Tokyo-based Abeja, the company offering solutions for retail stores to improve customer path or traffic based on image analysis and machine learning technologies, announced today that it has fundraised 200 million yen (about $2 million) from Inspire PNB Partners. Inspire PNB is the joint venture between Japanese investment firm Inspire and Malaysia’s state-run firm Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), managing a Sharia-compliant private equity fund called PNB-INSPiRE Ethical Fund 1 (formed in April of 2014, valued around 6 billion yen = $60 million). The fund recently invested in Japanese private cloud platform developer Keepdata.
The fund was raised in a series B round, meaning that the company has secured approximately a total of $7 million in this round combined with their $5 million funding last month. The company obtained funding in a seed round from Inspire, the parent company of Inspire PNB.
In Islamic countries, since Sharia (Islamic law) prohibits acceptance of specific interest or fees for loaning money, hedge funds or other financing schemes common in Western countries are unlikely to be accepted. Meanwhile, Malaysia has now become an Islamic finance hub offering Sharia-compliant financing schemes. Startups receiving funds from such schemes can expand their services into Islamic markets more smoothly, just as Halal-approved restaurants can.
Abeja claims that the company will use the funds to strengthen their ASEAN expansion effort and to gain competitive power in the market globally. They haven’t specified which market to target but huge Islamic markets in the ASEAN region include Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
See the original story in Japanese. IDEASShow, one of the largest startup conferences in Taiwan, was held in the island’s biggest city of Taipei in July. Around the same time, the Mayor of Fukuoka City, Japan – Soichiro Takashima – visited Taipei, and various events to promote invitational activities for Taiwanese startups available from Fukuoka City were held. See also: All the Signs Say Welcome (Highlighting Japan) Startup Visa: Entrepreneurial Incentives for Foreigners in Fukuoka (Fukuoka Now) Fukuoka City National Strategic Special Zone for Global Startups & Job Creation (Fukuoka City) On July 21st, an event called Fukuoka Night was held at Taiwan Startup Hub (TSH) which was established by the Taiwanese Executive Yuan. At this event, Mayor Takashima went onstage and presented the support plans offered by Fukuoka City, such as startup visa issuance or renting of office plus salary support scheme for foreign startups, which all became available under Japan’s national strategic economic zone operation. Also he exhorted the audience to take part in a matching event for Japanese investment funds and startups known as Fukuoka Startup Selection, which is scheduled for November 10th. From the day after Fukuoka Startup Selection, another startup festival called Myojo Waraku will…
IDEASShow, one of the largest startup conferences in Taiwan, was held in the island’s biggest city of Taipei in July. Around the same time, the Mayor of Fukuoka City, Japan – Soichiro Takashima – visited Taipei, and various events to promote invitational activities for Taiwanese startups available from Fukuoka City were held.
On July 21st, an event called Fukuoka Night was held at Taiwan Startup Hub (TSH) which was established by the Taiwanese Executive Yuan. At this event, Mayor Takashima went onstage and presented the support plans offered by Fukuoka City, such as startup visa issuance or renting of office plus salary support scheme for foreign startups, which all became available under Japan’s national strategic economic zone operation. Also he exhorted the audience to take part in a matching event for Japanese investment funds and startups known as Fukuoka Startup Selection, which is scheduled for November 10th. From the day after Fukuoka Startup Selection, another startup festival called Myojo Waraku will be held.
In addition, Mayor Takashima announced that a startup support base in Fukuoka Startup Café and Taiwan Startup Hub will cooperate and start mutually supporting both the Japanese startups expanding into Taiwan and the Taiwanese startups expanding into Japan. The startups under support by either of the organizations will be allowed to use office spaces in Fukuoka and Taipei.
At a pitch competition held during Fukuoka Night, five Taiwanese startups made pitches. The competition winner was SkyRec, providing in-store analytics and solution for retailers, after winning this year’s Slush Asia. Two members from the team are invited to Fukuoka City, to be supported for full-scale business development. The other four teams, namely a provider of golf course information support Golface; a game developer utilizing augmented reality (AR) and location-based service (LBS) Toii; an installment payment service for C2C (consumer-to-consumer) trading Installments; and a developer of an app showing shortest routes in subway stations Thinktank, will be invited to Fukuoka Startup Selection, as transportation and accommodation costs will be covered by Fukuoka Directive Council.
