Bristol-/Tokyo-based Kudan, the startup developing an AR (Augmented Reality) engine, last week announced a business alliance with Japanese ad agency Hakuhodo and its group company Hakuhodo Product’s (hereinafter, Hakuhodo). Due to this cooperation, Hakuhodo established a factory specializing in VR (Virtual Reality)/AR named Hakuhodo-VRAR and has started proposing ads utilizing VR/AR to both companies’ clients.
Since its launch back in 2011, Kudan has developed a proprietary positioning technology called SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping). Generally for AR, markers are used in AR apps in order to recognize the positional relations in images captured by the camera. Even if not, multiple viewpoints are needed to measure relations as to distance or position between objects since the structure of human eyes or 3D camera enables such viewpoints. Kudan’s SLAM enables positional relations to be fathomed even with single-lens cameras by mapping multiple points on images, so that various AR apps can be availed for devices equipped with single cameras being found on one side, such as smartphones or tablets.
Kudan had secured totaling 203 million yen (about $1.96 million) from investors in Hong Kong or Singapore (including Japanese investors living there) this July. Currently no VC firms are included on the Kudan’s shareholders list because of the firm’s aim to promote technological developments over the medium to long term.
The two firms did not establish any financial tie in this business alliance, but constructed a scheme where Kudan provides its technologies while Hakuhodo performs planning and promotion for advertisement applications utilizing them. Kudan regards the game or education industry as a main potential market for its AR technologies or SLAM engine, looking to enhance its public awareness both inside and outside of Japan through the tie-up with Hakuhodo in the advertisement sector.
Kudan CFO Ken Iizuka commented on this:
Our potential clients do not know how to use our technologies yet. It is important to visually show how they can be used.
Yet, how can they be used? I met Iizuka at the Tokyo office and saw some demonstration of the apps employing the SLAM. A video of the demo follows.
In AdTech International held at Sophia University in Tokyo this August, the company’s founder / CEO Tomohiro Ohno took part in a panel discussion under the theme of the globalization of startups. There he said that Japan is not always the best place to start up, and the reason for choosing Bristol in UK as a place for research and development promotion.
Although the firm has an office in Tokyo as a basement of back office works and sales promotion, their targeted market is not only Japan, but also North America, Europe and Southeast Asia. With the advantages of having dispensed with markers and making AR available with single-lens cameras, the firm expects utilization in the automotive industry which has especially large demands and where it is easy to differentiate with other rival technologies.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Kudan founder / CEO Tomohiro Ohno (photographed at AdTech International held at Sophia University)
See the original story in Japanese. Rugs, carpets, mattresses, beds, sofas, and so on–surprisingly there are many items consumers want to wash but cannot. An innovative answer that allows them to wash such items with just a vacuum cleaner kicked off a crowdfunding campaign in Japan on Monday. Switle is a cleaner head attachment for vacuums that uses uses jets of water and then sucks the dirt away. Switle’s cleaner head attaches to the inlet of canister vacuum cleaners and does not have its own power source. Instead, it uses the sucking power of the vacuum to simultaneously inject water while sucking up the dirty water. This is made possible by the patented reverse injection turbo fan unit of the nozzle and tank, and the hose which is equipped with a safety device so there is no need to worry about the water entering into the body of the vacuum cleaner. This project was organized Sirius, a Tokyo-based consumer electronics wholesaler founded by a former Sanyo Electric employee, along with Yuuki Group which currently carries out parts manufacturing for Panasonic vacuum cleaners and automobiles and was previously an associate company of Sanyo Electric’s rotary machine division. The mechanism to complete…
Rugs, carpets, mattresses, beds, sofas, and so on–surprisingly there are many items consumers want to wash but cannot. An innovative answer that allows them to wash such items with just a vacuum cleaner kicked off a crowdfunding campaign in Japan on Monday. Switle is a cleaner head attachment for vacuums that uses uses jets of water and then sucks the dirt away.
Switle’s cleaner head attaches to the inlet of canister vacuum cleaners and does not have its own power source. Instead, it uses the sucking power of the vacuum to simultaneously inject water while sucking up the dirty water. This is made possible by the patented reverse injection turbo fan unit of the nozzle and tank, and the hose which is equipped with a safety device so there is no need to worry about the water entering into the body of the vacuum cleaner.
