The Japanese electric power industry was deregulated back in April of 2016. Since then, tech giants like Softbank and Rakuten have set up their subsidiaries to enter the new power supply market. In European countries that allow consumers to choose the power source from multiple suppliers, an outstanding vertical from the startup space is probably the energy price comparison site.
Tokyo-based Enechange, the company offering an energy price comparison site under the same name, has announced that it has fundraised 500 million yen (about $4.4 million) from Opt Ventures and IMJ Investment Partners. This follows their 400 million yen (about $3.5 million) funding from Energy & Environment Investment as well as Hitachi (TSE:6501) back in February of 2016.
Since its launch back in April of 2015, Enechange has been offering a power supplier switchover service for enterprises as well as a SIM card comparison site for companies and consumers. In partnership with UK-based SMAP Energy, a smart meter-based data analytics startup born from Cambridge University, the company has also been offering consulting services to electric power companies in Japan.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based startup Vaqso unveiled their device Vaqso VR, which adds a sense of smell to VR games, etc., when attached to a head-mounted display (HMD) at their press conference held in Tokyo on Tuesday. Vaqso was established by Kentaro Kawaguchi of ZaaZ, a Japanese company involved in promotional services using odors for restaurants. In addition to CEO Kawaguchi, Tatsuya Kogusuri who led the development of Hackey for Cerevo serves as CTO, and Fumio Kurokawa who has had a hand in various online games serves as a special advisor. While Kawaguchi is in charge of planning and developing the odors, Kurokawa is using his vast network to support business development. Their development base is located in Tokyo at DMM.make Akiba, but was incorporated in San Francisco, USA to make global funding efforts easier with the goal to enter the world market. Vaqso VR is about the length and width of a Snickers bar and can be attached to a HMD using a magnet. It synchs up with VR contents and it is possible to set different odor cartridges. Three types of odor cartridges can been installed in the prototype, with plans to increase this to…
Tokyo-based startup Vaqso unveiled their device Vaqso VR, which adds a sense of smell to VR games, etc., when attached to a head-mounted display (HMD) at their press conference held in Tokyo on Tuesday. Vaqso was established by Kentaro Kawaguchi of ZaaZ, a Japanese company involved in promotional services using odors for restaurants. In addition to CEO Kawaguchi, Tatsuya Kogusuri who led the development of Hackey for Cerevo serves as CTO, and Fumio Kurokawa who has had a hand in various online games serves as a special advisor. While Kawaguchi is in charge of planning and developing the odors, Kurokawa is using his vast network to support business development. Their development base is located in Tokyo at DMM.make Akiba, but was incorporated in San Francisco, USA to make global funding efforts easier with the goal to enter the world market.
Vaqso VR is about the length and width of a Snickers bar and can be attached to a HMD using a magnet. It synchs up with VR contents and it is possible to set different odor cartridges. Three types of odor cartridges can been installed in the prototype, with plans to increase this to 5-10 cartridges in the finished product. Also, the device is equipped with a small fan, which is currently under development, but by synchronizing the rotation speed of the fan with the VR content when the user moves closer to or away from the object in the virtual space it will be possible to strengthen or weaken the smell accordingly.
Additionally, Vaqso has completed the API for controlling Vaqso VR for VR game developers. A library (Unity plug-in) is provided for connecting with Vaqso VR, and developers can make their game correspond to Vaqso VR by simply adding the “Include” command at the beginning of their source code and an additional line of code written where the event occurs. Vaqso is planning to open a developer’s site (sign up here) in an effot to gather a wide range of opinions from developers, with the feedback obtained they will improve their product, and finally reach the point where they are ready to begin shipping a finished product.
Competition, such as Feelreal and Noslus Rift, exists in this field, but Vaqso VR has an advantage in that it can emit multiple odors while also being an ultra compact device. In addition, because it was designed for installation on any HMD including Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR, it has a wider potential customer base. Vaqso will launch a B2B business for advertising, games, and OEM production, etc., in April of this year, and it is expected to start selling B2C later this year.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Japanese device startup Exiii, well known for its open-source electric-powered prosthetic hands HACKberry, produced using a 3D printer, this week announced the haptic device Exos as its new product under development. Exos applies pressure directly unto the users’ hand via a built-in motor, to enable users gaining the sensation of touching a virtual object with their hand. This technology is seen being applied to VR (virtual reality) games and robot remote controls, in addition to use in rehabilitation programs for hand movements or the like. See also: Japan’s functional prosthetic hand Handiii beats funding goal in five days Japan’s Exiii unveils teaser page for functional prosthetic hand Along with the boom in VR (virtual reality) / AR (augmented reality) technologies, various devices providing immersive feel for the virtual space have been surfacing. Among these, products focused on the visual sense have recently become attention-grabbers, such as the first-generation device as exemplified by Oculus, which became affiliated with Facebook last year. Since hepatic sense devices are considered to be the next generation following in the visual ones’ footsteps, some projects like UnlimitedHand are now in progress in Japan. See also: Japan’s H2L unveils haptic wearable…
Japanese device startup Exiii, well known for its open-source electric-powered prosthetic hands HACKberry, produced using a 3D printer, this week announced the haptic device Exos as its new product under development.