Four teams failed to win the competition but will be invited to the Fukuoka Startup Selection
On July 22nd, Mayor Takashima made a courtesy call on Mayor Ko Wen-je of Taipei City, who is known for utilizing social media during the election campaign. They confirmed the establishment of mutual contact points for startup support. The cooperation between Fukuoka City and the Taiwanese startup ecosystem dependent on grassroots activities is seen developing into a cross-border support system at local administration levels.
From the left: Mayor of Fukuoka City Soichiro Takashima, interpreter and Mayor of Taipei City Ko Wen-jeLeading members of Fukuoka startups also made a courtesy call on the Mayor
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Eisai (TSE:4523) － a Japanese pharmaceuticals major － and Tokyo-based startup Mamorio, led by Daiki Masuki, announced that they have entered into an agreement to collaborate on development of the Me-Mamorio tracking tool to support people with dementia upon going out. A demonstration experiment aimed at implementation as well as development of Me-Mamorio will be held in cooperation with various stakeholders such as government, healthcare professionals and careworkers. The two Japanese firms aim to realize an environment where the community as a whole can look out for people with dementia. Me-Mamorio is a small tag which utilizes the short-range wireless Bluetooth communication standard. When dementia sufferers carry the Me-Mamorio tag pass, people in the community who have the corresponding application installed on their smartphones can help provide position data, which has been sent automatically to a server. Unlike the Global Positioning System (GPS), the system enables pinpointing of a civilian’s location (GPS primarily being for military use). This data is then automatically transmitted to careworkers, family members and other designated people. People in the community are not notified when dementia…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
Image credit: Mamorio
Eisai (TSE:4523) － a Japanese pharmaceuticals major － and Tokyo-based startup Mamorio, led by Daiki Masuki, announced that they have entered into an agreement to collaborate on development of the Me-Mamorio tracking tool to support people with dementia upon going out. A demonstration experiment aimed at implementation as well as development of Me-Mamorio will be held in cooperation with various stakeholders such as government, healthcare professionals and careworkers. The two Japanese firms aim to realize an environment where the community as a whole can look out for people with dementia.
Me-Mamorio is a small tag which utilizes the short-range wireless Bluetooth communication standard. When dementia sufferers carry the Me-Mamorio tag pass, people in the community who have the corresponding application installed on their smartphones can help provide position data, which has been sent automatically to a server. Unlike the Global Positioning System (GPS), the system enables pinpointing of a civilian’s location (GPS primarily being for military use). This data is then automatically transmitted to careworkers, family members and other designated people.
Image credit: Eisai
People in the community are not notified when dementia sufferers carrying the Me-Mamorio are nearby; however just their carrying a smartphone with Bluetooth switched on enables community-wide support to be offered so dementia sufferers may go outside with peace of mind safely. The strengths of Me-Mamorio are that it is small and lightweight compared to a GPS device, in addition to being easy to carry. The aim of Me-Mamorio is to enable people with dementia to preserve their dignity and allow them to go out freely in areas they are used to in relative safety.
There are many reasons why dementia sufferers wish to go outside the home, such as having a strong need to do so or feeling much anxiety. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, of the missing persons reported to the police in 2015, 12,208 of these were people suffering from dementia. Ever since 2012 when record-keeping began, this number has been rising year after year. Of these, 150 people were still missing at the end of 2015. According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the number of dementia sufferers was approximately 4.62 million in 2012, and is expected to increase to about 7 million by 2025.
Leveraging the experience gained from the development and marketing of treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, Eisai has agreements signed with medical associations and local governments in some 65 locations nationwide, so is able to realize interprofessional collaboration among healthcare professionals, careworkers and others. These kinds of dementia-related knowledge and capabilities accumulated will be applied to the Me-Mamorio demonstration experiment and development.
Under the slogan of “Forget about forgetting” Mamorio has developed as well as managed a number of products and services, including Japan’s biggest lost-and-found portal site Otoshimono.com. Additionally the company provides the world’s smallest IoT (Internet of Things) product Mamorio, a tag which utilizes Bluetooth that when simply attached to an important object; it can quickly locate the item if lost by using an alert and map displayed on a smartphone to receive information from a user-based smartphone crowdtracking platform. Mamorio will utilize the assets built up through these platforms in the demonstration experiment, not to mention development of Me-Mamorio.
