Tokyo-based Creema provides a handmade item marketplace under the same name. Our readers may recall that the company secured $1 million funding round from KDDI Open Innovation Fund last year, followed by an iOS applaunch in November.
The company officially today launched a new app called Anders in six locations, bringing made-in-Japan handmade items to the global market. The app is available for iOS on AppStore in Japan, the U.S., Singapore, France and Germany, plus Taiwan.
Based on the concept – Long Life Design, HandMade in Japan – Anders introduces new lineups every week from a variety of accessories, fashion items and foods as well as home interiors. Members can buy these items for reduced prices within a week after their initial appearance on the marketplace.
If one introduces friends to Anders, one can earn rewards of up to 6,000 yen (about $50) in value according to how many friends are introduced. Moreover, the friends introduced can also earn rewards of 500 yen in value each. Planned participating designers and brands include Astro Nuts, Januka, Jaren, “GaTa” watch smith, Enku, and C-Brain.
What differentiates Anders most from their conventional service is that users can enjoy shopping in English as well as Japanese. According to Creema, each of more than five designers intends to introduce their 10 to 20 new items every Monday as of the time of launch, meaning dozens of new handmade items debuting on the app every week.
Since its teaser site launch on February 23, the company has been accepting pre-registrations from users until today. In a recent conversation with Creema CEO Kotaro Marubayashi, he couldn’t disclose how many users they have acquired to date but shared a ratio of overseas users of around 50% as expected, thereby seeing a good start.
There are many players fiercely competing in this space, including Etsy and Fab in the U.S., Pinkoi in Taiwan, in addition to Tenote and Minne, not to mention Iichi, in Japan. So it will be interesting to see how favorably the concept of handmade items based out of Japan are accepted by the global market.
See the original story in Japanese. I’m in Jakarta, and will be in Taiwan next week. Booking flights and accommodation is time-consuming. While friends recommend that I use an online secretary service like Kaori-san, it would be difficult to tell someone my exact preference. We have had no choice but to make online bookings by ourselves. However, a Japanese startup recently popped up to address this dilemma. They are called Border (named after ‘Business Order’), where tour operators help you book and make arrangements focused on business travel. The above diagram shows how an order will be processed when making a flight and a hotel reservation. In conventional systems, your order is transferred from a travel agency to an airline company or a hotel via a tour operator. This flow is not changed even with discounted travel ticketing sites like Expedia, so they are not disruptive from that point of view. In other words, their cheap prices are made possible by no physical storefront and efforts for reducing intermediate cost by tour operators, airline companies, and hotel operators. Meanwhile, if you use Border, your order will bypass a travel agency. Instead, several tour operators will propose travel plans based on…
I’m in Jakarta, and will be in Taiwan next week. Booking flights and accommodation is time-consuming. While friends recommend that I use an online secretary service like Kaori-san, it would be difficult to tell someone my exact preference. We have had no choice but to make online bookings by ourselves. However, a Japanese startup recently popped up to address this dilemma. They are called Border (named after ‘Business Order’), where tour operators help you book and make arrangements focused on business travel.
The above diagram shows how an order will be processed when making a flight and a hotel reservation. In conventional systems, your order is transferred from a travel agency to an airline company or a hotel via a tour operator. This flow is not changed even with discounted travel ticketing sites like Expedia, so they are not disruptive from that point of view. In other words, their cheap prices are made possible by no physical storefront and efforts for reducing intermediate cost by tour operators, airline companies, and hotel operators.
Meanwhile, if you use Border, your order will bypass a travel agency. Instead, several tour operators will propose travel plans based on your preferences for airlines or hotels. This is similar to Ietty where users can receive proposals for their new home from multiple property companies.
Border CEO Tomoki Hosotani explained:
Tour operators are all Japanese companies. They are licensed under Japan’s Travel Agency Act, and they also have local offices in major cities in the world. Their representative in these offices will hear your preference using our service, so they can propose travel plans to you while other discounted ticketing sites.
While these tour operators usually wholesale their packages to travel agencies, they have certified travel service supervisors in the company that can deal with travel orders in Japanese. We asked our business proposals to these tour-operating companies, and seven companies decided to work with us. They are strong in arranging trips to Southeast Asia as well as North America and Latin America.
Our readers may wonder why they are focused on business travel, since there is no big difference in the booking process from that for sightseeing trips. According to Hosotani, business travelers can fix their plans after making two interactions with a tour operator, while sightseeing trip users need to interact ten times on average. Besides that, people’s needs are more diversified in sightseeing trips. The Border team decided to focus on business travel needs, which is easier to simplify and standardize the entire trip arrangement process.
Similarly to Designclue, a crowdsourced logo design order service by Tokyo-based startup PurpleCow, by standardizing the format of work flows, startups can develop an online platform that allows customers to make orders in Japanese, but allows non-Japanese crowdsourced workers to receive orders in their language. If any foreign tour operator outside Japan deals with orders from Japanese customers through the Border platform, Japan’s Travel Agency Act would not be applied to these transactions, which helps non-Japanese tour operating companies more likely to take part in the platform in the future.
Big companies typically request business travel arrangements to their long-familiar travel agencies. While the annual market size of overseas business travels from Japan is estimated 1 trillion yen ($8.4 million), the need for trips to the Asian region alone can account for 667 million yen ($5.6 million). So the Border team is planning to focus on serving SMEs and startups in need of business travel to Asian destinations.
Border founder Tomoki Hosotani previously worked for the Japan Research Institute, a top Japanese think tank, followed by attending UCLA for his MBA. He has launched a business in the US, but closed it to focus on launching a new startup in Japan. Investors include an unnamed former executive from a Japanese travel agency, which suggests they are serious about disrupting the Japanese travel agency industry.
The Border team established an owned media offering information around international conferences and business travels, aiming to better reach potential customers. They aim to strengthen their promotional efforts in collaboration with other services operators such as taxi hailing apps.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by Masaru Ikeda and Kurt Hanson
See the original story in Japanese. Incubate Camp is a startup bootcamp program that lets entrepreneurs brush up their business idea with mentoring support from investors on a face-to-face basis, periodically organized by Japanese startup-focused investment firm Incubate Fund. Seven editions of the program have been held to date in Japan. The firm held its first global edition called Incubate Camp Asia on February 25th, at Singapore University of Technology Design, SUTD for short. SUTD is known for Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab, which has been nourishing gaming developers in partnership with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). During the first global edition dubbed Incubate Camp Asia, gaming developers (entrepreneurs) from all across Asia and gaming publishers (investors providing mentoring support) mainly from Japan came together, teamed up and presented their polished business ideas after several review sessions. Their ideas were scored by mentors and participating SUTD students with consideration of investment potentials, where three startups were selected out of all participating 10 startups upon their final pitch session. Note: Some of gaming titles featured in this article are still under development. Top Prize: JOY Entertainment J.S.C. (Vietnam) (Mentoring by Allan Simonsen, Founder and CEO, Boomzap) JOY Entertainment J.S.C. is a Vietnam-based gaming…
Incubate Camp is a startup bootcamp program that lets entrepreneurs brush up their business idea with mentoring support from investors on a face-to-face basis, periodically organized by Japanese startup-focused investment firm Incubate Fund. Seven editions of the program have been held to date in Japan.
The firm held its first global edition called Incubate Camp Asia on February 25th, at Singapore University of Technology Design, SUTD for short. SUTD is known for Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab, which has been nourishing gaming developers in partnership with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
During the first global edition dubbed Incubate Camp Asia, gaming developers (entrepreneurs) from all across Asia and gaming publishers (investors providing mentoring support) mainly from Japan came together, teamed up and presented their polished business ideas after several review sessions.
Their ideas were scored by mentors and participating SUTD students with consideration of investment potentials, where three startups were selected out of all participating 10 startups upon their final pitch session.
Note: Some of gaming titles featured in this article are still under development.
Top Prize: JOY Entertainment J.S.C. (Vietnam)
(Mentoring by Allan Simonsen, Founder and CEO, Boomzap)
JOY Entertainment J.S.C. is a Vietnam-based gaming developers and has acquired 2 million users in the Southeast Asian region with their 3D MMOTPS (multiplayer onlinne third-person shooter) gaming titles. Going forward, the company wants to expand their business beyond to mainland China, Japan, Korea, and other markets, exploring potential partnership with gaming companies like Tencent in China as well as DeNA and Gumi in Japan. They are currently raising money to start self-publishing their titles in Vietnam.
Allan Simonsen, who has been working for over a decade in this space, lectured about improvements in user experience and monetization strategies. He acclaimed the team because of their passion and the promising achievement of having introduced apps that have attracted many users in the region.
2nd Prize: Alkemis Games (Indonesia)
(Mentoring by Juno Shin, Business Development Leader, Tencent Japan)
Alkemis Games is now developing a gaming title which will be launched this coming spring in Indonesia. They are interested in keeping the app in the higher rank on the AppStore for a long time, rather than taking a stab at top rank fame.
The team introduced their use case based on Pickfu.com, where developers can receive feedback from the market through presentation of multiple improvement proposals. Tencent’s Shin advocated some ideas like adding a GvG (Guild vs Guild) flavor or the concept of swapping and renting virtual items in the game, aiming to help them differentiate from other competing titles in the U.S.
3rd Prize: SnoozeFox (Thailand)
(Mentoring by Minori Iwaki, COO and Senior Vice President, Sega Networks)
Bangkok-based SnoozeFox has developed a game title called Chaos Sphere. They were advised to add some features like auto-batting mode as well as increasing the variety of characters, weapons and consuming virtual items in the game, aiming to gain a lifetime value of users.
