Tokyo-based SenSprout has been developing hardware devices and Internet services focused on agriculture. Launching a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo with an initial goal of raising $10,000 on Monday, the company reached the goal in only two days. There are 58 days more to go until the campaign closes, so it will be interesting to see how much more money the team raises.
SenSprout is a leaf-shaped sensor that measures rainfall and soil moisture, allowing users to receive metrics with their smartphone or other devices. Sensor systems for agriculture are not a new concept but they are hard for farmers to implement because they require an average of over 10 million yen ($85,000) investment and a network for data acquisition.
In this campaign, the team provides nine kinds of rewards for backers including the Early Bird Special craft kit for $45 and other more expensive backing options. The campaign is integrated with a recent startup competition hosted by Chivas Regal where SenSprout was chosen as one of 16 finalists out of more than 1,000 startup applications. Apart from the campaign, the top prizewinner at the competition will receive a $10,000 cash prize upon voting.
16 finalists from the Chivas Regal startup competition, including the SenSprout team
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based internet service company Beenos (TSE:3328) announced today that it has invested in Bangalore-based startup Byhatke, the startup behind Indian price comparison site Buyhatke.com. This was co-invested with Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of India’s leading system integration company Infosys, and is valued at $1 million. Buyhatke was founded in 2013 by Gaurav Dahake and his team while attending Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Buyhatke.com curates profiles of over 3,000 items from more than 300 e-commerce sites, providing users with real-time price information based on data analysis. The platform proposes the best timing to buy a product based on past price trends, alerts when the price hits the bottom, and also offers search engine for discount coupons that can be used at purchase. When Xiaomi and OnePlusPne released their smartphones in India last year, the platform offers consumers accurate analysis of price trends for the products on many e-commerce sites in Asia, which attracted many users and catapulted the service into fame. The company consists of a 15-person team, and many members are from IITs and previously worked at companies like Amazon, Samsung, and India’s leading e-commerce site Flipcart. The company will use the funds to…
Tokyo-based internet service company Beenos (TSE:3328) announced today that it has invested in Bangalore-based startup Byhatke, the startup behind Indian price comparison site Buyhatke.com. This was co-invested with Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of India’s leading system integration company Infosys, and is valued at $1 million.
Buyhatke was founded in 2013 by Gaurav Dahake and his team while attending Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Buyhatke.com curates profiles of over 3,000 items from more than 300 e-commerce sites, providing users with real-time price information based on data analysis. The platform proposes the best timing to buy a product based on past price trends, alerts when the price hits the bottom, and also offers search engine for discount coupons that can be used at purchase. When Xiaomi and OnePlusPne released their smartphones in India last year, the platform offers consumers accurate analysis of price trends for the products on many e-commerce sites in Asia, which attracted many users and catapulted the service into fame.
The company consists of a 15-person team, and many members are from IITs and previously worked at companies like Amazon, Samsung, and India’s leading e-commerce site Flipcart. The company will use the funds to expand the team to 50 by end of the year.
Starting with investment in online marketplace ShopClues in January 2013, Beenos has accelerated its investment efforts in the Indian e-commerce market including the one in payments solution company CitrusPay. While Beenos founder Teruhide Sato stepped down as CEO of Beenos last December, he previously shared his insight that online marketplaces are king, payments solutions companies are queen, as well as affiliate and price comparison sites are princes in the e-commerce industry. He is no longer involved in managing Beenos, but the company’s series of investments in Indian startups definitely follows his perspective. Sato also became an angel investor in an Indian startup.
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. See also: Boasting over 1.3M users, Japan’s Eureka tackles online dating with data-driven approach 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…
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.
Takeshi Hirano
Masaru Ikeda
Yukari Mitsuhashi
Junya Mori