Raksul, a Tokyo-based startup providing online printing services, today announced that it has raised 2.05 billion yen (about $20.2 million) from Fidelity Investments and Development Bank of Japan as well as existing investors including Opt, Global Brain, GMO Venture Partners and Global Catalyst Partners. This follows their $33.7 million funding in a series C round back in February of 2015. The latest funds mean that the company has fundraised a total of 7.9 billion yen (about $78.1 million) from investors to date. It has now become one of the most-funded startups in Japan, following biotech startup Spiber and C2C e-commerce startup Mercari. The company claims that the funds will be used to enhance human resources and marketing for its online printing services in addition to a new business called Hacobell, an on-demand delivery service for individual users. The company also said it had recently invested in India’s online printing marketplace Inkmonk following their previous investment in Indonesia’s Prinzio back in November of 2015. See also: Hot Japanese printing startup expands to Southeast Asia with local investment (Tech in Asia) Founded in 2009, Raksul is a fabless company which provides printing services in partnership with printing facilities across Japan. Users can…
This follows their $33.7 million funding in a series C round back in February of 2015. The latest funds mean that the company has fundraised a total of 7.9 billion yen (about $78.1 million) from investors to date. It has now become one of the most-funded startups in Japan, following biotech startup Spiber and C2C e-commerce startup Mercari.
The company claims that the funds will be used to enhance human resources and marketing for its online printing services in addition to a new business called Hacobell, an on-demand delivery service for individual users. The company also said it had recently invested in India’s online printing marketplace Inkmonk following their previous investment in Indonesia’s Prinzio back in November of 2015.
Founded in 2009, Raksul is a fabless company which provides printing services in partnership with printing facilities across Japan. Users can place printing orders at affordable rates because the company takes advantage of downtime at participating printers to complete those orders. Additionally, the company provides the aforementioned Hacobell on-demand delivery service as well as a flyer delivery service for small and medium-sized enterprises.
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Focusing on financial sector development, the Asia Development Bank Institute (ADBI) in Tokyo hosted a seminar to encourage debate among policymakers, researchers, academics, think-tanks and other audiences interested in economic development challenges in Asia and the Pacific. This research institute is affiliated with the Asia Development Bank, based in Manila. ADBI this time brought the BitCoin startup Quoine‘s Mike Kayamori (MBA, Harvard) into the series. As per past articles, Quoine is looking to become an “exchange of exchanges” in this arena. It was started up in Singapore but due to legal changes there was reorganized so that the former Japan subsidiary is now the main operational entity, with a Japanese CEO who is also co-founder running things out of Tokyo now. Kayamori is Quoine’s co-founder and CEO, following on from a career spanning 20 years where he held senior roles at Mitsubishi Corporation, Globespan Capital Partners and Softbank Group. He brings extensive experience in business and management both in Japan as well as abroad, in addition to having been closely linked to investment activities covering technology and telecommunications fields. At…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
Image credit: ADBI
Focusing on financial sector development, the Asia Development Bank Institute (ADBI) in Tokyo hosted a seminar to encourage debate among policymakers, researchers, academics, think-tanks and other audiences interested in economic development challenges in Asia and the Pacific. This research institute is affiliated with the Asia Development Bank, based in Manila.
ADBI this time brought the BitCoin startup Quoine‘s Mike Kayamori (MBA, Harvard) into the series. As per past articles, Quoine is looking to become an “exchange of exchanges” in this arena. It was started up in Singapore but due to legal changes there was reorganized so that the former Japan subsidiary is now the main operational entity, with a Japanese CEO who is also co-founder running things out of Tokyo now.
Kayamori is Quoine’s co-founder and CEO, following on from a career spanning 20 years where he held senior roles at Mitsubishi Corporation, Globespan Capital Partners and Softbank Group. He brings extensive experience in business and management both in Japan as well as abroad, in addition to having been closely linked to investment activities covering technology and telecommunications fields.
At the seminar, general explanations of blockchain and crypto-currency and why these are seen as being the future of finance were offered. There were also elaborations as to opportunities and risks entailed, in addition to a look at the competitive landscape. Particular emphasis was made on how regulators look at crypto-currencies today.
It is understood that Quoine is rapidly expanding its presence in Japan and will be extensively publicizing itself in the market here — including a planned October appearance at a specialist-oriented seminar in Kabutocho area, Tokyo’s financial center and seat of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, among others.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Retty, the Japanese startup behind the restaurant finder app of the same name, announced today that it has fundraised $1.1 billion yen (about $10.5 million) in a series D round. This round was led by World Innovation Lab (WiL) with participation from ABC Dream Ventures and Eight Roads Ventures Japan. ABC Dream Ventures is the investment arm of Osaka-based private TV broadcaster Asahi Broadcasting Corporation. Eight Roads Ventures Japan (previously known as Fidelity Growth Japan) also participated in a series C round for Retty back in March of 2015. For Retty, the funding sum from disclosed rounds including this time has reached 2.55 billion yen (about $24.3 million). The company claims that the funds raised this time will be used to hire system engineers to develop an overseas edition of the app, improve and fulfill a dashboard interface for restaurants as well as upgrading backend system infrastructure for global service expansion. See also: Japanese restaurant finder app Retty surpasses 5M monthly visitors How Japan’s online social restaurant guide Retty doubled its monthly visitors CNet Japan Startup Award nominees: Retty’s mobile advantage Coinciding with this, the company announced that they have surpassed 20 million…
Tokyo-based Retty, the Japanese startup behind the restaurant finder app of the same name, announced today that it has fundraised $1.1 billion yen (about $10.5 million) in a series D round. This round was led by World Innovation Lab (WiL) with participation from ABC Dream Ventures and Eight Roads Ventures Japan. ABC Dream Ventures is the investment arm of Osaka-based private TV broadcaster Asahi Broadcasting Corporation. Eight Roads Ventures Japan (previously known as Fidelity Growth Japan) also participated in a series C round for Retty back in March of 2015. For Retty, the funding sum from disclosed rounds including this time has reached 2.55 billion yen (about $24.3 million).
The company claims that the funds raised this time will be used to hire system engineers to develop an overseas edition of the app, improve and fulfill a dashboard interface for restaurants as well as upgrading backend system infrastructure for global service expansion.
Coinciding with this, the company announced that they have surpassed 20 million monthly active users (MAUs) as of May, 2016. Given the marking of a milestone 10 million monthly active users in May of 2015, they spent almost five years to acquire the first 10 million monthly active users but the latter 10 million users was gained only within an year… which is five times faster. Meanwhile, Retty rolled out its mobile web interface back in May.
Retty has been looking into global expansion for a long time, but the road towards that doesn’t look smooth. They tried to expand into the US and Singapore in 2012 but later was forced to leave these markets. At a press conference back in 2015 commemorating the milestone of 10 million monthly active users, they revealed the start of their Asian expansion within that year but the plan has not yet been carried out. However, according to Retty CEO Kazuya Takeda, their targeted milestone of 100 million monthly active users by the year of 2020 has never been changed. This goal can be achieved by targeting the global market as well as the Japanese market and their global expansion is mandatory, he says.
We cannot yet disclose which country to start with. However, we want to start our global expansion effort with the Asian region.
Mobile web interface was renewed in May.
For Retty, their global expansion effort will require no local office in the targeted market since their app localization and user engagement efforts are primarily conducted at their headquarters in Tokyo. Therefore, as long as they are focused on B2C (business-to-consumer), it would entail less risk for them. Retty relies for its primary revenue on driving customer traffic to restaurants as well as in-app ads by renowned Japanese companies. Leveraging local agents, they would be able to achieve a business on top of the same model even abroad.
In the vertical, specifically serving restaurants to help them improve their sales and streamline their operations, we’ve seen a solid growth of restaurant reservation, customer ledger and POS (point-of-sales) services such as TabSquare (Singapore) and iChef (Taiwan and Hong Kong) in addition to Japan’s Toreta which recently started its operation in Singapore. Takeda told The Bridge that his company will not compete with these operators but rather potentially collaborate with each other. As a matter of fact, Retty has partnered with other service operators like HotPepper and OpenTable in Japan.
We have been told that the trends of gourmet apps are usually changed every five years. Given the fact that the Retty iOS app was released in November of 2011, this year will be crucial for the company looking at loftier goals.
Employees devoting themselves to discussions at Retty’s office.
Masaru Ikeda
The Bridge