This project was organized Sirius, a Tokyo-based consumer electronics wholesaler founded by a former Sanyo Electric employee, along with Yuuki Group which currently carries out parts manufacturing for Panasonic vacuum cleaners and automobiles and was previously an associate company of Sanyo Electric’s rotary machine division. The mechanism to complete the separation of air and wastewater for the special fan uses the “Aqua Cyclone” technology patented by Hiroshima-based inventor Eiichi Kawamoto. Tetsuya Konishi, Chief Creative Officer of Tokyo-based electric prosthetic hand startup Exiii, worked on the product design, and it was orchestrated by Visiongraph, a project group responsible for the concept designs of a variety of new products.
With open innovation, we often visualize the collaboration of large companies and startups, so it is also possible to imagine how differences in the sense of speed and internal processes may lead to difficulties. In contrast, the fact that small and medium sized businesses advance on a case-to-case basis makes them more similar to what is considered a benefit of startups. In the future, it is expected that technology and patents hidden away in these small and medium sized enterprises may, with the help of startups (which tend to excel in design sense) see the light of day again.
The price of a Switle is about 21,000 yen (around $210 US), but in their crowdfunding campaign they are accepting pre-orders at up to 30% off. The campaign continues until the end of December, and they aim to begin shipping the product out next spring. Visiongraph’s content strategist Maiko Miyagawa related the expectation that Switle will become synonymous with new cleaning concepts worldwide in the same way Dyson and Raycop have.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Nana Music, the Japanese startup offering the freemium social music collaboration app Nana, announced last week that they have begun offering the paid subscription service “Nana premium” for iOS users. For 580 yen a month (about $5.80 US) users will have access to added functions such as searching based on how much ‘applause’ (similar to ‘likes’ on Facebook) a song has, new effects, and the ability to pin favorite sounds at the top of their “My Page” feed. The company plans to offer additional new features to paying subscribers in the future. Nana is a social network that allows users to combine accompaniment tracks, voice tracks, etc. to form entirely new music content. See also: Japan’s social music app Nana releases Android version This Japanese startup changes how people relate to music Nana app gets anime theme songs, available globally without location restriction As of August this year, according to CEO Akinori Fumihara, since the launch in November of 2012 31 million songs have been posted, with over 1.1 billion views, and registered users totaling more than 2.5 million. If they continue to grow at this rate, by January of next year it…
Tokyo-based Nana Music, the Japanese startup offering the freemium social music collaboration app Nana, announced last week that they have begun offering the paid subscription service “Nana premium” for iOS users. For 580 yen a month (about $5.80 US) users will have access to added functions such as searching based on how much ‘applause’ (similar to ‘likes’ on Facebook) a song has, new effects, and the ability to pin favorite sounds at the top of their “My Page” feed. The company plans to offer additional new features to paying subscribers in the future.
Nana is a social network that allows users to combine accompaniment tracks, voice tracks, etc. to form entirely new music content.
As of August this year, according to CEO Akinori Fumihara, since the launch in November of 2012 31 million songs have been posted, with over 1.1 billion views, and registered users totaling more than 2.5 million. If they continue to grow at this rate, by January of next year it is likely the number of users will reach 3 million.
Nana’s user growth Image credit: Nana Music
He said:
Our users sing and then post it; then that gets shared and brings in followers, this cycle is what’s powering our growth. But there is a hurdle we’re really trying to overcome. As a result of not getting any information at registration, without really understanding (how the app works), some users are suddenly being cast out of Nana’s community and end up withdrawing entirely.
The company understands their user base is young, that the contents tends to be centered around Vocaloid and anime songs, and that people who feel intimidated do not assimilate, so they have come up with features such as categorizing groups, and the ability to personalize based on individual information.
Some of Nana Premium’s additional functions Image credit: Nana Music
So, how far will they grow from here?
Fumihara noted that no matter how hard you try 30 million users within Japan is the upper limit, so overseas expansion becomes necessary.
Currently around 70% of our users are domestic, but we’d like to reverse that. Now, we have a lot of users in Thailand and North America, and soon this momentum should lead to nearly 40% of Spanish speaking countries (using Nana). It’s the result of using APO (app search optimization) and focusing on Android.
In Japan, users who play instruments have begun collaborating on songs, adding in the voices of people who want to sing, leading to an increase in contents. The company believes that if they try a similar approach, “because singing is non-verbal” a direct deployment in foreign countries is possible.
In regards to charging for services, initially they considered a tipping model, but in the midst of a variety of advice, they chose the current model.
He added:
There was a conflict over monetization. On the business side, we are doing advertising campaigns aimed at corporations, and while there are a variety of directions we could take, I had the thought that I couldn’t support a community along with these zealous people. In order to make an even more convenient, enjoyable world for music lovers I feel like maybe the best way is to do it together with them.
I came away with the impression that, having looked after the Nnana community for a number of years now, this business model suits him.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. A former student entrepreneur has returned to the startup scene in order to challenge global issues. In 1995 Takeshi TED Homma was a student entrepreneur working with the early internet doing web design and development. He followed this by playing active roles at Sony and Rakuten, and recently talked with The Bridge about a new startup he is working on. HOMMA, the startup, tackles issues related to “the home.” As is written on their website “Redefining our standard of living,” it is an ambitious project to create a new vision of the future with regards to the necessities of life. Homma had never contemplated a return to entrepreneurship, but a single opportunity presented him with the chance to get back to the startup world. He said: I was thinking of buying a house, but it would take few years to complete. That’s a few years. In Japan it would only take a matter of months. And what’s more, it would be very expensive. I tried to find a solution, thinking there must be one. But no. That’s what got me thinking. But it would take Homma nearly 2 years to reacclimate himself back into…
A former student entrepreneur has returned to the startup scene in order to challenge global issues.
In 1995 Takeshi TED Homma was a student entrepreneur working with the early internet doing web design and development. He followed this by playing active roles at Sony and Rakuten, and recently talked with The Bridge about a new startup he is working on.
HOMMA, the startup, tackles issues related to “the home.” As is written on their website “Redefining our standard of living,” it is an ambitious project to create a new vision of the future with regards to the necessities of life. Homma had never contemplated a return to entrepreneurship, but a single opportunity presented him with the chance to get back to the startup world.
He said:
I was thinking of buying a house, but it would take few years to complete. That’s a few years. In Japan it would only take a matter of months. And what’s more, it would be very expensive. I tried to find a solution, thinking there must be one. But no. That’s what got me thinking.
But it would take Homma nearly 2 years to reacclimate himself back into the entrepreneurial world.
He continued:
Is this really necessary? Is there no solution? Since there was no need to rush I focused intensely on preparing. At the same time, I never went so far as to say this about the entrepreneurial pursuits of my 20s, but somewhere I think maybe there was a part of me doing it for self-actualization too. But this time I had a clear vision and that’s how the decision came to me to spend what’s left of my life doing something for society. So that’s why I’m doing this.
The vision of a new lifestyle, especially the innovation of daily living, is what convinced the self-questioning Homma.
He added:
It took 100 years for the telephone to become the iPhone. 100 years later and Ford cars have evolved into Tesla. But what about homes? Have they changed in 100 years?
Homma used the phrase “a housing version of Tesla” so that even I could easily understand his meaning, but with just 5 words the view of the world that he is trying to achieve spawned endless possibilities. He originally began due to the fact that houses are expensive and take years to finish, but solving these problems will result in “homes becoming more fun”.
Their task is to make houses smart. If their goal is to summit the mountain, they are still at the foot, perhaps having approached the first station.
Regarding funding, Mistletoe, B Dash Ventures, Genuine Startups, 500 Startups Japan, East Ventures, Draper Nexus, and architectural firm KMDW participated in the seed round. The prominent lineup of individual investors starts with Hiroshi Mikitani (co-founder and CEO of Rakuten), and includes Tomohito Ebine (founder of Opt), Shintaro Yamada (CEO of Mercari), Hirokazu Mashita (founder and director of m&s partners), Hiroaki Yasutake (former managing executive director of Rakuten), Kotaro Chiba (co-founder of Colopl), Hollywood-based film producer Masi Oka.
The company raised $4.1 million in capital. This is an extraordinary amount to raise at the seed stage for a Japanese startup, but is appropriate when you consider them trying their hand on the world playing field. Furthermore, he is gathering members that sympathize with his vision who joined from companies such as Apple, Tesla, Amazon and Disney. Their current team of 7 members is working full time to prepare their product at their headquarters in Silicon Valley.
So, what image of the future are they trying to paint? What is their current situation?
As they are in stealth mode, and also currently still verifying whether the product lives up to Homma’s vision of the “new home,” a precise answer to these questions will take a little more time. However, he was able to talk about challenges with current devices for so-called “smart homes.”
He said:
The so-called ‘smart home’ market is a power struggle between big players like Google, Apple, and Samsung. As a result there are lots of apps and plenty of devices too. I’ve tried them out, but after taking out my smartphone and opening an app that shows battery level, the login screen comes up. (And I think) ‘So, when is the battery going to run out?’
If you ask Homma, at the moment the solutions are not at all useful, and there are three big problems to consider with the current smart home market.
He continued:
First, with smart homes you always have the issue of controls. But this is merely a discussion of on/off and adjustments. Not interesting at all. Next, the level of integration is low. For example, you add a thermostat, but the cooperation with the house is low. As a result we’re not able to do much. Finally, the third problem is communication. If you have 100 smart light bulbs and replace the router, you have to reset everything from scratch. If you use all-purpose Wifi and BLE problems in stability will arise.
