On Friday afternoon, Andy Rubin made a keynote speech at the New Economy Summit 2016 in Tokyo. Rubin developed the Android smartphone platform and sold it to Google, then joined Google as vice president of engineering before recently launched his own company called Playground Global. His new company will incubate and support hardware startups.
According to Rubin, Playground Global is a cross between a typical venture capital firm in Silicon Valley and an IDEO-like design studio, employing about 50 in-house engineers focusing on industrial design, mechanical design, electrical engineering and other key areas. Despite only 11 months having passed since launch, the company has successfully fundraised $300 million for the purpose of investing in hardware startups last year.
Looking back at the history of IT industry, we see a new computing platform emerging every 10 to 15 years. From Rubin’s perspective, he believes artificial intelligence (AI) will come next after the mobile platform. Given the paradigm shift driven by artificial intelligence, there will be a major change in how people interact with machines. By placing AI in the cloud as well as gathering information via sensors located sporadically, AI-powered engines will be taught and trained.
A robot is definitely a complex aggregate of these sensors. To highlight this, Rubin invited Yuto Nakanishi onstage to ask him to unveil his biped robot under development. Nakanishi was CEO of Japanese robotics company Schaft, which was acquired by Google when Rubin was still with the tech giant. Nakanishi is currently continuing his R&D work at X (formerly Google X), the new tech development company under Google. Since Rubin has quit Google, he has no direct business relationship with Nakanishi for now but it seems Nakanishi agreed to make his new robot public upon request from the man who gave the go-ahead to investdin Nakanishi’s business years ago.
Having no name yet, this robot is slightly shorter than the average human. Even on bumpy roads, it can walk while maintaining stability. Since it can walk up and down even on tiny steps of stairs, the use case includes autonomous stair-sweeping by attachment of vacuuming devices on its foot. However, applications for this robot are yet specifically to be determined by Google.
Rubin concluded the session with a prediction that computer engineers will need the skills of ‘training’ neural networks as well as programming. Hence, computer engineering will be replaced by the new concept of everyone teaching new things to robots or AI systems because of changes in how interactions with machines take place in coming years.
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Surf’s up! As things start warming up this Olympic year (though the venue is in the southern hemisphere, readying for cooler seasons) the seaside beckons. However, danger lurks for the unprepared. According to marine sports expert Nobunori Saito － looking forward to the 2020 Tokyo event where the first-ever Olympiad surfing competition promises dynamic video footage － open waters are most difficult to negotiate. As is, waves can be fickle, but considering other factors in combination, diving… whether for recreation or professionally, as I understand from my chat with industry people… is perhaps one of the marine activities requiring the utmost in care. notes the ShoreBlend owner. Along with the recent increase in diver population encompassing not only hobby purposes, including marine animal companionship and underwater photo-tourism, but also industrial ones ranging from aquaculture and construction to maintenance and resource search, there has been an explosion in the number of diving accidents and associated fatalities. PADI’s wading in but… Specifically for the diving field, in addition to governmental regulations there are industry organizations (in Japan, PADI Japan which is an…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
Surf’s up!
As things start warming up this Olympic year (though the venue is in the southern hemisphere, readying for cooler seasons) the seaside beckons. However, danger lurks for the unprepared.
According to marine sports expert Nobunori Saito － looking forward to the 2020 Tokyo event where the first-ever Olympiad surfing competition promises dynamic video footage － open waters are most difficult to negotiate.
As is, waves can be fickle, but considering other factors in combination, diving… whether for recreation or professionally, as I understand from my chat with industry people… is perhaps one of the marine activities requiring the utmost in care.
Along with the recent increase in diver population encompassing not only hobby purposes, including marine animal companionship and underwater photo-tourism, but also industrial ones ranging from aquaculture and construction to maintenance and resource search, there has been an explosion in the number of diving accidents and associated fatalities.
PADI’s wading in but…
Specifically for the diving field, in addition to governmental regulations there are industry organizations (in Japan, PADI Japan which is an office of the half-century-old US-based organization) that ensure proper use of equipment like the scuba tank. PADI is officially Professional Association of Diving Instructors, but comprises a membership of not instructors alone but a large non-instructors as well.
The constant conundrum which, no pun intended, surfaces for divers is how to deal with the need to ascend from a deep (what with water pressure being quite powerful than laymen think, “only” 30 meters or more) dive as quickly in the safest manner possible when such need arises. The fact is, some people still lose their lives due to decompression problems known popularly as the bends even with all of mankind’s advances against the seas.
Diving into new markets
Visit Seabed CEO Frederic Castellanet on the left
With this as a backdrop, Nice-based tech startup Visit Seabed unveiled its new diving equipment in Japan. Highlighting the fact that Asia has a promising market, President Frederic Castellanet chose the Marine Diving Fair in Tokyo to introduce its first product, the result of two years’ research efforts. Named BCDmaster, this item retrofits any Buoyancy Control Device (aka BCD) in vest form which provides for a hands-free, automatic ‘cruise control’ upon ascent, though it features a manual override as an added safety measure.
It seems most befitting that compatriots of the late Jacques Cousteau…who described for posterity’s sake the nitrogen narcosis or l’ivresse des grandes profondeurs issue vexing deepsea challenges…found an elegant solution to operational difficulties posed by such conditions in addition to the setting. BCDmaster, with 100% watertightness realized using resin encasement of induction-charge type battery/electro-circuitry, enables dynamic hovering and microadjustments for stability/autostop upon rising.
Preparing for The Season
As the summer months loom ahead, other related market activities can be espied on the horizon; just in terms of equipment there are dive computers and regulators beyond BCD vests, for example. It is also a fact that much of our planet is covered by the ocean, filled with opportunities. Further stories will surely appear for our readers’ benefit.
As regards BCDmaster, an announcement of a version meeting the American specification is slated later this month. M. Castellanet plans to visit Japan again during May, to showcase upgraded versions of his creation for Asian users, perhaps with an eye on Indonesia to the south. It behooves a close look at this French venture… after all, Tahiti and New Caledonia are prime destinations too.
See the original story in Japanese. New York City in the US is this nation’s largest urban area and Mecca for IT startups in which various kinds of media / fashion service can be found. In addition, the city abounds in matching services for dating such as leading female-use service Lulu, which was purchased by Badoo in February, or Coffee Meets Bagel based on a concept of introducing friends of a friend. The matching service EastMeetEast especially focusing on Asians was born in such a city. Having started its service since December 2013, the firm has recently conducted a second funding round of an undisclosed amount from Mercari CEO Shintaro Yamada, East Ventures, 500 Startups, iSGS Investment Works, and DeNA (TSE:2432). DeNA participated in a seed funding round in August 2014. The number of registered users in 2015 increased seven-fold last year. Also the sales amount has been increasing at a growth of 30-40% month-to-month. The factor that made EastMeetEast possible to grow without competing with majors such as Match.com may be the targeting specifying users; it focuses in particular on individuals from East and Southeast Asia including China, Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The main users are men /…
New York City in the US is this nation’s largest urban area and Mecca for IT startups in which various kinds of media / fashion service can be found. In addition, the city abounds in matching services for dating such as leading female-use service Lulu, which was purchased by Badoo in February, or Coffee Meets Bagel based on a concept of introducing friends of a friend.
The matching service EastMeetEast especially focusing on Asians was born in such a city. Having started its service since December 2013, the firm has recently conducted a second funding round of an undisclosed amount from Mercari CEO Shintaro Yamada, East Ventures, 500 Startups, iSGS Investment Works, and DeNA (TSE:2432). DeNA participated in a seed funding round in August 2014.
The number of registered users in 2015 increased seven-fold last year. Also the sales amount has been increasing at a growth of 30-40% month-to-month. The factor that made EastMeetEast possible to grow without competing with majors such as Match.com may be the targeting specifying users; it focuses in particular on individuals from East and Southeast Asia including China, Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
The main users are men / women in the 25 to 35 age group. Most of them are in their late 20’s and said to participate rather casually, thinking “through dating, might consider getting married if a good person.” The service has been recognized as the place to meet someone who has the same background or culture. Even if a user withdraws from the service once, he / she tends to return again within an average of three months.
Unique circumstances for Asians
As a result of continuous focus group interviews with users prior to launch, it has been found that factors which Asians expect of their partners differ from those expected by Caucasians.
As can be expected from apps like Tinder based on photos that became popular, Caucasians tend to emphasize one’s appearance such as eye color or body build. On the other hand, Asians tend to consider background or culture as a whole, such as academic record, language or occupation, similar to the Japanese.
On EastMeetEast, users seek partners on the basis of search results. Although its search function is useful, sometimes the number of hits are too large to choose from, or some people miss good persons due to too many search terms being input at the onset. In order to cover these defects, the service distributes support emails to users.
EastMeetEast founder / CEO Mariko Tokioka explains:
We send emails under the image of ‘marriage arrangement lady’ to users once a week, in which we propose just one person who seems to be well suited. When email distribution takes place, the number of message exchanges between users increase by 40% compared with regular days.
In the emails, not only the person’s appearance but also quality is emphasized. The subject of emails is arranged to attract user attention by appealing his / her age, schools attended or occupation, not being a bland title like ‘your partner of the week,’ and that resulted in a high disclosure rate.
Successful video marketing
Originated as a PC website, EastMeetEast launched an app for iOS in July 2014. It will shift toward mobile-based service further in the future.
According to Tokioka, the most highly evaluated point of the firm upon this funding is its active marketing. For startups overseas, it is common to conduct promotion or marketing itself without outsourcing to accrue know-how. In fact, she had tried various approaches this past year.
When the first advertisement came out, the user acquisition cost was $14 each. It has fallen to 85% now. The most effective method among the variety of trial experiments was video marketing. Collaborating with a famous YouTuber having a million subscribers, EastMeetEast has been producing original short videoclips.
Tokioka explains:
For example, we made a funny Q&A-like video clip in which the YouTuber conducts street interviews and asks “how do you think of this app?” or “what’s your request of dating partners?”; I feel certain response from video marketing because users who’d registered with the service via video have a higher photo posting rate, and the video doubles as a tutorial upon use.
Co-founding as the original challenge
Mariko Tokioka, CEO and founder of EastMeetEast
After working at Oracle Japan, Tokioka moved to UK in order to obtain an Oxonian MBA. She had been interested in startups where she could directly feel the impact of her own job as to social contribution ever since her days as an office worker, so that she specialized in entrepreneurship at Oxford.
After gaining her MBA, she took part in the London-based startup Quipper, an online learning platform, as COO. Quipper was purchased by Recruit Holdings (TSE:6098) for 4.8 billion yen (about $40 million at the exchange rate then) in July of 2015. After that, Tokioka engaged in EastMeetEast as her next challenge.
Previously, she had used major matching services to seek for a partner in consideration of marriage when living in London. Although she thought her suitable marriage partner would be a Japanese man, conventional services sometimes arranged matching with a Sri Lankan or an Indian due to the wide definition of the term Asian.
Notes Tokioka:
Although there was a matching service focusing on Jewish folks called JDate, I realized the absence of services focusing on Asians. EastMeetEast was born out of what I actually experienced, having difficulties in seeking a partner. As an increase of late marriage has become increasingly a social problem, I want to support users in seeking a partner for their entire lifetime.
Eyeing the Global Market from Onset
She chose UK as her first startup location, and then New York as the next. Since already having experienced activities overseas at Quipper, it was natural for Tokioka to select her next venture as one competing on the global market.
While it is not easy to start up even in Japan, doing so overseas seems to be much more difficult, but there are some advantages according to Tokioka. Some investors decided to invest with her because she was ‘taking on the world’ though she already had much experience abroad and accumulated a considerable record, while companies in same industry or managers thereof encouraged her to take on the challenge.
Moreover, a network of Japanese living in the US was also of great support to her. EastMeetEast has newly added a Japanese engineer, who had formerly worked at a renowned company in San Francisco but moved to New York just to work there. The deciding factor was the vision of the firm and the members of the founder team who were all Japanese.
Tokioka concludes:
If going completely global, I thought to start up a business overseas from the onset rather than starting up domestically in my homeland, then expanding overseas. Since half the global dating market is held by the US, I feel the country has a well-established culture where it is not a shame to meet a partner for marriage via matching services.
With the added funds, how will EastMeetEast grow into the future? We will continue our coverage of Tokioka & Company’s challenge.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy and Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Singapore-based AdAsia Holdings announced today that it has commenced development of advertising solutions targeting Smart TV viewers in Asia. The company says that it will distribute video ads to internet Smart TV viewers subscribed to terrestrial and satellite TV channels in the region. The new company was founded by two Japanese serial entrepreneurs: Kosuke Sogo and Otohiko Kozutsumi. Sogo had been previously serving Southeast Asian subsidiaries of Japanese leading ad network operator MicroAd as CEO. Kozutsumi also served the Vietnamese subsidiary of MicroAd as COO following involvement in the global business expansion efforts of Nobot, a mobile-focused ad network acquired in 2011 by KDDI group company Mediba. See also: Japan’s KDDI To Take Over Mobile Ad Start-up Nobot For 1.5 Billion Yen (Tech in Asia) Both men have been engaged in the Adtech business in Southeast Asia for many years. Given the expanding growth for gross domestic product and ad market in the region, they have found huge opportunities in the Smart TV ad industry where there is still few companies capable of running productive marketing campaigns. Similar to Japan, advertising slots on Asian terrestrial and satellite TV channels are mostly controlled by existing…
From the left: AdAsia Holdings CEO Kosuke Sogo, COO Otohiko Kozutsumi
Singapore-based AdAsia Holdings announced today that it has commenced development of advertising solutions targeting Smart TV viewers in Asia. The company says that it will distribute video ads to internet Smart TV viewers subscribed to terrestrial and satellite TV channels in the region.
The new company was founded by two Japanese serial entrepreneurs: Kosuke Sogo and Otohiko Kozutsumi. Sogo had been previously serving Southeast Asian subsidiaries of Japanese leading ad network operator MicroAd as CEO. Kozutsumi also served the Vietnamese subsidiary of MicroAd as COO following involvement in the global business expansion efforts of Nobot, a mobile-focused ad network acquired in 2011 by KDDI group company Mediba.
Both men have been engaged in the Adtech business in Southeast Asia for many years. Given the expanding growth for gross domestic product and ad market in the region, they have found huge opportunities in the Smart TV ad industry where there is still few companies capable of running productive marketing campaigns. Similar to Japan, advertising slots on Asian terrestrial and satellite TV channels are mostly controlled by existing ad agents and local TV operators. However, it can be said that the video ads field for Smart TVs are an exception.
In Japan, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners and some other companies have been distributing video ad services for Smart TVs such as Toshiba Regza, Sharp Aquos and Panasonic Viera. But these services have not yet been offered in many parts of the world. Meanwhile, over 200 TV channels are being offered in Korea, Taiwan, China and other Asian countries. The more TV channels on offer, the more the ad inventory and opportunity available… thus the team foresees a huge business opportunity as more viewers in these countries switch to Smart TVs.
See the original story in Japanese. Kamarq Holdings is a startup to offer the high quality and connected furniture brand Kamarq. The company recently announced on Thursday that it has secured a total of about 350 million yen (about $3.2 million) from Energy & Environment Investment, Saison Ventures, iSGS Investment Works as well as angel investors. Saison Ventures is the investment arm of Japanese leading credit card company Credit Saison (TSE:8253). The funds will be used for product development, systems development or human resources. Coinciding with this funding, the firm also announced the launch of its first product called Sound Table, and started accepting pre-orders on the Makuake crowdfunding site. The backers can receive the product before the day of general release, and can purchase it at 80% of the normal price. Sound Table is a wooden IoT (Internet of Things) table capable of playing music or environmental sounds in accordance with the weather, controllable with a mobile app. It offers a product line-up of two types of dining table, low table and bedside table in three colors each. In our previous interview with Kamarq CEO founder and CEO Ken Machino last year, he indicated that he wanted to develop a…
Kamarq Holdings is a startup to offer the high quality and connected furniture brand Kamarq. The company recently announced on Thursday that it has secured a total of about 350 million yen (about $3.2 million) from Energy & Environment Investment, Saison Ventures, iSGS Investment Works as well as angel investors. Saison Ventures is the investment arm of Japanese leading credit card company Credit Saison (TSE:8253). The funds will be used for product development, systems development or human resources.
Coinciding with this funding, the firm also announced the launch of its first product called Sound Table, and started accepting pre-orders on the Makuake crowdfunding site. The backers can receive the product before the day of general release, and can purchase it at 80% of the normal price. Sound Table is a wooden IoT (Internet of Things) table capable of playing music or environmental sounds in accordance with the weather, controllable with a mobile app. It offers a product line-up of two types of dining table, low table and bedside table in three colors each.
Dining tableLow tableBedside tablePower source and USB sockets on table top plate
In our previous interview with Kamarq CEO founder and CEO Ken Machino last year, he indicated that he wanted to develop a voting platform for furniture design availed by the public, and a ‘smartdoor’ which implements sensors or devices for Internet connection. Starting with this Sound Table, a variety of IoT furniture products will be released in the future.
In Indonesia, custom-made furniture e-commerce site Fabelio, which targets the expanding middle-income segment, had succeeded in fundraising in February. Although the targeted market differs a bit, the needs for high quality furniture have been rapidly increasing. If defining IKEA or Nitori (Japan’s major furniture retailer chain) as fast fashion-like SPA (Specialty store retailer of Private label Apparel) in the furniture industry, Kamarq or Fabelio may be considered as the third-wave SPA. Like the innovative designfinder platform for shoes Rooy, which recently expanded into Japan from Seattle, a cooperative business with distribution channels to conventional face-to-face sales players may be expected in the furniture industry, portending a new trend.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Japan’s DeployGate, offering a test marketing tool for smartphone app development under the same name, announced last month that it will establish a US subsidiary. DeployGate provides a testing and marketing function that allows mobile developers to distribute beta version of their apps to testing users and collects feedbacks from them before the official launch. Spun off from Japanese internet company Mixi (TSE:2121) just a year ago, DeployGate has been providing this service for more than three years. Currently, it proposes service plans for individuals or SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) as well as the ones for big companies managing multiple apps or many developers involved. It has been adopted by various Japanese internet companies such as Mixi, Recruit (TSE: 6098) and Cookpad (TSE: 2193), in addition to some major game developers. Together with AppBroadCast, a Japanese media company focused on helping mobile gaming developers reach potential users, DeployGate released a test marketing specialized service for these developers called SakiPre. Conventionally, development of console games often required prolongation in order to raise the degree of perfection thoroughly because user reactions or feedbacks could be obtained only after the launch. However, as the game industry…
Japan’s DeployGate, offering a test marketing tool for smartphone app development under the same name, announced last month that it will establish a US subsidiary.
DeployGate provides a testing and marketing function that allows mobile developers to distribute beta version of their apps to testing users and collects feedbacks from them before the official launch. Spun off from Japanese internet company Mixi (TSE:2121) just a year ago, DeployGate has been providing this service for more than three years. Currently, it proposes service plans for individuals or SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) as well as the ones for big companies managing multiple apps or many developers involved. It has been adopted by various Japanese internet companies such as Mixi, Recruit (TSE: 6098) and Cookpad (TSE: 2193), in addition to some major game developers.
Together with AppBroadCast, a Japanese media company focused on helping mobile gaming developers reach potential users, DeployGate released a test marketing specialized service for these developers called SakiPre. Conventionally, development of console games often required prolongation in order to raise the degree of perfection thoroughly because user reactions or feedbacks could be obtained only after the launch. However, as the game industry gradually shifts toward the mobile field, it has realized a new development method which facilitates beta testing so that games are elaborated on by both developers and consumers, or sales promotion conducted before the launch.
DeployGate CEO Yuki Fujisaki commented on the positive response for their product:
Recently, people in the game business often tell me that they have been using DeployGate. The shift toward mobile in the game industry had much influence on DeployGate in providing them a new development environment.
The number of consumers who had downloaded apps from Saki-Pre has already exceeded 40,000. Also from clients, we have been receiving testimonials such as “it became possible to predict whether the game will be a big hit or not before launch” and “for a game which scored more than 3.5 at the Saki-Pre questionnaire, an average of 3.9 on GooglePlay store can be expected” as well as “since the response rate of Saki-Pre participants is more than 30%, points to be improved can be pinpointed at the last minute for the launch.”
Moreover, the company has started providing linking functions with business chat tools such as Slack, Hipchat and Chatwork since July of 2015 for easier communication within companies that makes feedbacks for development smoother as well. They were nominated for CEDEC Awards 2015 in August, followed by having spread its service steadily among global developer communities while participating in conferences in the US such as WWDC or Google I/O as well as holding meetups in tandem with Crittercism, a crash reporting tool startup in San Francisco. The team had been communicating closely with developers at Crittercism or Github, and emphasizing service development for developers from a global perspective.
The service is currently being utilized in about 100 countries. Even at launch, developers with diverse backgrounds such as Americans, Europeans and Scandinavians had used it, while only half of the users were Japanese. Since starting the service for Android first, it has gained esteem from developers in countries with much Android share, like Brazil.
COO Kazuto Yasuda looks back on the first year:
We spent most of the year enhancing the business core. Thankfully we have finished the first period of second year in the black, and have been organizing systems for management and customer supports.
In this situation, the team felt the need for local bases to gain customer support and brush up the product leveraging opinions from local developers as reference for service plans aimed at enterprises. As the first step to global expansion, they announced the establishment of the US while appointing Yasuda as its CEO.
Also the team aims at function expansion while cooperating with other service operators for developers that are under consideration. These days, the service is being enhanced under the theme of ‘how much the development environment for app developers can be simplified’ such as implementation of automated building function from source codes, called Dg Command. These updates can be checked out on the DeployGate blog.
The team is intended to continue operating their business on a bootstrap budget because they already have a good sales prospect and want to more focus on team building, investigating users’ needs, improving the product and user support.
To improve the product upon hearing feedbacks from developers using it directly, the company will set up an independent office this spring to make it easier to hold user meetups periodically. In addition to the three founders, the company has recently acquired new developers and designers, plus customer support representatives who work remotely from the office.
Fujisaki concluded:
DeployGate has grown as a tool essential for developers. Since there is substantial need not only in the IT industry but also in the game industry, many companies and developers are beginning to understand the importance of pre-launch test marketing.
By giving them more opportunities to communicate between developers and their users through our tool, we want to help developers continue developing apps that meet users’ expectations.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
The DeployGate management team: From left, COO Yasuda the second one, and CEO Fujisaki the third.
Masaru Ikeda
The Bridge
Yukari Mitsuhashi
Shintaro Eguchi
