This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese.
Tokyo-based School With, the company behind a buzz site that shares buzz and reviews on language studies abroad, announced that it has fundraised an undisclosed sum from Japanese seed VC fund East Ventures.
School With launched a review site under the same name in April 2013, and was incorporated in July 2013. Since the launch, they have focused on English studies abroad and buzz and reviews on over 100 language schools in the Philippines.
School With CEO Hideki Ota visited the Philippines to study English a few years ago, and the experience inspired him to launch the business. He plans to expand the coverage of language schools in Australia and Canada in 2015.
School With had been running its operations in a bootstrapping mode via grants from Japanese governmental business support initiative SME Support, Japan. While exploring funding opportunities to put more energy into the business, they received a funding offer from East Ventures in November.
This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese. Tokyo-based Active Sonar, the startup behind luxury brand consignment app Reclo, announced today that it has fundraised 245 million yen (about $2 million) from B Dash Ventures and Future Investment. Coinciding with the funds, the company unveiled that it will set up their information distribution channel in Japanese news curation app Gunosy with aiming to better reach their potential customers. In addition, Reclo announced today that it will launch an app called Flip on December 9th. Flip is a 48-hour flash sales app for mobile users, providing time-limited deals on trending and affordable items. According to Active Sonar CEO Koji Aoki, the company has acquired 170,000 dowonloads of the mobile app since its launch six months ago. They boast a high repeat customer ratio, where almost a half of their users have come back to the app again to buy another item. Aoki explained why their users are well satisfied: The main reason is obviously we provide luxury brand items for overwhelmingly low prices. We give 60% to 90% discounts for selected items. In consignment business, a key issue is how to fill an inventory with collected items from…
Active Sonar CEO Koji Aoki
This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese.
Tokyo-based Active Sonar, the startup behind luxury brand consignment app Reclo, announced today that it has fundraised 245 million yen (about $2 million) from B Dash Ventures and Future Investment.
Coinciding with the funds, the company unveiled that it will set up their information distribution channel in Japanese news curation app Gunosy with aiming to better reach their potential customers.
In addition, Reclo announced today that it will launch an app called Flip on December 9th. Flip is a 48-hour flash sales app for mobile users, providing time-limited deals on trending and affordable items.
According to Active Sonar CEO Koji Aoki, the company has acquired 170,000 dowonloads of the mobile app since its launch six months ago. They boast a high repeat customer ratio, where almost a half of their users have come back to the app again to buy another item. Aoki explained why their users are well satisfied:
The main reason is obviously we provide luxury brand items for overwhelmingly low prices. We give 60% to 90% discounts for selected items.
Reclo
In consignment business, a key issue is how to fill an inventory with collected items from the market. Reclo serves more than 2,500 items for now. They had been buying items from second-hand distributors at their launch, but now over a half of their inventory is being submitted from users.
I have heard that a massive and continuous community development is very important to encourage individuals to sell their luxury items via online consignment services such as TheRealReal Japan. With this kind of continuous efforts, Aoki thinks that they can expand their business from luxury fashion clothing beyond to furniture. Almost 80% of their users come from mobile, mostly females in around the age of 30 or 40.
While they are steadily growing in both app downloads and user acquisition, they need some more gimmick for overwhelming growth. So they focused on Gunosy because of its high user traffic and partnered for creating the Recro channel in the Gunosy app. However, given that a unique user demographics on the Recro app, they will have to add something more to boost their growth.
That’s why they decided to develop flash sales app Flip. Their team has some former Groupon Japan employees who have many experiences on flash marketing. Aoki elaborated:
On Flip, we will sell items which are unlikely to let users decide whether or not buy. As described in the name, we will list new items fast and furiously.
Prior to launching Active Sonar in 2012, the company’s CEO Aoki has been previously running a mineral water distribution company. He quit the previous company to launch Active Sonar with aiming to create a new business at his own risk.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Goodpatch, a startup that specializes in developing UX/UI improvement solutions, announced today that its prototyping tool Prott now supports app development for the Apple Watch. The platform is available for iOS, desktop (Mac OS and Windows OS) as well as on the web, and it is also integrated with internal communication tools such as Slack and Hipchat, which allows the sharing of updates on prototyping using the Prott app in an engineering team. See also: Japan’s Goodpatch officially launches rapid prototyping tool Prott Prott was launched in beta version in April and an official version was launched in October. Prott has been adding supporting mobile platforms such as iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5, iPad, and Android. While Apple Watch will start shipping next year, WatchKit, a toolkit for coding and testing apps for the upcoming smartwatch, has been introduced for developers. Goodpatch founder and CEO Naofumi Tsuchiya spoke on Prott and Apple Watch app development support: There will be many Apple Watch apps being developed next year. For most developers, it will be the first time to develop an app for a smart watch, so prototyping while developing apps makes them more helpful. We…
Tokyo-based Goodpatch, a startup that specializes in developing UX/UI improvement solutions, announced today that its prototyping tool Prott now supports app development for the Apple Watch. The platform is available for iOS, desktop (Mac OS and Windows OS) as well as on the web, and it is also integrated with internal communication tools such as Slack and Hipchat, which allows the sharing of updates on prototyping using the Prott app in an engineering team.
Prott was launched in beta version in April and an official version was launched in October. Prott has been adding supporting mobile platforms such as iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5, iPad, and Android. While Apple Watch will start shipping next year, WatchKit, a toolkit for coding and testing apps for the upcoming smartwatch, has been introduced for developers.
Goodpatch founder and CEO Naofumi Tsuchiya spoke on Prott and Apple Watch app development support:
There will be many Apple Watch apps being developed next year. For most developers, it will be the first time to develop an app for a smart watch, so prototyping while developing apps makes them more helpful.
We will keep up with latest various smart devices. The platform will have some hidden functions. So please have fun finding them.
Innovation Weekend is a monthly showcase and meet-up event organized by Tokyo-based startup incubator Sunbridge Global Ventures. The grand finale is held every December, where the monthly winners from the year compete in a pitch session. This year’s grand finale had local preliminary editions in Boston, London, and Singapore, as well as Tokyo. Earlier this week, winners from Japan and three continents competed at the Tokyo event, where Tokyo-based Sciement won the top prize on audience vote. See also: Circuit board design tool ‘Quadcept’ wins Innovation Weekend Grand Finale in Tokyo Sciement is developing science-focused 3D computer graphics solutions. According to Sciement CEO and founder Dr. Hirofumi Seo, some statistics say that there is one congenital cardiac disorder out of 100 to 200 people on average, which is not a small population of this disorder from the global perspective. While not all cases are life threatening, patients can see how their own heart is faring. By creating 3D animation based on 3D scanning, the company will be able to help these patients understand their disorders visually. This technology has unlimited applications and will contribute to the advancement of medicine by combining with other solutions such as 3D printing of human organs….
Sciement CEO and President Dr. Hirofumi Seo
Innovation Weekend is a monthly showcase and meet-up event organized by Tokyo-based startup incubator Sunbridge Global Ventures. The grand finale is held every December, where the monthly winners from the year compete in a pitch session.
This year’s grand finale had local preliminary editions in Boston, London, and Singapore, as well as Tokyo. Earlier this week, winners from Japan and three continents competed at the Tokyo event, where Tokyo-based Sciement won the top prize on audience vote.
Sciement is developing science-focused 3D computer graphics solutions. According to Sciement CEO and founder Dr. Hirofumi Seo, some statistics say that there is one congenital cardiac disorder out of 100 to 200 people on average, which is not a small population of this disorder from the global perspective. While not all cases are life threatening, patients can see how their own heart is faring.
By creating 3D animation based on 3D scanning, the company will be able to help these patients understand their disorders visually.
This technology has unlimited applications and will contribute to the advancement of medicine by combining with other solutions such as 3D printing of human organs. Below is a video that simulates a beating human heart, produced in partnership with Riken and the University of Tokyo. If you come up with a good idea, please contact them for collaborative work.