Exos applies pressure directly unto the users’ hand via a built-in motor, to enable users gaining the sensation of touching a virtual object with their hand. This technology is seen being applied to VR (virtual reality) games and robot remote controls, in addition to use in rehabilitation programs for hand movements or the like.
Along with the boom in VR (virtual reality) / AR (augmented reality) technologies, various devices providing immersive feel for the virtual space have been surfacing. Among these, products focused on the visual sense have recently become attention-grabbers, such as the first-generation device as exemplified by Oculus, which became affiliated with Facebook last year. Since hepatic sense devices are considered to be the next generation following in the visual ones’ footsteps, some projects like UnlimitedHand are now in progress in Japan.
According to Exiii CEO Hiroshi Yamaura, one of the features of Exos is to transmit power unto the users’ hand directly via motors, unlike UnlimitedHand which adopted electric stimulus. It can thus provide a more realistic sense of touching which cannot be realized with vibration or other methods.
However, it is still under development so the unveiled design was the best possible at present, says Yamarura. Some systems adjustments will be required in the future, such as delay reductions upon communicating information to devices when users touch objects in VR space.
Therefore, the firm looks to gather user companies that wish to provide apps using Exos based on its concept announced this time. By the way, when I asked Yamaura about the uniqueness or the superiority of his device, he answered that he does not regard imitation or tailgating by other players as much of a problem because the firm owns patents related to mechanism or knowledge obtained through its prosthetic hands development and he himself is an expert of exoskeleton functions.
Unfortunately, I could not actually wear and try this device at this time. I cannot say anything definite about how much this device will give us an impression at present but expect that it is not just a conceptual product, judging from the firm’s background of prosthetic hands development and the demonstration video of the prototype.
On the other hand, the actual usage scene / environment for Exos appears to depend on the app developers. It is hoped that the device will be put into production within two or three years when the VR market is expected to become a very active one.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Viibar, the startup specializing in all things video productions, announced on Tuesday that it has it has secured funding from and partnered with Nihon Keizai Shimbun, a leading Japan economics newspaper hereafter referred to as Nikkei. The company plans to work closely with Nikkei’s newly established digital marketing organization called N Brand Studio, in building a team to develop and provide new services and advertising products that go beyond the company’s current main role of supporting the creation of video materials. Viibar CEO Yuta Kamisaka stated concretely that in the spring of 2017 they will launch a new media project on Nikkei Style, which is managed by Nikkei. In addition to this, they will enter into product development that includes video content and is currently being offered by Nikkei as a set for tie-up advertisement, etc., in addition to also supporting content marketing for companies. Along with this business partnership, Viibar also received approximately 400 million yen (around $3.5 million US) in the latest funding round from Dentsu Digital Holdings and Globis Capital Partners as well as Nikkei. Details such as the valuation and payment date were not disclosed. Dentsu and Globis also…
Tokyo-based Viibar, the startup specializing in all things video productions, announced on Tuesday that it has it has secured funding from and partnered with Nihon Keizai Shimbun, a leading Japan economics newspaper hereafter referred to as Nikkei. The company plans to work closely with Nikkei’s newly established digital marketing organization called N Brand Studio, in building a team to develop and provide new services and advertising products that go beyond the company’s current main role of supporting the creation of video materials.
Viibar CEO Yuta Kamisaka stated concretely that in the spring of 2017 they will launch a new media project on Nikkei Style, which is managed by Nikkei. In addition to this, they will enter into product development that includes video content and is currently being offered by Nikkei as a set for tie-up advertisement, etc., in addition to also supporting content marketing for companies.
Along with this business partnership, Viibar also received approximately 400 million yen (around $3.5 million US) in the latest funding round from Dentsu Digital Holdings and Globis Capital Partners as well as Nikkei. Details such as the valuation and payment date were not disclosed. Dentsu and Globis also participated in the previous round.
