Yukari Mitsuhashi
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Japanese car subscription startup Nyle secures up to $50M via equity and loans
The Bridge
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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Nyle, the company behind a car subscription service called Carmo, announced on Monday that it has secured about 3.7 billion yen (about $35.7 million) in the latest funding round. Participating investors are Dimension (investment arm of Dream Incubator), JIC Venture Growth Investments (JIC-VGI), Environmental Energy Investment, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, SBI Group, Nippon Venture Capital, Gree Ventures, Digital Advertising Consortium, and unnamed individual investors. The company also announced that it has signed loan agreements with several financial institutions for a total of up to 1.3 billion yen (about $12.5 million). Prior to this round, the company raised about 1.5 billion yen from several investors including Sparks Group (TSE:8739), SBI Group, and Aoki Group back in April of 2019. The latest round raied the company’s cum of funding (without loans) to date up to 5.57 billion yen (about $53.7 million) Carmo is completely offered online and allows users to use a new car for as little as the 10,000 yen-range (starting at $96 approx.) per month. It has received 45,000 applications from users for three years since its launch back in January of 2018. Using the funds, Nile plans to strengthen its marketing activities,…
See the original story in Japanese.
Tokyo-based Nyle, the company behind a car subscription service called Carmo, announced on Monday that it has secured about 3.7 billion yen (about $35.7 million) in the latest funding round.
Participating investors are Dimension (investment arm of Dream Incubator), JIC Venture Growth Investments (JIC-VGI), Environmental Energy Investment, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, SBI Group, Nippon Venture Capital, Gree Ventures, Digital Advertising Consortium, and unnamed individual investors. The company also announced that it has signed loan agreements with several financial institutions for a total of up to 1.3 billion yen (about $12.5 million).
Prior to this round, the company raised about 1.5 billion yen from several investors including Sparks Group (TSE:8739), SBI Group, and Aoki Group back in April of 2019. The latest round raied the company’s cum of funding (without loans) to date up to 5.57 billion yen (about $53.7 million)
Carmo is completely offered online and allows users to use a new car for as little as the 10,000 yen-range (starting at $96 approx.) per month. It has received 45,000 applications from users for three years since its launch back in January of 2018.
Using the funds, Nile plans to strengthen its marketing activities, strengthen alliances with auto repair shops, auto dealers, and gas stations while considering merge and acquire companies with potential synergies.
via PR Times
Rocket Staff, startup behind free manga apps, acquired by Japan’s largest anime retailer
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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Rocket Staff, known for its “all-you-can-read for free manga” app called Manga King ( iOS / Android ), was confirmed that it has been acquired by Japanese largest anime retail chain Animate. The amount of the acquisition has not been disclosed but we learned that Animate will take a 70% stake of Rocket Staff’s Japanese and South Korean business entities, making Rocket Staff a consolidated subsidiary of Animate. Following this acquisition, Animate CEO Ryu Takahashi and several of its directors are expected to join the board of directors at Rocket Staff’s Japanese and South Korean companies. Kou Youngwook, the founder of Rocket Staff, will continue serving his company as the CEO, and there will be no major changes in their business. Animate made 65 billion yen in an annual group sales and accounted for a third of the entire Japanese anime market which is estimated to be worth 240 billion yen. Having about 30 group companies under their wing, the anime giant is considered active in corporate acquisitions. As one residing in the Japanese startup community, it is still fresh in our minds that Pixiv, the Japanese startup behind a social illustration service…
See the original story in Japanese.
Tokyo-based Rocket Staff, known for its “all-you-can-read for free manga” app called Manga King ( iOS / Android ), was confirmed that it has been acquired by Japanese largest anime retail chain Animate. The amount of the acquisition has not been disclosed but we learned that Animate will take a 70% stake of Rocket Staff’s Japanese and South Korean business entities, making Rocket Staff a consolidated subsidiary of Animate.
Following this acquisition, Animate CEO Ryu Takahashi and several of its directors are expected to join the board of directors at Rocket Staff’s Japanese and South Korean companies. Kou Youngwook, the founder of Rocket Staff, will continue serving his company as the CEO, and there will be no major changes in their business.
Animate made 65 billion yen in an annual group sales and accounted for a third of the entire Japanese anime market which is estimated to be worth 240 billion yen. Having about 30 group companies under their wing, the anime giant is considered active in corporate acquisitions. As one residing in the Japanese startup community, it is still fresh in our minds that Pixiv, the Japanese startup behind a social illustration service under the same name, was acquired by the Animate group in 2015.
Image credit: Rocket Staff
Kou came to Japan alone from South Korea 20 years ago at his age of 20. After working at a TV station based out of Tokyo, he established Rocket Staff in November of 2010. Making the most of his Korean background, he developed apps across Japan and South Korea, coordinated app marketing for both markets, and served as a correspondent reporting on the state of technology in Japan for an IT-focused TV channel in South Korea. Some of his notable apps include Peppermeet, which allows users to chat and share photos with others nearby, and Ad&Joy, which allows users to earn points by watching ads.
