan market.
During the pandemic, some of our portfolio companies struggled to raise funds in Europe and the US, but it was relatively easy for them to access funds in Japan. I think we were able to prove the importance of diversifying the Cap Table .
From the firm’s first fund’s portfolio, INFORICH (TSE: 9338), operator of the ChargeSPOT mobile battery sharing service in Japan, IPOed, while Lana Lab (process mining company, Germany), First A (quick commerce for drugs, Germany), and Bento (aggregating multiple web links into one link, Switzerland), have been respectively acquired by other companies.
Japan’s MUFG launches $135M 3rd fund to work with more GenAI startups
SHARE:
MUFG Innovation Partners (MUIP) recently announced that it has just launched its fund III, following its fund II announced in August of 2021. The new fund is expected to have a size of 20 billion yen (about $135 million), the same as each of the previous two funds. The new fund is managed by Mitsubishi UFJ Innovation Partners with financially backed from MUFG Bank and other group companies. In contrast to Mitsubishi UFJ Capital (MUCAP), which usually makes pure investments, MUIP is a corporate venture capital focused on strategic investments exploring collaboration with MUFG companies. MUIP’s AUM (assets under management), including its three core funds and fund of funds (FoF) for the US and Israel markets, now totals approximately 80 billion yen (about $540 million). According to Takashi Sano, Chief Investment Officer at MUIP, the new fund will more focus on investments in Japan and the U.S., following the establishment of the MUFG Ganesha Fund ($300 million US) for India and the MUIP Garuda 1 Fund ($100 million US) for Southeast Asia from last year through this year. In addition, the MUIP Fund II has increased the ratio of investments in Japanese startups compared to the Fund I although it…
Photo by yo & via Flickr
MUFG Innovation Partners (MUIP) recently announced that it has just launched its fund III, following its fund II announced in August of 2021. The new fund is expected to have a size of 20 billion yen (about $135 million), the same as each of the previous two funds. The new fund is managed by Mitsubishi UFJ Innovation Partners with financially backed from MUFG Bank and other group companies.
In contrast to Mitsubishi UFJ Capital (MUCAP), which usually makes pure investments, MUIP is a corporate venture capital focused on strategic investments exploring collaboration with MUFG companies. MUIP’s AUM (assets under management), including its three core funds and fund of funds (FoF) for the US and Israel markets, now totals approximately 80 billion yen (about $540 million).
According to Takashi Sano, Chief Investment Officer at MUIP, the new fund will more focus on investments in Japan and the U.S., following the establishment of the MUFG Ganesha Fund ($300 million US) for India and the MUIP Garuda 1 Fund ($100 million US) for Southeast Asia from last year through this year. In addition, the MUIP Fund II has increased the ratio of investments in Japanese startups compared to the Fund I although it is unclear whether or not this trend will be applied to the Fund III.
Image credit: MUFG Innovation Partners
Sano says,
MUFG has invested in Liquidity Capital, an Israeli FinTech startup investing in AI startups, from its Fund I and II, and has also invested in Mars Growth Capital, a joint venture established by MUFG Bank and Liquidity Capital in 2020. Mars Growth Capital is preparing a growth stage-focused fund (up to 20 billion yen or $134.6 million US) for the Japanese market while other MUIP-related initiatives are also increasing in Japan.
MUIP will continue to invest in non-fintech startups, including generative AI startups, to explore synergies with MUFG companies. It will also work with overseas banks in which MUFG Bank has invested, such as Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri) in Thailand and Bank Danamon in Indonesia, to encourage these banks’ business partners to introduce new technologies from the startups in which they have invested.
MUIP has invested in more than 40 startups through several funds to date, and the total investment in 2022 reached about 10 billion yen ($67.3 million US). For middle-stage and later startups, MUIP has also made direct investments from MUFG Bank and others, bringing the total amount of its investment framework in startups and other digital companies to approximately 570 billion yen ($3.8 billion US).
As for large funds from major Japanese financial conglomerates, SMBC launched a $200 million corporate venture capital fund called SMBC Asia Rising Fund in Singapore in May, jointly with Incubate Fund. In April, Mizuho Financial Group established a $10 billion corporate venture capital called Mizuho Innovation Frontier. In both cases, their investments are intended to explore synergies with their core businesses respectively.
