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.
See the original story in Japanese. Today many music pieces and movie clips are distributed in digital form, and consumption methods of these content are shifting to streaming from downloading. However, I think that these trends usually go back and forth like a pendulum, that is, even if people are rather enthusiastic about all things digital now, their interest may swing back to analog in different forms a few years later. In Japan, phonograph-needle maker Nagaoka shut down their business in 1990, which symbolized the end of analog sound sources in the Japanese music industry, but I was surprised to see a TV program which was recently aired on Japanese public broadcaster NHK, showing a vinyl pressing plant receiving a large number of pressing orders from music studios and labels, which far exceeds the factory’s production capacity. This unexpected demand is caused by artists or music lovers, who have been attracted by the beauty of vinyl record packages and the quality of reproducing sounds in a wider sound range than digital sound sources. Japanese startup Tokyo Digital Music Syndicates (TDMS for short) recently launched a platform called Qrates, where anyone can upload their music pieces and launch a crowdfunding campaign for producing vinyl records. Once the targeted volume…
Today many music pieces and movie clips are distributed in digital form, and consumption methods of these content are shifting to streaming from downloading. However, I think that these trends usually go back and forth like a pendulum, that is, even if people are rather enthusiastic about all things digital now, their interest may swing back to analog in different forms a few years later.
In Japan, phonograph-needle maker Nagaoka shut down their business in 1990, which symbolized the end of analog sound sources in the Japanese music industry, but I was surprised to see a TV program which was recently aired on Japanese public broadcaster NHK, showing a vinyl pressing plant receiving a large number of pressing orders from music studios and labels, which far exceeds the factory’s production capacity. This unexpected demand is caused by artists or music lovers, who have been attracted by the beauty of vinyl record packages and the quality of reproducing sounds in a wider sound range than digital sound sources.
Japanese startup Tokyo Digital Music Syndicates (TDMS for short) recently launched a platform called Qrates, where anyone can upload their music pieces and launch a crowdfunding campaign for producing vinyl records. Once the targeted volume of orders is pledged, one may ask the platform to produce vinyls and packages, collect payments from and deliver the outcomes to ordering customers (campaign backers).
When the iTunes music store was introduced for the first time, sound flies were typically distributed in a quite low bit rate so it was not good enough to be amplified at discotheques due to sound distortion. DJs carry heavy vinyl records even now in the digital age because it would be a holdover from those days. Ahead of other companies, TDMS introduced a music distribution service called Wasabeat back in 2007, which has offered high-quality sound sources for club DJs. The company has been hearing many opinions from music artists since then.
TDMS has also been receiving voices from artists that they want to produce vinyl records. However, there’s only one active record pressing factory in Japan, which requires a minimum quantity of 300 pieces and forced to set a retail price as high as 1,500 to 2,000 yen (about $12 to $17) to break even.
Yong-Bo Bae, CEO of TDMS, explained,
If we were to sell record products to consumers worldwide, eventually music artists cannot profit because at least two or three intermediary companies will be needed for global distribution. Therefore, we wanted a structure that enables artists to produce and sell vinyl records even for a smaller lot but at a lower risk.
To turn his ideal into reality, Bae partnered with a long-established record pressing factory in the Czech Republic, and made the Qrate platform available both in Japanese and English so that it can accept orders from artists as well music labels from all around the world. While a minimum order quantity starting at 100 pieces, the platform supports record label and package designing in addition to offering a crowdfunding function to lower the production risk by receiving pre-orders from fans.
Bae continued:
We know that crowdfunding projects for producing vinyl records are becoming more vibrant on Kickstarter or Indiegogo. However, there has been no crowdfunding site focused on producing vinyl records. We are perhaps the first of this kind in the world.
The Qrate platform allows campaign owners to not only create a page for their campaign but also provide a variety of helpful functions for them, such as calculating the break-even point for the campaign, offering bonus music tracks for pre-ordered users or engaging fans via online interactions. According to Bae, he has received many inquiries exploring potential business partnerships from not only indie music artists but also major record labels.
Basic features on Qrates are available for free. But if your crowdfunding campaign is pledged on the platform, one will be charged 15% for the sales as a commission excluding manufacturing cost. Otherwise, one will only be charged 10% for the sales as a commission if one does not intend to produce vinyl records via the platform. With additional payments, one can use a sound mastering service that optimizes the sound pieces to analog recording. One’s vinyl records will be pressed and delivered to all backers within two months after securing the crowdfunding campaign.
For further development of the Qrates platform, TDMS has fundraised an undisclosed sum from IMJ Investment Partners, Xing (Karaoke machine company / a subsidiary of Japanese sewing-machine and printer manufacturer Brother), and Tokyo-based investment firm PE&HR.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by Masaru Ikeda & “Tex” Pomeroy
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. On Friday, Tokyo-based Digital Garage invested in MX Technologies (MX), a provider of Digital Money Management and omnichannel banking solutions for their online banking, mobile banking and financial institution partners. The investment was completed through the Japanese firm’s investment/incubation subsidiary DG Incubation (DGI). MX is a five-time winner of the Best of Show award at Finovate, one of the largest U.S. conferences for financial technology (FinTech) startups. Since June of 2010, MX has grown to become a major entity in the U.S. recently, with over 500 financial institution clients now. MX offers a host of omnichannel banking solutions for banks and other financial institutions, giving its partners the power to provide their account holders with a software that works across virtually any device or OS including smartphones, tablets and desktops. These tools can be configured in virtually any way to match each bank’s unique offerings, achieving an intuitive user interface for account holders. MX’s solution set also provides banks with powerful analytics tools, allowing them to view and manage their data like never before. Banks can use it to target…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
On Friday, Tokyo-based Digital Garage invested in MX Technologies (MX), a provider of Digital Money Management and omnichannel banking solutions for their online banking, mobile banking and financial institution partners. The investment was completed through the Japanese firm’s investment/incubation subsidiary DG Incubation (DGI). MX is a five-time winner of the Best of Show award at Finovate, one of the largest U.S. conferences for financial technology (FinTech) startups. Since June of 2010, MX has grown to become a major entity in the U.S. recently, with over 500 financial institution clients now.
MX offers a host of omnichannel banking solutions for banks and other financial institutions, giving its partners the power to provide their account holders with a software that works across virtually any device or OS including smartphones, tablets and desktops. These tools can be configured in virtually any way to match each bank’s unique offerings, achieving an intuitive user interface for account holders. MX’s solution set also provides banks with powerful analytics tools, allowing them to view and manage their data like never before. Banks can use it to target appropriate offers and ads to users through the MX-powered interface.
DGI has seen value-added services that MX provides to its customers, and expects the company to continue growing in the U.S. FinTech market. Additionally, DGI believes that the Japan market is ripe for bank-facing B2B and omnichannel banking solutions, leading to the investment in MX. The Digital Garage group is currently working with MX to map out ways to help the company grow in the Japan market, including working with domestic financial institutions, while supporting other expansion activities.
Through this investment and collaborative partnership, MX and DGI aim to expand the company’s services, to provide end users with powerful tools.
MX was established in March, 2010 and is headquartered in Utah. It helps financial institutions provide their account holders with cross-platform, versatile Digital Money Management and omnichannel banking tools.
The MX platform comprises the following 5 technologies: Helios, WideNet, Nexus, Insight and Target:
Helios, WideNet, Nexus: Core Services
These three key technologies power the tool at the core of the MX experience. These products enable their partners to offer an immersive DMM experience across virtually all devices and operating systems, enabling handling of transaction information from virtually every source. For end users, these tools provide unparalleled functionality and allow for all account information to be viewed as well as manipulated across all devices.
Insight, Target: Data Analysis and Advertising Solutions
These services make it possible for banks to quickly and easily understand everything about their clients, to provide appropriate solutions faster and more comprehensively. Additionally, this enhanced level of insight allows banks to target only the most appropriate customers with the right advertisements in addition to offering them over various channels, including the core MX interface.
See the original story in Japanese. Japanese firm Dentsu Blue announced on Friday that it has developed a new mobile app, called ChainSnap, as part of its effort to encourage ‘intrapreneurship‘ at the company. The Tokyo-based subsidiary of a leading advertisement agency is now known for several innovative mobile apps. This mobile app allows one to connect with up to 24 other users and let them take pictures using their smartphones at the same time, aiming to see and share what’s happening in every corner of the world. Pictures taken by these users can be saved in the Camera Roll on one’s device and obviously shared via various social network services. The app is only available for Android devices on Google Play but an iOS version will follow in early May. Users can gain access only to cameras of other users installing the ChainSnap app on their smartphones. When a camera is about to be hacked and used by other users, one must request that access from the other user be granted so there is no privacy invasion. According to Dentsu Blue, potential use cases include taking a picture of a sunset in Japan while shooting a sunrise in Brazil, creating a Matrix-esque panoramic picture by connecting smartphone cameras of all…
Japanese firm Dentsu Blue announced on Friday that it has developed a new mobile app, called ChainSnap, as part of its effort to encourage ‘intrapreneurship‘ at the company. The Tokyo-based subsidiary of a leading advertisement agency is now known for several innovative mobile apps.
This mobile app allows one to connect with up to 24 other users and let them take pictures using their smartphones at the same time, aiming to see and share what’s happening in every corner of the world. Pictures taken by these users can be saved in the Camera Roll on one’s device and obviously shared via various social network services. The app is only available for Android devices on Google Play but an iOS version will follow in early May.
Users can gain access only to cameras of other users installing the ChainSnap app on their smartphones. When a camera is about to be hacked and used by other users, one must request that access from the other user be granted so there is no privacy invasion.
According to Dentsu Blue, potential use cases include taking a picture of a sunset in Japan while shooting a sunrise in Brazil, creating a Matrix-esque panoramic picture by connecting smartphone cameras of all ChainSnap users surrounding a spot, allowing users to take pictures of music stars performing via cameras equipped at live performance venues.
The company, known for the ‘246‘ smart lock and the ‘PandeChat‘ Bluetooth-only messaging app, wants to offer a new user experience that one has never seen before with conventional mobile photo apps.
Dentsu Blue wants to explore monetization models such as premium functions, selling users access grants to cameras located at popular sightseeing spots in the world.
Masaru Ikeda
Shintaro Eguchi
Takeshi Hirano
The Bridge