Viibar, who has supported the crowdsourcing of video materials for companies, has undertaken a new development: an investment and corporate alliance with the media. From the onset, they did not simply provide crowdsourcing for video production, but also dabbled in the media, with funds received from Yahoo Japan in their previous round, and Bouncy, their version of distributed contents. With recent developments, it appears they are ready to go from testing the waters to jumping straight in head first.
These past few years Viibar has been riding the crowdsourcing wave by gathering creators on-line and streamlining production through their production platform. The company has given new options for video production where previously there was only one, to order from a professional production company, and since its inception in 2013 they have assembled some 3000 creators online with the number of companies using their service climbing to 600.
Viibar’s key feature is the so-called “production studio on the cloud”, and there is no need to worry about quality control if a specific creator leaves the production, or a shortage of resources to meet the demands of a large order, which can occur with a general production company. Also, in many cases, the produced contents gets “distributed”, which means the media is necessary. Apart from traditional television and signage, of course, distribution on the Internet is the goal for their creative endeavors.
As mentioned in the release, it is not the first time for Viibar to support the video production of other media. However, this time, with the inclusion of funding, it feels like they intend to expand into a media company, rather than stop at the crowdsourcing of video production/practical knowledge for creating commissioned videos. In fact, even though their business scheme with Nikkei is still under wraps, upon talking with Kamisaka examples of where they are headed, revenue shares, etc. (all points not in the official release) became quite clear.
Viibar has moved from crowdsourcing a little closer to a outsourcing production platform. So, will their video marketing business open up considerably by collaborating with the Nikkei brand?
Here Kamisaka emphasized the word “quality” when it comes to creative pursuits. In the first place, crowdsourcing has some difficulties in quality control regarding work on specific smaller sections of a larger project. However, Viibar covers this with their system and operations, successfully producing a quality top brands can utilize.
Kamisaka elaborated on the cost as well.
The price, that is to say the time and effort that is usually put in by people, compared to a major production company is reasonable. Although, a production company with various people working together internally beats crowdsourcing that doesn’t value quality. For our company, we believe jobs that are just cheap are not work for creators, so it’s good this way.
Since there is no doubt that the balance of quality and cost will lead to profit in the end, the pricing and profit margin of each video advertising product they will sell with the Nikkei brand becomes interesting.
Over the past few years Viibar has constructed a system that can flexibly deliver high-quality content to the world, and from now will use brand-name media and distribution to move to a new stage. This then becomes a test of whether they can expand as a business by taking this next step away from a production platform.
I think it comes down to whether or not we can make a strong brand. A strong brand means that the media has a fan base and its CPA (cost per acquisition) is low, and if this is solid, then it doesn’t matter whether the content is offered via a platform or via our own media.
Kamisaka continued:
Media is a collection of content. We have a commitment to creating an environment where it is possible to focus on creative pursuits. We aren’t just intermediaries matching creators with projects, but through evaluating creators, and paying attention to various results, we have been able to confirm that this is the correct direction to take. Recently, there have been various problems in the area of content, but in the end they’re likely to demand a way of work and manner of creation that is more productive.
Advertisers, the media, creators– with the power of technology is it possible to put them successfully on the cloud? It’s definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based startup Ecbo launched their on-demand Ecbo Cloak service on Wednesday, aimed at travelers looking to find temporary storage for their luggage by employing the unused space of cafes, bike rentals shops and others. Ecbo was founded by Shinichi Kudo who previously worked at Uber Japan as an intern. The company launched the Ecbo on-demand storage service in June of 2015, and expanding from this, with Ecbo Cloak they begin a new service that incorporates the concept of a sharing economy by finding a use for the idle space in retail stores. The idea for ecbo cloak came to Kudo in Shibuya where he was approached by a traveler to Japan and questioned with, “I’m looking for a coin locker that can store my suitcase.” Lockers capable of fitting a suitcase were scarce or already in use, leading Kudo to the conclusion, unexpectedly, that herein lies a business opportunity. It is true, travelers can request to store their luggage at the front desk or cloak room of their hotel before check-in time, but making a trip to the hotel solely for that purpose, especially in the middle of the day with so much to…
Tokyo-based startup Ecbo launched their on-demand Ecbo Cloak service on Wednesday, aimed at travelers looking to find temporary storage for their luggage by employing the unused space of cafes, bike rentals shops and others.
