Bloomberg reported earlier today that Kyoto-based GLM, the Japanese startup focused on developing electric sports cars, has secured 1.7 billion yen (about $14 million) in series B round from 24 sources including VC firms and corporations in Japan as well as the rest of the world. The company will use the funds to enhance after-sales support in addition to expanding sales in Europe and Middle East, not to mention in Asia.
GLM was launched as part of incubation efforts by Kyoto University, hired former engineers from Toyota and Nissan Motors to develop a series of cool designed electric vehicles. Tommy Kaira ZZ, the company’s flagship lightweight sports car, was launched as a limited number edition with a sales cap of 99 orders in August last year, while the company has secured 180 pre-orders for the vehicle’s next shipping schedule.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Freee, a cloud-based accounting platform startup under the same name, announced today that it has fundraised 3.5 billion yen ($29 million) from US-based VC firm DCM, Japan’s Recruit Holdings (TSE:6098), Japan Coinvest Limited Partnership in the series C round. With the latest funds, the company has fundraised 5.2 billion yen ($43 million) since its launch in 2012. See also: Japan’s accounting startup Freee raises $6M from Pavilion Capital and Recruit Holdings Japanese cloud-based accounting startup Freee raises $8M Japanese accounting startup Freee raises $2.7 million from Infinity Venture Partners and DCM At a news conference this July, Freee CEO Daisuke Sasaki revealed that he aims to make his company a unicon, a startup worth over $1 billion. Cloud-contained society, a new product concept by Freee, was announced following the introduction of several initiatives by the Japanese government, such as the launch of e-Gov API (application program interface) and the national identification number system, as well as the change of the electronic form storage method for tax documents. These changes may accelerate the adoption of cloud-based systems into many business applications, encouraging many startups to focus on cloud-based services for businesses. Freee also aims…
Tokyo-based Freee, a cloud-based accounting platform startup under the same name, announced today that it has fundraised 3.5 billion yen ($29 million) from US-based VC firm DCM, Japan’s Recruit Holdings (TSE:6098), Japan Coinvest Limited Partnership in the series C round. With the latest funds, the company has fundraised 5.2 billion yen ($43 million) since its launch in 2012.
At a news conference this July, Freee CEO Daisuke Sasaki revealed that he aims to make his company a unicon, a startup worth over $1 billion.
Cloud-contained society, a new product concept by Freee, was announced following the introduction of several initiatives by the Japanese government, such as the launch of e-Gov API (application program interface) and the national identification number system, as well as the change of the electronic form storage method for tax documents. These changes may accelerate the adoption of cloud-based systems into many business applications, encouraging many startups to focus on cloud-based services for businesses.
Freee also aims to be a platform that supports small businesses. Using the funds, the company plans to develop services supporting a wider range of back office operations for small businesses. Freee launched a company foundation support service in June, followed by other menus like cloud-based accounting and payroll services. The company will launch a new service supporting the Japanese national identification number system for businesses in October, followed by supporting the change of the electronic form storage method by end of 2015.
Competition in this sector is heating up as many companies are shifting to cloud-based services. Sasaki explained how his company beats the competition:
Freee has the top share in Japan for cloud-based accounting, having accumulated much knowledge. In addition, we are the only company focused on cloud-based services for small businesses, which means our resources are focused on the targeted niche.
Based on all these factors, our designs for easy user operations are common in our all services. Many surrounding services will be integrated into the Freee accounting platform – taking a high share of the industry, which will also benefit our users.
