Japan’s weight-loss advisory startup FiNC raises $5.3 million

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See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based FiNC is taking the lead in Japan’s healthcare startup community. The company has been providing online weight-loss advice solutions since March of 2014, allowing users to receive a 60-day dietary program from experts via smartphone.

The company announced today that it has fundraised 650 million yen (about $5.3 million) as loans from financial institutions including Mizuho Bank and Japan Finance Corporation, as well as receiving funds from angel investors. This follows the company’s previous funding in September of 2014.

New angel investors joining this time include former Japan national soccer team coach Takeshi Okada, Japanese mobile telco eAccess founder Sachio Senmoto, former Yahoo Japan COO Hiroaki Kitano, and Tokyo-based business consultancy Pronova CEO Etsuko Okajima. [1] FiNC will use the funds to strengthen hiring new people and develop wearable devices as well as other solutions using artificial intelligence (AI).

Coinciding with this, FiNC announced that it has launched a 60-day group weight-loss program in partnership with Wellness Frontier, the company behind the Joyfit sports club chain in Japan, where users can use any branch of the chain for two months. The program lets users join a mobile app group where they can encourage each others on their efforts to reduce weight.

FiNC has acquired a variety of directors and shareholders from across industries, perhaps indicating high expectations from the Japanese society, not only for the startup but also for the entire healthcare startup community. It will be interesting to see what kind of devices or solutions will be introduced by this company in the future.

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy


  1. eAccess was acquired by Softbank in 2012. Hiroaki Kitano is currently Senior Vice President of Softbank Mobile.