Ecbo was founded by Shinichi Kudo who previously worked at Uber Japan as an intern. The company launched the Ecbo on-demand storage service in June of 2015, and expanding from this, with Ecbo Cloak they begin a new service that incorporates the concept of a sharing economy by finding a use for the idle space in retail stores. The idea for ecbo cloak came to Kudo in Shibuya where he was approached by a traveler to Japan and questioned with, “I’m looking for a coin locker that can store my suitcase.” Lockers capable of fitting a suitcase were scarce or already in use, leading Kudo to the conclusion, unexpectedly, that herein lies a business opportunity.
It is true, travelers can request to store their luggage at the front desk or cloak room of their hotel before check-in time, but making a trip to the hotel solely for that purpose, especially in the middle of the day with so much to take in, is annoying. In the case of vacation rentals such as Airbnb and HomeAway, travelers cannot count on leaving their luggage before check-in or receiving a key. With Ecbo Cloak travelers can leave their luggage in a convenient location at the city center, enjoy the city care-free, and head to their accommodations at their leisure.
Actually, even in my case, I often leave my suitcase containing my travel necessities in a coin locker at the station when I have appointments in Tokyo before heading to Haneda or Narita (International Airport) or when I have to head to a meeting immediately after returning home to Japan. Here, a problem; when VIPs from overseas like presidents visit Tokyo the use of all coin lockers is suspended in the greater metropolitan area for security purposes. Since Ecbo Cloak is available during the opening hours of the business that collects the luggage, it can be used without having to worry about the above-mentioned case of the coin lockers. Personal identification is required to use the service, and the person responsible for collecting the luggage confirms the user at the drop off, thereby reducing the risk of crime/incidents.
It is said around 30% of visitors to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics used vacation rentals like Airbnb. And it has already been said that Tokyo, host of the 2020 Olympics, is in overwhelmingly short supply of hotels for such an event, so it is safe to assume the use of vacation rentals will increase further. Additionally, with vacation rentals unable to meet the demands for flexibility by their customers (e.g., early check-in/late check-out), Ecbo Cock is expected to grow into a service that fills the gap between customers and suppliers.
So far Ecbo has received funding from Anri, and employs ten full-time core members, including interns. In addition to expanding into Kyoto and Osaka within the year, they want to offer their service at more than 10,000 stores.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
Japan’s cloud automation startup Mobingi announced today that it has secured 250 million yen (about $2.2 million) in its series A round from Draper Nexus and Archetype Ventures, both its current investors. It is a follow-on investment subsequent to the tens-of-millions-of-yen (hundreds of thousands of dollars) fundraising from the above two firms last February. Coinciding with this fundraising, Akira Kurabayashi of Draper Nexus was appointed Outside Director of Mobingi. Mobingi provides an operation / maintenance or DevOps (Development-Operation) automation platform for cloud services such as Amazon Web Service. Targeting lack of funds available for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in securing human resources specialized in operation, the firm offers an ideal environment where it is easy for engineers to focus on development. With the money secured this time, the firm plans to strengthen development and operation of an application construction automation platform for cloud services named Mobingi ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) which has been already provided, and to launch an application operation-on-cloud automation platform named Mobingi Wave this summer. These Mobingi’s platform services are all compatible with Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Fujitsu K5 and Amazon Web Services, in addition to private cloud services based on OpenStack. According to founder…
Japan’s cloud automation startup Mobingi announced today that it has secured 250 million yen (about $2.2 million) in its series A round from Draper Nexus and Archetype Ventures, both its current investors. It is a follow-on investment subsequent to the tens-of-millions-of-yen (hundreds of thousands of dollars) fundraising from the above two firms last February. Coinciding with this fundraising, Akira Kurabayashi of Draper Nexus was appointed Outside Director of Mobingi.
Mobingi provides an operation / maintenance or DevOps (Development-Operation) automation platform for cloud services such as Amazon Web Service. Targeting lack of funds available for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in securing human resources specialized in operation, the firm offers an ideal environment where it is easy for engineers to focus on development. With the money secured this time, the firm plans to strengthen development and operation of an application construction automation platform for cloud services named Mobingi ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) which has been already provided, and to launch an application operation-on-cloud automation platform named Mobingi Wave this summer. These Mobingi’s platform services are all compatible with Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Fujitsu K5 and Amazon Web Services, in addition to private cloud services based on OpenStack.
According to founder / CEO of Mobingi Wayland Zhang, the firm will turn to enhancement of marketing activities targeting Japanese SMEs through participating meetups / seminars, or presentation / exhibition at business conferences beginning this year. Although most of its current clients are Japanese companies, he said his ambitions are for the firm to commence service provision to Chinese companies within this year and secure a certain sales amount from them utilizing cloud computing.