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San Francisco startup brings space funerals to Japan

Masaru Ikeda 2013.10.03

See the original story in Japanese. When loved ones pass away, sometimes we might imagine that they became a star shining in the night sky. But one startup is looking to make this idea a reality. San Francisco-based Elysium Space, a company providing space memorial services, announced it has launched its business in the Japanese market on Monday, following its US launch back in August. Elysium delivers the ashes of a deceased family member into the space for as little as $1,990. You can even send the ashes of your pet as well. Coinciding with its launch in Japan, we had a chance to speak with ex-NASA engineer and the startup’s founder and CEO Thomas Civeit. He says they plan to have their own spacecraft but are still exploring better ways to deliver the ashes. At this point, they plan to partner with space transport companies like Space X, asking them to launch a spacecraft for delivery from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He explained: There are many options for rocket launch sites but they are typically surrounded by off-limits areas. For our customers who are willing to watch the launch scene, I believe Florida is the best of them….

See the original story in Japanese.

When loved ones pass away, sometimes we might imagine that they became a star shining in the night sky. But one startup is looking to make this idea a reality.

San Francisco-based Elysium Space, a company providing space memorial services, announced it has launched its business in the Japanese market on Monday, following its US launch back in August. Elysium delivers the ashes of a deceased family member into the space for as little as $1,990. You can even send the ashes of your pet as well.

Coinciding with its launch in Japan, we had a chance to speak with ex-NASA engineer and the startup’s founder and CEO Thomas Civeit. He says they plan to have their own spacecraft but are still exploring better ways to deliver the ashes. At this point, they plan to partner with space transport companies like Space X, asking them to launch a spacecraft for delivery from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He explained:

There are many options for rocket launch sites but they are typically surrounded by off-limits areas. For our customers who are willing to watch the launch scene, I believe Florida is the best of them.

Disney World is located nearby, where you can visit with your family members after watching the launch. It may be possible to partner with travel agencies to arrange a tour having those destinations.

The launch scene will be live-streamed as well as recorded so that family can watch without visiting the launch site. He adds:

A funeral service in space is not a new concept at all. What’s innovative here is that we can provide it for as little as US$1,990.

There are space-focused ventures elsewhere but most of them are government funded. In contrast, our company is completely funded from private investors.

We also asked about possible concerns people may have in Japan (should they fall from space), as water burial is illegal here. But it seems their service would not result in any legal trouble since the spacecraft would be launched from the US.

The company has already introduced mobile apps for iOS and Android, where you can preview the kind of experience you will get through the service. In addition to accepting applications via its website, Elysium is in talk with Japanese funeral services for potential partnerships.

thomas-benjamin-naruo — From the left: Benjamin Joffe (Director of Communication),
Thomas Civeit (CEO),
Naruo Kanemoto (Director of Business Development)

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Korean car-navigation startup raises $2.7M from CyberAgent Ventures, other investors

Masaru Ikeda 2013.10.02

Korea’s beSUCCESS reported on Monday that Seoul-based LOC&ALL, the startup behind car navigation app Kimgisa, has raised $3 billion Korean won (approximately $2.7 million) from Japan’s CyberAgent Ventures and two Korean investment firms, Neoplux and Partners Venture Capital. Prior to this funding, the company raised seed funding of 1 billion won ($930,000) from Partners Venture Capital in January. With these new funds, they plan to intensify their engineering and marketing efforts with the initial goal of expanding to Japan, with Mainland China and Indonesia to follow later. Kimgisa is a location-based app for iOS and Android that acts as a sort of touch-screen sat-nav device. Since its launch back in 2010, it has acquired more than 5 million users despite the fact that major Korean mobile carriers have similar apps installed by default on their smartphones. The company projects that its primary revenue source to come from big data, an accumulation of user information including their destinations. They are also planning to sell advertising opportunities to Korean companies like Poing (restaurant booking), GooDoc (hospital finder), Saltlux (big data solution) and Korean web portal Naver. The company was founded back in May of 2010 by three Busan natives: Jonghwan Park, Wontae…

Korea’s beSUCCESS reported on Monday that Seoul-based LOC&ALL, the startup behind car navigation app Kimgisa, has raised $3 billion Korean won (approximately $2.7 million) from Japan’s CyberAgent Ventures and two Korean investment firms, Neoplux and Partners Venture Capital. Prior to this funding, the company raised seed funding of 1 billion won ($930,000) from Partners Venture Capital in January. With these new funds, they plan to intensify their engineering and marketing efforts with the initial goal of expanding to Japan, with Mainland China and Indonesia to follow later.

Kimgisa is a location-based app for iOS and Android that acts as a sort of touch-screen sat-nav device. Since its launch back in 2010, it has acquired more than 5 million users despite the fact that major Korean mobile carriers have similar apps installed by default on their smartphones.

The company projects that its primary revenue source to come from big data, an accumulation of user information including their destinations. They are also planning to sell advertising opportunities to Korean companies like Poing (restaurant booking), GooDoc (hospital finder), Saltlux (big data solution) and Korean web portal Naver.

The company was founded back in May of 2010 by three Busan natives: Jonghwan Park, Wontae Kim, and Myeongjin Sin, and all of whom previously conducted studies on location-based services at KTIT, the R&D body of Korea Telecom. It has hired many engineers from KOSDAQ-listed mobile solution provider Point-i.

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Japan’s Mixi acquires Line’s match-making subsidiary for $10.9M

Rick Martin 2013.10.02

Japanese social networking giant Mixi has acquired Line’s subsidiary Diverse, a company focusing on the marriage business and match-matching, for 1.07 billion yen (about 10.9 million dollars). Diverse is an entity that has been around since 2000, perhaps best known for running its match-making site YouBride.jp, which currently has more than 780,000 members, with 66% men and 34% women [1]. According to YouBride’s own figures, their female membership skews a little younger than their male membership (see chart below). Mixi will acquire all shares of Diverse, which will officially split off from Line in December. But Diverse will proceed with further development on its own independently. For Mixi, this acquisition means that its business portfolio is growing increasingly diverse in recent months. Readers may recall that back in September we featured six of their mobile applications, including Nohana, which was spun off by the company in August. [Via Livedoor News] Checked at the time of writing. ↩

Japanese social networking giant Mixi has acquired Line’s subsidiary Diverse, a company focusing on the marriage business and match-matching, for 1.07 billion yen (about 10.9 million dollars).

Diverse is an entity that has been around since 2000, perhaps best known for running its match-making site YouBride.jp, which currently has more than 780,000 members, with 66% men and 34% women [1]. According to YouBride’s own figures, their female membership skews a little younger than their male membership (see chart below).

Mixi will acquire all shares of Diverse, which will officially split off from Line in December. But Diverse will proceed with further development on its own independently.

For Mixi, this acquisition means that its business portfolio is growing increasingly diverse in recent months. Readers may recall that back in September we featured six of their mobile applications, including Nohana, which was spun off by the company in August.

[Via Livedoor News]

Checked at the time of writing. ↩

news

Japan’s cloud-based invoicing platform Misoca raises $300,000

Junya Mori 2013.10.02

See the original story in Japanese. Nagoya-based Standfirm, the startup behind cloud-based invoicing platform Misoca, recently announced that it has raised 30 million yen (about $300,000) from Incubate Fund. The platform lets you to edit and manage estimates, invoices, statements of delivery using a handy dashboard. You can even ask the startup to print and mail these items to your clients on your behalf. With these funds, the company plans to intensify hiring and marketing efforts. Their upcoming focus areas will be: Starting inbound marketing efforts Improving user experience Integrating with CRM or ERP solution services Develop an entirely online platform to deliver of invoices/estimates. Since their launch back in June of 2011, Misoca has acquired more than 8,000 users, and more than 700 of them are using the service on a monthly basis.

See the original story in Japanese.

Nagoya-based Standfirm, the startup behind cloud-based invoicing platform Misoca, recently announced that it has raised 30 million yen (about $300,000) from Incubate Fund.

The platform lets you to edit and manage estimates, invoices, statements of delivery using a handy dashboard. You can even ask the startup to print and mail these items to your clients on your behalf. With these funds, the company plans to intensify hiring and marketing efforts. Their upcoming focus areas will be:

Starting inbound marketing efforts
Improving user experience
Integrating with CRM or ERP solution services
Develop an entirely online platform to deliver of invoices/estimates.

Since their launch back in June of 2011, Misoca has acquired more than 8,000 users, and more than 700 of them are using the service on a monthly basis.

news

Japan’s Stulio is a flea market app for fashionistas

Yukari Mitsuhashi 2013.10.02

For a while now, we’ve seen much hype around mobile flea market apps in the Japanese startup space. Many companies are eager to grab a piece of this second-hand clothing market, as we see increasing demand as people transitioning to mobile from desktop auction websites such as Yahoo Auction and Mobaoku. Stulio is a flea market app that is used by fashionistas and celebrities. Stulio is one such flea market app. It started off as a photo-sharing app, and at the end of September the company announced its jump to become a fashion e-commerce app. Users can purchase each others’ used items as well as exclusive items by popular models and celebrities. In addition to selling used clothes, the app also sells new clothes from fashion brands such as Wildfox and Moussy. The company behind Stulio is a joint venture of Enigmo, Stulio. Enigmo went public in June of last year, is the operator of Buyma. That service has 40,000 users (as of June 2013) from all over the world who can function as buyers, acting as a means to access to high-end global brands for more affordable prices than department stores. We had a chance to speak with the…

For a while now, we’ve seen much hype around mobile flea market apps in the Japanese startup space. Many companies are eager to grab a piece of this second-hand clothing market, as we see increasing demand as people transitioning to mobile from desktop auction websites such as Yahoo Auction and Mobaoku.

Stulio is a flea market app that is used by fashionistas and celebrities.

Stulio is one such flea market app. It started off as a photo-sharing app, and at the end of September the company announced its jump to become a fashion e-commerce app. Users can purchase each others’ used items as well as exclusive items by popular models and celebrities.

In addition to selling used clothes, the app also sells new clothes from fashion brands such as Wildfox and Moussy.

The company behind Stulio is a joint venture of Enigmo, Stulio. Enigmo went public in June of last year, is the operator of Buyma. That service has 40,000 users (as of June 2013) from all over the world who can function as buyers, acting as a means to access to high-end global brands for more affordable prices than department stores.

We had a chance to speak with the CEO of Stulio, Hirokuni Miyaji. He elaborates on the pivot of the app.

Stulio was initially developed by Enigmo and I took over back in July of 2012. I had always wanted to develop a flea market app so it was a great opportunity. To describe it in simple terms, Stulio is a flea market app that is used by fashionistas and celebrities.

The updated version of the app was released in September where we added official accounts by popular models and brands. What differentiates our app from other flea market apps is that the average price of sold items are around 30,000 yen to 50,000 yen which is much higher compared to other apps.

Stulio’s strategy to acquiring more users is to be active offline and to leverage a sort of Ameba-like tactic by having fashion influencers join, which then helps them reach the mainstream. The company recently opened a pop-up shop at Lafore Harajyuku where it held a renewal party with many notable guests.

Miyaji says the company is going to focus on building a fashion platform for now. But in the near future, it plans to launch its own line of fashion brand as well as expand to the wider Asian market.

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