In 2018, Rocket Staff launched a blockchain-powered decentralized ad network called ACA Network, but this did not work out and was subsequently forced to shut down. The company’s core business is currently Manga King, which turns manga titles published in a printed form in the past into the mobile app format so that they can share revenue from ads placed alongside manga episodes with manga publishers. There are more than 50,000 manga episodes available on the mobile app now, and users have downloaded these episodes over 300 million times to date.
Rocket Staff’s joining the Animate group is expected to help accelerate the latter’s digital transformation initiative. In our previous interview with Kou, he revealed his vision such as partnering with popular manga artist teams in Taiwan and South Korea, building a new distribution system for manga using blockchain, and working with publishers and other organizations to create a unique ecosystem where fans’ evaluations can lead to creators’ motivation and income.
Stay tuned for our further coverage reporting their business development details after the acquisition.
AnyMind Group acquires Tokyo-based cross-border marketing firm Engawa
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See the original story in Japanese. AnyMind Group (previously known as AdAsia Holdings), the startup developing and offering AI-based marketing solutions in Japan and other Asian countries, announced on Friday that it will take a full stake in cross-border marketing company Engawa, a subsidiary of Japanese PR and marketing firm Sunny Side Up (TSE: 2180). The price of the acquisition is not disclosed. Upon this, Engawa’s president and CEO Takanobu Ushiyama join the board of directors of AnyMind’s Japanese subsidiary AnyMind Japan. For Anymind, this will be the seven startup acquisition. Engawa was established in 2015 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Sunny Side Up, and then secured funding form Japanese ad production company TYO (subsequently merged with other ad production company AOI Pro. back in 2017). Engawa has been consisted of the team of Tokyo Weekender, an English-language news publication founded back in 1970, and the members from Sunny Side Up. The company has been helping SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) rooted in local regions through partnership with local governments across Japan. According to Japanese company database Initial, Engawa was valued at 680 million yen (about $6 million) as of the post-series A round back in September of 2018….
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese.
AnyMind Group (previously known as AdAsia Holdings), the startup developing and offering AI-based marketing solutions in Japan and other Asian countries, announced on Friday that it will take a full stake in cross-border marketing company Engawa, a subsidiary of Japanese PR and marketing firm Sunny Side Up (TSE: 2180). The price of the acquisition is not disclosed. Upon this, Engawa’s president and CEO Takanobu Ushiyama join the board of directors of AnyMind’s Japanese subsidiary AnyMind Japan. For Anymind, this will be the seven startup acquisition.
Engawa was established in 2015 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Sunny Side Up, and then secured funding form Japanese ad production company TYO (subsequently merged with other ad production company AOI Pro. back in 2017). Engawa has been consisted of the team of Tokyo Weekender, an English-language news publication founded back in 1970, and the members from Sunny Side Up. The company has been helping SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) rooted in local regions through partnership with local governments across Japan. According to Japanese company database Initial, Engawa was valued at 680 million yen (about $6 million) as of the post-series A round back in September of 2018.
In August 2019, AnyMind established a joint venture and Asia-focused influencer marketing agency called AnyUp with Sunny Side Up’s subsidiary Sunny Side Partners. AnyMind says potential synergies in business and human resources encouraged them to acquire Engawa. For the time being, it is expected that the acquisition will help AnyMind better reach their solutions to Engawa’s more than 700 clients such as small manufacturers and local producers across the country.
In an interview with Bridge, Engawa’s Ushiyama says,
When we think about how to maximize the potential for business growth in cross-border marketing, we believe that AnyMind is an ideal partner because of its huge digital assets. Since the further growth of Engawa is beneficial to our former parent company Sunny Side Up, the acquisition talks went went smoothly.
Kosuke Sogo, CEO of AnyMind, added,
AnyMind has a growing client base among large enterprises, but we have not yet been able to reach out to local governments and manufacturers in Japan where you will typically need a long-term and face-to-face-based sales effort. Engawa has many clients from small manufacturers and local producers across the country, which is extremely attractive for us.
In the field of influencer marketing, both AnyMind and Engawa have their own influencer network in Southeast Asia and China, respectively, and will be able to operate them in an integrated manner and add them to each other’s client proposal menus. AnyMind Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of AnyMind, has more than 100 employees, and Ushiyama’s addition to AnyMind Japan’s board of two managing directors (CEO Sogo plus Junki Kitajima, CEO of Grove, whose company was acquired by AnyMind earlier last year) is expected to strengthen the management structure.
Last year, AnyMind launched its out-of-home (OOH) ad business by rolling out digital signage across Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport, which will be the first milestone to build a network of digital signage in regional airports across the country. In view of helping strengthen the promotion and marketing solutions for local companies through Engawa, the expansion of this digital signage ad network all across regional airports in Japan will be also a tail wind for both companies.