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…
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
eAccess was acquired by Softbank in 2012. Hiroaki Kitano is currently Senior Vice President of Softbank Mobile. ↩
See the original story in Japanese. These days e-commerce sites are commonplace, with almost everything available for purchase online with a click on a button. Since its launch back in August of 2004, Sotoasobi has been offering carefully-selected outdoor leisure packages for anyone including occasional adventure seekers. The company has fundraised 200 million yen (about $1.6 million) from Tokyo-based B Dash Ventures. Carefully-selected lineup We previously featured Sotoasobi back in July last year when the company rolled out a new website and appointed former Gaiax COO Yu Nakajima as new CEO. More than a year has passed since then, with the pace of bookings through the website doubled and over a thousand leisure plans from 30 kinds of activities available today. Regardless of the increased variety of tour plans readied, nothing has changed as to the concept of their business. Including Sotoasobi co-founder Takayoshi Yamamoto who has 15 years’ experience in the outdoor leisure industry as well as being a qualified guide for horse riding and rafting, the company has acquired mountain guides and round-the-world cyclists as curators to select and introduce interesting leisure plans. These curators actually visit leisure destinations to hear from plan organizers and publish articles about…
These days e-commerce sites are commonplace, with almost everything available for purchase online with a click on a button. Since its launch back in August of 2004, Sotoasobi has been offering carefully-selected outdoor leisure packages for anyone including occasional adventure seekers. The company has fundraised 200 million yen (about $1.6 million) from Tokyo-based B Dash Ventures.
Carefully-selected lineup
From a snorkeling tour in Okinawa arranged via Sotoasobi.
We previously featured Sotoasobi back in July last year when the company rolled out a new website and appointed former Gaiax COO Yu Nakajima as new CEO. More than a year has passed since then, with the pace of bookings through the website doubled and over a thousand leisure plans from 30 kinds of activities available today.
Regardless of the increased variety of tour plans readied, nothing has changed as to the concept of their business. Including Sotoasobi co-founder Takayoshi Yamamoto who has 15 years’ experience in the outdoor leisure industry as well as being a qualified guide for horse riding and rafting, the company has acquired mountain guides and round-the-world cyclists as curators to select and introduce interesting leisure plans. These curators actually visit leisure destinations to hear from plan organizers and publish articles about them in their own words and photos.
In order to provide good tour plans, Nakajima told us that knowing destinations like the back of one’s hand and having leisure activity professionals are key elements.
When it comes to outdoors, many people may have an image that excursion participants have to move about a lot while getting sweaty. However, there are also other types of plans, which let users enjoy nature with their senses on weekends in comfort. Examples include plans that allow one to ride a horse or go out to a treehouse for coffee there, in addition to a plan which takes one to an uninhabited island by sea kayak for BBQ and snorkeling. Our site offers the exceptional experiences one cannot find anywhere else.
Age-specific search interface
Since the content is well curated on the Sotoasobi website, it helps even outdoor beginners to find preferable tour plans regardless of background knowledge. That’s why their users are diverse generationwise, with particular concentration from singles in their 20s and 30s as well as family households. Elderly participants are also increasing, such as an 80-year-old member experiencing one’s first horse ride as well as an elderly couple who have been eager to fly in the sky together with a paraglider.
After Nakajima joined the team, Sotoasobi has been making great efforts to improve user interfaces. The company rolled out a new website design twice over the past year, adding an advanced search function so that users can more easily find a relevant tour option matching their needs.
The new search function is designed for family users, enabling them to find tour plans by specifying the minimum age of an accompanying minor, such as ranging from 0 year old to older than 16 years of age. In response to the recent increase in elderly users, the company has also added checkboxes in the search menu, such as ‘Participants aged over 60 allowed’ or ‘single participants allowed’ not to mention ‘pets allowed’ so that participants can better find their optimal options.
Strengthening human resources
The Sotoasobi team. Yu Nakajima stands in the upper left.
Sotoasobi will use the latest funds to strengthen recruiting new curators and further improve their website plus develop a booking management tool which will be availed to leisure plan providers. The company plans to double the number of their curators, while polishing up the expertise of neighborhood guides and outdoor activities.
As part of their main portal, the company recently launched a new blog site called Outfitter. It provides visitors with useful information such as the most-recommended trekking shoes for female mountaineers and the best gears for sea kayaking.
