Agribuddy, a startup that offers a mobile app to farmers in Cambodia and other emerging countries to provide them with asset management support services, announced on Wedsneday that it has received US$730,000 in funding from the likes of iSGS Investment Works, Yorihiko “Paul” Kato, several additional corporations, funds, and individual investors. The company plans to use the funds raised to further develop products and systems currently under development and to acquire top talent who can play an active part in the world market.
Agribuddy provides an Android app of the same name to farmers, who then can register their farmland and crops as users allowing the app to automatically calculate income and expenditure patterns, as well as timing and money amounts. In addition, Agribuddy’s own credit scoring function also provides a service that sets credit limits from banks and other financial institutions for buying agricultural materials.
The total agricultural area of Agribuddy’s users has reached just under 190,000 hectares, and they originally started collecting users mainly in Cambodia, but recently they have also begun to accumulate users in neighboring Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, India, etc. This is due to people called “Buddies” stationed in each rural village, making it possible to reach out to and collect data from potential users who are not connected to the Internet.
See the original story in Japanese. Japan’s digital health startup CureApp announced on Monday that it has fundraised 380 million yen (about $3.4 million) from Beyond Next Ventures, Keio Innovation Initiative and SBI Investment. This funding is subsequent to the 100 million yen (about $890,000) from Beyond Next Ventures in October of 2015. With the money raised this time, the firm enhances its research and development system in order to realize a disease treatment using mobile apps. The company was founded in July of 2014 by two medical doctors: Kohta Satake (CEO) and Shin Suzuki (CTO). The firm is one of the leading players in the medical app vertical under the theme of “app exhibits therapeutic effects against diseases” and launched a nicotine addiction treatment app in February 2015, which was jointly developed with Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Keio University’s School of Medicine. It is currently conducting clinical trials in many locations. The company was selected as a participant of the Hiyaku Next Enterprise program, an innovation encouragement program sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. While CEO Satake was staying at San Francisco to take part in the Silicon Valley course as a part of the…
Japan’s digital health startup CureApp announced on Monday that it has fundraised 380 million yen (about $3.4 million) from Beyond Next Ventures, Keio Innovation Initiative and SBI Investment. This funding is subsequent to the 100 million yen (about $890,000) from Beyond Next Ventures in October of 2015. With the money raised this time, the firm enhances its research and development system in order to realize a disease treatment using mobile apps.
CureApp CEO Kohta Satake, MD
The company was founded in July of 2014 by two medical doctors: Kohta Satake (CEO) and Shin Suzuki (CTO). The firm is one of the leading players in the medical app vertical under the theme of “app exhibits therapeutic effects against diseases” and launched a nicotine addiction treatment app in February 2015, which was jointly developed with Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Keio University’s School of Medicine. It is currently conducting clinical trials in many locations.
CureApp’s nicotine addiction treatment app
The company was selected as a participant of the Hiyaku Next Enterprise program, an innovation encouragement program sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. While CEO Satake was staying at San Francisco to take part in the Silicon Valley course as a part of the program, he replied to our interview about his firm’s view.
Subsequent to the above-mentioned nicotine addiction treatment app, CureApp had jointly developed a NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis remedy) treatment app with Department of Gastroenterology, the University of Tokyo, and has been conducting a clinical trial as well. NASH is hepatitis caused by obesity or diabetes and is one of the typical lifestyle diseases treatable by improving dietary habits. According to Satake, the firm plans a horizontal spread of medical apps for treatment / management of other lifestyle diseases including diabetes, depression and lung cancer, in addition to the two apps.
As for development of the mobile apps, the firm adopted React Native, a app development platform invented by Facebook enabling easy development of apps available for iOS / Android only with JavaScript knowledge.
CureApp’s NASH treatment app
The CureApp NASH app was fully made with the React Native environment while the nicotine treatment app has also been porting to it. The platform will be adopted to all the firm’s other apps in the future. Kensuke Takagi, engineering team lead of CureApp, has been
making efforts to penetrate this new technology by repeatedly giving presentations at various events held in the Tokyo area such as React Native Meetup.
CureApp is also seeking a way to expand its business to the US through cooperation with local medical institutions, and that is one of the reasons for Satake’s visit to the US. If the apps are approved by FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) after clinical trials in the US, a global development may be possible. One of its investors, Beyond Next Ventures, had recently tied up with San Francisco-based bio-science accelerator IndieBio, and such a movement may boost the firm’s future growth.