Japan’s biotech firm Spiber secured $240M to build polymer production facility in US
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Spiber has been developing plant-based artificial protein fiber material called Brewed Protein. The Japanese startup announced on Wednesday that it has secured 25 billion yen (about $240 million) utilizing a value securitization structure. This funding round uses the company’s tangible and intangible assets as collateral to solicit funds from a wide range of investors, which allows them to get funds without making choices like debt financing or third-party allocation of shares which is likely to take time to negotiate with lenders or cause equity dilution. This round was arranged by Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities with participation from The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ as the initial lender and a credit investor while the names of the other investors participating have not been disclosed. Spiber signed a collaboration agreement with US-based grain producing major Archer-Daniels Linseed Company (NYSE:ADM) in September. The funds will be used to build a mass production system for brewed protein in the US in addition to research and development of new materials scheduled to launch in several years. Spiber was founded in 2007 as a spin-off from the Institute for Advanced Biosciences at Keio University in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture. Since its incorporating, the company has to…
Image credit: Spiber
Spiber has been developing plant-based artificial protein fiber material called Brewed Protein. The Japanese startup announced on Wednesday that it has secured 25 billion yen (about $240 million) utilizing a value securitization structure. This funding round uses the company’s tangible and intangible assets as collateral to solicit funds from a wide range of investors, which allows them to get funds without making choices like debt financing or third-party allocation of shares which is likely to take time to negotiate with lenders or cause equity dilution.
This round was arranged by Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities with participation from The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ as the initial lender and a credit investor while the names of the other investors participating have not been disclosed. Spiber signed a collaboration agreement with US-based grain producing major Archer-Daniels Linseed Company (NYSE:ADM) in September. The funds will be used to build a mass production system for brewed protein in the US in addition to research and development of new materials scheduled to launch in several years.
Spiber was founded in 2007 as a spin-off from the Institute for Advanced Biosciences at Keio University in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture. Since its incorporating, the company has to date secured an estimated amount of over 35 billion yen (about $340 million). In April of 2019, the company secured 5 billion yen ($48.4 million) in syndicated loans from The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Yamagata Bank, Shonai Bank, and Tsuruoka Shinkin Bank to develop a huge world-class plant for protein fermentation and purification operations in eastern Thailand (Rayong Province). The company is reportedly valued at over 111.5 yen ($1.08 billion).
Initially focused on spider silk which is said to be the strongest material on earth, the company had been developing a man-made synthetic fiber material called Qmonos. However, although the protein fibroin in spider silk is strong, it causes super shrinkage when wet, making it difficult to maintain the dimensional stability of products made from the material. Subsequently the startup succeeded to develop a protein fiber with high dimensional stability by removing the amino acid sequence features causing shrinkage from the fibroin gene, and rebranded Qmonos into Brewed Protein.
The new material is produced by microbial fermentation from plant-based sugars such as glucose and sucrose, which does not require any petroleum-derived material at all. It attracts huge attention because of many use cases: a microplastic-free and non-animal-derived material in the apparel industry, contributing to weight reduction in the logistics industry, a next-generation core material for artificial hair in the medical industry.
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Japan’s QD Laser, developer of retinal scanning displays, files for IPO
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Japanese startup QD Laser, the developer of retinal scanning displays called the Retissa series, announced on Monday that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on February 5 of 2021 with plans to offer 9,451,800 shares for public subscription and to sell 2,033,900 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 4,107,600 shares. The underwriting will be led by SMBC Nikko securities while QD Laser’s ticker code will be 6613. Based on the estimated issue price of 275 yen (about $2.65), the company will be valued at 9.51 billion yen (about $91.7 million). Its share price range will be released on January 20 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on January 21 and pricing on January 27. According to the consolidated statement as of March 2020, they posted revenue of 756.63 million yen ($7.3 million) with an ordinary loss of 1.23 billion yen ($11.8 million). QD Laser was established in 2006 as a spin-off from Fujitsu Laboratories where QD Laser’s founder and CEO Mitsuru Sugawara was previously quantum dot lasers. Using the company’s technology, images can be directly delivered onto the device wearer’s retina from a laser…
Image credit: QD Laser
Japanese startup QD Laser, the developer of retinal scanning displays called the Retissa series, announced on Monday that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on February 5 of 2021 with plans to offer 9,451,800 shares for public subscription and to sell 2,033,900 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 4,107,600 shares. The underwriting will be led by SMBC Nikko securities while QD Laser’s ticker code will be 6613.
Based on the estimated issue price of 275 yen (about $2.65), the company will be valued at 9.51 billion yen (about $91.7 million). Its share price range will be released on January 20 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on January 21 and pricing on January 27. According to the consolidated statement as of March 2020, they posted revenue of 756.63 million yen ($7.3 million) with an ordinary loss of 1.23 billion yen ($11.8 million).
QD Laser was established in 2006 as a spin-off from Fujitsu Laboratories where QD Laser’s founder and CEO Mitsuru Sugawara was previously quantum dot lasers. Using the company’s technology, images can be directly delivered onto the device wearer’s retina from a laser projector built inside the frame, and has the potential to improve the quality of life (QoL) of the visually impaired who are not totally blind but are forced to live in a blurred world. It is also expected to be applied to augmented reality and smart glasses.
Led by Japanese computer manufacturing giant Fujitsu (26.64% through their three funds, TSE:6702), the company’s major shareholders include Tokyo Century (TSE:8439, 13.02%), Mitsui & Co. Global Investment (12.45%), Axa Life Insurance (6.80%), QD Laser’s Sugawara (5.17%), Beyond Next Ventures (2.67%), Daiichi Life Insurance, Realtech Fund (2.66%), DG Ventures (2.36%), and Nikko-SBI Innovation Fund (2.36%).
