Since its launch in 2008, Tokyo-based startup Eureka has developed Pairs and Couples, mobile apps for dating and couples. The company announced today that it has been wholly acquired by US-Based The Match Group, a company of NASDAQ-listed IAC which runs globally online dating services such as Match, OKCupid, Tinder, HowAboutWe, Meetic, Twoo as well as other media sites including Ask, About.com, and Vimeo. Details of the acquisition price has not been disclosed.
Pairs is a Facebook-based dating and marriage hunting app launched in 2012 and has acquired over 1.5 million users in Japan and 800,000 users in Taiwan to date. Couple is a memory-sharing and messaging app for couples, and has acquired over 2.2 million users. The company recently launched a media business targeting couples in their teens and 20s leveraging the user base of the Couple app, planning to launch a traditional Chinese version for Taiwanese users in June.
Taking advantage of the business experience of IAC with which has succeeded in many media businesses globally, Eureka wants to further develop its business around the Couples app not only in Japan but also in the Southeast Asian region. The two firms will maintain their brands and independent business operations with their personnel structures unchanged after the merger.
In this space, we’ve seen Korean startup VCNC seeing a good growth in Asia and boasting over 11 million downloads (as of January 2015) of its couple messaging app Between, which fundraised an estimated several millions of dollars from 500 Startups and Japanese VC firm Global Brain last year.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based DogHuggy provides a service to replace kennels for dog owners, making it possible by matching them with reliable pet sitters (or hosts) online in a way like Airbnb that connects those in need of staying with others offering a place to stay. DogHuggy, the company behind the service under the same name, announced in March that they have fundraised an undisclosed sum from CyberAgent Ventures. DogHuggy lets users sign up as a dog owner or sitter (host) so that owners who go out of town can find someone reliable and affordable to take care of their pooch. In this space, we’ve seen startups like US-based DogVacay raising $25 million last November as well as Tokyo-based inDog which recently launched a teaser site. For dog owners, DogHuggy shows you a list of available hosts in your neighborhood so that you can choose one of them as your host by checking their profiles and the reason why they have registered. Once your booking is made, you need to take your pooch to the host’s venue and later pick him up according to the schedule that you have agreed with the host. Planning to start its…
From the left: DogHuggy CEO Shogo Nagatsuka, CTO Yohei Someya
Tokyo-based DogHuggy provides a service to replace kennels for dog owners, making it possible by matching them with reliable pet sitters (or hosts) online in a way like Airbnb that connects those in need of staying with others offering a place to stay. DogHuggy, the company behind the service under the same name, announced in March that they have fundraised an undisclosed sum from CyberAgent Ventures.
DogHuggy lets users sign up as a dog owner or sitter (host) so that owners who go out of town can find someone reliable and affordable to take care of their pooch. In this space, we’ve seen startups like US-based DogVacay raising $25 million last November as well as Tokyo-based inDog which recently launched a teaser site.
For dog owners, DogHuggy shows you a list of available hosts in your neighborhood so that you can choose one of them as your host by checking their profiles and the reason why they have registered. Once your booking is made, you need to take your pooch to the host’s venue and later pick him up according to the schedule that you have agreed with the host.
Planning to start its operation in Japan’s major city areas, DogHuggy will offer the service for 4,000 to 5,000 yen (about $33 to $42) per night while conventional kennels usually charge 6,000 to 7,000 yen ($50 to $58). Hosts can partially donate their income from the platform to selected animal welfare NPOs upon request.
In our recent interview with DogHuggy CEO Shogo Nagatsuka and CTO Yohei Someya, they told us what has triggered them to launch the service.
What’s the problem with conventional kennels?
Aged 18 years now, CEO Nagatsuka has loved animals since childhood. So he took a class of animal welfare while attending a high school attached to a college of veterinary medicine. In contrast with the US and UK where people obtain pets from breeders, he learned that pets in Japan are typically being sold at pet shops as a commodity.
Uncovering the fact that this type of trade practice results in a tendency to abuse pets which is especially on rise in Japan, Nagatsuka felt a sense of urgency with increased awareness of the problem to be dealt with. He thought how he can make a greater contribution through work to the society than by just becoming a veterinarian helping animals at hand. So he started with solving common problems that many pet owners face while attending high school.