You can download the CureApp’s apps from iTunes AppStore or Google Play, but the apps requires use under the guidance of a partnered medical institution due to the nature of medical apps.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo’s Shibuya, aka Bit Valley, has long been the home of Japanese startups, with FinTech stationed in Otemachi, hardware in Akihabara, bioscience in Nihonbashi, and so on, but it appears startup hubs are popping up all over the place. So, I wondered where hot topic sectors like virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality related startups are gathering, thus the topic for this article was born. A number of VR arcades have appeared in Seoul and Shanghai and they play a role in introducing VR to general (not VR-savvy or VR-enthusiast) consumers. According to experts, in the US it seems that VR startups are starting to gather around Silicon Beach LA, from Santa Clara which is very near Hollywood (the mecca of the video and entertainment industry) to Venice Beach. In London they are appearing in Shoreditch, an area of Tech City. Is this where Tokyo’s VR startup hubs will gather? I walked around the city over the New Year while mulling this over. Future Tech Hub, an incubation facility specializing in VR, newly opened in December Future Tech Hub is Japan’s first incubation facility specialized in VR, as well as a coworking space…
Tokyo’s Shibuya, aka Bit Valley, has long been the home of Japanese startups, with FinTech stationed in Otemachi, hardware in Akihabara, bioscience in Nihonbashi, and so on, but it appears startup hubs are popping up all over the place. So, I wondered where hot topic sectors like virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality related startups are gathering, thus the topic for this article was born.
A number of VR arcades have appeared in Seoul and Shanghai and they play a role in introducing VR to general (not VR-savvy or VR-enthusiast) consumers. According to experts, in the US it seems that VR startups are starting to gather around Silicon Beach LA, from Santa Clara which is very near Hollywood (the mecca of the video and entertainment industry) to Venice Beach. In London they are appearing in Shoreditch, an area of Tech City.
Is this where Tokyo’s VR startup hubs will gather? I walked around the city over the New Year while mulling this over.
Future Tech Hub, an incubation facility specializing in VR, newly opened in December
VR startups working hard at Future Tech Hub Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Future Tech Hub is Japan’s first incubation facility specialized in VR, as well as a coworking space and opened December 14. It is 5 minutes walking from Kayabacho station. In addition to investing in The Venture Reality Fund, they are operated jointly by Gumi (TSE: 3903) and Breakpoint. Gumi is managed by Tokyo VR Startups, an incubator specializing in VR. Breakpoint has been developing incubation facilities in Tokyo since 2004.
Tokyo VR Startups regularly develop incubation batches, with the Future Tech Hub raising VR startups until they can participate in these batches, the goal being to produce graduates capable of renting their own offices, creating a mutually beneficial relationship. According to Yasuchika Wakayama, CEO of Breakpoint, leading Japanese VR startups Yomuneco (led by journalist Kiyoshi Shin who has written numerous books related to the gaming industry) and Ouka-Ichimon (offering content production and consulting service specializing in the Oculus VR head-mounted display) have set up operations bases there.
Breakpoint CEO Yasuchika Wakayama (right) and Tokyo VR Startups’ Tatsuya Kurohama (left) Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
The theme of incubation is how to raise the business value of a startup in its early stage. Information about what kinds of hardware and software are up and coming filters down to us through our networks and we believe this could be helpful for startups.
Wakayama remarked.
On top of that, one the biggest advantages Silicon Valley has is the close proximity of startups and the market. For example, when an entrepreneur needs to meet with someone from Google to inspect their product, they can do it immediately. And they’ll know who to talk with at Pixar. We want to be able to provide this kind of information and create a similar environment.
He continued.
(In the context of open innovation) We are also getting inquiries from major Japanese companies. We are gathering information on what big companies are looking for in startups so, in turn, startups will be able to launch the products that the market wants more efficiently.
High-spec machines and an area to perform test and demonstrations are necessary when developing VR. At Future Tech Hub they have Galleria gaming computers produced by Thirdwave, HTC Vive from HTC, and cloud services from Amazon Web Services. Tenant startups can use these resources free of charge. Since the studio space for chroma key can be shared by several companies it is also economical.
Among the VR related materials placed by the entrance, there are also documents written by tenants. Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
From Future Tech Hub it is a five minute walk along the Nihonbashi River to the Tokyo VR Startups base of operations, and it is expected that the two will share more than just close proximity. They have the power to function as a coworking space, but they have set the conditions for becoming a tenant high in seeking those that will contribute greatly to the VR startup community. Currently there are four corporations and one individual in fixed seats, with three more corporations in free seats and they want to increase this to 30 teams by the end of the year.
Gumi, which is jointly managing Future Tech Lab indirectly, is also jointly developing an incubation program in Korea called Seoul VR Startups. One foreseeable outcome is that VR startups from Korea in Japan using Future Tech Lab as their base.
While our event space / live streaming studio The Bridge X is situated in Shibuya 2-chome, near Aoyama Gakuin University, at nearly the same time we moved our base there, the VR experience space VR Space opened in the same area. It is produced by serial entrepreneur Akihito Ninomiya, who previously operated the Talentio recruitment service (the hatch that operated Talentio was acquired by Ximera in September 2015).
VR Space offers 6 booths, each with various VR gaming experiences using HTC Vive. (Currently, they are not licensed to use Oculus Rift, which is not available for direct sales to consumers; only HTC Vive is available.) They are in a favorable location facing Aoyama Street, with couples stopping in on dates, and groups of company employees dropping by for a little recreation. Foreign users have also increased, and recently it seems they had to prepare Chinese manuals and customer guides in a rush.
A portion of the VR titles installed on the machine Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
For Ninomiya, VR Space is not only an arcade, but can also be used as a marketing base for developers of VR content, with the expectation that they could create a scale based on the consulting revenue from the B2B business.
Tech Lab Paak, The Roots, and VR Park Tokyo
Outside of VR Park Tokyo Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Recruit Holdings (TSE: 6098) opened its Acceleration Course specializing in VR from the 6th batch of last year’s Tech Lab Paak startup accelerator in Shibuya. Readers may recall that a number of VR startups were introduced during the demo day for the 6th batch.
Additionally, Colopl Next, which is a fund specializing in VR, has developed an incubation space called The Roots in Shibuya. Although The Roots is especially for student entrepreneurship support and is not necessarily a facility for VR startups, some kind of synergy may be expected between the fund specializing in VR and the VR startups they invest in.
Gree (TSE: 3632), a major internet service provider, along with Adores (TSE: 4712), a big name game center operator, opened the VR arcade VR Park Tokyo in Shibuya in December of last year to showcase attractions developed jointly by both companies. In November of 2015, Gree opened Gree VR Studio as a department specializing in the development of VR content, and it appears that the new titles created there can be experienced in Shibuya first. As we could not arrange an interview in time for this article, the interview released by the Japan Times has been posted below.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Coiney, the Japanese mobile payments startup, announced today that it has completed a 800 million yen funding as the sum of investment from Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), SBI Investment and Dentsu Digital Holdings (DDH) as well as bank borrowing from Seibu Shinkin Bank. Financial details of the deal such as the investment ratio and the payment date have not been disclosed. The company claims that it will use the funds to increase engineers as well as strengthen their sales and marketing team for expanding their payments solution and services: Coiney Terminal (smartphone-based payments solution for real stores), Coiney Payge (web-based payments solution for online transactions) in addition to Coiney Engine. Coiney Engine uses artificial intelligence to offer an evaluation of business enterprises based on the accumulation of payments history and various statistical data from the Coiney Terminal and Coiney Payge services. It is used to see the credibility of a company when they apply for business loans from banks partnering with the payments startup. See also: New partnerships announced in Japanese payments processing space Japanese payments startup Coiney looks back on key metrics from its first year Japanese mobile payment startup…
Coiney Payge now available in six languages. Image credit: Coiney
Tokyo-based Coiney, the Japanese mobile payments startup, announced today that it has completed a 800 million yen funding as the sum of investment from Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), SBI Investment and Dentsu Digital Holdings (DDH) as well as bank borrowing from Seibu Shinkin Bank. Financial details of the deal such as the investment ratio and the payment date have not been disclosed.
The company claims that it will use the funds to increase engineers as well as strengthen their sales and marketing team for expanding their payments solution and services: Coiney Terminal (smartphone-based payments solution for real stores), Coiney Payge (web-based payments solution for online transactions) in addition to Coiney Engine.