Iwaki praised the team for its awesome game assets and having adopted GvG experience in their app.
What impressed me during the event was a comment given by David Ng, CEO of Gumi Asia. According to him, gaming developers who have less experience in working with gaming publishers usually start developing an app without considering its publishing process. These developers are so devoted to refining user interface and experience that the size of their app may be larger than 1 gigabytes. Such a huge size for gaming apps means a quick death regardless of quality, especially when broadband connectivity is likely unavailable such as in Indonesia.
Although it may be hard for developers in Southeast Asia where they typically have few gaming publishers in the neighborhood, Ng noted that developers should stay alert on the publishing side but not scamp the improvement process of user interface and experience regardless of whether your title is a major or indie one. Other participating mentors also agreed with his insight that encourages developers to listen to market voices.
Other participating startups and mentors were:
Altitude games (the Philippines), mentoring by Jakob Lykkegaard, Co-Founder/CEO, Playlab
Dreamlords Digital (the Philippines / US), mentoring by Akira Abe, General Manager, DeNA Asia Singapore
Firebeast Studio (Indonesia), mentoring by Kazuyuki Hagiwara, COO, Aiming
Hextek (China), mentoring by David Ng, CEO of Gumi Asia
Ixora Studios (Singapore), mentoring by Gerald Tock, Co-Founder/CEO, Inzen Studio
Touch Dimensions (Singapore), mentoring by Kent Byers, Co-Founder/CEO, Booster Pack
Witching Hour (Singapore), mentoring by Yusuke Murata, General Partner, Incubate Fund
Disclosure: Incubate Fund is a sponsoring member of The Bridge.
Translated by Sumi Yo via Mother First Edited by Masaru Ikeda
Proofread by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. I want to buy a classy, branded handbag, but it costs a thousand dollars. Too costly to buy multiple items, so I need to pick one with a ‘bland’ design for long-term use. More than a few women have experienced such a dilemma upon purchase of a new handbag. To help women solve this problem, Es Corporation, a Japanese Internet service company based in Hiroshima, recently launched an online luxury handbag rental app called Laxus. Make your choice from over 1,000 branded handbags Laxus allows users to rent their favorite handbag from more than 1,000 choices from 11 fashion brands by paying a monthly subscription fee of 6,800 yen ($57). Handbags are typically valued around $2,500 and includes brands such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hermes, and Chanel. To eliminate the possibility of piracy, these bags are procured by Es Corporation from partnered suppliers belonging to Japan’s Association Against Counterfeit Product Distribution. The rental procedure is simple. After signing up for the service, you can choose and reserve a handbag of your preference using a smartphone app. You may rent it for as long you wish, and send it back after use with an attached…
I want to buy a classy, branded handbag, but it costs a thousand dollars. Too costly to buy multiple items, so I need to pick one with a ‘bland’ design for long-term use.
More than a few women have experienced such a dilemma upon purchase of a new handbag. To help women solve this problem, Es Corporation, a Japanese Internet service company based in Hiroshima, recently launched an online luxury handbag rental app called Laxus.
Make your choice from over 1,000 branded handbags
Laxus allows users to rent their favorite handbag from more than 1,000 choices from 11 fashion brands by paying a monthly subscription fee of 6,800 yen ($57). Handbags are typically valued around $2,500 and includes brands such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hermes, and Chanel. To eliminate the possibility of piracy, these bags are procured by Es Corporation from partnered suppliers belonging to Japan’s Association Against Counterfeit Product Distribution.
The rental procedure is simple. After signing up for the service, you can choose and reserve a handbag of your preference using a smartphone app. You may rent it for as long you wish, and send it back after use with an attached receipt via courier service. Upon returning your rental, your next choice will be delivered to you. Since the rental period for each item has no limit, you can keep using the same choice as long as you pay the subscription fee.
Easy-to-use interface
There have been handbag rental services, but Laxus improved problems concealed in conventional services and adjusted it to fit the needs of today’s consumers. Unlike other conventional services designed for desktop use, Laxus lets users complete the entire booking flow via mobile phone. Prices do not vary according to which item you rent, but it’s entirely available for a flat-rate monthly fee of 6,800 yen. While typical rental services for luxury items require you to present an ID when receiving an item, all you need to do with Laxus is upload your portrait during the sign-up process.
Shoji Kodama, ES Corporation founder and CEO, told The Bridge what motivated him to launch the app.
If you buy a $2,000 handbag under a 20-month installment plan, you will need to keep paying $100 every month but can buy just one handbag. But our service allows you to make any choice from more than 1,000 handbags for less than $60 a month. You can even change it to a new one in any number of times.
The limit in the number of handbags users can buy has narrowed the range of their choice. We want to help them enjoy choosing the best handbag for their outfit in a bolder manner.
Global expansion
Laxus was officially launched on 23 February. During the pre-opening period, a new user signs up for the service every 6.5 seconds, which suggests a high need for women who want to enjoy fashion in a more casual way. Kodama says his team wants to acquire over 1,700 members in the first year, looking to reach 37,000 members in the next year and 400,000 members in five years.
Luxury branded handbags are popular in Japan as well as overseas. Es Corporation’s four founders have illustrious backgrounds in this space, such as global sales to 85 countries and 19 years of experience in the e-commerce industry. Leveraging this expertise, the company plans to expand globally next year.
Recruit Holdings (TSE:6098), one of Japan’s larger employment and Internet services companies, announced today that it has acquired Berlin-based online restaurant booking site Quandoo for 26.5 billion yen (about $221 million). Since its launch back in April 2013 in Berlin, Quandoo has served more than 6,000 restaurants in 13 countries. Prior to the acquisition, Recruit Holdings invested an undisclosed sum in Quandoo during the previous round in October 2014. We have learned that Recruit Technologies, a systems engineering-focused subsidiary under Recruit Holdings, has been engaging in Berlin’s local startup community, which suggests that the Japanese conglomerate is massively exploring investment opportunities in promising startups in the region. See also: Recruit Technologies brings five Berlin startups to pitch in Tokyo Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Recruit Holdings (TSE:6098), one of Japan’s larger employment and Internet services companies, announced today that it has acquired Berlin-based online restaurant booking site Quandoo for 26.5 billion yen (about $221 million).
Since its launch back in April 2013 in Berlin, Quandoo has served more than 6,000 restaurants in 13 countries. Prior to the acquisition, Recruit Holdings invested an undisclosed sum in Quandoo during the previous round in October 2014.
We have learned that Recruit Technologies, a systems engineering-focused subsidiary under Recruit Holdings, has been engaging in Berlin’s local startup community, which suggests that the Japanese conglomerate is massively exploring investment opportunities in promising startups in the region.
This is the abridged version from our original article in Japanese. Tokyo-based Connehito, the company behind a mobile Q&A app for female users, announced on Tuesday that it has fundraised 150 million yen (about $1.25 million) from B Dash Ventures and Primal Capital. The company will use the funds to strengthen development efforts around the mobile app service. Connehito provides two services: Mamari, a how-to website for mothers at the time of childbirth or while nursing a child, and MamariQ, a mobile app for questions and answers among mothers. Focused on dealing with female-specific problems, these services have acquired more than 1 million monthly unique visitors and been seeing a 140% MoM growth in the number of articles posted by users. Shunsuke Oyu, CEO of Connehito, has been known for having developed Creatty, an online portfolio showcase and marketplace for independent product designers. However, the service faced pretty tough going because of flourishing competitors such as Etsy, and subsequently pivoted. See also: Japan-based design site Creatty launches e-commerce channels Oyu elaborated: We thought of shutting down our company. However, we changed our minds and started taking on the challenge again in late 2013. Subsequently, we launched a health-focused Q&A site in 2014, where we keep writing stories like how to mitigate pains from…
This is the abridged version from our original article in Japanese.
Tokyo-based Connehito, the company behind a mobile Q&A app for female users, announced on Tuesday that it has fundraised 150 million yen (about $1.25 million) from B Dash Ventures and Primal Capital. The company will use the funds to strengthen development efforts around the mobile app service.
Connehito provides two services: Mamari, a how-to website for mothers at the time of childbirth or while nursing a child, and MamariQ, a mobile app for questions and answers among mothers. Focused on dealing with female-specific problems, these services have acquired more than 1 million monthly unique visitors and been seeing a 140% MoM growth in the number of articles posted by users.
Shunsuke Oyu, CEO of Connehito, has been known for having developed Creatty, an online portfolio showcase and marketplace for independent product designers. However, the service faced pretty tough going because of flourishing competitors such as Etsy, and subsequently pivoted.
We thought of shutting down our company. However, we changed our minds and started taking on the challenge again in late 2013. Subsequently, we launched a health-focused Q&A site in 2014, where we keep writing stories like how to mitigate pains from stiff shoulders and lumbago. But when the numbers of articles posted reached around 400, we learned that the most trendy topics were about how to call and use a cab for a hospital when the mother feels the beginnings of labor.
Since Oyu also got married when he was 23 years old, he well recognizes many problems around childbirth or childcare. So his team decided to abandon their past and shift to their focus to addressing female-specific problems.
In addition to VC firms participating this funding round, we see many investors in Conehito from young entrepreneurs in Japan, such as Coach United CEO Nobuhiro Ariyasu and seed stage-focused investor Anri Samata.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy