R to L: White Plus CEO Takayuki Inoshita, managing director Ryosuke Saito
This is the abridged version from our original article in Japanese.
WhitePlus is a Japanese startup offering an online laundry service called Lenet. The company announced today it has raised 408 million yen (about $3.4 million) from YJ Capital, the investment arm of Yahoo Japan.
WhitePlus was founded in 2009 and subsequently raised 300 million yen (about $3 million) from Jafco in August 2013. The company was spotlighted by a TV commercial campaign starring popular Japanese TV personality Shinobu Sakagami, and the film on YouTube has been played over a million times over the first three days since uploading. We’re told that their membership number was around 40,000 in January 2014, creeping up on the 100,000 milestone as of November.
WhitePlus CEO Takayuki Inoshita said they are working with 10 partnered laundry factories. Several persons out of the entire 40-person team are managing the quality of laundry services. The company will use the funds to improve services and hire new people.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Rocket Venture, the company behind women’s fashion media site 4meee! (pronounced “for me”), will announce today that it has been acquired by Enigmo (TSE:3665) for 600 million yen (about $5 million). Enigmo is an internet company best known for operating Buyma, a marketplace selling selected fashions less likely to be available at retail stores. See also: In conversation with co-founders of Japan’s curated fashion site for young women Rocket Venture was founded in December 2013 by 29-year-old entrepreneur Makoto Tatsukawa. The company launched 4meee in June and participated in a seed acceleration program provided by Tokyo-based startup incubator Movida Japan. Last August, they fundraised 50 million yen (about $500,000) from Global Brain and Future Investment. They have been seeing good growth, acquiring 2 million monthly unique users and 25 million monthly page views over the last six months. But according to recent communication with CEO Tatsukawa, he told me that the growth has reached over 30 million monthly page views. As other media has reported, Enigmo expects 4meee to drive user traffic to the former’s e-commerce platform Buyma under this acquisition. Since Tatsukawa is familiar with e-commerce business in the greater Chinese region,…
Tokyo-based Rocket Venture, the company behind women’s fashion media site 4meee! (pronounced “for me”), will announce today that it has been acquired by Enigmo (TSE:3665) for 600 million yen (about $5 million). Enigmo is an internet company best known for operating Buyma, a marketplace selling selected fashions less likely to be available at retail stores.
They have been seeing good growth, acquiring 2 million monthly unique users and 25 million monthly page views over the last six months. But according to recent communication with CEO Tatsukawa, he told me that the growth has reached over 30 million monthly page views. As other media has reported, Enigmo expects 4meee to drive user traffic to the former’s e-commerce platform Buyma under this acquisition. Since Tatsukawa is familiar with e-commerce business in the greater Chinese region, we can assume that Enigmo wants to expand in Asia overall leveraging his expertise.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Japanese internet messaging company Line announced today that it has founded a new fund focused on investing in e-commerce, payments solutions, O2O (online-to-offline), media, and entertainment sectors, called Line Life Global Gateway. This is part of the efforts which was announced at the company’s annual showcasing event last October, aiming to diversify its revenue stream beyond messaging related services. The fund is planned to be worth around 5 billion yen (about $42.1 million) and operated for ten years since 4th February under the responsibility of Line’s CSMO (chief strategic marketing officer) Jun Masuda. See also: Japan’s LINE teams up with Gumi for game distribution while forming own $100M fund for developers Japan’s Line unveils to launch payments, cab hailing, food delivery services, and much more Via TechCrunch Japan / Impress NetShop Tantousha Forum
Japanese internet messaging company Line announced today that it has founded a new fund focused on investing in e-commerce, payments solutions, O2O (online-to-offline), media, and entertainment sectors, called Line Life Global Gateway.
This is part of the efforts which was announced at the company’s annual showcasing event last October, aiming to diversify its revenue stream beyond messaging related services.
The fund is planned to be worth around 5 billion yen (about $42.1 million) and operated for ten years since 4th February under the responsibility of Line’s CSMO (chief strategic marketing officer) Jun Masuda.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based IoT (Internet of Things) startup Vinclu announced today that it has fundraised 20 million yen (about $168,000) from new investment fund Primal Capital. Using the funds, the company plans to enter the new field of digital communication robot development. According to Vinclu CEO Minori Takechi, the new field is part of the up-and-coming IoT solutions, and means interface and big data related services in categories such as smart houses and robotics. Vinclu was launched back in February 2014, followed by securing a seed funding round from IoT-focused incubation initiative ABBALab in April. They are currently based out of DMM.make Akiba, a hardware lab in the Japanese startup hub of Akihabara. The company has developed an appcessory product called Ayatori, which plugs into a smartphone earphone jack to enable users to enjoy communicating with others by changing illumination patterns using the mobile app. See also: Japanese internet giant DMM launches spectacular hardware lab for startups in Akihabara Japan’s Vinclu launches Indiegogo campaign for light communication appcessory Writing this article is a challenge because we have few details on their plans as they are in stealth mode, but I will do my best by leveraging the power of the imagination….