Josys SaaS and device management platform secures $91M+ in series B for global expansion
SHARE:
Tokyo-based Josys, the Japanese startup offering outsourced corporate IT service to manage employees’ IT devices and SaaS accounts, announced on Wednesday that it has secured 13.5 billion yen (about $91.7 million US) in a Series B round. This round is led by Global Brain and Globis Capital Partners with participation from Jafco (TSE:8595), Raksul (TSE:4384), SMBC-GB Growth Fund (managed by SMBC Venture Capital Management and Global Brain), 31 Ventures (managed by Mitsui Fudosan and Global Brain), Norinchukin Capital, Z Venture Capital, WiL (World Innovation Lab), NTT Docomo Ventures, Value Chain Innovation Fund (managed by Seino Holdings and Spiral Innovation Fund), and Yamauchi-No.10 (owned by Nintendo founder’s family office). Global Brain, Yamauchi-No.10, and WiL followed this previous investment in Josys’ previous Series A round. The latest round brought the company’s funding sum up to date tp 17.9 billion yen (about $120 million US). Most of the investors are not operating company-backed but purely investment companies, which means that they are expecting business growth rather than business synergies with enterprises. Josys will use the funds to expand its global presence and diversify the company size of their targeted potential users. The service was initially launched in September of 2021 as the fourth…
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Tokyo-based Josys, the Japanese startup offering outsourced corporate IT service to manage employees’ IT devices and SaaS accounts, announced on Wednesday that it has secured 13.5 billion yen (about $91.7 million US) in a Series B round.
This round is led by Global Brain and Globis Capital Partners with participation from Jafco (TSE:8595), Raksul (TSE:4384), SMBC-GB Growth Fund (managed by SMBC Venture Capital Management and Global Brain), 31 Ventures (managed by Mitsui Fudosan and Global Brain), Norinchukin Capital, Z Venture Capital, WiL (World Innovation Lab), NTT Docomo Ventures, Value Chain Innovation Fund (managed by Seino Holdings and Spiral Innovation Fund), and Yamauchi-No.10 (owned by Nintendo founder’s family office).
Global Brain, Yamauchi-No.10, and WiL followed this previous investment in Josys’ previous Series A round. The latest round brought the company’s funding sum up to date tp 17.9 billion yen (about $120 million US). Most of the investors are not operating company-backed but purely investment companies, which means that they are expecting business growth rather than business synergies with enterprises. Josys will use the funds to expand its global presence and diversify the company size of their targeted potential users.
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
The service was initially launched in September of 2021 as the fourth business of Japanese online printing and on-demand logistics company Raksul (TSE:4384). Earlier this year, it was spun off from and incorporated as a subsidiary of Rakusul. In March of 2022, Josys increased its capital through a third-party allotment to undisclosed investors to become an equity-method affiliate from a consolidated subsidiary of Raksul (35.6% of voting rights at that time). Raksul’s voting right ownership in Josys has been apparently diluted after the Series A round.
The service allows companies to integrate and outsource management, procurement, and kitting IT devices and SaaS accounts for their employees. It aims to improve the operational efficiency of a company’s IT management department, expecting to reduce the workload of corporate IT departments by about a quarter through cloud computing and outsourcing. The company expects it may help companies reduce the turnover rate of staff in charge of IT systems.
The company’s new global expansion effort includes their service launch in 40 countries in the North America and Asia Pacific regions. The entire Josys team is about 120 people. Of these, 30 are in Japan, 70 in India, 10 in Vietnam, and the rest of the team are based in San Francisco Bay Area. Many of the systems required have been developed in India while the overall service design is being done in the Bay Area. Sales and on-boarding processes in the Asia Pacific Region are provided by their teams in Singapore and Malaysia.
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Josys has been focused on small and medium-sized businesses with less than 300 employees but will now target larger enterprises going forward. In some large enterprises, SaaS is not centrally managed by the system department (so called ‘shadow IT’), and the collapse of IT governance is becoming an issue. The company believes that the integration of employee-based information ledgers will contribute to the reconstruction of the Single Source of Truth (SSOT) for IT management.
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
To strengthen the team, the company appoints Kiyomitsu Takayama, former Japan head of Pendo.io Japan, as Japan SVP at Josys; Mikito Hayashi, former Executive Officer and General Manager of Enterprise Sales at ZVC Japan, as VP of Japan Sales at Josys; and Michibumi Serizawa, former General Manager of Major Account Sales at Palo Alto Networks, as Japan Sales at Palo Alto Networks. In addition, the company will launch the Josys Academy to share knowledge and insights to help Japanese companies adopt digital transformation.
Josys initially introduced the concept of its business in September of 2021 and subsequently launched it in 2022, seeing a 10-fold increase in ARR (annual recurring revenue) over the past year (specific values not disclosed). The company attributed the growth to the management burden of IT devices and SaaS, the increase in IT deployment in each department, and the dispersion of IT managers, while many companies have massively adapted work-from-home and SaaS as the new normal after COVID-19.
