This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese.
Tokyo-based Exiii, a company that develops functional prosthetic hand Handiii, started its crowdfunding campaign on Japanese crowdfunding site Kibidango on Monday, and has reached the funding goal of 1 million yen (about $8,400) in only five days.
In view of Japanese startups developing assistive devices, Whill, the Japanese startup behind the smart wheelchair under the same name, got its start by raising money on Japanese crowdfunding site Campfire. Having introduced its first prototype in late 2011, Whill was qualified by 500 Startups to join its incubation program and subsequently secured two major funding rounds from investors. The company aims to ship 2,000 wheelchairs by the end of 2015.
Mr. Morikawa demonstrates Exiii Coyote at Maker Faire Tokyo.
The Exiii team is developing the second-generation model of the prosthetic hand series called Handiii Coyote. At the Maker Faire event recently held in Tokyo, their clinical trial user Mr. Morikawa demonstrated the prototype. He is expected to use the device developed through the crowdfunding campaign.
Exiii CEO Genta Kondo spoke about their work:
While the previous device needed to be operated by our development team rather than the user, the new device can be controlled entirely by the user. Thanks to Mr. Morikawa, who demonstrated the device by controlling it himself, it drew great interest from the audience at the Maker Faire event.
Mr. Morikawa only spent about 10 minutes to learn how to use the prosthetic hand. Thanks to Mr. Morikawa’s demonstration, I think that he will help us close the gap between handicapped and non-handicapped people.
There are 53 days more to go until the crowdfunding campaign closes, so it will be interesting to see how much money Exiii manages to raise.
Tokyo-based Loyalty Marketing, the company that operates Japanese loyalty and rewards platform Ponta, announced on Friday that it will launch the localized version of the service in Indonesia from spring of 2015. The company is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation (TSE:8058), a major Japanese trading company as well as the parent company of convenience store chain Lawson. Since its launch in 2010, the platform has acquired over 66 million consumers as users. It allows users to earn rewards by presenting a Ponta card at a storefront of participating retail chains, such as convenience stores, restaurants, and gas stations. Loyal Marketing plans to set up a local operating company called PT. Global Loyalty Indonesia in West Jakarta and launch the Ponta platform for local consumers next Spring. More than 10,700 retail stores from 10 brands under 8 companies are expected to participate in the program, which includes Alfamart convenience store chain, Dan Dan health and beauty stores, Solaria restaurants, and Es Teler 77 restaurants. A rival program, T-Point, is being pushed by Culture Convenience Club and has about 50 million members in Japan. It was joined by Yahoo Japan last year. See also: Japanese entertainment retail conglomerate launches startup incubation program Recruit Holdings, one of Japan’s larger Internet service and employment service companies, announced in April that it…
Tokyo-based Loyalty Marketing, the company that operates Japanese loyalty and rewards platform Ponta, announced on Friday that it will launch the localized version of the service in Indonesia from spring of 2015. The company is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation (TSE:8058), a major Japanese trading company as well as the parent company of convenience store chain Lawson.
Since its launch in 2010, the platform has acquired over 66 million consumers as users. It allows users to earn rewards by presenting a Ponta card at a storefront of participating retail chains, such as convenience stores, restaurants, and gas stations.
Loyal Marketing plans to set up a local operating company called PT. Global Loyalty Indonesia in West Jakarta and launch the Ponta platform for local consumers next Spring. More than 10,700 retail stores from 10 brands under 8 companies are expected to participate in the program, which includes Alfamart convenience store chain, Dan Dan health and beauty stores, Solaria restaurants, and Es Teler 77 restaurants.
A rival program, T-Point, is being pushed by Culture Convenience Club and has about 50 million members in Japan. It was joined by Yahoo Japan last year.
Recruit Holdings, one of Japan’s larger Internet service and employment service companies, announced in April that it joined the Ponta program and started providing their customers with rewards points using it. Kiip, a mobile rewards platform offered by San Francisco-based startup, also partnered with Ponta with assistance from Digital Garage (JASDAQ:4819), one of the Kiip investors.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based startup-focused investment firm Global Brain announced yesterday that it has invested an undisclosed sum in Japanese startup 16Lab, the hardware developer behind ring-shaped wearable device Ozon. Ozon is a gesture control device that fits on a user’s finger and allows the control of devices or appliances such as smartphones, tablets, cameras, TVs, and lighting fixtures. Top developers not only from Japan but also from other countries including Estonia and Spain are participating in the development project. 16Lab has partnered with Alps Electric (TSE:6770) and other established manufacturers in the fields of semiconductors, batteries, and chemicals to develop the device in a way of open innovation. The device’s interface was created under the direction of noted designer Manabu Tago of MTDO. 16Lab plans to start shipping the first generation of the product next summer in eight countries. Prototypes of the Ozon device was exhibited at showcase events like CEATEC 2014 and Any Tokyo recently, and drew great interest from industry watchers and consumers. To assure the best quality in order to provide the best user experience, all sensors and electronic parts in the device are made in Japan. For hardware startups, a big issue will…
Tokyo-based startup-focused investment firm Global Brain announced yesterday that it has invested an undisclosed sum in Japanese startup 16Lab, the hardware developer behind ring-shaped wearable device Ozon.
Ozon is a gesture control device that fits on a user’s finger and allows the control of devices or appliances such as smartphones, tablets, cameras, TVs, and lighting fixtures. Top developers not only from Japan but also from other countries including Estonia and Spain are participating in the development project. 16Lab has partnered with Alps Electric (TSE:6770) and other established manufacturers in the fields of semiconductors, batteries, and chemicals to develop the device in a way of open innovation.
The device’s interface was created under the direction of noted designer Manabu Tago of MTDO. 16Lab plans to start shipping the first generation of the product next summer in eight countries.
Prototypes of the Ozon device was exhibited at showcase events like CEATEC 2014 and Any Tokyo recently, and drew great interest from industry watchers and consumers. To assure the best quality in order to provide the best user experience, all sensors and electronic parts in the device are made in Japan. For hardware startups, a big issue will be to gain the reliability of their products with few resources because the repeated process of endurance tests and improvements require continuous operations, so partnering with big companies in this sector is key.
Logbar’s Ring may be a competitor for Ozon. THE BRIDGE may test these devices in the future and report on which one offers the best user experience.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Bitbank, previously known as Bitcheck, launched a Bitcoin-based rewards redemption platform called “Bitcoin Get” on Tuesday. On the Bitcoin Get platform, users can get rewards in bitcoin in return for actions that advertisers propose such as encouraging users to install an app or sign up for a service. Bitcoin Get is available via PC and smartphone, and the company is developing an Android version. Bitbank lists 700 to 1,000 actions from advertisers at all times through partnerships with rewards agencies. Bitbank is known for having placed a Bitcoin ATM at a restaurant in Roppongi in May. Subsequently they have introduced Bitbank Wallet, a payments processing service called Bitbank Pay. According to Bitbank CMO Yuji Kusunoki, they foresee that their Bitcoin-based rewards platform can differentiate from conventional rewards platform in several aspects. He explained: In contrast to conventional rewards platforms serving “rewards junkies”, our platform has a large user base of finance-savvy people, which may change the demographics of advertisers using us from encouraging users to install apps or sign up for a new service to introducing new financial services. With the launch of Bitcoin Get, we aim to reach potential users who don’t buy…
Tokyo-based Bitbank, previously known as Bitcheck, launched a Bitcoin-based rewards redemption platform called “Bitcoin Get” on Tuesday. On the Bitcoin Get platform, users can get rewards in bitcoin in return for actions that advertisers propose such as encouraging users to install an app or sign up for a service. Bitcoin Get is available via PC and smartphone, and the company is developing an Android version.
Bitbank lists 700 to 1,000 actions from advertisers at all times through partnerships with rewards agencies. Bitbank is known for having placed a Bitcoin ATM at a restaurant in Roppongi in May. Subsequently they have introduced Bitbank Wallet, a payments processing service called Bitbank Pay.
According to Bitbank CMO Yuji Kusunoki, they foresee that their Bitcoin-based rewards platform can differentiate from conventional rewards platform in several aspects. He explained:
In contrast to conventional rewards platforms serving “rewards junkies”, our platform has a large user base of finance-savvy people, which may change the demographics of advertisers using us from encouraging users to install apps or sign up for a new service to introducing new financial services.
With the launch of Bitcoin Get, we aim to reach potential users who don’t buy but are interested in using Bitcoins if given away. In this way, we are keen to expand the range of Bitcoin users.
This has not disclosed but the company has fundraised from several angel investors in Japan as well as Southeast Asian countries. While Japan has many convenient payment solutions, which make the convenience of digital currencies less outstanding. Bitbank plans to expand to regions where payments solutions are yet to be modernized.
See the original story in Japanese. The “Orange Fab Asia” incubation project targeting East Asia, supported by French telecom carrier Orange, held its Demo Day and related events in Tokyo on 25 November. Orange Fab Asia is an incubation program which positions Japan, Korea and Taiwan as Asia, marking its second season; in addition to startups from the aforementioned three, there were those giving pitches from France and Poland, for a total of 22 startups; in addition, there were 13 startups selected by French government-backed financial institution Bpifrance and Ubifrance of the French Embassy in Japan. See also: 8 Japanese startups join Orange’s new accelerator program Selected startups move on from Orange Fab Tokyo to demo in Paris On Demo Day, dignitaries like French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron and Orange CEO Stephane Richard attended, indicating the emphasis placed on the event in comparison with the previous Demo Day. Paris-based startup hub Silicon Sentier appears to have formed a private sector-led ecosystem centered on NUMA (formerly “Le Camping”) but Orange Fab appears to have governmental and big business backing in contrast. Since Orange has within its group a venture capital called Iris Capital, Japanese startups such as translation crowdsourcing firm Gengo has gained funding therefrom. The 35 participating firms cannot all be covered here so we provide a selection from teams selected out of Tokyo Season…
The “Orange Fab Asia” incubation project targeting East Asia, supported by French telecom carrier Orange, held its Demo Day and related events in Tokyo on 25 November. Orange Fab Asia is an incubation program which positions Japan, Korea and Taiwan as Asia, marking its second season; in addition to startups from the aforementioned three, there were those giving pitches from France and Poland, for a total of 22 startups; in addition, there were 13 startups selected by French government-backed financial institution Bpifrance and Ubifrance of the French Embassy in Japan.
On Demo Day, dignitaries like French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron and Orange CEO Stephane Richard attended, indicating the emphasis placed on the event in comparison with the previous Demo Day. Paris-based startup hub Silicon Sentier appears to have formed a private sector-led ecosystem centered on NUMA (formerly “Le Camping”) but Orange Fab appears to have governmental and big business backing in contrast. Since Orange has within its group a venture capital called Iris Capital, Japanese startups such as translation crowdsourcing firm Gengo has gained funding therefrom.
The 35 participating firms cannot all be covered here so we provide a selection from teams selected out of Tokyo Season 2 (second batch of the Tokyo chapter).
Euclid Lab
Spectee from Euclid Lab is an information-gathering service that covers events and news from social media. THE BRIDGE recently conducted an exclusive interview with CEO Kenichiro Murakami so please check details there.
Eyes, Japan
Some of our readers may recall a product named “FUKUSHIMA Wheel“… an Internet of Things (IoT) based on a bicycle loaded with environmental sensors and LED advertisements. Ad funding is gained by displaying the LED on the bicycle rim. Additionally, thanks to GPS movement regional information such temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide concentration and radioactivity can be collected effectively while cycling. They also took part in the 6th SF Japan Night last November.
Ikkyo Technology
Ikkyo Technology developed a deep-learning image analysis API “Categorific” which uses an image-recording engine. The company (named after an Aikodo “move”) improved the UX to provide users with an environment which facilitates content search.
Categorific is a data-mining service using the image recognition technology. Ikkyo Technology, the startup behind the service, initially started their business with providing a content monitoring service for web service companies, helping them eliminating pirated content from their web services using the same technology.
They explained that the new service can be adopted for many purposes. For example, if you sell a sticker for a messaging app like Line, you can help users choose other stickers that they may like, by giving them a recommendation based on the service.
Repro
A moving picture analytics tool catering toward mobile app developers, by embedding the Repro SDK into an application, the record of how the users operate the display is made to enable the developers to check this movement visually over their dashboards. According to CTO Akira Miki, they gained a knack for transmitting moving pictures as still pictures sent successively over the cloud rather than as moving pictures, so even in regions with narrow bandwidths the data may be uploaded relatively easily. CEO Yusuke Hirata insinuated that his company may look to overseas markets like North America in the future.
Mobilous
The Mobilous AppExe (pronounced “ap-ex” as in “CapEx” without the C) is a cloud service for Android / iOS / Windows mobile applications, which can be operated via GUI by designers who are not programmers. The codes are superficially black boxes that can be operated as per appearance (WYSIWYG) that enable Google Play or iTunes AppStore registrations as is; output as a compiled file is provided as well. Though similar in concept as Asial’s Monaca, CEO Akira Miyata says that it is a native application which has as the main feature an output which does not use HTML5.
For the Demo Day this time, it was announced that Air Liquide, EDF, Sony, Thales, Veolia, Dentsu, Daiwa House and Alcatel-Lucent among other renowned French and Japanese corporations from a variety of fields had partnered for Orange Fab Asia.
The application for the third batch of Orange Fab Asia was opened on 26 November, to be closed on 26 January, 2015. It is worth a look for startups targeting not only Asia but Europe, focusing on France. Bon courage!
French economic minister Emmanuel Macron (second from the left) hears from entrepreneurs.Orange CEO Stephane Richard expresses his aspiration for the incubation program.
This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese. Tokyo-based Accounting SaaS Japan (A-SaaS for short) announced today that it has fundraised a series B funding worth 1 billion yen (or about $8.46 million) from Fidelity Growth Partners Japan, Arbor Ventures, I Mercury Capital, and Mobile Internet Capital. Mobile Internet Capital participated in the previous round [1]. Coinciding with the funds, Fidelity’s Japan head David Milstein will join the board of A-SaaS. A-SaaS will hire new people to strengthen systems development and sales promotion efforts using the funds. Since its launch back in June of 2009, A-SaaS has offered a cloud-based accounting platform targeting small/medium-sized enterprises. In June of 2013, they partnered with Salesforce.com and fundraised 625 million yen ($6.25 million) from GREE Ventures and Mobile Internet Capital as well as other investors. A-SaaS is a first-of-its-kind which has been followed by other startups like Freee (launched in July of 2012) and Money Forward (January of 2014). The company was founded by Toshinao Morisaki, the former president of Ibex Airlines and the former director of JDL (Japan Digital Laboratory, TSE:6935). He started A-SaaS by raising funds from 800 tax accountants and took almost five years to introduce its first prototype. While there are 35,000 accounting offices of all types in Japan, A-SaaS has acquired about 1,600 accounting offices as users to date. I…
This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese.
Coinciding with the funds, Fidelity’s Japan head David Milstein will join the board of A-SaaS. A-SaaS will hire new people to strengthen systems development and sales promotion efforts using the funds.
Since its launch back in June of 2009, A-SaaS has offered a cloud-based accounting platform targeting small/medium-sized enterprises. In June of 2013, they partnered with Salesforce.com and fundraised 625 million yen ($6.25 million) from GREE Ventures and Mobile Internet Capital as well as other investors. A-SaaS is a first-of-its-kind which has been followed by other startups like Freee (launched in July of 2012) and Money Forward (January of 2014).
The company was founded by Toshinao Morisaki, the former president of Ibex Airlines and the former director of JDL (Japan Digital Laboratory, TSE:6935). He started A-SaaS by raising funds from 800 tax accountants and took almost five years to introduce its first prototype. While there are 35,000 accounting offices of all types in Japan, A-SaaS has acquired about 1,600 accounting offices as users to date.
I Mercury Capital is the investment arm of Japan’s internet company Mixi. Mobile Internet Capital is a VC firm launched by ex-Intel Japan Chairman Ikuo Nishioka. ↩
Takeshi Hirano
Masaru Ikeda