Coiney Engine uses artificial intelligence to offer an evaluation of business enterprises based on the accumulation of payments history and various statistical data from the Coiney Terminal and Coiney Payge services. It is used to see the credibility of a company when they apply for business loans from banks partnering with the payments startup.
See the original story in Japanese. One year ago FinTech startup hub Finolab opened in the Tokyo Bankers Association Building in Otemachi of Tokyo facing the Imperial Palace. Numerous financial institutions and FinTech startups participated in this project, which was born from a collaboration between Mitsubishi Estate (TSE:8802), Dentsu (TSE:4324), and Information Services International-Dentsu (ISID for short, TSE:4812), and helped to expand business in the FinTech field and promote open innovation. Around the same time, Heiwa Real Estate (TSE:8803), known as the owner of the Tokyo Stock Exchange building, developed FinGATE, an event space located in their own building in the Kabuto-cho Financial District. In Nihonbashi (the center of life sciences rather than FinTech) Mitsui Fudosan (TSE:8801) opened several startup bases. Put it all together and it shows the leading real estate companies are competing to support startups in the Tokyo station area. See also: Tokyo’s FinTech startup hub FINOLAB holds its first growth hack seminar A European perspective on Japan Fintech (Rude Baguette) In the meantime, the Tokyo Bank Association Building that housed Finolab was billed for demolition in the renewal of the Marunouchi 1-chome district, with Finolab moving to the nearby Otemachi Building. Finolab officially reopened after the…
One year ago FinTech startup hub Finolab opened in the Tokyo Bankers Association Building in Otemachi of Tokyo facing the Imperial Palace. Numerous financial institutions and FinTech startups participated in this project, which was born from a collaboration between Mitsubishi Estate (TSE:8802), Dentsu (TSE:4324), and Information Services International-Dentsu (ISID for short, TSE:4812), and helped to expand business in the FinTech field and promote open innovation. Around the same time, Heiwa Real Estate (TSE:8803), known as the owner of the Tokyo Stock Exchange building, developed FinGATE, an event space located in their own building in the Kabuto-cho Financial District. In Nihonbashi (the center of life sciences rather than FinTech) Mitsui Fudosan (TSE:8801) opened several startup bases. Put it all together and it shows the leading real estate companies are competing to support startups in the Tokyo station area.
In the meantime, the Tokyo Bank Association Building that housed Finolab was billed for demolition in the renewal of the Marunouchi 1-chome district, with Finolab moving to the nearby Otemachi Building. Finolab officially reopened after the relocation and renovation and held a renewal opening event on the first, inviting their startup members, participating financial institutions, and the media.
About 40 startups such as Crowdcast, Warrantee and Caulis are participating in Finolab and this includes those that set up offices after the move. The area is 2,145 meters squared which is nearly 2.4 times larger than their previous location, so it features not only independent office spaces for each company, but also a shared environment with an event space, a kitchen, and a lounge. As FinTech often deals in security sensitive areas, the fingerprint verification security system developed by biometrics technology startup Liquid is installed at various gates and doors throughout the space.
In addition, as a result of the relocation, Finolab renewed its membership program, and established a menu that includes project members, venture capitals, accelerators, and so on, and they are offering open API from major companies, while also launching a new business consortium comprised of various industries. As a forerunner, the Mizuho Financial Group (Mizuho FG for short, TSE:8411), one of Japan’s leading maga-bank conglomerates, plans to set up a laboratory in Finolab that will create an environment for the development of Open Bank API for startups. The headquarters of Mizuho FG is one stop from Finolab so it is a clear sign they are pursuing more aggressive activities by creating a laboratory where promising startups gather.
An event space that can accommodate more than 100 people.A panel on regional revitalization and FinTech took place on the stage.The daily event schedule is posted at the entrance.Books by members and media appearances are displayed. It appears they have partnerships with overseas accelerators such as London’s Level 39 and Seoul’s Hanwha Group’s Dream Plus.The lounge and kitchen area can be used as a party venue during event openings.Thanks to the phone booth, phone calls can remain confidential and there is no need to worry about disrupting others.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based startup Folio is currently developing an online asset management platform under the same name leveraging theme-based stock investment models and a robo-advisor service. The company announced on Thursday that it has secured 1.8 billion yen (about $16 million) from JAFCO (TSE:8595), Monex Ventures, Mitsui Sumitomo Insuarance Venture Capital, and Rakuten Fintech Fund, in addition to its current investors DCM Ventures and Draper Nexus. The investment ratio and the payment date are undisclosed, and this funding is subsequent to its seed round raising 300 million yen (about $2.7 million) conducted last March. The money secured will be spent for marketing and securing human resources related to development of the product which is planned for launch this spring. The entire image of the brand-new online securities company has been gradually become clarified after the preparation in a stealth mode since last year. Founded in December 2015 by Shinichiro Kai who was formerly working at Goldman Sachs as a trader, the FinTech startup is aiming to make asset management more accessible without requiring advanced financial literacy to leverage the power of technology. There are two pillars to Folio’ services: theme-based stock investment models and a robo-advisor-enabled…
Folio CEO Shinichiro Kai Image credit: Takeshi Hirano
Tokyo-based startup Folio is currently developing an online asset management platform under the same name leveraging theme-based stock investment models and a robo-advisor service. The company announced on Thursday that it has secured 1.8 billion yen (about $16 million) from JAFCO (TSE:8595), Monex Ventures, Mitsui Sumitomo Insuarance Venture Capital, and Rakuten Fintech Fund, in addition to its current investors DCM Ventures and Draper Nexus. The investment ratio and the payment date are undisclosed, and this funding is subsequent to its seed round raising 300 million yen (about $2.7 million) conducted last March. The money secured will be spent for marketing and securing human resources related to development of the product which is planned for launch this spring.
The entire image of the brand-new online securities company has been gradually become clarified after the preparation in a stealth mode since last year.
Founded in December 2015 by Shinichiro Kai who was formerly working at Goldman Sachs as a trader, the FinTech startup is aiming to make asset management more accessible without requiring advanced financial literacy to leverage the power of technology. There are two pillars to Folio’ services: theme-based stock investment models and a robo-advisor-enabled asset management platform. Each service requires both a type I financial instruments and an investment management business licenses issued by Japan’s Financial Services Agency.
Kai explains that the applications of registration have been currently accepted and if the registration is successfully completed, the firm commences its business operation as an online securities company this spring. According to The Nikkei, Folio is an online securities company dealing domestic stocks to be established after a ten-year blank since the authorization of security business shifted to a system based on registration under Financial Instruments and Exchange Acts, appearing to be a matter fraught with great emotion.
Console of the Folio platform under development
I actually tried the platform under development and the impression was, in short, so simple. Users can invest only by choosing a favorite theme out from among a plurality of ones and adding it into the cart. Users with advanced skills are allowed to change the purchasing ratio of each stock.
Although the concept of a theme-based stock investment itself is not particularly new, I found that this platform selected major promising stocks using its own algorithm based on each company’s data including corporate performance and presented to me quickly, even for topics which are easily influenced by current situations such as “automatic driving” or “Tokyo Olympics.”
As Kai said “60% by algorithm and 40% by human”, the platform will be tuned by human in the end but gave me a modern impression having a system capable of creating large number of themes from transitory trends. In addition, the participating-type method to invite public participation in themes may cause a novel outlook as well.
By the way, users can invest 100,000 yen (about $880) at least into each theme.
While the theme-based stock investment allows users who enjoy investment in matching with their own interest, the robot-advisor function offers fully entrusted asset management. It provides management at a professional investor level where high-return can be expected with lower-risk than investment to individual stocks. Folio features a balance of a theme-based stock investment and a robo-advisor-based management, as well as user interface to visualize the two.
Kai talked about the view of his company:
It is important to make investment methods easier off course, but I think people cannot increase their knowledge or senses about the finance without a kind of passion. We aim a securities company allowing users to obtain financial literacy while enjoying investment rather than just a full automation.
Although the firm’s vision of offering asset management while enjoying is clear, an investment is just an investment and involves the risk of principal loss, as a matter of course. In some cases, situations like increased impulse to gamble may occur depending on the theme configuration. Kai regards this point to be quite serious an issue and emphasizes the establishment of internal compliance rules.
It looks like FinTech-related matters are so interesting this year. Can it flush the money out from under the mattress — the so-called “bedrock of Japanese economy” — with the power of technologies? For the moment, best wishes for a smooth start to their operation.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy, Masaru Ikeda
Masaru Ikeda
Takeshi Hirano
