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Japan’s PM Abe praises winners of the 1st Nippon Venture Awards

Masaru Ikeda 2015.01.23

See the original story in Japanese.

Venture Business Creation Council, Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, The Tokyo New Business Conference (Connect!), and Japan New Business Conferences held the award-presenting ceremony for the 1st Nippon Venture Awards on Thursday in Tokyo, where Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, economy minister Yoichi Miyazawa, and six winners of the awards were invited.

Prime minister’s award winner: Euglena

1st-nippon-venture-award-abe-izumo — Euglena CEO Mitsuru Izumo receives the award from Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.

Euglena researches, develops, produces and markets microalgae with a strong focus on euglena. It is expected to be used effectively in functional foods, cosmetics, and jet plane fuel. Euglena CEO Mitsuru Izumo revealed that they want to provide prime minister’s aircraft with fuels from Japan-made with euglena.

Economy minister’s award winners (partnership of venture and established company): Cyberdyne and Daiwa House Industry

Cyberdyne has developed robots for medical, welfare, nursing care, manufacturing, disaster rescue, entertainment industries leveraging Cybernics technologies.

Daiwa House Industry invested in and partnered with Cyberdyne on robotics business in February of 2007. Since then, Daiwa has been entirely supporting Cyberdyne from launching a business to IPO.

Economy minister’s award winner (female entrepreneur): Coiney

Coiney provides a smartphone-based credit card payment solutions. It is served with a small, circular credit-card reading device that is attached to smartphones via the earphone jack.

See our past articles featuring Coiney:

Special jury award winner (regional vitalization): Spiber

Spiber is working on mass-producing artificial spider silk, an extremely strong, light and stretchable fiber.

See our past article featuring Spiber:

With new silk-producing technology, Japanese biotech startup does what a spider can

Special jury award winner (work style evolution) : Crowdworks

Crowdworks is a leading crowdsourcing platform that connects 250,000 individuals with 44,000 companies.

See our past articles featuring Crowdworks:

1st-nippon-venture-award-matsuda — Chief juror Dr. Shuichi Matsuda

Shuichi Matsuda, the awards’ chief juror and professor of Waseda University, said that 153 applications had been received from companies from all over Japan. While applying companies must be less than 10 years old, it turn 53% of these were less than five years old. Companies headed by female entrepreneurs accounted for 15% of all applicants this time, but the professor sees this ratio reaching 30% in the near future.

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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Japan’s corrugated HMD developer Hacosco launches panoramic movie sharing platform

Hacosco

Masaru Ikeda 2015.01.22

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Hacosco, the company behind smartphone-based virtual reality (VR) solutions, has launched a panoramic movie sharing platform called Hacosco Store, using Kadinche’s PanoPlaza Movie as an engineering platform. Since its spun off in July 2014 from RIKEN, or Japan’s Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, Hacosco has been developing a VR viewer app as well as a corrugated cardboard head-mounted display holder, aiming to create VR solutions purchasable for as low as $10. The company fundraised 30 million yen (about $254,000) from Japanese startup investment fund Anri in December, followed by securing partnership with Japanese ad agency Hakuhodo in order to develop marketing solutions using VR technologies. Meanwhile, Kandiche launched spherical panorama video-sharing platform PanoPlaza Movie in December. Users can upload panoramic videos to the platform and share them with other users through social network platforms. Hacosco wants to distribute more VR content to users through the Hacosco Store platform. In addition to expanding the sales of the product, the company plans to strengthen monetization by increasing content distribution channels and app channels, so this launch can be considered the first step of such an effort. Edited by “Tex Pomeroy”

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Hacosco, the company behind smartphone-based virtual reality (VR) solutions, has launched a panoramic movie sharing platform called Hacosco Store, using Kadinche’s PanoPlaza Movie as an engineering platform.

Since its spun off in July 2014 from RIKEN, or Japan’s Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, Hacosco has been developing a VR viewer app as well as a corrugated cardboard head-mounted display holder, aiming to create VR solutions purchasable for as low as $10. The company fundraised 30 million yen (about $254,000) from Japanese startup investment fund Anri in December, followed by securing partnership with Japanese ad agency Hakuhodo in order to develop marketing solutions using VR technologies.

Meanwhile, Kandiche launched spherical panorama video-sharing platform PanoPlaza Movie in December. Users can upload panoramic videos to the platform and share them with other users through social network platforms.