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Japanese leading beverage can maker invents connected sprayer for drone
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In order to confront an issue, you have to “monitor” it and then “take action” to solve it. People do this process unconsciously on a daily basis, but the technical hurdles may become higher when you try to do all this remotely or automate tasks with robots. Many of small drones have been limited their functions to monitoring because their limited payload for pursuing longer flight times with limited battery capacity and securing agility during flight makes it difficult to mount complex moving parts needed for action. Toyo Seikan Group Holdings (TSE:5901), one of the world’s largest beverage container manufacturers, announced this week that it has developed Sabot for Drone, a remotely-controllable spraying device which can be attached to a drone to spray liquids and chemicals at high pressure. Since the liquid or chemical is filled into the can using the company’s aerosol packaging technology, there is no need to install a pump or other complicated mechanism on the drone. The product has a variety of applications but the company introduces several use cases such as exterminating a beehive in high places using chemicals, marking on the ground and walls, and anti-corrosion and waterproofing treatment by spraying resin. Since the…
In order to confront an issue, you have to “monitor” it and then “take action” to solve it. People do this process unconsciously on a daily basis, but the technical hurdles may become higher when you try to do all this remotely or automate tasks with robots.
Many of small drones have been limited their functions to monitoring because their limited payload for pursuing longer flight times with limited battery capacity and securing agility during flight makes it difficult to mount complex moving parts needed for action.
Toyo Seikan Group Holdings (TSE:5901), one of the world’s largest beverage container manufacturers, announced this week that it has developed Sabot for Drone, a remotely-controllable spraying device which can be attached to a drone to spray liquids and chemicals at high pressure. Since the liquid or chemical is filled into the can using the company’s aerosol packaging technology, there is no need to install a pump or other complicated mechanism on the drone.
The product has a variety of applications but the company introduces several use cases such as exterminating a beehive in high places using chemicals, marking on the ground and walls, and anti-corrosion and waterproofing treatment by spraying resin. Since the capacity of the sprayer is limited, it is not suitable for spraying pesticides over a wide area or for fire-fighting work, but it will save a lot of labor and shorten the time required for work that conventionally required blocking traffic and arranging an elevation work vehicle.
The product’s first model supports an SDK (software developer kit) by Chinese drone giant DJI and is fully compatible with DJI Matrice 200 series V2. The Tokyo-headquartered company claims it has chosen DJI because of its standardization and familiarity among many industrial drone choices. They are discussing with major construction companies and power companies the potential use of the device for their maintenance work while preparing for joint development of the contents of the sprayer with major chemical and paint manufacturers.
Established in 1917, Toyo Seikan launched an initiative called the Open up! Project last year in aim to encourage innovation and new developments for the next century. As one of the outcomes from the initiative, the Sabot device is named after “skipping unnecessary work that humans do not need to do” and also an anagram of Tobas (flying) in Japanese.
In September, Toyo Seikan joined the Series A round of Shiok Meats, a Singapore-based foodtech startup creating cell-cultured shrimp meat, which was the first investment in startups. Toyo Seikan claims that they want to work with Shiok Meats to help delivering the cultured shrimp meat and other alternative crustacean foods to dinner tables in Asia, a region facing social issues such as food and protein crises, climate change, and marine pollution.
Japan’s Slideflow, turns your slides into website in seconds, launches on Product Hunt
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Masaru Ikeda
Masaru Ikeda
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Bubble and Webflow are popular as low-code and no-code tools for building websites while WIX and Squarespace are thought better for creating simple pages. In Japan, we have recently seen that the developer of AI-powered website building assistant for engineers Front-End.Ai secured about $1 million US last week while landing page builder startup Peraichi announced in September that its 49% stake has been acquired by Japanese online printing and on-demand logistics startup Raksul (TSE:4384). And now, a new startup has emerged from Japan that aims to make it easier to build websites using the graphics tools we use every day such as Google Slides and PowerPoint (no mention of whether or not Keynote will be supported in the future, which is curious for me as a Macintosh user). Tokyo-based startup Yagocoro unveiled its latest product called Slideflow on Product Hunt on Saturday, which allows users to build websites using presentation slides from Google Slides and PowerPoint. The company is developing English and Japanese versions of the service in parallel, and expects to launch it in January next year. Yagocoro was launched in 2018 by Shinnosuke Ito and Masahiro Kawasaki, the founders of Laughtech (previously known as BitGather), who launched Japanese…
Bubble and Webflow are popular as low-code and no-code tools for building websites while WIX and Squarespace are thought better for creating simple pages. In Japan, we have recently seen that the developer of AI-powered website building assistant for engineers Front-End.Ai secured about $1 million US last week while landing page builder startup Peraichi announced in September that its 49% stake has been acquired by Japanese online printing and on-demand logistics startup Raksul (TSE:4384).
And now, a new startup has emerged from Japan that aims to make it easier to build websites using the graphics tools we use every day such as Google Slides and PowerPoint (no mention of whether or not Keynote will be supported in the future, which is curious for me as a Macintosh user).
Tokyo-based startup Yagocoro unveiled its latest product called Slideflow on Product Hunt on Saturday, which allows users to build websites using presentation slides from Google Slides and PowerPoint. The company is developing English and Japanese versions of the service in parallel, and expects to launch it in January next year.