L to R: ABBALab CEO Osamu Ogasahara, Vinclu CEO Minori Takechi, Primal Capital General Partner Hiroshi Sasaki
Tokyo-based IoT (Internet of Things) startup Vinclu announced today that it has fundraised 20 million yen (about $168,000) from new investment fund Primal Capital. Using the funds, the company plans to enter the new field of digital communication robot development. According to Vinclu CEO Minori Takechi, the new field is part of the up-and-coming IoT solutions, and means interface and big data related services in categories such as smart houses and robotics.
Vinclu was launched back in February 2014, followed by securing a seed funding round from IoT-focused incubation initiative ABBALab in April. They are currently based out of DMM.make Akiba, a hardware lab in the Japanese startup hub of Akihabara.
The company has developed an appcessory product called Ayatori, which plugs into a smartphone earphone jack to enable users to enjoy communicating with others by changing illumination patterns using the mobile app.
Writing this article is a challenge because we have few details on their plans as they are in stealth mode, but I will do my best by leveraging the power of the imagination.
Vinclu CEO Minori Takechi raised the name of Magic Leap as a hint, which raised $542 million in series B round last October from Google, KPCB, Andreesen Horowitz, and other prominent investors, being told that their valuation has exceeded $1 billion.
Apparently, what the Vinclu team is trying to do is a space close to augmented reality or holograms. But if they develop it, what will that mean? We can find another hint in what Takechi developed at a hackathon event last year.
At a hackathon sponsored by TBS (a Tokyo-based private broadcaster), I developed a smart remote controller that allows users to control their TV via speech recognition. My product won the top prize.
The product was a stuffed toy-shaped device called Tereboo (see video below) – but let’s think about a product enabling these similar features using augmented reality or hologram technologies.
The smart-home market can be roughly divided into two categories; single-purpose products like Nest and platform-based solutions like SmartThings. The latter can control various home appliances and acquire information on users’ daily lives, generating a huge opportunity in the big data business. That’s where Softbank is targeting with their robotics business around Pepper.
If a hologram-based solution that the Vinclu team will develop is a new interface to control home appliances, that future will definitely be enjoyable. Toggles or button switches will be changed to a human-friendly operational system.
But these ideas are just my imagination. In view of business cases in the global market, big opportunities in the IoT business exist in an accumulation of data and logs that we have been able to collect. It is no wonder that Vinclu’s Takechi and Hiroshi Sasaki, General Partner of Primal Capital, are keeping their eyes on such a lofty future.
See the original story in Japanese. Japanese luxury inn and hotel booking site Relux was launched in February 2013 in beta followed by a switch to an official edition in April of the same year. Members had to obtain qualification by Relux to start booking inns using the site, but the regulation was subsequently abolished in late 2013. Loco Partners, the company behind the service, announced on Friday that it has surpassed 100,000 registered members since its launch almost two years ago. See also: Japan’s Relux raises $3.1 million, enhances hotel booking site to meet foreigner needs What’s unique about Relux is that their screening committee chose Japanese hotels or inns from all across the country, aiming to give users a satisfaction-guaranteed staying experience. In addition to listing high-end Japanese inns, Relux provides member-only limited packages in association with participating hotels and inns. As their user base grew, booking inquiries from outside Japan have also increased. While many people from Hong Kong, China, and Singapore now use Relux for booking their stays, some of them pay even millions yen a night for a luxury accommodation package. Based on these responses from users, Relux has enhanced and improved their services to…
Japanese luxury inn and hotel booking site Relux was launched in February 2013 in beta followed by a switch to an official edition in April of the same year. Members had to obtain qualification by Relux to start booking inns using the site, but the regulation was subsequently abolished in late 2013. Loco Partners, the company behind the service, announced on Friday that it has surpassed 100,000 registered members since its launch almost two years ago.
What’s unique about Relux is that their screening committee chose Japanese hotels or inns from all across the country, aiming to give users a satisfaction-guaranteed staying experience. In addition to listing high-end Japanese inns, Relux provides member-only limited packages in association with participating hotels and inns.
As their user base grew, booking inquiries from outside Japan have also increased. While many people from Hong Kong, China, and Singapore now use Relux for booking their stays, some of them pay even millions yen a night for a luxury accommodation package. Based on these responses from users, Relux has enhanced and improved their services to better fit foreign visitors to Japan. As part of these efforts, they launched the global edition of its booking site last September, followed by launching a multilingual concierge service and an English version of their Facebook fan page.
Since Loco Partners has been receiving many inquiries, in particular from China, they are planning to launch a local office in China in March to explore local partners, aimed atxbetter serving Chinese user needs. Towards the Chinese new year holiday later this month, the company started a time-limited promotional campaign on Friday, offering a complimentary travel voucher worth 10,000 yen to foreigners who sign up fully for a Relux membership, until 11:59pm of 18th February (Thursday), Japan Time.
The Japan National Tourism Organization announced that more than 13.41 million foreign visitors have visited Japan through last year, which was a 29.4% increase from the previous year, the highest ever figure. Since typical foreign visitors to Japan must rely on conventional online booking sites like TripAdvisor or Hotels.com due to language barrier, it is only natural that Relux is so attractive for them because of its highly-selected curation of Japanese hotels and inns.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based startup Leading Mark, the company behind an online platform that aims to create a more efficient recruitment process, announced today that it has raised from 171 million yen (about $1.46 million) from Nippon Venture Capital, Mizuho Capital, Link and Motivation, SMBC Venture Capital, East Ventures, and several individual investors. Combined with previous funding from CyberAgent Ventures back in November 2013, Leading Mark has fundraised a total of 221 million ($1.88 million) from investors to date. See also: Leading Mark raises 50 million yen, launches online platform for recruiting Coinciding with the announcement of the funding, the company launched a mobile app for job-seeking students, called Recme, showing users a set of aggregated job listings which may be matched based on 85 patterns of a user’s interest tags. Available for iOS 7 and above on the iTunes Appstore as well as for Android on Google Play. Since its foundation back in 2008, Leading Mark has established a primary business from recruiting consulting for established companies and built up a pipeline for job-seeking students. The firm has acquired about 200 companies as clients to date. Leading Mark CEO Yuki Iida told us how they have been growing: When launching our company, we had been…
Tokyo-based startup Leading Mark, the company behind an online platform that aims to create a more efficient recruitment process, announced today that it has raised from 171 million yen (about $1.46 million) from Nippon Venture Capital, Mizuho Capital, Link and Motivation, SMBC Venture Capital, East Ventures, and several individual investors. Combined with previous funding from CyberAgent Ventures back in November 2013, Leading Mark has fundraised a total of 221 million ($1.88 million) from investors to date.
Coinciding with the announcement of the funding, the company launched a mobile app for job-seeking students, called Recme, showing users a set of aggregated job listings which may be matched based on 85 patterns of a user’s interest tags. Available for iOS 7 and above on the iTunes Appstore as well as for Android on Google Play.
Since its foundation back in 2008, Leading Mark has established a primary business from recruiting consulting for established companies and built up a pipeline for job-seeking students. The firm has acquired about 200 companies as clients to date.
Leading Mark CEO Yuki Iida told us how they have been growing:
When launching our company, we had been telemarketing potential clients and asking them to “let us help your hiring campaign.” A certain major client participated in our event for job seekers, and we helped them make a good result. They have kept placing orders to us since then.
A good reputation helped them grow further. However, the 2008 global financial crisis and the Tohoku earthquake in 2011 hit the Japanese economy, causing many businesses to start shrinking their hiring budget.
Iida continued:
Our team turned out to be only me along with some part-time workers in 2011. I wondered if we had to shut down the business. However, although society is filled with materialistic items, I had wondered if people were really happy…working in jobs that really satisfy them.
Leading Mark CEO Yuji Iida
Through the experience in recruiting business over several years, he has learned well about how he can make his business profitable. But he thought the job-seeking process for fresh graduates is not streamlined. While leading job board sites have to post many job entries, employment agencies typically charge a high commission. Exploring a new alternative to conventional ways, Iida and his team invented Recme, a platform for matchmaking companies and job seekers by leveraging videos.
Since its launch a year ago, Leading Mark has achieved their first target of 10,000 job-seeking users on the Recme platform. While companies using the platform successfully reduced their workload for hiring ranging from 15% to 70%, the amount of job listings that Recme can provide is far beyond that of major job board sites. That’s why Leading Mark developed a mobile app.
Iida elaborated:
We have been curating job listings from many websites. Users can receive relevant information for available positions and job fairs by only selecting interesting tags.
To prevent a possible violation of copyright issues by reproducing content, the app curates job listings from companies except other job sites or recruiting companies. By choosing a job posting on the app, users will be navigated to an application form that enables them to post an appealing video on Recme, or otherwise to a website of the company that provides the position.
It will be possible on Recme to link up with the applicant entry form for those firms already using the platform. In addition, applications are directed to the main employment information page of such firms’ websites.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Takeshi Hirano
Masaru Ikeda
Yukari Mitsuhashi