Japanese robotics startup Mujin secures $83M in series C for Europe expansion
SHARE:
Tokyo-based Mujin, the Japanese startup developing intelligent robotics solutions for industrial use, announced on Tuesday that it has secured 12.3 billion yen (over $83 million US) in a Series C round. Participating investors include SBI Investment, Pegasus Tech Ventures, Accenture, Dr. James Kuffner (robotics researcher, CEO of Toyota’s Wovn Planet Holdings), and 7-Industries Holdings. This follows the company’s Series B round back in August of 2014. The latest round brought their funding sum up to date to 20.5 billion yen (about $139 million). Mujin was founded in 2011 by robotics scientist Rosen Diankov and grew out of the University of Tokyo. His team developed OpenRAVE, motion planning software for real robot applications, as well as Mujin Controller, software enabling simulate different robot motion patterns and optimize performance before full-scale operation. In 2012, the company secured 75 million yen (about $960,000 US in the exchange rate at the time) from the University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC) and other investors in a Series A round. See also: 9 Japanese robotics startups to watch in 2014 In robotics operations, automation of complex processes has conventionally been considered difficult. However, Mujin Controller has given intelligence to robots, enabling them to adapt to changes…
Tokyo-based Mujin, the Japanese startup developing intelligent robotics solutions for industrial use, announced on Tuesday that it has secured 12.3 billion yen (over $83 million US) in a Series C round. Participating investors include SBI Investment, Pegasus Tech Ventures, Accenture, Dr. James Kuffner (robotics researcher, CEO of Toyota’s Wovn Planet Holdings), and 7-Industries Holdings. This follows the company’s Series B round back in August of 2014. The latest round brought their funding sum up to date to 20.5 billion yen (about $139 million).
Mujin was founded in 2011 by robotics scientist Rosen Diankov and grew out of the University of Tokyo. His team developed OpenRAVE, motion planning software for real robot applications, as well as Mujin Controller, software enabling simulate different robot motion patterns and optimize performance before full-scale operation. In 2012, the company secured 75 million yen (about $960,000 US in the exchange rate at the time) from the University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC) and other investors in a Series A round.
See also:
In robotics operations, automation of complex processes has conventionally been considered difficult. However, Mujin Controller has given intelligence to robots, enabling them to adapt to changes in the environment. In addition to industrial robots, Mujin also provides large-scale automation solutions by linking robots with robot hands, AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles), conveyors, and other devices.
The company will use the funds to invest in technology for intelligent robot controllers and 3D vision systems to achieve greater sophistication and multifunctionality. They also plan to launch new products such as mobile robots and devanning robots, provide total automation solutions, promote business expansion into the European market in addition to the US market where they already have presence.
via PR Times
Japan’s Caster, introducing remote workers to companies, files for IPO
SHARE:
Japanese startup Caster, the company offering online-based office assistant services for companies, announced on Wednesday that its initial listing application on the Tokyo Stock Exchange had been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on October 4 with plans to offer 350,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 52,500 shares in over-allotment options. The underwriting will be led by Daiwa Securities while Caster’s ticker code will be 9331. Based on the company’s estimated issue price is 650 yen (about $4.5) per share, its market cap is approximately 1.24 billion yen (about $8.5 million). Its share price range will be released on September 14 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on September 19 and pricing on September 25. The final public offering price will be determined on September 26. According to its consolidated statement as of August of 2022, the company posted revenue of 3.34 billion yen ($23 million) with an ordinary loss of 161.8 million yen ($1.1 million). Founded in September of 2014, the company offers Caster Biz and other services helping enterprises connect with freelance or contract-based remote workers to outsource corporate tasks such as secretary, personnel, accounting, and translation operations. Over 800 remote workers…
Japanese startup Caster, the company offering online-based office assistant services for companies, announced on Wednesday that its initial listing application on the Tokyo Stock Exchange had been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on October 4 with plans to offer 350,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 52,500 shares in over-allotment options. The underwriting will be led by Daiwa Securities while Caster’s ticker code will be 9331.
Based on the company’s estimated issue price is 650 yen (about $4.5) per share, its market cap is approximately 1.24 billion yen (about $8.5 million). Its share price range will be released on September 14 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on September 19 and pricing on September 25. The final public offering price will be determined on September 26. According to its consolidated statement as of August of 2022, the company posted revenue of 3.34 billion yen ($23 million) with an ordinary loss of 161.8 million yen ($1.1 million).
Founded in September of 2014, the company offers Caster Biz and other services helping enterprises connect with freelance or contract-based remote workers to outsource corporate tasks such as secretary, personnel, accounting, and translation operations. Over 800 remote workers have been registered while the company has served more than 2,900 companies in total as of 2021.
Major shareholders include Incubate Fund (25.24% through two funds), Blue Monday (20.05%, founder and CEO Shota Nakagawa’s asset management company), WiL (11.1%), Daiwa Corporate Investment (9.33%), Strive (6.08%), CEO Nakagawa (3.54%), Gree Co-Invest (3.3%), SMBC Venture Capital (2.8%), Gunosy Capital (2.43%), Hideaki Ishikura (1.7%, managing director), Dip (1.21%, TSE:2379), and Yamaguchi Capital (1.21%).
See also:
