In a crowdfunding campaign back in November, the MaBeee dry cell-shaped IoT (Internet of Things) gadget raised more than $60,000, over 12 times the initial target. Tokyo-based Novars, the hardware startup behind the gadget, announced on Tuesday that it raised 120 million yen (or about $1.2 million) from Nissay Capital and Mizuho Capital.
For Novars, this follows their previous funding of an undisclosed sum from Inclusion Japan in a seed round. The company claims that it will use the latest funds to develop apps for and new models of the gadget as well as promoting their business by adding people for sales and marketing efforts.
MaBeee is an AA battery-shaped IoT device. By installing it into a dry cell-powered item, users can take a full control of the item using mobile via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). An example of use case is that putting the gadget into a Mini 4WD miniature model, where users can run or stop the model car by shaking their smartphone. The gadget has been available at Amazon.co.jp and other e-commerce platforms as well as major electronics retailers across Japan since this August.
Navars was founded back in April of 2015 by CEO Akihiro Okabe. He was previously working at Seiko Instruments, a leading precision machinery maker in Japan, where he was involved in defining the communication standard of BT-Watch, a generic name of intelligent watches connecting via Bluetooth. Navars has been running a cross-company community for innovation called Yamiken (or 100-day lab), where the MaBeee device was born out of a participating engineer’s wish to play the “Plarail” toy train track system with his child by remotely controlling it.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based FinTech startup Robofund unveiled on Monday that they have raised 100 million yen (nearly $1 million) from Japanese startup-focused VC firm Incubate Fund. The company has developed an IVRS (interactive voice response system) for call centers for mutual fund customers. By introducing the system to securities companies and banks, customers will be able to check percentage changes and dividends of invested funds by automated voice over the phone. This system can adopt caller ID to automatically authenticate customers and update them on the status of their funds. For those unfamiliar with the use of internet or smartphones such as elderly investors, checking updates through web services or apps is difficult, but this service seeks to improve support for them. Satoshi Noguchi, previously having worked at SBI Veritrans, SBI Holdings, and Pictet Asset Management, established Robofund in May of 2016. Graduating from the first batch of Tokyo-based seed accelerator program Supernova (co-produced by Draper Nexus, Slogan, Coent Venture Partners, and Viling Venture Partners), Robofund then went on to win the program’s Demo Day back in July. In addition to IVRS, the company is also in the process of developing a chatbot to make it…
Tokyo-based FinTech startup Robofund unveiled on Monday that they have raised 100 million yen (nearly $1 million) from Japanese startup-focused VC firm Incubate Fund. The company has developed an IVRS (interactive voice response system) for call centers for mutual fund customers. By introducing the system to securities companies and banks, customers will be able to check percentage changes and dividends of invested funds by automated voice over the phone. This system can adopt caller ID to automatically authenticate customers and update them on the status of their funds. For those unfamiliar with the use of internet or smartphones such as elderly investors, checking updates through web services or apps is difficult, but this service seeks to improve support for them.
Satoshi Noguchi, previously having worked at SBI Veritrans, SBI Holdings, and Pictet Asset Management, established Robofund in May of 2016. Graduating from the first batch of Tokyo-based seed accelerator program Supernova (co-produced by Draper Nexus, Slogan, Coent Venture Partners, and Viling Venture Partners), Robofund then went on to win the program’s Demo Day back in July.
In addition to IVRS, the company is also in the process of developing a chatbot to make it possible to know fund distribution ratios and percentage changes. However, it appears the foundation for the business they are aiming for is elsewhere.
Noguchi explained:
Sales representatives of securities companies need to make the optimal choices from all 5,800 mutual funds available in Japan and propose them to the visiting customers over the counter on the spot. Without understanding those customer’s portfolios and investment strategies, it is difficult for these representatives to present the optimal options.
Robofund is developing, with these securities companies in mind, a service that by simply choosing conditions in line with the customers wishes, brings up combinations of the optimal mutual funds (see picture below).
Firstly, the company hopes to expand to securities companies looking to target customers seeking aggressive fund management (as opposed to customers concerned with saving), in addition to regional banks that carry out investment trust sales. Due to prolonged negative interest rates, for bankers from banks who have been selling financial products it is difficult to sell risky new goods. But with the use of Robofund’s services it will become easier for not only securities companies, but also banks to sell investment funds.
In contrast with robo-advisors, a renowned business in the FinTech startup space which typically makes a direct approach to individual investors, Robofund takes a B2B business model and works with securities companies. Eventually, Noguchi wants to develop a robo-advisor, but there is an intentional reason he started with the B2B (business-to-business) model.
Noguchi continued:
I want mass data. If we would start with a B2C model, it would be impossible to collect statistics enough to analyze because we would be forced to start with the small number of customers and small trading transactions. Furthermore, I assume it’s skeptical about if robo-advisors can give customers truly-appropriate choices of funds back only by answering just a few questions.
By communicating over and over with customers it is necessary to teach the engine “what answer should be returned for people with this sort of problem”. From my previous job experience I have knowledge of example answers like those found in a dictionary, but in order to make them more objective, I thought it was necessary to put the dictionary into a chatbot and train it.
In other words, he started as a B2B business and cultivate the intelligence and communication knowhow, and then he appears to be planning to continue to expand into the B2C space.In order to provide to sell mutual funds as an extension from advisory services in Japan, companies have to be registered as a financial instruments business by the Japanese financial services agency. The time and expense required for completion of this registration process becomes a heavy burden for startups dealing with these businesses. Even from such a point of view, we could say taking a B2B approach makes sense.
Robofund is currently looking for promising engineers from the machine learning field, UI/UX designers, and database engineers specializing in NoSQL and RDB to assist in the acceleration of its service development.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Technological innovations are taking place the world over, improving lives of innumerable people. Items such as solar power generation systems for clean power, water purifiers for potable water supply and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for replacement of hazardous kerosene lamps are good examples. See also: How Japanese energy startup Wassha delivers prepaid solar power to rural Africa There are however many emerging economies still unable to make use of these basic amenities of life, mainly due to lack of the “last mile” portions in the networks. If connected the information lifelines can enhance such useful products’ benefits. The lack of training regarding said technologies also hampers utilization. The nongovernmental organization (NGO) Kopernik seeks to test and avail affordable life-saving technologies to nations in need. It was founded in 2010 by two former United Nations employees who were motivated due to the fact that these innovations were not being widely adopted enough to bring about a positive impact. Kopernik has differing thrusts worldwide, each of which plays a distinct role in realizing the shared mission of reducing poverty through distribution of…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
Technological innovations are taking place the world over, improving lives of innumerable people. Items such as solar power generation systems for clean power, water purifiers for potable water supply and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for replacement of hazardous kerosene lamps are good examples.
There are however many emerging economies still unable to make use of these basic amenities of life, mainly due to lack of the “last mile” portions in the networks. If connected the information lifelines can enhance such useful products’ benefits. The lack of training regarding said technologies also hampers utilization.
The nongovernmental organization (NGO) Kopernik seeks to test and avail affordable life-saving technologies to nations in need. It was founded in 2010 by two former United Nations employees who were motivated due to the fact that these innovations were not being widely adopted enough to bring about a positive impact.
Kopernik has differing thrusts worldwide, each of which plays a distinct role in realizing the shared mission of reducing poverty through distribution of technologies. The organization’s namesake, the Polish scientist Nicolaus Copernicus, changed the way people see the world. Kopernik aims to become a catalyst for progress, like Copernicus.
There are four corporations integral to the NGO: a nonprofit (NPO) designated as a 501(c)(3) entity in the US; an incorporated NPO association in Japan; an Indonesian NPO; and, a for-profit joint-stock company in Japan. The global financial group JP Morgan now lends a hand to Tech Kiosks through the US Kopernik NPO’s “Tools for Growth” project.
As an aside, JP Morgan is also supporting an unrelated Japanese NPO which is known as Entrepreneurial Training for Innovative Community (ETIC). Based in the Tokyo-Shibuya district, noted for being one of Japan’s premiere startup hubs, ETIC trains young Japanese over 17 of age trying to launch or sustain new business enterprises.
The coverage here focuses on the first of three workshops this fall in Tokyo, looking to attract technology producers from among Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to improve current conditions in Indonesia. It is part of Kopernik Japan association’s initiative which was made possible through funding from JP Morgan.
As Ms. Alison Birch, Managing Director and Head of Human Resources, Japan at JP Morgan said when she launched the inaugural meeting of this program upon representing the sponsoring firm, all those involved can gain from the transfer of simple, easy-to-use technologies to those nations ready to derive benefits therefrom.
There is a propensity for tech SMEs to be startups, especially those in nations like Japan and other technological powerhouses, that could use a dependable long-term customer base. Meanwhile, there are “Bottom of the Pyramid” (BOP) markets requiring improvements in the environment as well as disaster preparedness, among other needs.
Kopernik CEO Toshi Nakamura followed up on Ms. Birch’s talk, providing exhortations to Japanese tech outfits eager to disseminate their wares around the world to get involved. It was also noted as a method of “teaching those in need to use tools to earn a living, rather than just doling out food to eat, in order to realize sustainability.”
Meanwhile in the long run gratitude from those requiring such means of attaining a better life will be acquired. Thus, the approach suggested by Kopernik helps to bring about a “Win-Win” situation for all stakeholders, while maintaining the dignity and self-respect of those currently in a state of extreme distress.
Gathered at the workshop were Japanese startups ready to provide “social business” in agriculture and seeking to apply IOT sensors for forest fire prevention. Also attending was a firm providing devices and services attempting to reduce/mitigate damages resulting from disastrous incidents in the volcano-dotted Indonesia.
In addition, companies with patented technologies applicable to logistics and such in Indonesia - without producing extra waste while enhancing recycling - took part. Follow-up workshops will be held over the next few months, in hopes of pinpointing solutions which can be transferred abroad from Japan over the coming years.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based SmartDrive, providing connected-car related services, this week announced the official launch of DriveOps which enables safe driving support through automobile condition management by connecting specialized devices to the cloud. DriveOps is a single-packaged cloud service including visualization of driving data or safe driving support for employees, as well as normal business support like expenditure management. Business operators that often use automobiles in daily work such as distribution companies can improve fuel consumption or work efficiency with it. The device for acquiring data from automobiles has become available for cigar sockets which does not depend on vehicle type, in addition to the conventional type for OBD (on-board diagnostics) port. The acquired data will be sent via smart devices installed specialized app with Bluetooth, or be directly sent with 3G network in another model. The monthly charge is 1,480 yen (about $15) at least per device and users must purchase a data communication device for each automobile. The SmartDrive team had been exploring business opportunities leveraging acquired automobile data by connecting communication devices onto OBD port for maintenance since 2014. As a result, the possibility seems to be expanding widely. CEO of the firm Retsu…
Tokyo-based SmartDrive, providing connected-car related services, this week announced the official launch of DriveOps which enables safe driving support through automobile condition management by connecting specialized devices to the cloud.
DriveOps is a single-packaged cloud service including visualization of driving data or safe driving support for employees, as well as normal business support like expenditure management. Business operators that often use automobiles in daily work such as distribution companies can improve fuel consumption or work efficiency with it.
The device for acquiring data from automobiles has become available for cigar sockets which does not depend on vehicle type, in addition to the conventional type for OBD (on-board diagnostics) port. The acquired data will be sent via smart devices installed specialized app with Bluetooth, or be directly sent with 3G network in another model. The monthly charge is 1,480 yen (about $15) at least per device and users must purchase a data communication device for each automobile.
The SmartDrive team had been exploring business opportunities leveraging acquired automobile data by connecting communication devices onto OBD port for maintenance since 2014. As a result, the possibility seems to be expanding widely. CEO of the firm Retsu Kitagawa explains the rise of the connected-car business.
Automobile data is required by insurance companies, automobile dealers, car lease companies, after-sales services or the semiconductor industry. The SmartDrive’s platform concept is to customize and provide big data on automobiles for such markets. For example, one of our partner Axa Direct Life Insurance provides a telematics insurance as its own product including the app, so we are a backroom boy completely.
The acquirable data covers a variety of information: driving distance, urgent brake usage history, speed excess and engine information about failure or fuel. The firm customizes these data as needed for each partner upon provision. This time, DriveOps was launched based on expectation of such a large demand.
For example, to business operators that need to use automobiles for business promotion, we provide information on how employees drive or whether they should use public transportation and then take automobile at the next office for better work efficiency by measuring driving distance or tracking routes (route search function is under development). There is a case where a 100-car company succeeded in cost reduction of 20 million yen (about $200,000) annually using our current information provision.
This does not mean there had been no way to know of automobile operation status. However, conventional devices like drive recorders or digital tachometers require troublesome mounting work and also cost hundreds of thousands of yen (thousands of dollars).
According to Kitagawa, the service interests major convenience store chains or distribution companies as he surmised. The firm plans to expand data coverage range utilizing on-vehicle camera and aims to realize a cloud service to increase efficiency of persons or businesses around automobiles in the future.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Fablic, the Japanese startup behind flea market app Fril, will be acquired by Rakuten for several billion yen (or several tens of million US dollars) and turned into an affiliate, as Nikkei reported early this morning. Combining with its own existing flea market app Rakuma, the e-commerce giant expects to grow its total trading volume up to about 3 billion yen (about $30 million). Founded in April of 2012, Fablic was born out of the 4th batch of the Open Network Lab accelerator and launched the app in September of the same year. The company introduced the concept of ‘flea market app’ for the first time in Japan. Followed by unveiling their trading volume hitting 500 million yen back in July of 2014, they secured a $10 million funding from Cookpad, Colopl and Jafco in October of said year. Fablic recently launched a new flea market app focused on trading motorcycles between individuals, called Ride, in an attempt to expand beyond fashion item peer-to-peer trading. While the app has been seeing a good growth, Mercari… another marketplace app from Japan launched in July of 2013… leapt forward and opened up a lead by…
Tokyo-based Fablic, the Japanese startup behind flea market app Fril, will be acquired by Rakuten for several billion yen (or several tens of million US dollars) and turned into an affiliate, as Nikkei reported early this morning. Combining with its own existing flea market app Rakuma, the e-commerce giant expects to grow its total trading volume up to about 3 billion yen (about $30 million).
Founded in April of 2012, Fablic was born out of the 4th batch of the Open Network Lab accelerator and launched the app in September of the same year. The company introduced the concept of ‘flea market app’ for the first time in Japan. Followed by unveiling their trading volume hitting 500 million yen back in July of 2014, they secured a $10 million funding from Cookpad, Colopl and Jafco in October of said year.
Fablic recently launched a new flea market app focused on trading motorcycles between individuals, called Ride, in an attempt to expand beyond fashion item peer-to-peer trading. While the app has been seeing a good growth, Mercari… another marketplace app from Japan launched in July of 2013… leapt forward and opened up a lead by reaching 10 billion yen (about $100 million) in deals through the platform.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Pulit, the Japanese startup developing distribution technologies for digital image and video content, this week announced that it has secured 50 million yen (about $500,000) in its seed round. This round was led by Korea’s startup-focused fund BonAngels as well as five investors…namely, Jun Narimatsu (ex-CFO of Cookpad, also as a strategic adviser and an angel investor), Yusuke Sato (founder of FreakOut and Ignis), Yoshinari Matsuda (attorney), Hiroyuki Kato (ex-CTO of Atlantis and current CEO of web service developer Irodori) and Goushi Yamaguchi (formerly worked at Cookpad and Lancers, currently involved in management of 30 startups). With this fundraising, Pulit has started making a serious effort to develop a new content distribution channel and services based on its own patents relating to ‘SuperDistribution System (SDS)’ for digital images. Pulit was founded in 2015 by K.W. Lee (CEO), a Tokyo Institute of Technology graduate who had been engaged in R&D at Samsung Electronics, Min-Soo Kim (CTO) who had been developing apps as a freelance programmer and Shohei Komatsu (Director) who had been involved in fund management or technical advisory work at Tokyo-based startup accelerator Slogan. The firm was born out from the first batch…
Tokyo-based Pulit, the Japanese startup developing distribution technologies for digital image and video content, this week announced that it has secured 50 million yen (about $500,000) in its seed round. This round was led by Korea’s startup-focused fund BonAngels as well as five investors…namely, Jun Narimatsu (ex-CFO of Cookpad, also as a strategic adviser and an angel investor), Yusuke Sato (founder of FreakOut and Ignis), Yoshinari Matsuda (attorney), Hiroyuki Kato (ex-CTO of Atlantis and current CEO of web service developer Irodori) and Goushi Yamaguchi (formerly worked at Cookpad and Lancers, currently involved in management of 30 startups). With this fundraising, Pulit has started making a serious effort to develop a new content distribution channel and services based on its own patents relating to ‘SuperDistribution System (SDS)’ for digital images.
Pulit was founded in 2015 by K.W. Lee (CEO), a Tokyo Institute of Technology graduate who had been engaged in R&D at Samsung Electronics, Min-Soo Kim (CTO) who had been developing apps as a freelance programmer and Shohei Komatsu (Director) who had been involved in fund management or technical advisory work at Tokyo-based startup accelerator Slogan. The firm was born out from the first batch of seed acceleration program Supernova which is jointly managed by Draper Nexus, Slogan, Coent Venture Partners and Viling Venture Partners (however, their participation was undisclosed because they were still in a stealth mode as of Demo Day) .
In the distribution of fee-charged video content, video distribution platforms such as Hulu, Netflix or Amazon Prime are commonly used. Although content holders or video creators hope to perform marketing according to their own will, in practice most of them depend on these platforms. Besides, since platformers grasp distribution path to viewers related to content, the profit of content holders or creators tend to be reduced under this income structure. What Pulit tries to propose is a disruptive business model in order to regain the initiative of video content distribution to content holders or creators.
In the SDS scheme developed by Pulit, as content holders or creators upload videos to be distributed onto cloud, Robust Image Watermark is embedded on the cover image and direct access link (URL) is issued for each video. Clicking the direct access link, OS-native players are activated and then users are allowed to watch the videos on PC or smart devices. Also, DRM (digital rights management) control is available, so that users can save the videos on local environment or watch them again according to conditions set by content holders or creators.
As a result, users need not be a video distribution platform member just because he / she wants to watch a certain drama or a movie. Content holders or creators have become able to freely conduct marketing or promotion activities according to their own direction without being restricted by any contract condition such as exclusive distribution. Since the promotion for content viewing will be done only by sharing link URL, it can be simply displayed as-is on the timeline advertisement of Facebook or Twitter. Actually, Pulit seems to expect such an operational manner of the service that allows content holders or creators to set the direct link URL to the video content for DSP (demand-side platform) advertisement, thereby raising the conversion ratio of the videos, and that may be the reason why the lineup of the angel investors for this round includes some who are familiar with the ad-tech field.
In addition, content holders or creators can distribute videos in pay-per-view method, and can change it to free-distribution method with commercial insertions (as with the commercial broadcasting) for each content just with a switch on the control dashboard. If reserving unreleased content for viewing, users can receive push-notification with direct access link for the video via LINE when the content has been released.
Currently Pulit consists of four members but plans to increase to six from September based on the fundraising this time. Considering demands for the Japanese content from overseas, the firm will start business promotion from intellectual property management agencies of Manga contents or animation production companies.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy