This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese.
Tokyo-based crowdsourcing startup Lancers was launched in December 2008. It has since acquired over 100,000 companies and 410,000 crowdsourced users.
Lancers announced today that it has fundraised about 1 billion yen (or about $8.45 million) from KDDI (telco), Intelligence Holdings (employment service), Colopl (gaming company), Gree Ventures, Globis Capital Partners, and GMO Venture Partners. The company will use the funds to cultivate crowdsourceing needs in the market, support freelancers using the crowdsourcing platform, hire new people, and strengthen their system development efforts.
Coinciding with the funds, Lancers has partnered with KDDI, Intelligence, and Gree, and will help these companies use crowdsourced forces for their content production activities.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Kadinche launched a spherical panorama video-sharing platform today, called Pano Plaza Movie. Users can upload panoramic videos to the platform and share them with other users through social network platforms. Video clips set to “open to the public” will be listed in the portal page of the platform. See also: Japanese cafe and restaurant portal makes use of Panoplaza to virtualize local spaces Tokyo Office Tour: Panoplaza has a 360-degree view of the world Conventional video platforms do not allow rotation of panoramic video clips or they have a file upload limit, but Kadiche’s platform addresses these issues. Kadiche has introduced a virtualization service of real stores in partnership with e-commerce platform provider Stores.jp as well as panoramic video creation platform PanoMovie. You can record panoramic video clips with cameras like Ricoh’s THETA m15. But in view of the recent trend of selfie sticks, many smartphones will have features allowing users to record panoramic video clips sooner or later.
Tokyo-based Kadinche launched a spherical panorama video-sharing platform today, called Pano Plaza Movie. Users can upload panoramic videos to the platform and share them with other users through social network platforms. Video clips set to “open to the public” will be listed in the portal page of the platform.
Conventional video platforms do not allow rotation of panoramic video clips or they have a file upload limit, but Kadiche’s platform addresses these issues.
Kadiche has introduced a virtualization service of real stores in partnership with e-commerce platform provider Stores.jp as well as panoramic video creation platform PanoMovie. You can record panoramic video clips with cameras like Ricoh’s THETA m15. But in view of the recent trend of selfie sticks, many smartphones will have features allowing users to record panoramic video clips sooner or later.
See the original story in Japanese. UK-based taxi hailing app Hailo was launched in the Japanese market in Osaka in 2013. Hailo Networks Japan, the local subsidiary of the UK company, has been restructured as a new company called Hail K.K. The new company appointed Ryo Umezawa as CEO and fundraised from Hikari Tsushin (TSE:9435). Coinciding with that, Dai Okui, VP of Business Strategy Department at Hikari Tsushin, will also join the management board. Umezawa is a serial entrepreneur and has been involved in many projects in Sakebii and Accelbeat as well as serving Tokyo-based incubator J-Seed Ventures as a managing director. Details about the amount Hailo K.K. fundraised have not been disclosed but it is likely to be a seed fund injection because the company’s disclosed capital amount is about six million yen ($50,000). What is the key differentiator from their rival Uber and how they can overcome possible conflicts with local taxi operators or drivers’ unions? Umezawa explained that Hailo’s service can be more easily accepted both for taxi drivers and consumers. For instance, taxi hailing services like Uber in Japan charter a local hired-car service and split their working hours to provide the service for each of…
R to L: Hailo K.K. CEO Ryo Umezawa, Dai Okui, VP of Business Strategy Department at Hikari Tsushin
UK-based taxi hailing app Hailo was launched in the Japanese market in Osaka in 2013. Hailo Networks Japan, the local subsidiary of the UK company, has been restructured as a new company called Hail K.K.
The new company appointed Ryo Umezawa as CEO and fundraised from Hikari Tsushin (TSE:9435). Coinciding with that, Dai Okui, VP of Business Strategy Department at Hikari Tsushin, will also join the management board. Umezawa is a serial entrepreneur and has been involved in many projects in Sakebii and Accelbeat as well as serving Tokyo-based incubator J-Seed Ventures as a managing director.
Details about the amount Hailo K.K. fundraised have not been disclosed but it is likely to be a seed fund injection because the company’s disclosed capital amount is about six million yen ($50,000).
What is the key differentiator from their rival Uber and how they can overcome possible conflicts with local taxi operators or drivers’ unions? Umezawa explained that Hailo’s service can be more easily accepted both for taxi drivers and consumers.
For instance, taxi hailing services like Uber in Japan charter a local hired-car service and split their working hours to provide the service for each of their customers.
Hailo was launched in London by three taxi drivers and three entrepreneurs. Originally launched as a social network platform for taxi drivers, it is now driving users to taxi drivers. Umezawa explained:
Our focus on helping taxi drivers earn more revenue is the same in Japan as in the UK. With our app, you can see where they have been picked up or will be picked up by which taxi driver, which gives you relief and trust. That is probably one reason more female costumers use taxis via our app.
Hailo K.K. has partnered with 38 local taxi operators, which proves that their business model is becoming accepted by taxi drivers in Japan.