When out of town, dog owners typically entrust their pets to kennels. But the service quality of kennels in Japan is inferior to that in Western countries, and not merely that dogs are penned in a very small cage. The DogHuggy team interviewed 200 people walking with their dogs in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo’s huge green area known for having several dog run facilities. As a result, the team learned that many dog owners use kennels because there’s no other choice when leaving home.
Nagatsuka explained:
I have entrusted my pooch to kennels, but he returned in an unwell condition when I picked him up at the kennel because he was forced to spend long hours in a small cage and got stressed. I then came to avoid taking long day trips because I was afraid that the same thing would happen again.
Caring for beloved animals, not just making money
DogHuggy prioritizes improving the quality of their pet sitters. Only qualified sitters upon interview are allowed to sign up as a host, and many of them have a publicly-certified license. Nagatsuka and Someya have taken advantage of their network since school to attract licensed pet sitters.
In addition, using DogHuggy, their pet sitters are obliged to send at least three daily snapshots of your pooch per night so that it will keep you updated about how your pooch spends a good time even when being apart. The team also has a system enabling rapid response to your possible anxiety about your pooch as needed.
In terms of the demographics of hosts, many of them are people in their late 20s to early 30s who typically have a pooch at their parents’ home but are unable to do in their apartment in urban areas.
Nagatsuka elaborated:
Many of our hosts agree with our vision of wanting to help animals and make them happier. Because of the platform allowing them to donate animal welfare NPOs, they are participating in our activities upon supporting our vision rather than just making money.
DogHuggy is planning to launch pretty soon. They want to acquire 500 hosts by the end of this June.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by Masaru Ikeda & “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based internet service company Kayac (TSE:3904) launched a mobile app called Biru-Tomo (literally meaning ‘Building Friend’) earlier this week, connecting you with your neighbors as well as people working for different companies in the same building that your office resides in. The app is now available for iOS on the AppStore and for Android on Google Play. While there are many types of communities according to the environment, the Kayac team thinks that people working at different companies in the same office building can also create a local community. The app helps these people connect with each others and hold community events. It is said that new condominiums are struggling to acquire new residents these days, so more condo developers are adding values for potential customers by appealing that a community of residents can be formed on their properties. I’m not sure if this is also true for office buildings, but connecting office workers in the same building may also bring a good effect to building owners. A user has to be sign up using Facebook authentication upon registering a minimum of one building where he or she is based. In this way, the app will help provide for networking opportunities with office…
Tokyo-based internet service company Kayac (TSE:3904) launched a mobile app called Biru-Tomo (literally meaning ‘Building Friend’) earlier this week, connecting you with your neighbors as well as people working for different companies in the same building that your office resides in. The app is now available for iOS on the AppStore and for Android on Google Play.
While there are many types of communities according to the environment, the Kayac team thinks that people working at different companies in the same office building can also create a local community. The app helps these people connect with each others and hold community events.
It is said that new condominiums are struggling to acquire new residents these days, so more condo developers are adding values for potential customers by appealing that a community of residents can be formed on their properties. I’m not sure if this is also true for office buildings, but connecting office workers in the same building may also bring a good effect to building owners.
A user has to be sign up using Facebook authentication upon registering a minimum of one building where he or she is based. In this way, the app will help provide for networking opportunities with office workers at different companies and even find drinking buddies after hours in the same building.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tech in Asia Singapore 2015, the annual startup conference by Singapore-based tech news media Tech in Asia, is now taking place at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre on 6th and 7th May. At the event, Yasuhiko Yurimoto, CEO of Tokyo-based investment firm Global Brain, told The Bridge that his company will set up a regional office in Singapore soon and appointed Hisashi Suzuki as the chief representative for the office, aiming to better serve local entrepreneurs and startups in the Southeast Asian region. Co-founding notable Japanese video game company Square in 1986 (subsequently merged and rebranded as Square Enix), Suzuki produced legendary game series Final Fantasy and then made the company IPO at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in August, 2000. Subsequently he was appointed as the chairman of Japanese leading entertainment agency LDH where he produced many stars including popular J-pop performing group Exile and Japanese supermodel Jun Hasegawa. Following that he served Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten as Director and Senior Executive Officer, he is currently serving as independent director for Japanese companies like video recording device maker Spider and online business school company Business Breakthrough (TSE:2464). Since 2005 when he started working…
Global Brain CEO Yasuhiko Yurimoto (right), Singapore office representative Hisashi Suzuki (left)
Tech in Asia Singapore 2015, the annual startup conference by Singapore-based tech news media Tech in Asia, is now taking place at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre on 6th and 7th May. At the event, Yasuhiko Yurimoto, CEO of Tokyo-based investment firm Global Brain, told The Bridge that his company will set up a regional office in Singapore soon and appointed Hisashi Suzuki as the chief representative for the office, aiming to better serve local entrepreneurs and startups in the Southeast Asian region.
Co-founding notable Japanese video game company Square in 1986 (subsequently merged and rebranded as Square Enix), Suzuki produced legendary game series Final Fantasy and then made the company IPO at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in August, 2000. Subsequently he was appointed as the chairman of Japanese leading entertainment agency LDH where he produced many stars including popular J-pop performing group Exile and Japanese supermodel Jun Hasegawa. Following that he served Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten as Director and Senior Executive Officer, he is currently serving as independent director for Japanese companies like video recording device maker Spider and online business school company Business Breakthrough (TSE:2464).
Since 2005 when he started working with Rakuten, he has been working while flying back and forth between Singapore and Japan so he has built up a vast network of business executives in Southeast Asia. Joining Global Brain is the first experience for him to work in the startup community, so he said “People to meet up with, things to talk about, everything happening here is very new to me.” However, leveraging his deep insights dependent on his IPO experience, we can expect that he will devote himself to fostering entrepreneurship and forming startup ecosystems in the region.
Global Brain will establish a local business entity in Singapore in the near future, meaning that the regional office will become the company’s subsidiary named “Pte Ltd.” Their Singapore office is the second overseas office in Asia, following the launch of their Seoul office back in December 2014.
In this region, Global Brain is better known for having recently invested in Singapore-based online cosmetics and skincare products e-commerce site Luxola as well as India- / Singapore-based adtech startup AdNear. Going forward, the firm plans to strengthen investing in startups in the region upon the launch of the Singapore office at this time.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Repro, the provider of mobile analytics tool Repro, recently stated that the company has fundraised 100 million yen (about $835,000) from DG Incubation, Brain Pad (TSE:3655), and Shift (TSE:3697). DG Incubation is the investment arm of Japanese internet service company Digital Garage (TSE:4819) while Brain Pad is a Japanese big data analysis company and Shift runs a software testing business. Repro provides SDK (software development kit) for supporting the development of apps for the retention rate of users and UI (user interface) improvement based on user behavior on mobile apps. When a user operates an app with an SDK installed, information such as the user’s method of operating the interface, the track record of that operation, and the user’s facial expressions during that time are recorded. Unlike websites, it is very difficult to update apps real time once they are released. Therefore, it is important to improve the app as much as possible before release. Hence, these days an increasing number of startups and companies are strengthening their UX (user experience) design based on user tests and hearings. However, in group tests for running user tests, the situation can often differ from the…
Tokyo-based Repro, the provider of mobile analytics tool Repro, recently stated that the company has fundraised 100 million yen (about $835,000) from DG Incubation, Brain Pad (TSE:3655), and Shift (TSE:3697). DG Incubation is the investment arm of Japanese internet service company Digital Garage (TSE:4819) while Brain Pad is a Japanese big data analysis company and Shift runs a software testing business.
Repro provides SDK (software development kit) for supporting the development of apps for the retention rate of users and UI (user interface) improvement based on user behavior on mobile apps. When a user operates an app with an SDK installed, information such as the user’s method of operating the interface, the track record of that operation, and the user’s facial expressions during that time are recorded.
Unlike websites, it is very difficult to update apps real time once they are released. Therefore, it is important to improve the app as much as possible before release. Hence, these days an increasing number of startups and companies are strengthening their UX (user experience) design based on user tests and hearings.
However, in group tests for running user tests, the situation can often differ from the everyday, natural atmosphere. Even direct observation of behavior and interview with users still can be artificial due to it being a face-to-face interaction in an interview setting, which means that there is still the chance of a mismatch between the interaction produced there and the users’ actual thoughts and actions. In response to these problems, Repro saves voice recording data and takes photographs with a built-in camera, thus recording the user’s natural behavior. In addition, Repro also accumulates data on how users swiped and clicked on the screen, which makes it possible to see when and where the user decided to depart. Test users can use the app in natural settings such as the user’s home, as opposed to places such as a meeting room.
Unlike existing crash-detection tools, Repro can reproduce the crash based on video recordings from the start to the crash of an app, providing fact-based feedback and making debugging more efficient. The accumulated data support the improvement of the app not only through quantitative analyses such as click rates, roaming time and departing points, but also through qualitative analyses based on video recordings. Needless to say, Repro also assures privacy protection. The text fields of the app detect text input and runs an image processing. Also, it is possible to place a survey either at the beginning or the end of the tests.
Repro CEO Yusuke Hirata explained:
Many customers who introduced Repro into their systems voice how they were able to learn the users’ behavior which were not visible through mere quantitative data and became visible by knowing the living behavior of users. Of course, most of these lessons seemed to have been quite shocking for them. (Laughs.) I mean, learning the manner in which the majority of users move away from the app in a matter of seconds, and learning it through the qualitative data of video recordings, one can directly confront actual reality. We believe that app improvement begins with a proper confrontation of such reality. Indeed, most people who introduce Repro are able to find concrete solutions.
Moreover, in addition to traditional funnel and retention analyses, the administrator screen shows real-time analyses based on video recordings of the users’ behaviors within the app. With previous quantitative data, the only way to analyze user behavior was to look at behavior represented by numbers alone. Over the Repro administrator screen, on the other hand, video allows for a much more concrete representation of user retention and conversion and of where, when, and how users depart or stumble.
Hirata explained:
Live user behavior is a goldmine of hints for app improvement. I would like others to reflect such live information on their apps and understand the true behavior of users. Once analyses are done carefully, one could discover the magic number for letting services grow. For example, users may become active after the number of friends on Facebook passes a certain threshold, or when a certain number of follows are made on Twitter, or the number of saves on the Pocket app (formerly known as Read It Later), and so forth.
If there existed a magic number for increasing the growth of all services and user activity rates, and if it were possible to discover such numbers, then they could be used as KPIs. Enabling analysis of data, discovering the interrelationships. Therefore, Repro can allow observations which can capture the live voice and behavior of users with greater accuracy, by combining quantitative data with qualitative ones.
Repro graduated from the 6th batch of KDDI Mugen Labo, the accelerator program by a Japanese leading telco. During the eight months from the program’s demo day up to the present, Repro has already released a beta version, been introduced into companies such as Mixi and Rakuten, and been used by more than 400 e-commerce and news apps from various genres.
Based on the present release, Repro began providing an official version from its beta version. Plans include a free plan, 12,000 yen ($100) per month plan for startups, 60,000 yen ($500) per month basic plan, 120,000 yen ($1,000) per month gross plan, 360,000 yen ($3,000) per month plan for businesses, and more. The recorded videos and the quantity of data varies according to price.
Moreover, the funding will foster an expansion of the supply of developers, which will lead to creating business overseas, primarily in the US, by 2016.
Notes Hirata,
Analytics service such as MIXPanel and Lookback exist overseas, but Repro has demonstrated high performance in SDK storage, CPU usage, memory usage, etc. As a product, it has been developed to compete on the world market. Taking the present funding as an opportunity, we will build the foundations for expanding our business overseas.
See the original story in Japanese. The inhabitants of our childhood dream worlds are about to populate ordinary life – yes, robots. However, for most people, it might be unclear as to how robots are supposed to help us in our lives. For example, it might be helpful to have drones deliver packages, but it is a little disappointing if that is all that robots can do. Robots and drones are supposed to make our dreams come true (or at least that is how it should be from my point of view), and they face some big challenges. Yukai Engineering, a development team particularly unique within the domestic robotics industry, released Bocco, which may help us expand such dreams. The company’s crowdfunding project, which opened on March 14, 2015 via Kickstarter, has successfully attained its target of more than $20,000 in just three weeks. In light of this event, developer and Yukai Engineering CEO Shunsuke Aoki released the following comment. For this project, we mostly appealed to foreign investors. It was our first time promoting a product outside Japan, and so the campaign took a lot of time to prepare. I am very pleased to see that we were able…
The inhabitants of our childhood dream worlds are about to populate ordinary life – yes, robots. However, for most people, it might be unclear as to how robots are supposed to help us in our lives.