Homma disclosed that if he had to choose one way of advocating smart home platforms, as opposed to the direction of horizontal development that Samsung chose in acquiring SmartThings for $200 million, he envisions a model similar to Apple’s or Tesla’s where everything from devices to software are vertically integrated. However, he intercedes that in everything there are a series of stages to go through to achieve goals.
He explained:
Time is the problem. For example, to build a house from ground up takes a long time. We have to think about it together with a scalable deployment. Take the iPod as an example; first, you make the software and the rest comes along after that, or Tesla that started by developing batteries.
But while listening to him speak I couldn’t help but imagine a lifestyle like those portrayed in 2001: A Space Odyssey or works by Osamu Tezuka. With childlike excitement that I couldn’t contain, I felt that I want to experience it as quickly as possible, and now Homma and his team are preparing to make it real.
It takes a little more, for Homma as well, to imagine the collection of big data, that is mass data taken from sensors, from these houses. But, with this as a basis, houses using artificial intelligence for home controls are something he is conscious of. In the past, this field has seen challengers in the area of communication robots here and there, with voice recognition controls by major home appliance makers and more recently in Vinclu’s Gatebox.
In other words, you arrive home and when you announce, “I’m home,” a robot turns on the lights while scanning your face for user recognition, and then uses your social data to recommend your favorite TV show–this is a glimpse of the world view. On top of allowing this to more fully develop, they will more intimately integrate with “the home itself.”
Maybe an autonomous driving house. — To borrow Homma’s words, perhaps in the future we may come into contact with such a product.
The reasons for focusing on Silicon Valley while facing the world playing field are its continued growth in population, high talent level of the population, and Homma remarked whoever is left standing here can become the “world standard.”
Nearly 20 years have passed since his days as a student entrepreneur.
Actually, I really thought someone would appear and solve this problem. But no one showed up so I’m going to do it.
Homma said this with a gleam in his eye, like someone ready and even eager to tackle all future obstacles.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Kibow, a Singapore-incorporated startup with headquarters in Tokyo developing a mobile sports betting app, announced this week that they have acquired a betting license from the British government’s Gambling Commission. The company had previously acquired a betting license in the Philippines, but from here on out in acquiring a license from the UK (considered the home of betting) they will be able to dive headfirst into preparations for their service launch. The exhilarated Kibow CEO Fumitada Naoe said, Piggybacking off of Nike (NYSE:NKE), we want to see ourselves in such a position within 10 years of inception. In reference to the acquisition of a betting license in the UK he remarked, unable to hide his joy, “It doesn’t get much better for us. In terms of soccer, it’s like we were granted access to the Premier League.” In order to eliminate anti-social elements, through certification by the Gambling Commission based on a thorough check of the integrity of the company, Kibow is now able to begin their overseas operations, starting with the UK, by triumphantly entering into the fantasy sports and sports betting worlds. The review of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics boat and canoe…
Kibow, a Singapore-incorporated startup with headquarters in Tokyo developing a mobile sports betting app, announced this week that they have acquired a betting license from the British government’s Gambling Commission. The company had previously acquired a betting license in the Philippines, but from here on out in acquiring a license from the UK (considered the home of betting) they will be able to dive headfirst into preparations for their service launch.
The exhilarated Kibow CEO Fumitada Naoe said,
Piggybacking off of Nike (NYSE:NKE), we want to see ourselves in such a position within 10 years of inception.
In reference to the acquisition of a betting license in the UK he remarked, unable to hide his joy, “It doesn’t get much better for us. In terms of soccer, it’s like we were granted access to the Premier League.” In order to eliminate anti-social elements, through certification by the Gambling Commission based on a thorough check of the integrity of the company, Kibow is now able to begin their overseas operations, starting with the UK, by triumphantly entering into the fantasy sports and sports betting worlds.
Kibow CEO Fumitada Naoe
The review of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics boat and canoe venue has been in the news recently being hailed a controversy, beginning with problems emerging from behind the scenes, and ending in the reality that the proposed venue is too costly. In the world of professional sports, the media attracts the attention of sports viewers and the general public, and when worldwide competitions are held money is collected through broadcasted rights, sponsorship fees, and ticket sales. It is then made into a fund in the form of guarantee and prize money, finally being returned to players and athletes. So to speak, it is like a sports ecosystem. However, there are drawbacks to this system. Only those involved in major sports events are rewarded, and the current situation stands that even Olympic gold medalists are not guaranteed support after retirement.
Kibow is proposing, through mobile sports betting, they can form a now sports business ecosystem by changing the way money flows from the general public to players and athletes and giving those involved in minor sports and extreme sports a chance in the spotlight. The Nippon Foundation, one of the key role players in social impact investments in Japan, held the country’s largest ever Social Innovation event. Given that they use a portion of proceeds raised from boat racing throughout Japan to finance social entrepreneurs, it may be easy for our readers to imagine the relationship between sport betting, sport business building, and developing athletes. In the future, Kibow plans to provide betting opportunities for Japan’s unique minor sports and extreme sports and, starting in the UK, hopes to attract foreign betting participants.
In this same field, in 2013 Softbank acquired 23% of shares from the UK’s leading online bookmaker Betfair for 355 million pounds (about $540 million at the exchange rate then). In the US earlier this year sports betting startups DraftKing and FanDuel launched their services.
Kibow does not only function as a bookmaker, but while advocating for a position as a sport brand and a lifestyle brand, they are aiming to begin their mobile sports betting service in the UK domestic market by February of next year. The company raised around 100 million yen (nearly $840,000 at the exchange rate then) in funds from Cyber Agent Ventures and individual investors in April of 2015.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
A concept image for Kibow’s mobile betting app Image credit: Kibow
This guest post is authored by Sakahito Sado of Wata-ame in Tokyo. Wata-ame offers user growth consulting service for game and web service developers. See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Drone Japan last week unveiled the concept of DJ Agri-service which enables efficient and low-cost rice farming that utilizes drones. By conjoining efforts of experts in different fields ranging from hardware and software to data analysis and agriculture, this service was formed to realize “Precision Farming” which supports agrochemical-free farming techniques while significantly lowering production costs through use of image analysis and visualization of crop-growing conditions by applying drone-based remote sensing. Automatically acquiring agricultural core data such as crop-growing conditions, it provides reporting service for farmers using analysis from experts. One of the service’s strengths is the accuracy of these agricultural data utilizing specialized sensors, spectral cameras and autonomous flight technologies, which could not be acquired through conventional methods. The experts involved in this project include Yutaka Kaidu (Associate Professor, Laboratory of Biological and Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo) and Guo Wei (Master’s program, same as above) in charge of data processing, Randy Mackay (Japan Drones; supporting software development using open source code for drone hardware developers) in charge of operating drones, and Noriyuki Ichikawa (Ichikawa Farm in Asahikawa, Hokkaido). The…
This guest post is authored by Sakahito Sado of Wata-ame in Tokyo. Wata-ame offers user growth consulting service for game and web service developers.
Tokyo-based Drone Japan last week unveiled the concept of DJ Agri-service which enables efficient and low-cost rice farming that utilizes drones. By conjoining efforts of experts in different fields ranging from hardware and software to data analysis and agriculture, this service was formed to realize “Precision Farming” which supports agrochemical-free farming techniques while significantly lowering production costs through use of image analysis and visualization of crop-growing conditions by applying drone-based remote sensing.
Automatically acquiring agricultural core data such as crop-growing conditions, it provides reporting service for farmers using analysis from experts. One of the service’s strengths is the accuracy of these agricultural data utilizing specialized sensors, spectral cameras and autonomous flight technologies, which could not be acquired through conventional methods.
Kiichiro Katsumata, CEO of Drone Japan
The experts involved in this project include Yutaka Kaidu (Associate Professor, Laboratory of Biological and Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo) and Guo Wei (Master’s program, same as above) in charge of data processing, Randy Mackay (Japan Drones; supporting software development using open source code for drone hardware developers) in charge of operating drones, and Noriyuki Ichikawa (Ichikawa Farm in Asahikawa, Hokkaido).
The service usage fee is 4,500 yen (about $43) minimum per hectare for each use during the cultivation period, inclusive of drone and camera rental, data sensing and data analysis. The firm plans to commence service from April of 2017.
Analyzing images photographed by drone
The market size for the drone industry is expected to grow to 100 billion yen (about $960 million) by 2020, and agriculture is estimated to account for half of this figure.
In the press briefing, CEO of Drone Japan Kiichiro Katsumata revealed the launch of the service, as well as the start of sales as to value-added rice utilizing drones, in addition to provision of data to agricultural app developers; the company aims to attain sales of 3 billion yen (about $29 million) by 2020.
I feel that technology like those used in drones is going to solve problems for the primary industries.
By focusing on rice cultivation from among the wide-ranging agricultural industry, Drone Japan aims to solve problems related to domestic rice farming by leveraging technologies, not to mention promoting development of Japanese drone agriculture on a global scale.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Masaru Ikeda
Takeshi Hirano
The Bridge