Dai Okuda, VP of Business Strategy Department at Hikari Tsushin, explained why his company has partnered with and invested in Hailo K.K.:
We can help their user acquisition by promoting the Hailo app at our stores or by letting our customer reps promote it to restaurants we serve. Because we sell telecommunication services, we can also encourage taxi drivers using the Hailo app to buy a smartphone from us.
Upon the establishment of the new business entity, they will soon launch the service in Tokyo. While they are a small team comprised of four persons in Osaka and three in Tokyo, they are hiring a sales manager and an office manager in Tokyo. So if you are interested in their business, it is highly recommended that you contact them.
In Tokyo, taxi apps like Uber and local taxi operator‘s are in fierce competition, so it will be interesting to see how Hailo performs.
A Hailo taxi in Japan. (This photo was taken in Tokyo where the service is still being prepared.)
This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese. Tokyo-based Grooves, the company best known for its engineer recruiting platform called Forkwell, announced today that it has fundraised 220 million yen (about $1.85 million) from Japan Finance Corporation, Nippon Venture Capital, and Mitsui Sumitomo Insuarance Venture Capital. Forkwell was launched as a service by Grooves, a Garbs subsidiary, fundraised an undisclosed sum from CyberAgent Ventures in November of 2011, and subsequently 60 million yen (about $600,000) from Nippon Venture Capital in April of 2012. See also: Japan’s Forkwell launches job search engine for coders, now ready to monetize While Garbs had been operating Crowd Agent, a platform that connects non-engineer job seekers with recruiting agents, Grooves had been operating engineer-focused recruiting site Forkwell. But the two companies thought that these two businesses can be operated under the same roof, and Garbs was merged into Grooves this April upon approvals from their existing investors.
This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese.
Forkwell was launched as a service by Grooves, a Garbs subsidiary, fundraised an undisclosed sum from CyberAgent Ventures in November of 2011, and subsequently 60 million yen (about $600,000) from Nippon Venture Capital in April of 2012.
While Garbs had been operating Crowd Agent, a platform that connects non-engineer job seekers with recruiting agents, Grooves had been operating engineer-focused recruiting site Forkwell. But the two companies thought that these two businesses can be operated under the same roof, and Garbs was merged into Grooves this April upon approvals from their existing investors.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Shelfy, the company that operates a platform connecting renovation companies and retail store owners, announced on Friday that it has secured seed funding from East Ventures. Funding details have not been disclosed but it’s likely worth around a six-digit number in US dollars. See also: Japan’s Shelfy helps restaurant owners get better deals on renovations On the platform, store owners willing to renovate their interiors can invite tenders from renovation companies and compare their estimates before making an order. The company’s CEO Shunki Roy found that there are larger market needs in this sector than he had expected before launching the service. Roy explained: Most orders about renovating stores ranging from 130 to 200 square meters in size abound. Because the size of their budgets varies, our commission ranges widely, from $1,000 to $10,000. When we launched the service, we intended to focus more on scaling up our business and acquiring as many store owners and renovation companies as possible. But we will carefully select and acquire from both sides of these. To streamline the matching process, they found that they should carefully handpick store owners and renovation companies allowed to join the platform. That’s because acquiring skillful finishers while avoiding tire kickers…
L to R: East Ventures fellow Takanori Oshiba, Shelfy CEO Shunki Roy, East Ventures partner Taiga Matsuyama
Tokyo-based Shelfy, the company that operates a platform connecting renovation companies and retail store owners, announced on Friday that it has secured seed funding from East Ventures. Funding details have not been disclosed but it’s likely worth around a six-digit number in US dollars.
On the platform, store owners willing to renovate their interiors can invite tenders from renovation companies and compare their estimates before making an order. The company’s CEO Shunki Roy found that there are larger market needs in this sector than he had expected before launching the service. Roy explained:
Most orders about renovating stores ranging from 130 to 200 square meters in size abound. Because the size of their budgets varies, our commission ranges widely, from $1,000 to $10,000.
When we launched the service, we intended to focus more on scaling up our business and acquiring as many store owners and renovation companies as possible. But we will carefully select and acquire from both sides of these.
To streamline the matching process, they found that they should carefully handpick store owners and renovation companies allowed to join the platform. That’s because acquiring skillful finishers while avoiding tire kickers from among the store owners is a must.
Their business is already monetizable. But that’s not only the reason why East Ventures’ Taiga Matsuyama has invested in Shelfy. He said:
I think that Shunki is suitable for this kind of business because he is tough, a survivor. Replacing a conventional business with an online service is very hard to do. So the founder has to be a tough guy.
We want to massively invest in more startups improving real business related to necessities of life.
We’ve recently seen not only online-completition services but also startups solving issues in the real world. Shelfy looks to realize optimization of costs upon renovation.
Shelfy currently serves the greater Tokyo metropolis, which has some 6,000 retail stores opening each year. The company aims to serve 20% of all these store, handling 100 renovation projects a month via the platform annually.
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. See also: Japan’s Exiii unveils teaser page for functional prosthetic hand 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. 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,…
Handiii Coyote
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.
Yukari Mitsuhashi
Masaru Ikeda
Junya Mori
Takeshi Hirano
