This is the third round for the company, following their previous funding worth 150 million yen ($1.5 million) back in June 2013. Schoo CEO Kenshiro Mori told us his team has been verifying a hypothesis theory in since the previous funding round. As part of this verification process, they adopted a new system establishing four departments (web design, business English, startup, and programming) in the e-learning platform like a typical university, where they selected highly-acclaimed lecture videos and sorted them out by subject.
After establishing these departments, their conversion rate for premium services and user activity rate were improved, in addition to users spontaneously starting to form a community in each department.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by Kurt Hanson Proofread by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Line Pay, the payments solution-focused subsidiary of Japanese messaging company Line, has agreed to buy out Tokyo-based WebPay Holdings [1] in order to accelerate Line Pay’s business expansion. See also: Japanese startup Fluxflex launches easy-to-install card payment solution WebPay provides a Stripe-compatible payment processing solutions for e-commerce, web services, and mobile developers in Japan. The company raised 110 million yen (about $1.1 million) from CyberAgent Ventures, Architype, and GMO Payment Gateway in February 2014. Meanwhile, Line Pay was launched by Line to provide payment solutions for Line’s affiliated services, third-party services, and real-store retailers. Line wants to improve usability and enhance functions of the payment solution by leveraging the expertise under WebPay’s belt. Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy Previously known as FluxFlex. ↩
Line Pay, the payments solution-focused subsidiary of Japanese messaging company Line, has agreed to buy out Tokyo-based WebPay Holdings [1] in order to accelerate Line Pay’s business expansion.
WebPay provides a Stripe-compatible payment processing solutions for e-commerce, web services, and mobile developers in Japan. The company raised 110 million yen (about $1.1 million) from CyberAgent Ventures, Architype, and GMO Payment Gateway in February 2014.
Meanwhile, Line Pay was launched by Line to provide payment solutions for Line’s affiliated services, third-party services, and real-store retailers. Line wants to improve usability and enhance functions of the payment solution by leveraging the expertise under WebPay’s belt.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
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. See also: Japan’s online laundry service, Lenet, is growing fast 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
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.
Junya Mori
Takeshi Hirano
Masaru Ikeda