IBM BlueHub is an incubation program by IBM Japan in partnership with Tokyo-based startup incubator Samurai Incubate. Prior to the start of the program in January 2015, the five startups that will join the first batch were unveiled on Tuesday. Yamap (by Sefuri) Designed for mountain climbers, this mobile map app keeps climbers updated on their location even when out of cellphone service coverage. BrandPit Analytics tool for brands that leverages image recognition technology to see how brands are trending in the real or social media spaces (See this article for details). Terrace Mile Data-driven platform to help farmers make their agricultural activities more profitable. Gene Quest Internet-based genome analytics service for consumers. Link Sports Question-and-answer website/app for sports-minded people, helping them understand how to better manage themselves from a sports science perspective. During the program, these incubatees will further develop their technologies especially around data analytics as well as improve user experience and interface with assistance from IBM Japan. The participating startups expect being allowed to partner with big businesses in addition to IBM Japan. Some startups like Sefuri (from Fukuoka) or Terrace Mile (from Miyazaki) flew all the way to Tokyo to participate in the program. Through the…
IBM BlueHub is an incubation program by IBM Japan in partnership with Tokyo-based startup incubator Samurai Incubate. Prior to the start of the program in January 2015, the five startups that will join the first batch were unveiled on Tuesday.
Analytics tool for brands that leverages image recognition technology to see how brands are trending in the real or social media spaces (See this article for details).
Question-and-answer website/app for sports-minded people, helping them understand how to better manage themselves from a sports science perspective.
During the program, these incubatees will further develop their technologies especially around data analytics as well as improve user experience and interface with assistance from IBM Japan. The participating startups expect being allowed to partner with big businesses in addition to IBM Japan. Some startups like Sefuri (from Fukuoka) or Terrace Mile (from Miyazaki) flew all the way to Tokyo to participate in the program.
Through the program, IBM Japan aims to help these startups develop their services as masterpieces of the Japanese startup scene by 2020, the year of the Tokyo Olympic Games. We will see how they fare during the batch at a demo day event scheduled for April or May 2015.
This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese. Iroya is an e-commerce site that specializes in selling items selected from a color-oriented perspective. They launched a time-limited storefront called Cool Japan Store today, focused on selling Japanese traditional colored handcrafted items. This campaign is available from December 6th to the 28th. The campaign is being offered in partnership with 100Tokyo, a website that delivers Tokyo’s unique items and visiting spots to a global audience, as well as Discover Japan, a magazine that aims to re-discover attractions in Japan. Cool Japan Store sells Japanese handcrafted items from 14 brands, which were carefully selected by Iroya, 100Tokyo, and Discover Japan. You can also follow 100Tokyo’s event page or Google+ account for updates and details. Iroya has a store in Cat Street, a Japanese indie fashion street in Harajuku, Tokyo, where items introduced in this campaign are for sale.
This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese.
Iroya is an e-commerce site that specializes in selling items selected from a color-oriented perspective. They launched a time-limited storefront called Cool Japan Store today, focused on selling Japanese traditional colored handcrafted items. This campaign is available from December 6th to the 28th.
The campaign is being offered in partnership with 100Tokyo, a website that delivers Tokyo’s unique items and visiting spots to a global audience, as well as Discover Japan, a magazine that aims to re-discover attractions in Japan. Cool Japan Store sells Japanese handcrafted items from 14 brands, which were carefully selected by Iroya, 100Tokyo, and Discover Japan.
You can also follow 100Tokyo’s event page or Google+ account for updates and details. Iroya has a store in Cat Street, a Japanese indie fashion street in Harajuku, Tokyo, where items introduced in this campaign are for sale.
Aritayaki Porcelain (See this link for details about Aritayaki)Banshu Hamoto scissors (See this link for details about Banshu Hamono)
Junya Mori
Takeshi Hirano
Masaru Ikeda
Yukari Mitsuhashi