They comprise a ten-person team which includes curators, but they are hiring designers and engineers as well as someone who can keep updating the aforementioned blog site. Looking forward, they aim to expand services to help more people enjoy nature.
This is a guest post authored by Connor Kirk. He is a Kyoto-based writer/translator specializing in tech and startups. Orphe is an LED smart-shoe hardware development project from Tokyo-based startup “no new folk studio”. We’ve featured this project here on The Bridge a few times in the Japanese edition, but this will be the first article in English. Starting with a little background, Orphe is a light up shoe designed primarily for performers and artists that uses 9-axis sensors and high-density LED strips built into the soles of the shoes to produce a variety of colors and patterns that react to the movements of the wearer. Coupled with a free app, the color of the lights and other settings can be manipulated over bluetooth. Prototypes of the shoe were developed at the shared hardware development incubation lab DMM.make AKIBA which was established last year in Akihabara, Tokyo. A crowdfunding campaign was launched on Indiegogo in March 2015 and was 214% funded by May. They now have a new teaser site and are accepting pre-orders. Shipment of pre-orders and perks to backers of the project has been given a February 2016 estimate. With wearables becoming more prevalent, and the entry into…
This is a guest post authored by Connor Kirk. He is a Kyoto-based writer/translator specializing in tech and startups.
Orphe is an LED smart-shoe hardware development project from Tokyo-based startup “no new folk studio”. We’ve featured this project here on The Bridge a few times in the Japanese edition, but this will be the first article in English.
Starting with a little background, Orphe is a light up shoe designed primarily for performers and artists that uses 9-axis sensors and high-density LED strips built into the soles of the shoes to produce a variety of colors and patterns that react to the movements of the wearer. Coupled with a free app, the color of the lights and other settings can be manipulated over bluetooth. Prototypes of the shoe were developed at the shared hardware development incubation lab DMM.make AKIBA which was established last year in Akihabara, Tokyo. A crowdfunding campaign was launched on Indiegogo in March 2015 and was 214% funded by May. They now have a new teaser site and are accepting pre-orders. Shipment of pre-orders and perks to backers of the project has been given a February 2016 estimate.
With wearables becoming more prevalent, and the entry into the hardware development field becoming more and more accessible, the competition is strong for small startups like “no new folk studio” in the wearable technology field. This year alone we’ve seen a quite a few products operating on a similar concept: wearables or other products with LEDs that can be controlled with a smart device, so what will make Orphe stand out from the crowd?
There are a few things that stand out to me. One of them is the open source aspect of the project. When you buy the shoes, what you get with them is not only the downloadable app, but also an SDK for developing your own applications using the Orphe hardware. They’ve suggested that the hardware could potentially be used as a videogame controller or a musical instrument. One of the first that comes to mind is potential partnerships with developers of rhythm games like DDR, or Bemani games. In their most recent video update, they demonstrated that kicking with the left foot and right foot can trigger different sounds, and that tilt and speed data collected by the 9-axis sensors can be used to manipulate sound in other ways. Just having shoes that can change colors when you move around is fun for a little while, but what I’m really interested in is seeing what kinds of other uses will come out of this. Exactly when the SDK will be released hasn’t been announced yet, but they have said that it is a planned feature of Orphe.
Light up shoes are of course not a new idea. Most of us who grew up in the 90’s probably wore or knew someone who wore L.A. Lights, the hugely popular light up shoe brand that eventually dissolved largely due to their controversial use of poisonous mercury in the tilt switches that powered the LEDs embedded in the children’s shoes. Seeing as Orphe’s Indiegogo page actually references an article about the history of L.A. Lights, we can assume they understand some of the potential pitfalls that exist in the light up shoe field. I haven’t seen any mention so far as to what type of rubber is being used for Orphe’s soles, or how it’s holding up to testing, but seeing as how a pair of these shoes will set you back at least $270 I’d expect that the soles are high quality and won’t fall apart after repeated use like L.A. Lights did. Also, they’ve said that the battery used in the prototype lasts for 3 hours of continuous use, but they are looking at other battery options as well.
I’ve heard from a lot of friends and acquaintances that running a crowdfunding campaign can be one of the most stressful things you can imagine. We’ve all seen the stories of successfully funded projects that never actually delivered what they promised. From the looks of it though, I don’t think Orphe will be one of those, but with hundreds of backers anxiously waiting to receive their pre-orders, I can imagine the 10-person “no new folk studio” team is feeling the pressure as they move into the production stage.
See the original story in Japanese. Serving 500,000 students around the country Clear is a study notes organizer app and has attracted over 500,000 students in Japan. Tokyo-based Arcterus, the company behind the app, has fundraised 130 million yen (about $1 million) from Japanese system integration company Startia (TSE:3303), Dentsu Digital Fund, Korea’s BonAngels, and others. The company will use the funds to add new app functions as well as aiming to expand globally. Students have started adapting their smartphone for their studies. Japan’s Recruit Marketing Partners recently unveiled a list of trending keywords that includes the Japanese word “sumaben” meaning studying via smartphone. Over 3 million notes are published and shared The Clear app allows students to publish their handwritten study notes and share them with other users. There are over 3 million published notes available on the platform so far. Clear has two main usage styles: When students get something they can’t understand at school classes, they can try to figure out by looking at notes by classmates rather than relying on Google search or study-aid books. Finding well-summarized notes to better understand materials upon preparing for exams at school. Goichiro Arai, CEO of Arcterus, says that the…
Clear is a study notes organizer app and has attracted over 500,000 students in Japan. Tokyo-based Arcterus, the company behind the app, has fundraised 130 million yen (about $1 million) from Japanese system integration company Startia (TSE:3303), Dentsu Digital Fund, Korea’s BonAngels, and others. The company will use the funds to add new app functions as well as aiming to expand globally.
Students have started adapting their smartphone for their studies. Japan’s Recruit Marketing Partners recently unveiled a list of trending keywords that includes the Japanese word “sumaben” meaning studying via smartphone.
Over 3 million notes are published and shared
The Clear app allows students to publish their handwritten study notes and share them with other users. There are over 3 million published notes available on the platform so far. Clear has two main usage styles:
When students get something they can’t understand at school classes, they can try to figure out by looking at notes by classmates rather than relying on Google search or study-aid books.
Finding well-summarized notes to better understand materials upon preparing for exams at school.
Goichiro Arai, CEO of Arcterus, says that the Clear app aims to be a study notes version of GitHub or online recipe app Cookpad. Compared to being taught by teachers, private tutors, or study-aid books, the app helps students enrich their understanding of their studies.
The company gets feedback from students such as: “The app has motivated me to study harder,” and “It has lowered a psychological hurdle in studying.”
The app helps to connect and motivate students across the country by allowing them to share and comment on handwritten study notes.
Expanding into Southeast Asia and North America
Arcterus wants to liven up the learning field with the app while ensuring the quality and boosting the sharing of study notes. In addition to serving students in Japan, the company wants to expand into other Asian countries in 2015, followed by expansion into North and South American markets in 2016. They launched the Clear app in Thailand back in April, receiving positive responses from the market as the number of users and shared study notes have been both increasing.
In a previous interview with the team of Penpal Schools, a Texan online penpal-based studying platform that has acquired over 7 million students from more than 70 countries, I was so surprised to learn that many students feel lonely studying at school even when they study together in a classroom. Arai agreed and said that is why many students come together at a diner and study together after school.
Arai concluded:
Studying for exams is likely to make you feel lonely. In class, you need to concentrate on grasping a new concept, which can be a lonely task. By compiling an extensive database of shared study notes, we aim to help students from around the world succeed in their studies.
Translated by Chieko Frost via Mother First Edited by Masaru Ikeda and Kurt Hanson
Proofread by “Tex” Pomeroy
Masaru Ikeda
Junya Mori
Yukari Mitsuhashi
The Bridge