Hacosco wants to distribute more VR content to users through the Hacosco Store platform. In addition to expanding the sales of the product, the company plans to strengthen monetization by increasing content distribution channels and app channels, so this launch can be considered the first step of such an effort.

Edited by “Tex Pomeroy”

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Korea’s video ad production platform Shakr secures funding, plans Japan expansion

Masaru Ikeda 2015.01.22

See the original story in Japanese. SV Frontier, a Japanese fund based in Silicon Valley focused on startups, announced today that it has invested in Shakr Media, the Korean startup behind video ad production platform Shakr. While details of the investment have not been disclosed, Japan’s Nikkei Computer reported that the Korean company has secured funding up in the hundred thousand US dollars level. Shakr Media plans to establish an office in Japan in 2015 with assistance from SV Frontier and other companies. Shakr is an online video production platform which enables users to easily create promotional videos of people or merchandise using templates. The company has crowdsourced designers creating these video templates, and these designers will get paid on a revenue-share basis when their template is adopted by users. Users need only about ten minutes to create a video clip, but have to pay $50 for downloading it. Shakr Media participated in the pitch competition at Asia Beat 2014 in Taipei last December, where they unveiled the partnership with Taiwan’s electronics manufacturing company Foxconn to increase the variety of templates. Shakr Media appears to be planning an expansion in their sales channels by leveraging partnerships with big companies, especially those in Asia. Since its launch back in 2010, Shakr Media has attracted funds from 500 Startups (US), NHN Investment (Korea), Posco (Korea),…

See the original story in Japanese.

SV Frontier, a Japanese fund based in Silicon Valley focused on startups, announced today that it has invested in Shakr Media, the Korean startup behind video ad production platform Shakr. While details of the investment have not been disclosed, Japan’s Nikkei Computer reported that the Korean company has secured funding up in the hundred thousand US dollars level. Shakr Media plans to establish an office in Japan in 2015 with assistance from SV Frontier and other companies.

Shakr is an online video production platform which enables users to easily create promotional videos of people or merchandise using templates. The company has crowdsourced designers creating these video templates, and these designers will get paid on a revenue-share basis when their template is adopted by users. Users need only about ten minutes to create a video clip, but have to pay $50 for downloading it.

Shakr Media participated in the pitch competition at Asia Beat 2014 in Taipei last December, where they unveiled the partnership with Taiwan’s electronics manufacturing company Foxconn to increase the variety of templates. Shakr Media appears to be planning an expansion in their sales channels by leveraging partnerships with big companies, especially those in Asia.

Since its launch back in 2010, Shakr Media has attracted funds from 500 Startups (US), NHN Investment (Korea), Posco (Korea), and the former president of Korean distillery Jinro. For Shakr Media, the funds this time includes the first cash inflow from a Japanese investment fund.

Yozo Suzuki, founder and CEO of SV Frontier, says he believes that through his investment in Aarki and Virool startups in the video ad space will emerge; he decided to invest in Shakr Media this time based on such a belief.

belaunch2013-award-winning-shakr — Shakr Media won the beLAUNCH 2013 competition in Seoul. CEO David Lee is in the middle of the front row.

Edited by “Tex Pomeroy”

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Japan’s mobile commerce revenue optimization platform Flipdesk secures seed funding

Flipdesk

Takeshi Hirano 2015.01.20

This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese. Tokyo-based Socket, the company behind mobile commerce revenue optimization platform Flipdesk, announced today that it has fundraised an undisclosed sum from B Dash Ventures in a seed round. Coinciding with this, the company also said that it has invited former Mixi CEO Yusuke Asakura to be a strategic advisor. The funds will be used to strengthen human resources and promotional efforts. Flipdesk is an automated revenue optimization platform for mobile commerce sites, allowing them to distribute direct messages and discount coupons to customers based on behavioral analytics. Since its launch in September 2014, the company has gained more than 100 companies as clients, including Tokyu Hands Department Store and socks e-commerce site Tabio. It was noted that they have also gained a non-e-commerce site as a client. Site operators are charged on a page view volume basis with an initial fee ranging from 50,000 yen to 300,000 yen ($423 to $2,540; initial fee is currently free for promotional purposes). Flipdesk also provides an optional menu for using third-party audience data in integration with Japan’s big data-based marketing solution platform Intimate Merger. Socket was founded in December 2012, two years…

This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Socket, the company behind mobile commerce revenue optimization platform Flipdesk, announced today that it has fundraised an undisclosed sum from B Dash Ventures in a seed round. Coinciding with this, the company also said that it has invited former Mixi CEO Yusuke Asakura to be a strategic advisor. The funds will be used to strengthen human resources and promotional efforts.