Yagocoro was launched in 2018 by Shinnosuke Ito and Masahiro Kawasaki, the founders of Laughtech (previously known as BitGather), who launched Japanese ‘viral mills’ CuRAZY back in 2014. Laughtech was acquired by Japanese PR agency Vector (TSE:6058) in 2016, and CuRAZY continues to be operated by Smart Media which was merged the three web media operating companies acquired by Vector, including Laughtech. Subsequently, Ito and his team launched an offshore software development business in Vietnam, which triggered them to think about creating a service that can be used globally, and they started developing Slideflow.
Disclosure: Bridge is run by PR Times (TSE:3922), a subsidiary of Vector (TSE:6058).
Ito says,
It is easy to forget when we are immersed in the IT industry that there are still many people who feel that even WIX is difficult to use. Even business professionals working at globally-renowned consulting firms, who usually create business presentations with PowerPoint every day, come to me for an advice on how to build websites with WIX. I think there should be no big difference in the UX skill needed for both presentation slides and websites.
Given the fact that even WIX is still difficult for some people to use and it has no much variety in design templates (about only 600), Ito came up with an idea leveraging PowerPoint slides to create a website because the Microsoft tool is used by 500 million people globally which can help lowering the learning cost. Thanks to more than 320 billion slides available on the Internet, this approach may help them curate template designers more easily.
PowerPoint can also export slides in HTML format, but this is not enough functionality to create a website. Slideflow categorizes images and text in the slides by layer, and arranges them using HTML and CSS, however, this is not enough to support responsiveness, links, and forms, so they made it possible by integrating open source tool Webiny for the code generation process.
Ito continues:
Our target for the first year is to have 6,000 templates consisting of 10 pages each on average ready. We would like to differentiate our product from other tools like WIX in the number of templates while focusing on polishing user experience.
The platform’s detailed pricing structure has not yet been disclosed, but it appears to be based on a monthly subscription fee. Ito told us that their annual recurring revenue (ARR) after three years since the official launch is target around $10 million US. The company also plans to offer additional functions like website marketing, analytics, and e-commerce integration as well.
Yagocoro has secured a seed round of funding from B Dash Ventures, East Ventures, The SEED, and Advantage. Detailed financial terms have not been disclosed.
Japan’s Kaizen Platform, helping optimize website user experience, files for IPO
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Takeshi Hirano
Takeshi Hirano
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See the original story in Japanese. Japanese startup Kaizen Platform, offering website user interface improvement solutions, announced on Wednesday that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 22 with plans to offer 1,550,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 751,300 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 3,459,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho securities while Kaizen’s ticker code will be 4170. Its share price range will be released on December 3 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on December 7 and pricing on December 11. According to the consolidated statement as of December 2019, they posted revenue of 1.3 billion yen (about $12.5 million) with an ordinary loss of 249 million yen ($2.8 million). Based on the estimated issue price of 1,100 yen (about $10.6), the company will be valued at about 16.9 billion yen ($162 million). Kaizen Platform founded a Delaware company with establishing its global headquarters in San Francisco as well its Japan branch in Tokyo in March to April of 2013, followed by launching a website optimization solution back in August of the same year. In addition…
See the original story in Japanese.
Japanese startup Kaizen Platform, offering website user interface improvement solutions, announced on Wednesday that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 22 with plans to offer 1,550,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 751,300 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 3,459,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho securities while Kaizen’s ticker code will be 4170.
Its share price range will be released on December 3 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on December 7 and pricing on December 11. According to the consolidated statement as of December 2019, they posted revenue of 1.3 billion yen (about $12.5 million) with an ordinary loss of 249 million yen ($2.8 million). Based on the estimated issue price of 1,100 yen (about $10.6), the company will be valued at about 16.9 billion yen ($162 million).
Kaizen Platform founded a Delaware company with establishing its global headquarters in San Francisco as well its Japan branch in Tokyo in March to April of 2013, followed by launching a website optimization solution back in August of the same year. In addition to offering website optimization solutions, the company launched the Kaizen Video service as part of the Kaizen Ad business.
Kaizen Platform established a Japanese company and its subsidiary Kaizen Platform USA in April ofo 2017. During this process, the founding company was dissolved in a merger with the US subsidiary, In addition, the company established a joint venture with NTT Ad called DX Catalyst, making it an equity-method affiliate by acquiring its 49% stake in April this year.
In addition to helping clients optimize their websites, the company is now focused on creating client’s video clips utilizing existing content for affordable rates and fast turnaround. They disclosed several KPIs they have achieved as of Q3 this year: 772 companies, 16,480 registered users (clients and professionals), and 2,124,000 yen as ARPU (average revenue per user).
Led by founder and CEO Kenji Sudo (32.43%), the company’s major shareholders include Eight Roads Ventures Japan (18.41%), GREE Ventures (now known as Strive, 9.39%), co-founder and CTO Toshimasa Ishibashi (8.11%), NTT Ad (7.29%), SBI Investment (4.59%), YJ Capital (3.82%), Colopl (3.05%), Dai Nippon Printing (2.88%), and GMO Venture Partners (1.91%).
See also:
- Japan’s Kaizen Platform, online experience optimizer, secures $8 million in series B
- Japan’s growth hacking startup Kaizen Platform appoints new CFO
- Japanese growth hacking startup Kaizen Platform raises $5 million
- Kaizen Platform’s A/B test service wins BDash Camp Osaka pitch event
- Japanese UI improvement platform planBCD raises $800,000
Japanese energy switching startup Enechange files for IPO
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Masaru Ikeda
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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Enechange, the Japanese startup offering an electricity and gas switching platform for consumers under the same name, announced on Wednesday that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 23 with plans to offer 50,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 57,000 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 330,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho securities while Enechange’s ticker code will be 4169. Based on the estimated issue price of 520 yen (about $5), the company will be valued at 2.99 billion yen (about 28.7 million). Its share price range will be released on December 3 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on December 7 and pricing on December 11. According to the consolidated statement as of December 2019, they posted revenue of 1.27 billion yen ($12.2 million) with an ordinary loss of 238 million yen ($2.3 million). Enechange was co-founded in April 2015 by serial entrepreneurs CEO Yohei Kiguchi COO Ippei Arita. The company offers a price comparison site for electricity, a phone service where customer representatives can assist consumers to choose the…
See the original story in Japanese.
Tokyo-based Enechange, the Japanese startup offering an electricity and gas switching platform for consumers under the same name, announced on Wednesday that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 23 with plans to offer 50,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 57,000 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 330,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho securities while Enechange’s ticker code will be 4169.
Based on the estimated issue price of 520 yen (about $5), the company will be valued at 2.99 billion yen (about 28.7 million). Its share price range will be released on December 3 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on December 7 and pricing on December 11. According to the consolidated statement as of December 2019, they posted revenue of 1.27 billion yen ($12.2 million) with an ordinary loss of 238 million yen ($2.3 million).
Enechange was co-founded in April 2015 by serial entrepreneurs CEO Yohei Kiguchi COO Ippei Arita. The company offers a price comparison site for electricity, a phone service where customer representatives can assist consumers to choose the best electricity provider, as well as offering energy providers with cloud-based platforms such as EMAP (digital marketing SaaS) and SMAP (smartmeter-powered SaaS).
Led by CEO Kiguchi (23.86%), the company’s major shareholders include COO Arita (10.08%), Yasuyuki Ueno (8.00%), B Dash Ventures (7.62%), Energy Station Company Limited (7.61%), Bonds Investment Group (4.57%), EPCO (TSE:2311, 3.81%), Daiwa Energy Infrastructure (3.43%) and Spiral Capital (3.05%).
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Japanese robo-advisory startup WealthNavi files for IPO valued at over $470M
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19,892,856
Masaru Ikeda
Masaru Ikeda
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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based WealthNavi, the company offering a technology-based asset management service under the same name, announced that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 22 with plans to offer 2.5 million shares for public subscription and to sell 1,559,400 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 13,094,300 shares. The underwriting will be led by SBI securities while WealthNavi’s ticker code will be 7342. Based on the estimated issue price of 1,100 yen (about $10.5), the company will be valued at 49.5 billion yen (about $474.5 million). Its share price range will be released on December 3 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on December 7 and pricing on December 11. According to the consolidated statement as of December 2019, they posted revenue of 1.55 billion yen ($14.8 million) with an ordinary loss of 2.06 billion yen ($19.7 million). WealthNavi was founded back in April of 2015 by CEO Kazuhisa Shibayama who previously worked at finance ministries of Japan and UK respectively after graduating from the University of Tokyo. After leaving the public sector, he joined McKinsey to risk and…
See the original story in Japanese.
Tokyo-based WealthNavi, the company offering a technology-based asset management service under the same name, announced that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 22 with plans to offer 2.5 million shares for public subscription and to sell 1,559,400 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 13,094,300 shares. The underwriting will be led by SBI securities while WealthNavi’s ticker code will be 7342.
Based on the estimated issue price of 1,100 yen (about $10.5), the company will be valued at 49.5 billion yen (about $474.5 million). Its share price range will be released on December 3 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on December 7 and pricing on December 11. According to the consolidated statement as of December 2019, they posted revenue of 1.55 billion yen ($14.8 million) with an ordinary loss of 2.06 billion yen ($19.7 million).
WealthNavi was founded back in April of 2015 by CEO Kazuhisa Shibayama who previously worked at finance ministries of Japan and UK respectively after graduating from the University of Tokyo. After leaving the public sector, he joined McKinsey to risk and asset management projects for institutional investors.
The robo-advisory service provides a fully-automated asset management platform so that users can enjoy long-term and diversified investments. The company has now acquired 340,000 accounts and managed assets worth over 310 billion yen ($3.0 billion). The company was ranked in 10 of the most valued private companies in Japan by Nikkei last year.
WealthNavi is well known for having raised funds from more than 20 VC firms. Led by CEO Shibayama (24.84%), the company’s major shareholders include SBI Holdings and SBI Investment (13.5%), GREE Ventures (9.18%, now known as Strive), Infinity Venture Partners (6.39%, now known as Infinity Ventures), and Global Brain (5.96%, Global Brain also joins co-investment with Sony Financial Ventures), DBJ Capital (2.80%), and UTokyo Innovation Platform (2.40%).
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Japan’s Yappli, developer of drag-and-drop tool for building mobile apps, files for IPO
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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Yappli, the Japanese startup that provides a mobile app development platform under the same name, announced that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 22 with plans to offer 350,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 726,600 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 4,495,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho securities while Yappli’s ticker code will be 4168. Based on the estimated issue price of 2,960 yen (about $28.4) and a total number of 11,663,600 shares in the market including public subscription, the company will be valued at 34.5 billion yen ($330 million). Its share price range will be released on December 2 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on December 4 and pricing on December 10. According to the consolidated statement as of December 2019, they posted revenue of 1.71 billion yen ($16.4 million) with a net loss of 798 million yen ($7.6 million). The company was founded in February of 2013 under its original name of Fastmedia. It launched the Yappli no-code application development system which allows both app developers and…
See the original story in Japanese.
Tokyo-based Yappli, the Japanese startup that provides a mobile app development platform under the same name, announced that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 22 with plans to offer 350,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 726,600 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 4,495,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho securities while Yappli’s ticker code will be 4168.
Based on the estimated issue price of 2,960 yen (about $28.4) and a total number of 11,663,600 shares in the market including public subscription, the company will be valued at 34.5 billion yen ($330 million). Its share price range will be released on December 2 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on December 4 and pricing on December 10. According to the consolidated statement as of December 2019, they posted revenue of 1.71 billion yen ($16.4 million) with a net loss of 798 million yen ($7.6 million).
The company was founded in February of 2013 under its original name of Fastmedia. It launched the Yappli no-code application development system which allows both app developers and non-developers to develop their apps without programming skills.
Their revenue comes from initial support fee as well as monthly subscription consisting of a base usage fee, paid options, and billing based on the number of devices that receive push notifications through the app that users have developed. As of September 2020, the platform has been adopted to develop 527 apps while these apps have been downloaded about 65 million times in total. The platform’s churn rate has remained below 1% since December of 2016 and has been seeing 0.88% for the latest quarter.
Led by both Co-founder / CEO Yasufumi Ihara and Managing Director Masafumi Sano (20.75% respectively), the company’s major shareholders include YJ Capital (18.58%), Eight Roads Ventures Japan (10.02%), Globis Capital Partners (15.74%), Co-founder Masumi Kuroda (7.33％), Salesforce (3.71%), Itochu Technology Ventures (1.59％), and angel investor Shogo Kawada (0.42%).
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Japanese e-commerce analytics startup Plaid files for IPO
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Tokyo-based Plaid, the Japanese startup offering a real-time data analysis of website visitors and mobile app users called Karte, announced that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 17 with plans to offer 1,522,000 shares for public subscription and to sell about 716,000 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 12,817,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho securities while Plaid’s ticker code will be 4165. Based on the estimated issue price of 1,400 and a total number of 14,339,000 shares in the market including public subscription, the company will be valued at 51.7 billion yen (about $500 million). Its share price range will be released on November 30 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on December 1 and pricing on December 4. According to the consolidated statement as of September 2020, they posted revenue of 2.94 billion yen (about $28.3 million) with an ordinary profit of 678.7 million yen (about $6.5 million). The company was founded in October of 2011 by Kenta Kurahashi who previously worked at Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten. Having set e-commerce consulting and app development as their original business…
Image credit: Plaid
Tokyo-based Plaid, the Japanese startup offering a real-time data analysis of website visitors and mobile app users called Karte, announced that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 17 with plans to offer 1,522,000 shares for public subscription and to sell about 716,000 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 12,817,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho securities while Plaid’s ticker code will be 4165.
Based on the estimated issue price of 1,400 and a total number of 14,339,000 shares in the market including public subscription, the company will be valued at 51.7 billion yen (about $500 million). Its share price range will be released on November 30 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on December 1 and pricing on December 4. According to the consolidated statement as of September 2020, they posted revenue of 2.94 billion yen (about $28.3 million) with an ordinary profit of 678.7 million yen (about $6.5 million).
The company was founded in October of 2011 by Kenta Kurahashi who previously worked at Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten. Having set e-commerce consulting and app development as their original business focus at first, the company launched the Karte analytics platform back in March of 2015 which has now become a main cash cow. The platform allows companies to collect and analyze behavioral data of their visitors and loyal users by integrating into websites and mobile apps. Using these collected and analyzed resources, companies can conduct personalized marketing strategy in communicating with users via website, mobile app, e-mail, Line and other chat tools.
Their SaaS business has been steadily growing, with a three-year average annual growth rate of 70.3% in sales from September of 2017 to September of 2020. In addition to e-retailers in the fashion and health beauty industry (5.9%), the Karte has attracted many other service owners from finance, insurance, settlement, human resources services, real estate, and media portal websites, which resulted in acquiring 710 websites and 474 companies as their users in total as of September.
Led by founder and CEO Kurahashi (29.65%), the company’s major shareholders include CPO Naoki Shibayama (19.78%), Eight Roads Capital Advisors (15.89%), Femto Growth Capital (14.9% through two different funds), Google (3.60%), CTO Yuki Makino (1.52%), operating officer Hiroyuki Shimizu, Mitsui & Co. (1.26%), and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital (1.26%).
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Japan’s handmade item C2C startup Creema files for IPO
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Tokyo-based Creema, the Japanese startup behind C2C (consumer-to-consumer) marketplace for handmade items under the same name, announced that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on November 27 with plans to offer 113,000 shares for public subscription and to sell about 167,200 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 1,559,700 shares. The underwriting will be led by SBI securities while Creema’s ticker code will be 4017. Based on the estimated IPO price of 3,250 yen (about $31) a share, the company’s market valuation will be about 19.8 billion yen (about $189.1 million). Its share price range will be released on November 19 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on November 11 and pricing on November 18. According to the consolidated statement as of February 2020, they posted revenue of 1.49 billion yen (about $14.2 million) with an ordinary profit of 70.6 million yen (about $674,000). Creema was founded in 2009 by Kotaro Marubayashi, who worked as a manager for a subsidiary of Japanese Internet service company Septeni Holdings after engaging in the music industry when he was attending Keio University. The company launched the handmade item…
Image credit: Creema
Tokyo-based Creema, the Japanese startup behind C2C (consumer-to-consumer) marketplace for handmade items under the same name, announced that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved.
The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on November 27 with plans to offer 113,000 shares for public subscription and to sell about 167,200 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 1,559,700 shares. The underwriting will be led by SBI securities while Creema’s ticker code will be 4017.
Based on the estimated IPO price of 3,250 yen (about $31) a share, the company’s market valuation will be about 19.8 billion yen (about $189.1 million).
Its share price range will be released on November 19 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on November 11 and pricing on November 18. According to the consolidated statement as of February 2020, they posted revenue of 1.49 billion yen (about $14.2 million) with an ordinary profit of 70.6 million yen (about $674,000).
Creema was founded in 2009 by Kotaro Marubayashi, who worked as a manager for a subsidiary of Japanese Internet service company Septeni Holdings after engaging in the music industry when he was attending Keio University. The company launched the handmade item marketplace back in 2010.
It has over 200,000 professional and semi-professional creators selling over 10 million original craft items. In order to increase engagement with sellers and buyers, the company also hosts an annual large-scale showcase event and has flagship stores in several cities across Japan.
Led by founder and CEO Marubayashi (31.89%), the company’s major shareholders include Global Capital Partners (13.7% through two funds), KDDI (11.9% through two funds), Animarism Group (9.1%, Marubayashi’s asset management company), Global Brain (7.1%), and Yuki Ohashi (6.92%, Creema co-founder and managing director).
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- Japan’s handmade item marketplace Creema expands into Taiwan, Hong Kong
- Japan’s handmade item marketplace Creema raises $10M to win fierce competition
- Handmade item marketplace Anders brings new Japanese-flavored designs every Monday
- Japan’s Creema launches iOS app, gives users instant access to handmade items sellers
- Japan’s handmade item marketplace Creema fundraises $1 million from KDDI
Japanese male skincare brand Bulk Homme raises over $14M to accelerate global expansion
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Tokyo-based Bulk Homme, the Japanese online subscription startup behind male skincare brand under the same name, announced today it has secured 1.5 billion yen (about $14.1 million US) in the latest round. Participating investors are Nissay Capital, local department store chain Marui Group (TSE:8252), Dimension (investment arm of Japanese consulting firm Dreram Incubator), and Kiraboshi Capital. The amount raised includes debt financing from the Japan Finance Corporation and other financial institutions. This round follows 500 million yen in December 2018 and 300 million yen in November 2017. Nissay Capital and Marui Group participated in past funding rounds respectively. Bulk Homme said it will use the funds to further strengthen its domestic marketing efforts, strengthen its CRM department and promote global expansion. The company already has operations in Taiwan, China, South Korea, the UK and France, planning to expand into Southeast Asia, Europe and the US markets. Bulk Homme started its business as part of the company’s founder’s father’s company back in 2012. Launched in 2013, the skincare brand offers a variety of products at their online store as well as retailers and hair salons all across Japan. The business was then incorporated in May of 2017.
Tokyo-based Bulk Homme, the Japanese online subscription startup behind male skincare brand under the same name, announced today it has secured 1.5 billion yen (about $14.1 million US) in the latest round. Participating investors are Nissay Capital, local department store chain Marui Group (TSE:8252), Dimension (investment arm of Japanese consulting firm Dreram Incubator), and Kiraboshi Capital. The amount raised includes debt financing from the Japan Finance Corporation and other financial institutions.
This round follows 500 million yen in December 2018 and 300 million yen in November 2017. Nissay Capital and Marui Group participated in past funding rounds respectively.
Bulk Homme said it will use the funds to further strengthen its domestic marketing efforts, strengthen its CRM department and promote global expansion. The company already has operations in Taiwan, China, South Korea, the UK and France, planning to expand into Southeast Asia, Europe and the US markets.
Bulk Homme started its business as part of the company’s founder’s father’s company back in 2012. Launched in 2013, the skincare brand offers a variety of products at their online store as well as retailers and hair salons all across Japan. The business was then incorporated in May of 2017.