For example, it might be helpful to have drones deliver packages, but it is a little disappointing if that is all that robots can do. Robots and drones are supposed to make our dreams come true (or at least that is how it should be from my point of view), and they face some big challenges.
Yukai Engineering, a development team particularly unique within the domestic robotics industry, released Bocco, which may help us expand such dreams. The company’s crowdfunding project, which opened on March 14, 2015 via Kickstarter, has successfully attained its target of more than $20,000 in just three weeks. In light of this event, developer and Yukai Engineering CEO Shunsuke Aoki released the following comment.
For this project, we mostly appealed to foreign investors. It was our first time promoting a product outside Japan, and so the campaign took a lot of time to prepare. I am very pleased to see that we were able to receive a lot of generous support as a result.
Next, let us take a look at what Bocco means for the future.
According to Aoki’s “general” explanation, Bocco is said to be a watcher robot.
If you attach this red sensor to places such as your front door, it reacts to movements, and Bocco sends a notification to a smartphone app. This enables you to find out when your children have come home, for example. The robot is good at watching and communicating.
As the promotion video shows, Bocco has its own chat app for smartphones (only for iOS at present, Android versions are to come out in July), which enables users to communicate verbally through Bocco.
By pressing the “REC” button on the robot’s belly, voice messages can be recorded. The system then sends this message to smartphones via Bluetooth. Moreover, text-to-speech services are provided from the servers, which means that chat messages sent as text will be read aloud by Bocco simply by pressing the play button. (There is no limit to the number of characters in the message, but Aoki told us that perhaps the API will place a certain limit on this feature in the future.)
In short, Bocco works as a “messenger.” Instead of handing dry electronic devices to children, the robot provides an opportunity for them to engage in a more humane form of communication.
When speaking on or receiving a message, Bocco makes a cute gesture by rolling its head. The movement really is quite robotic, and it mysteriously kindles a sense of warm sympathy.
If only I had encountered Bocco during my childhood, I might have taken a different path in my life.
Bocco in the future
While Bocco is already cuddly enough, as with drones, there may be adults who still complain, “Is that all?” Indeed, for us (especially of the Showa [Japanese calendar years from 1925 to end of the 1980’s] generation) Doraemon stands for robots. Doraemon has an infinite store of possibilities in his four-dimensional pocket.
Aoki continued:
Bocco contains a Linux box, and it can be extended from the outside. For example, say, it can control domestic electronic appliances to make the lights go on and off in response to the opening and closing of doors. Or it can respond to voice and turn on the television, or give us a warning when we are using too much electricity. I am interested in those kinds of areas associated with smart homes.
Arriving home, Bocco analyzes your day’s updates on any social media site, and then says, “You had a long day. Since you seem to be feeling stressed, I decided to buy some relaxing music for you. Would you like to listen to it?” It can be said that such a world is already on the horizon.
A founder of TeamLab, dreaming about Doraemon
Yukai Engineering’s Shunsuke Aoki
Aoki of Yukai Engineering started his career as a founding member of TeamLab (CTO). After that, he worked for pixiv before founding Yukai Engineering. When I first met him, Aoki was developing the “Eyeball Dad” which can be operated over a smartphone.
He explained:
I got into robots through ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ – I decided then that I was going to make my own robot in the future. I had been working as a CTO for about 6 years, and yet I still wanted to make robots, so I quit my job and flew to China.
Doraemon has always been my inspiration. Today, it might be something like Baymax. Robots are for me something which exist in our daily lives, always teaching us something new or helping us to realize our wishes. You know, smart homes are not very exciting since you can’t feel any human ‘presence’ there. Instead of making voice recognition for those kinds of things, I wanted to create something with more character, like an avatar. I want to make something which makes people feel excited to go home to.
Of course, this robotic vision has just gotten off the ground. Pepper, developed by SoftBank, entered our era as a pioneer. While it may take a little longer for these to have a real impact on society, perhaps more people are willing to try starting up in this research field.
Masaru Ikeda
Yukari Mitsuhashi
Junya Mori
Shintaro Eguchi
Takeshi Hirano
