The RealReal is an online luxury fashion consignment store that lets users buy and sell items. The marketplace was initially launched back in 2011 in the US, and they established a Japanese version last year coinciding with investment from Infinity Venture Partners.
The RealReal Japan, Inc. announced yesterday that it has appointed Kiyotaka Fujii as its new CEO. He is known for having served as the CEO for the Japanese subsidiaries of many international firms such as SAP, Louis Vuitton, and Booz Allen Hamilton. He is currently working as the Japan head for London-based taxi startup Hailo.
In this space, Active Sonar (backed by B Dash Ventures) launched an online consignment store called Reclo earlier this month. So this sector could represent a hot new trend in Japanese e-commerce, following the recent rush of flea market apps like Mercari and Fril.
This is a part of our coverage of the Japan New Economy Summit 2014. You can follow our updates on Twitter as well at @thebridge_e. On day two of the New Economy Summit here in Tokyo last week, we heard a panel about how venture capitalists can help entrepreneurs both here in Japan and abroad. Moderated by Daisuke Iwase, the president and COO of Lifenet Life Insurance Company, the session included: George Kellerman, managing partner and fire chief at 500 Startups Akio Tanaka, partner at Infinity Ventures LLP David Lee, co-founder and managing partner at SV Angel SV Angel’s David Lee kicked off the session by making a brief introduction to his firm. Since its launch back in 2009, SV Angel have been investing in tech notable startups including Twitter, Pinterest, Square, Dropbox, and Airbnb in their early stages. Akio Tanaka introduced Infinity Venture Partners’ recent activities in nurturing the start ecosystem in China. He gave us a look at the Chinese answer to Angellist, 36kr (one of their portfolio startups), as well as their recently established startup hub in Beijing, TechTemple. To accelerate the startup ecosystem in Japan, he emphasized that large companies should play a key role. In…
From the left: David Lee (SV Angel), Akio Tanaka (Infinity Venture Partners), George Kellerman (500startups)
On day two of the New Economy Summit here in Tokyo last week, we heard a panel about how venture capitalists can help entrepreneurs both here in Japan and abroad. Moderated by Daisuke Iwase, the president and COO of Lifenet Life Insurance Company, the session included:
George Kellerman, managing partner and fire chief at 500 Startups
Akio Tanaka, partner at Infinity Ventures LLP
David Lee, co-founder and managing partner at SV Angel
SV Angel’s David Lee
SV Angel’s David Lee kicked off the session by making a brief introduction to his firm. Since its launch back in 2009, SV Angel have been investing in tech notable startups including Twitter, Pinterest, Square, Dropbox, and Airbnb in their early stages.
Infinity Venture Partners’ Akio Tanaka
Akio Tanaka introduced Infinity Venture Partners’ recent activities in nurturing the start ecosystem in China. He gave us a look at the Chinese answer to Angellist, 36kr (one of their portfolio startups), as well as their recently established startup hub in Beijing, TechTemple.
To accelerate the startup ecosystem in Japan, he emphasized that large companies should play a key role. In the US, such companies have been helping startups by circulating capital and human resources around the ecosystem. Even in China, larger organizations such as Baidu and Tencent are investing in tech startups more and more rather than buying them out or copying their business models.
500startups’ George Kellerman
500 Startups’ George Kellerman says that his firm has invested in more than 700 companies in the last four years. Noting that established companies in Japan reserve as much as 150 trillion yen (about $1.5 trillion) as their retained earnings, he insisted that they have to put at least 0.1% of it towards accelerating the startup ecosystem. That could either be by acquiring startups, forming funds, or investing in existing investment funds. Another important effort needed for the ecosystem can be made by inviting more women to the workplace, he says.
Addressing a question about how investors can help entrepreneurs, Lee said that one of the most important roles for investors is to serve as a mentor and role model:
In addition to providing money, investors need to help entrepreneurs hire good people, and advise with their business development and overall business operations, since younger entrepreneurs typically don’t have management experience.
Kellerman added:
A lot of VC people have operating background from the tech industry. My founder Dave McClure previously worked with PayPal as head of engineering, and I also worked with Yahoo and Dell. For investors, money is the easy part. That’s a commodity. Investors have to pass on their knowledge of operational experience to startups.
This is a part of our coverage of the Japan New Economy Summit 2014. You can follow our updates on Twitter as well at @thebridge_e. On day two of the New Economy Summit here in Tokyo last week, we had a chance hear a panel discuss the benefits that Silicon Valley can have for Japanese entrepreneurs. This session was moderated by Gen Isayama, co-founder and CEO of WIL (World Innovation Lab), and the participating speakers included: Noriyuki Matsuda, CEO of Sourcenext Hironobu Yoshikawa, CEO and co-founder of Treasure Data Hitoshi Hokamura, chairman of Evernote Japan Satoshi Sugie, CEO and co-founder of Whill [1] Recently more Japanese investors and entrepreneurs have been moving to Silicon Valley. In order to get to the bottom of this trend, Isayama asked the panelists why they set up bases in Silicon Valley. Japanese software distribution company Sourcenext established a local subsidiary in Silicon Valley back in 2012, and has partnered with notable companies to distribute packaged editions of their software products. Since that office opened, Matsuda has spent more than a half of his time in Silicon Valley. He explained: I had no option but to come to Silicon Valley by myself. I used to…
From the left: Hitoshi Hokamura (Evernote Japan), Hironobu Yoshikawa (Treasure Data), Noriyuki Matsuda (Sourcenext), Satoshi Sugie (Whill)
On day two of the New Economy Summit here in Tokyo last week, we had a chance hear a panel discuss the benefits that Silicon Valley can have for Japanese entrepreneurs. This session was moderated by Gen Isayama, co-founder and CEO of WIL (World Innovation Lab), and the participating speakers included:
Noriyuki Matsuda, CEO of Sourcenext
Hironobu Yoshikawa, CEO and co-founder of Treasure Data
Recently more Japanese investors and entrepreneurs have been moving to Silicon Valley. In order to get to the bottom of this trend, Isayama asked the panelists why they set up bases in Silicon Valley.
Japanese software distribution company Sourcenext established a local subsidiary in Silicon Valley back in 2012, and has partnered with notable companies to distribute packaged editions of their software products. Since that office opened, Matsuda has spent more than a half of his time in Silicon Valley. He explained:
I had no option but to come to Silicon Valley by myself. I used to make having short trips there, but I subsequently figured out that it’s difficult to arrange appointments with locals unless I have a base there. During the several months that I’ve been there, we made a lot of good partnerships. So finally I decided to hand my previous role at headquarters over to some reliable people and I started living in Silicon Valley.
Sourcenext’s Noriyuki Matsuda
The discussion moved on to Hokamura-san, who is known to have worked at Apple as director of marketing in the early 1990s when it was far less common for Japanese businessmen to work in Silicon Valley. He looks back at that time, explaining:
I had no intention to launch a business during the time. Why do I still stay there? Maybe because I can meet many exciting people. In Japan, I think we need to consume more of our energy on trivial tasks.
Evernote Japan’s Hitoshi Hokamura
Prior to launching his next-gen wheelchair startup, Sugie previously worked at Nissan, and also as a Japanese teacher for non-Japanese speakers. He explained his relocation:
Compared to the electric vehicle industry, the US market is 15 times larger than that of Japan. If you look at the number of vehicles sold annually, it’s 300,000 in the US versus 20,000 in Japan. So we decided to launch our first prototype in Silicon Valley. The area has a larger base of early adopters and it’s easier to arrange interviews with people, including investors and consumers.
Whill’s Satoshi Sugie
Yoshikawa previously worked with the investment arm of Japanese trading company Mitsui & Co. Isayama asked him why he abandoned such a good position to launch a startup. Yoshikawa explained:
Since I was investing in tech companies, it was natural for me to be in Silicon Valley. But I subsequently found huge potential in big data, so I launched a startup doing that business by myself.
Treasure Data’s Hironobu Yoshikawa
Isayama also asked about the challenges of doing business in Silicon Valley. Wheel’s Sugie confessed he had many difficulties hiring local talent.
Hiring is so hard in the US. When we interview potential employees, they try to sell themselves saying “I’m very confident I can fill a role at your company” or “My skills are a great fit for your company.” It’s not like Japan where employers can believe in a resumé from an interviewee. We definitely need to speak to at least three people that they have worked with before prior to hiring. I think there’s a huge cultural gap around hiring.
Sugie wrapped up the session by speaking about the attraction of Silicon Valley and encouraged audience members to launch their business there:
Silicon Valley is obviously awesome. But the geography doesn’t matter so much. Europe is great. China is also great. I think the mindset that entrepreneurs have in Silicon Valley is pretty important. Once you have it, you can go anywhere and launch your business anywhere in the world.
WIL’s Gen Isayama moderates the panel
You can check out our exclusive interview with Sugie in this article. ↩
Enigmo (TSE:3665) is an internet company best known for operating Buyma, a marketplace selling selected fashions less likely to be available at retail stores. The company recently launched a new platform called Buyma Books, which lets publishers distribute books in different languages using crowdsourced translators. Authors or creators can upload books or publications to publish in other languages, and they will be translated by crowdsourced workers on the platform, and then distributed via an iOS reader app. They will start with translating Japanese books into English and Chinese, but more languages are planned for later. via Mobile & Apps
Enigmo (TSE:3665) is an internet company best known for operating Buyma, a marketplace selling selected fashions less likely to be available at retail stores. The company recently launched a new platform called Buyma Books, which lets publishers distribute books in different languages using crowdsourced translators.
Authors or creators can upload books or publications to publish in other languages, and they will be translated by crowdsourced workers on the platform, and then distributed via an iOS reader app. They will start with translating Japanese books into English and Chinese, but more languages are planned for later.
The Korean dating app ‘Noon Date’, which has over 700,000 downloads in its home country thus far, is now launching in the Japanese market through a partnership with Tokyo-based Waku+. It will be called OhiruDate, and it requires Facebook authorization for a more reliable identity verification. OhiruDate delivers two profile cards to you each day at noon, and if you and that person mutually like each other, you can become friends and chat. The idea is similar to MatchAlarm (backed by CyberAgent Ventures), which recommends a new person every morning at 8am. Ohirudate is available for iOS and Google Play.
The Korean dating app ‘Noon Date’, which has over 700,000 downloads in its home country thus far, is now launching in the Japanese market through a partnership with Tokyo-based Waku+. It will be called OhiruDate, and it requires Facebook authorization for a more reliable identity verification.
OhiruDate delivers two profile cards to you each day at noon, and if you and that person mutually like each other, you can become friends and chat. The idea is similar to MatchAlarm (backed by CyberAgent Ventures), which recommends a new person every morning at 8am.
Our readers may recall Teriyaki, the restaurant recommendation app launched by Japanese internet tycoon Takafumi Horie last year. The service has tied up with Matcha, a multilingual information portal for international visitors to Japan, and will start listing high-profile restaurants (selected by foodies) in Japanese [1], English, Korean, and Chinese (simplified and traditional). Matcha was launched back in February, and the company is expecting to surpass one million page views by the end of this month. Teriyaki recently received major investment from Japanese online learning platform developer Hitomedia. via ValuePress And also in grammatically simplified Japanese for non-native Japanese speakers. ↩
Our readers may recall Teriyaki, the restaurant recommendation app launched by Japanese internet tycoon Takafumi Horie last year. The service has tied up with Matcha, a multilingual information portal for international visitors to Japan, and will start listing high-profile restaurants (selected by foodies) in Japanese [1], English, Korean, and Chinese (simplified and traditional).
Matcha was launched back in February, and the company is expecting to surpass one million page views by the end of this month. Teriyaki recently received major investment from Japanese online learning platform developer Hitomedia.
Masaru Ikeda
Rick Martin