Flipdesk is an automated revenue optimization platform for mobile commerce sites, allowing them to distribute direct messages and discount coupons to customers based on behavioral analytics. Since its launch in September 2014, the company has gained more than 100 companies as clients, including Tokyu Hands Department Store and socks e-commerce site Tabio. It was noted that they have also gained a non-e-commerce site as a client.

Site operators are charged on a page view volume basis with an initial fee ranging from 50,000 yen to 300,000 yen ($423 to $2,540; initial fee is currently free for promotional purposes). Flipdesk also provides an optional menu for using third-party audience data in integration with Japan’s big data-based marketing solution platform Intimate Merger.

Socket was founded in December 2012, two years before the launch of the Flipdesk. Socket CEO Yusuke Ando spoke to The Bridge on what motivated him to launch the company:

socket-yusuke-ando — Socket CEO Yusuke Ando

I became a firefighter after graduating from my high school. But later on, I entered a university because I thought I had better make a living by myself. When I was in the fourth grade at the university, I was advised by a business owner to launch my company.

After having started a human resources company and then selling it while attending the university, Ando then gained e-commerce expertise by working at Japanese online drugstore Kenko.com and Taobao chartering broker Sales in China. While experiencing difficult days because of the 2008 global financial crisis followed by the Tohoku quake in 2011, he and his three companions co-founded Socket in 2012 to serve the global e-commerce industry by developing a service that merchants would love rather than acquiring potential purchasers.

We have seen Japanese startups like Plaid and ZenClerk in this sector.

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by Kurt Hanson
Proofread by “Tex” Pomeroy

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3 cool devices showcased at 1st Wearable Expo in Tokyo

Wearable

Masaru Ikeda 2015.01.20

See the original story in Japanese. A wearable device event called the 1st Wearable Expo was held in Tokyo last week. This is the first of its kind, excluding Wearable Tech Expo Tokyo that took place in 2014. Here we list several cool devices highlighted at the event. Anicall tells you what your pet is thinking Anicall tells you behavioral patterns and feeling of your pet, leveraging a combination of a wearable device designed for animals and cloud-based analytics based on artificial intelligence. So it allows you to hear silent voice from your loving companion. While pet owners will typically use the device on their dog or cat, it can be applied to other animals as well. A dog and a cat in the booth for demo looked so tired from responding to visitors, so they were taking a break and I couldn’t see the demo when I visited there. In a view of visualizing a pet’s intention, we have seen a solution like Bow-lingual, a computer-based dog-to-human language translation device developed by Japanese toy company Takara in 2002. The Anicall will contribute to better communication with man’s best friend. Yamaha invents stretchable displacement sensor Japan’s Yamaha, a musical instrument…

See the original story in Japanese.

A wearable device event called the 1st Wearable Expo was held in Tokyo last week. This is the first of its kind, excluding Wearable Tech Expo Tokyo that took place in 2014. Here we list several cool devices highlighted at the event.

Anicall tells you what your pet is thinking

Anicall tells you behavioral patterns and feeling of your pet, leveraging a combination of a wearable device designed for animals and cloud-based analytics based on artificial intelligence. So it allows you to hear silent voice from your loving companion. While pet owners will typically use the device on their dog or cat, it can be applied to other animals as well.

A dog and a cat in the booth for demo looked so tired from responding to visitors, so they were taking a break and I couldn’t see the demo when I visited there. In a view of visualizing a pet’s intention, we have seen a solution like Bow-lingual, a computer-based dog-to-human language translation device developed by Japanese toy company Takara in 2002. The Anicall will contribute to better communication with man’s best friend.

anicall-dog — A doggy wearing an Anicall device.

anicall-cat — This kitty also wears it but looks a little tired from demoing.

Yamaha invents stretchable displacement sensor

Japan’s Yamaha, a musical instrument maker, exhibited a strethable displacement sensor. It can be embedded in a textile or knitted fabric and incorporated into gloves for wrists, elbows, and ankles. Yamaha is developing applications in collaboration with partnering SMEs.

The company exhibited the technology by outfitting a pianist with sensor-embedded gloves.

Generally, cameras and high-speed sensors are used to capture gestures, but in case the user cannot make big gestures or there is no space available, these stretchable gesture sensors may be utilized.

This technology could be used for online crowdsourced translations to Braille to help the visually and hearing impaired.

Power generating jogging suit can eliminate batteries from wearable devices

power-generating-sports-wear — Photo by Takushoku University

Takushoku University’s Maeyama Lab, Munekata, and Cornes Technologies have jointly developed Hatsuden Wear, a power generating jogging suit that uses piezoelectric elements in the joints. It does not generate a large current but is sufficient to power a wearable device in order to transfer data via BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), so this suit will create continuous power, as long as the person wearing it keeps moving.

Battery weight is a key issue in the design of wearable devices. If batteries can be replaced with this power generating technology, wearable devices will take a big step forward in evolution.

Edited by Kurt Hanson
Proofread by “Tex” Pomeroy

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Japan’s Coubic launches mobile app, helps merchants better manage appointment booking

Coubic

Masaru Ikeda 2015.01.17

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Coubic (pronounced ‘coo-bic’), the startup behind a freemium scheduling and appointment booking solution under the same name, unveiled an Android app on Wednesday. Merchants using the platform can easily manage appointments with their customers, as with the iOS app that the company had introduced before. The Android version is available in Japanese, English, and Korean; these languages are also supported for customers booking with merchants via the web-based user interface. Both Android and iOS apps are available worldwide over iTunes AppStore and Google Play. Coubic provides online scheduling and appointment booking solutions, helping merchants set up a web page receiving appointments from customers and managing these appointments. Paying merchants can remove banner ads from their web page, export appointment records in CSV format, and monitor access statistics using Google Analytics. Because of the announcement that this is part of their effort supporting the global market, we asked the Coubic team if they can find any unique user needs from outside Japan. In response to this question, they told us that one of their users in Los Angeles uses Coubic to receive booking for her kimono rental and dressing service, where local people can…

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Coubic (pronounced ‘coo-bic’), the startup behind a freemium scheduling and appointment booking solution under the same name, unveiled an Android app on Wednesday. Merchants using the platform can easily manage appointments with their customers, as with the iOS app that the company had introduced before. The Android version is available in Japanese, English, and Korean; these languages are also supported for customers booking with merchants via the web-based user interface. Both Android and iOS apps are available worldwide over iTunes AppStore and Google Play.

Coubic provides online scheduling and appointment booking solutions, helping merchants set up a web page receiving appointments from customers and managing these appointments. Paying merchants can remove banner ads from their web page, export appointment records in CSV format, and monitor access statistics using Google Analytics.

Because of the announcement that this is part of their effort supporting the global market, we asked the Coubic team if they can find any unique user needs from outside Japan. In response to this question, they told us that one of their users in Los Angeles uses Coubic to receive booking for her kimono rental and dressing service, where local people can enjoy the kimono experience and take pictures of themselves sporting the Japanese tradition. The team added that more accommodation or sightseeing businesses using Coubic are increasing in Japan.

Though the recent yen weakening is expected to boost the increase of foreign visitors to Japan this year, Coubic will help more merchants eliminate language barriers in better serving these visitors. In Japan, it is common to make an appointment before visiting massage shops, hair salons, or dental clinics. However, other businesses may require an advance appointment of customers while not others due to the differences in business practices that vary from country to country. As Coubic can nurture a global user base, we can learn about these geographical trends from their statistical analysis.

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by Masaru Ikeda
Proofread by “Tex” Pomeroy

Japan’s PM Abe praises winners of the 1st Nippon Venture Awards

Prime minister’s award winner: Euglena

Economy minister’s award winners (partnership of venture and established company): Cyberdyne and Daiwa House Industry

Economy minister’s award winner (female entrepreneur): Coiney

Special jury award winner (regional vitalization): Spiber

Special jury award winner (work style evolution) : Crowdworks

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Japan’s corrugated HMD developer Hacosco launches panoramic movie sharing platform

Korea’s video ad production platform Shakr secures funding, plans Japan expansion

Japan’s mobile commerce revenue optimization platform Flipdesk secures seed funding

3 cool devices showcased at 1st Wearable Expo in Tokyo

Anicall tells you what your pet is thinking

Yamaha invents stretchable displacement sensor

Power generating jogging suit can eliminate batteries from wearable devices

Japan’s Coubic launches mobile app, helps merchants better manage appointment booking

Prime minister’s award winner: Euglena

Economy minister’s award winners (partnership of venture and established company): Cyberdyne and Daiwa House Industry

Economy minister’s award winner (female entrepreneur): Coiney

Special jury award winner (regional vitalization): Spiber

Special jury award winner (work style evolution) : Crowdworks

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