Tokyo-based Moneytree, the Japanese startup offering an asset managing app / cloud-based accounting soutions, announced on Tuesday that it has raised a total of 1 billion yen (nearly $9 million US) in their latest funding round. This round was led by SBI Investment with participation from Mizuho Capital, SMBC Venture Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Fukuoka Technology Partners, Hiroshima Venture Capital, Senshu Ikeda Capital, and the UK’s leading asset management company Baillie Gifford. This round follows that of the company’s series A round held in October of 2015.
With the funds raised this time, Moneytree plans to roll out new functions for their personal asset management app “Moneytree”, their “Moneytree Work KeihiSeisan (Expense Reimbursement)” that allows users to easily determine their expenses, as well as their “Moneytree Work Houjin Kouza (Corporate Accounts)” that lets users browse their corporate accounts and calculate expenses in mobile.
In addition, the cloud-based account management service MT Link, which connects financial institutions with corporations and individuals, and has been in service for more than two years now, has been adopted by 20 companies including megabanks, regional banks, and accounting software industries. Together with this funding, Moneytree has also renewed the MT Link website, and is aiming to further expand and accelerate the business.
The following is a comment by Moneytree Founder and CEO Paul Chapman.
Thanks to this funding we are pleased Moneytree will be moving on to the next stage of growth. In both Japan and abroad the FinTech industry has significantly expanded. More than ever, we will focus on maintaining the security of our services, protecting privacy, and transparency of information.
In addition, while supporting the conversion of the financial industry to digital banking, and while contributing to the foundation of the accounting industry’s cloud accounting system, we will continue to devote our efforts to constructing an industry-wide ecosystem based on users. Furthermore, we have set our sights on the globalization of our services through deploying Japanese technology overseas.
This is a guest post by Naokuni Yoshida. He is a Japanese consultant at Tokyo-based Global Innovations, trying to promote aerospace-related firms including drone startups in the US enter Asian markets. On February 28, 2017 SPACETIDE Association of Japan, with support from the National Space Policy Secretariat of the Japanese Cabinet Office in addition to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as well as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, not to mention the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), held at Keio University’s Fujiwara Hiroshi Hall in Hiyoshi, near Yokohama, its second Private-sector-focused Space Seminar, two years since its first gathering. After the opening speech by the head of SPACETIDE Association Masayasu Ishida, who is also Principal of consulting firm A.T. Kearney, several discussion sessions followed (although unfortunately Spire Global‘s representative was unable to make it for the “global space business” panel). Space startups raised significant funding and made important business alliances in 2016, as this sector has grown in prominence on the global stage. The first and second panel discussions this day are of particular interest to The Bridge readers as it introduced a number of existing and new players from Japanese space startups or…
This is a guest post by Naokuni Yoshida. He is a Japanese consultant at Tokyo-based Global Innovations, trying to promote aerospace-related firms including drone startups in the US enter Asian markets.
Image credit: Spacetide Committee
On February 28, 2017 SPACETIDE Association of Japan, with support from the National Space Policy Secretariat of the Japanese Cabinet Office in addition to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as well as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, not to mention the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), held at Keio University’s Fujiwara Hiroshi Hall in Hiyoshi, near Yokohama, its second Private-sector-focused Space Seminar, two years since its first gathering. After the opening speech by the head of SPACETIDE Association Masayasu Ishida, who is also Principal of consulting firm A.T. Kearney, several discussion sessions followed (although unfortunately Spire Global‘s representative was unable to make it for the “global space business” panel).
Space startups raised significant funding and made important business alliances in 2016, as this sector has grown in prominence on the global stage. The first and second panel discussions this day are of particular interest to The Bridge readers as it introduced a number of existing and new players from Japanese space startups or those working closely with such companies, with the second focused on the role of space as an “enabling” factor upon expanding business opportunities widely. The panelists discussed skill sets and team skills plus the mindsets that are essential for launching and managing a space business. The third was on global space business overall and the last session centered on bigger enterprise activities.
Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
The first panel comprised Dr. Lena Okajima (CEO and Founder, ALE) working to realize “asteroid” art, Shuji Ogawa (CEO and CTO of PD AeroSpace) who was trained in aerospace engineering at Tohoku University, Naruo Kanemoto (CEO of satellite kit provider Space Shift of Japan and Director of Elysium Space in the U.S., which offers memorial space flights), and Yuya Nakamura (President and CEO, Axelspace) running the Japanese microsatellite startup; it was moderated by Nomura Research Institute Senior Consultant Masashi Sato who is a member of the “Committee of Space by ICT” at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication.
Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
The Space as an Enabler session, introduced the forefront of innovation created by space with other industry and discussed the possibility of utilizing space as an enabler. The value of space for enterprises was also discussed by the panelist Kenji Oda who is
Creative Director and Chief of Dentsu Space Lab, Dentsu (TSE:4324) taking the “Space for Everyone” approach (recent work includes award-winning solutions such as an experiment where employees work in Space-like conditions, “kibo360” smartphone app simulating an astronaut life on the International Space Station, and the Google/JAXA “Space Hangout” collaboration where people on earth can video chat with an astronaut in the ISS).
Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
Other panelists of the second session were Satoru Konishi who is Assistant Chief Engineer, Magellan Systems Japan, currently working on the development of the new GNSS receiver with centi-meter accuracy supporting the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System which is to be fully operational around 2018; Managing Director Ken Fujiwara of Umitron, which he co-founded as a data service company for aquaculture including satellite remote sensing; and, Dr. Keiichi Masuya who is Director of biotech startup PeptiDream which is using the microgravity environment in space for new treatment agents development. The session moderator was Japanese VC firm Global Brain‘s Venture Partner Hidetaka Aoki, the “space business evangelist” which is his trademark.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Triple W Japan, the Japanese startup developing developer of urination predictor device DFree, announced last week that it was selected by NEDO for the corporate alliance program for R&D-focused startups, and will receive a subsidy of up to 70 million yen (about $610K US). The target for the subsidy is joint research with large companies in relation to DFree’s small size and high performance, and since the expenses required for research will be paid up to the maximum amount, it is possible to obtain the full subsidy. The contents of collaborative research with each of five major companies are as follows: Accenture…Collaborative research on nursing care packages combining various sensors and nursing care record data, joint development of algorithms and software, support for overseas development centered on Europe, etc. Itochu Chemical Frontier…Development of a high precision ultrasonic sensor, high accuracy coupled with algorithm development, etc. Itochu Techno Solutions…Feasibility studies, joint development of software, etc. Paramount Head…Improve accuracy through the combination with various sensors, joint solution development, etc. Revamp…Feasibility study at nursing care facilities, sales support, etc. Among these companies, Revamp also participated in the series A funding round that Triple W Japan…
Tokyo-based Triple W Japan, the Japanese startup developing developer of urination predictor device DFree, announced last week that it was selected by NEDO for the corporate alliance program for R&D-focused startups, and will receive a subsidy of up to 70 million yen (about $610K US). The target for the subsidy is joint research with large companies in relation to DFree’s small size and high performance, and since the expenses required for research will be paid up to the maximum amount, it is possible to obtain the full subsidy.
The contents of collaborative research with each of five major companies are as follows:
Accenture…Collaborative research on nursing care packages combining various sensors and nursing care record data, joint development of algorithms and software, support for overseas development centered on Europe, etc.
Itochu Chemical Frontier…Development of a high precision ultrasonic sensor, high accuracy coupled with algorithm development, etc.
Itochu Techno Solutions…Feasibility studies, joint development of software, etc.
Paramount Head…Improve accuracy through the combination with various sensors, joint solution development, etc.
Revamp…Feasibility study at nursing care facilities, sales support, etc.
Among these companies, Revamp also participated in the series A funding round that Triple W Japan conducted last July. Also, in February of last year, the company acquired a subsidy of up to 70 million yen from NEDO’s another R&D venture support project (commonly known as the STS grant project).
DFree’s mobile app for nursing care facilities Image credit: Triple W Japan
Recently, Triple W Japan won Grand Prize at the “Japan Healthcare Business Contest” conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on March 3rd. Interest from Europe is also high, and it seems that DFree was exhibited as a use case of Soracom, an IoT-focused mobile network service from Japan, which announced its advance into Europe at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona earlier this month. They are also scheduled to represent Japan in the Netherlands’ startup conference competition Get in the Ring (which timing-wise overlaps with Tech in Asia Singapore 2017…) from May 17th to the 19th. Moreover, in Kawasaki city, DFree is certified as the Kawasaki Innovation Standard with the city subsidizing expenses for its use in nursing care facilities, which is expected to spur introduction.
Triple W Japan’s CEO Atsushi Nakanishi had the following to say about the future of DFree:
I’d like to work with Kawasaki city to see it implemented for in-home nursing care and rehabilitation. In particular, most patients who have suffered from a stroke undergo a rehabilitation process where they’re forced to wear a catheter after surgery (to compensate for difficulty urinating), which they then have removed and wear diapers, finally graduating from those, in order to fully rehabilitate into society. DFree would be useful in the process of removing the diaper.
Nakanishi continued:
DFree has already begun to be used in French nursing home care facilities, and we will promote trials for full-scale introduction. We’re also in the process of contracting with a German company. We are collaborating in Europe since the structure of nursing care is well established. Regarding areas where nursing care is not easy, I’d like to consider making rehabilitation models and home care support tools and packages. I’d like to partner with insurance companies.
At the beginning of the project, DFree had set a goal of predicting bowel movements, but recently seems to be shifting its focus to urination control. On this, Nakanishi said that the technological development of urination prediction is the priority because urination is more frequent than bowel movements, making it easier to develop data and algorithms; also, throughout the world there are more people who are in need of support for urination rather than defecation. It appears that once they have answered the demand for urination prediction, they will once again return to the development of a solution for defecation prediction.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru IKeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Ookami, the Japanese startup developing the “Player!” sports entertainment app, announced on Friday that the company raised an undisclosed amount from IMJ Investment Partners (IMJ-IP), Gree Ventures, The Asahi Shimbun, and a number of confidential individual investors in a Series A round. For Ookami, this follows an undisclosed amount raised in a seed round from Gree Ventures last May, making this Gree Venture’s second investment in the company. Prior to the seed round, Ookami held angel rounds in June of 2014 and March of 2015, in which they raised a total of 30 million yen (around $260K US) from athlete Dai Tamesue, Uzabase, Uzabase CEO Yusuke Umeda, Tomohito Ebine (founder of OPT Holdings), and Toshiaki Komatsu (Co-founder of Photocreate), but according to information from the stakeholders the total amount raised this time in the Series A round is expected to be on a scale of several hundred million yen (or several million US dollars). Ookami was founded in April of 2014. In April 2015 they released the mobile app “Player!” for iOS, and pivoted from a sports news distribution platform to the one that reports sports games live, with a social network function…
Tokyo-based Ookami, the Japanese startup developing the “Player!” sports entertainment app, announced on Friday that the company raised an undisclosed amount from IMJ Investment Partners (IMJ-IP), Gree Ventures, The Asahi Shimbun, and a number of confidential individual investors in a Series A round. For Ookami, this follows an undisclosed amount raised in a seed round from Gree Ventures last May, making this Gree Venture’s second investment in the company.
Prior to the seed round, Ookami held angel rounds in June of 2014 and March of 2015, in which they raised a total of 30 million yen (around $260K US) from athlete Dai Tamesue, Uzabase, Uzabase CEO Yusuke Umeda, Tomohito Ebine (founder of OPT Holdings), and Toshiaki Komatsu (Co-founder of Photocreate), but according to information from the stakeholders the total amount raised this time in the Series A round is expected to be on a scale of several hundred million yen (or several million US dollars).
Ookami was founded in April of 2014. In April 2015 they released the mobile app “Player!” for iOS, and pivoted from a sports news distribution platform to the one that reports sports games live, with a social network function that allows users to share their reactions in real-time with other users watching the progress and results of the same game. In December 2015 it was labeled the “App Store Best of 2015”, and in 2016 it won the “Good Design Award.”
Ookami revealed plans to strengthen the news distribution functions of Player! In addition to revamping the news functions, they will partner with a major data stadium for the broadcasting of sports scores, and information regarding both J-league football and B-league basketball games in Japan will be offered in real time. Additionally, their information can be further enriched through their partnership with the Asahi Shimbun, a company that participates in some 180 sports events in Japan yearly.
The Asahi Shumbun, participants in this round, released the following comments in excerpt.
We believe that through multiplying various sports businesses and contents with Ookami’s Player!, a new way of enjoying sports, and communicating about sports, separate from a newspaper, becomes possible; so we entered into the partnership.
GREE Ventures, who participated in the latest investment round along with IMJ-IP, appears to make a pure money injection. The following is an excerpt from comments by IMJ-IP.
With the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, the field of sports is expected to experience great growth in Japan. As a part of this, we recognize the fact that Player! is a new medium that makes live sports content possible and offers the optimal smart-phone customer experience, and judge that their management team is one of high executive power, so we have made the decision to support them.
Image credit: ookami
Although Ookami created the above figure (and therefore it is not necessarily an objective interpretation), the digital distribution of sports content is definitely bustling, even with profitable and not so profitable players.
To illustrate other digital sports startups in Japan, there is Spotomo and Spotomo GC, which offer online lesson services, with investors like Docomo Ventures, DeNA (TSE: 2432), Sirius Partners, and ABC Dream Ventures. Link Sports, which runs the amateur sports score and competition management service TeamHub, raised about 60 million yen (around $523K US) in financing from Venture United and debt from the Japan Policy Finance Corporation.
In Japan, DAZN (pronounced dazon) and Softbank’s Suponavi Live are advancing, challenging each other over Internet and mobile distribution, leading to a rise in broadcasting fees. However, they alone cannot consume all the video distribution, and it seems there is a development in which they discount and resell (sublicense) the broadcasting rights to other satellite broadcasters and cable television broadcasting companies. Overseas, Twitter contributes $10 million US to streamcast NFL games worldwide, and Amazon is moving to acquire broadcasting rights for sports.
For Ookami, Player! is not a distributor of sports video content, but instead focuses on score information related to games as well as SNS, thereby leaving them unaffected by these big players. Instead, through the benefit of sublicensing, etc., in the future it will be possible to deliver videos by revenue sharing with the broadcasting rights holder.
Ookami CEO Taiyo Ogata says:
I think it is possible to create a flexible operation if you can watch and listen to programs on a game-by-game basis (not on a per-channel basis), or if the price is changed when you watch from the second half.
60% of Player!’s users are under 35, a demographic that existing sports broadcasters are not reaching. In terms of being able to distribute video to this demographic, I think that it will be possible for major platformers to merge with Ookami.
Ogata also revealed that they are preparing several other user experiences only possible through Player! I look forward to a number of big announcements this year which can be expected in connection to this.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Kyoto-based Darma Tech Labs, which runs the Makers Boot Camp (MBC) hardware startup-focused accelerator, announced in Kyoto on Tuesday that it is forming an investment fund worth 2 billion yen (nearly $18 million US) with having Kyoto Bank (TSE: 8369) as an anchor limited partner. In addition to Narimasa Makino, CEO of Darma Tech Labs, Shingo Nadaka the Deputy Director of local manufacturing organization Kyoto Shisaku Net, and Director Masatoshi Takeda (also Director of Darma Tech Labs), and Masahiko Naka, the Executive Director of Kyoto Bank also attended the press briefing held on that day. The fund is called MBC Shisaku No. 1 Investment LP and its redemption period is 10 years. They will intensively invest in early stage hardware startups in Japan, North America, and Europe. Priority investment areas include IoT, robotics, sensing, networking, big data analysis, medical devices, nursing care, lifestyle, environment and energy. Along with forming this fund, Mikuni Kimura, the former chief investment officer for Future Venture Capital, along with certified public accountant Manabu Kuwahara will participate as managing directors at Darma Tech Labs, and expanding their field of partners by joining with New York City-based FabFoundry, the CEO Nobuhiro…
From left: Shingo Nadaka (Deputy Director of Kyoto Shisaku Net), Masatoshi Takeda (Director of Darma Tech Labs/ Director of Kyoto Shisaku Net), Narimasa Makino (CEO of Darma Tech Labs), Masahiko Naka (Executive Director of Kyoto Bank) Image credit: Darma Tech Labs
Kyoto-based Darma Tech Labs, which runs the Makers Boot Camp (MBC) hardware startup-focused accelerator, announced in Kyoto on Tuesday that it is forming an investment fund worth 2 billion yen (nearly $18 million US) with having Kyoto Bank (TSE: 8369) as an anchor limited partner.
In addition to Narimasa Makino, CEO of Darma Tech Labs, Shingo Nadaka the Deputy Director of local manufacturing organization Kyoto Shisaku Net, and Director Masatoshi Takeda (also Director of Darma Tech Labs), and Masahiko Naka, the Executive Director of Kyoto Bank also attended the press briefing held on that day.
The fund is called MBC Shisaku No. 1 Investment LP and its redemption period is 10 years. They will intensively invest in early stage hardware startups in Japan, North America, and Europe. Priority investment areas include IoT, robotics, sensing, networking, big data analysis, medical devices, nursing care, lifestyle, environment and energy.
Along with forming this fund, Mikuni Kimura, the former chief investment officer for Future Venture Capital, along with certified public accountant Manabu Kuwahara will participate as managing directors at Darma Tech Labs, and expanding their field of partners by joining with New York City-based FabFoundry, the CEO Nobuhiro Seki will be appointed as a director of Darma Tech Labs.
Darma Tech Labs, the facilitators of MBC, also regularly holds Monozukuri Hub Meetup at the co-working space MTRL Kyoto (Material Kyoto) to focus on creating a community of hardware startups. At the Monozukuri Hardware Cup, held for the first time in Osaka in February, eight hardware startup teams from Japan came, with the three teams of QD Laser, PLENGoer, and VAQSO, being invited to the Hardware Startup Pitch Competition put on by the Pittsburgh-based hardware startup AlphaLab Gear.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
This is a guest post by Mari Futagami, Community Manager of Kyoto-based hardware startup accelerator Makers Boot Camp. The accelerator holds the Monozukuri Hub Meetup event in Kyoto on a monthly basis. Additionally, all photos in this article were provided by professional photographer Miki Matsuura of Tumiki Photo. See the original story in Japanese. Monozukuri Hardware Cup 2017 was held for the first time in conjunction with Hack Osaka 2017 on 9th February. It is a pitch event hosted by Monozukuri Hardware Startup Consortium aiming to be a stepping stone for the Japanese “monozukuri” (referring to manufacturing in Japanese) startups which can potentially be successful around the world. Monozukuri Hardware Startup Consortium is organized by Darma Tech Labs (Kyoto), FabFoundry (New York City), and TechShop Japan (Minato-ku, Tokyo), and this pitch event is treated as the Japanese regional preliminary of National Hardware Cup which has been held in the US since 2015. Although typical national events in Japan are often held in Tokyo, Monozukuri Hardware Cup will be held in Kansai area for the next three years including this time. Hardware Cup Final has been held in Pittsburgh since 2015, and there is a reason why the regional city was…
This is a guest post by Mari Futagami, Community Manager of Kyoto-based hardware startup accelerator Makers Boot Camp. The accelerator holds the Monozukuri Hub Meetup event in Kyoto on a monthly basis.
Additionally, all photos in this article were provided by professional photographer Miki Matsuura of Tumiki Photo.
Monozukuri Hardware Cup 2017 was held for the first time in conjunction with Hack Osaka 2017 on 9th February. It is a pitch event hosted by Monozukuri Hardware Startup Consortium aiming to be a stepping stone for the Japanese “monozukuri” (referring to manufacturing in Japanese) startups which can potentially be successful around the world.
Monozukuri Hardware Startup Consortium is organized by Darma Tech Labs (Kyoto), FabFoundry (New York City), and TechShop Japan (Minato-ku, Tokyo), and this pitch event is treated as the Japanese regional preliminary of National Hardware Cup which has been held in the US since 2015. Although typical national events in Japan are often held in Tokyo, Monozukuri Hardware Cup will be held in Kansai area for the next three years including this time.
Hardware Cup Final has been held in Pittsburgh since 2015, and there is a reason why the regional city was chosen to be the host for the final of the event. Pittsburgh had once flourished as a town of steel industry, but its regional economy was seriously damaged by imported cheap steel in the 1970s. However, Pittsburgh, the city also known as an academic city having good universities such as Carnegie Mellon University, shifted its industrial base into high technology, as well as health, education or finance, and had gradually transformed into a new city since the 1980s.
Attracting innovative sections of top IT players including Google, Apple and Facebook, Pittsburgh has been developing into a more creative environment. Based in such a place, the hardware-focused accelerator AlphaLab Gear, chosen as one of the top 20 programs by Seed Accelerator Rankings Project, hosted Hardware Cup Final. AlphaLab Gear team has been creating an organic ecosystem in Pittsburgh as a key player, tying up with the academic / industrial world in addition to VCs.
Ilana Diamond, Chief of AlphaLab Gear, explained the reason for holding Hardware Cup:
In the US, hardware startups have more difficulties in fundraising rather than web or app startups. I think that is because they could not gain enough understanding of investors or media.
Pitches and exhibition booths
Exhibition booths were set for eight participant startups where visitors can try their products. By allowing them to actually touch and experience the products, their understanding of the hardware development seemed to deepen, and also active communication among startups came to be seen.
In the pitch competition, each team gave a pitch within four minutes and dealt with questions from the judges all in English in five minutes. Under the same regulation with the final, the eight teams competed for a ticket for the final in Pittsburgh.
Atmoph
Gyeong-il Kan, Co-founder / CEO of Atmoph
The first presenter was Kyoto-based Atmoph which developed the world’s first digital smart window under the same name and aims to spread a new travel experience to homes. Co-Founder / CEO of Atomoph Kan’s experience of window-less environment in the US triggered him to start development of the smart window.
With beautiful moving scenery images displayed on the liquid crystal screen and sounds all over the world such as Hawaii, New Zealand, Switzerland or Patagonia, Atmoph provides users to get a feel for actually being there. All images were originally photographed in 4K resolution by partnered cameramen. Currently, more than 500 images of 30 countries have been uploaded and one can purchase them via the app. The window is also able to display daily life information such as weather forecasts or time.
The team is eyeing possibilities for application to health-care or home hub uses.
Dendama
Yoshihiro Otani, CEO of Dendama (right)
Dendama offers an IoT (Internet of Things) kendama (Japanese cup-and-ball toy) under the same name capable of online match games. The player population of kendama is said to be 3 million in Japan and the kendama boom is gradually spreading globally. Dendama is equipped with a sensor capable of discriminating complicated kendama skills by linking with the app and enables online match games with players all over the world.
The team plans exhibition at Kickstarter and SXSW, and continues business activities with a view to linking with AR (augmented reality) technologies.
Lightflyer
Kaoru Kakinuma, CEO of Lightflyer
Lightflyer was spun out from The University of Tokyo and is going to offer the launching service of ultra-small satellites leveraging its know-how of “the microwave rocket” accumulated for 13 years. The launching apparatus costs only tens of thousands of dollars for each ultra-small satellite and that is one-hundredth of conventional ones.
The Lightflyer team has established a research and development in cooperation with the University of Tokyo or Carnegie Mellon University, making efforts to complete the unit to put satellites into low orbit.
Mille-Feuille
Yoshinari Kou, Mille-Feuille
The automated electronic schematic creation tool Mille-Feuille supports programmers or artists without specialized knowledge to freely design their own custom electronic circuits. Mille-Feuille is composed of base board, module board, and device board. Users can participate in designing of the device boards as open hardware and can even sell them.
While sales of device boards will become the first profit for the firm, it also plans to customize and sell the license of the electronic schematic creation tool and its firmware (they are Web tools) to user companies. Moreover, the team has a concept of preparing a marketplace focusing on device boards and offers services like Google Play.
PLENGoer Robotics
Atsuhiko Tomita, COO of PLENGoer Robotics
PLENGoer Robotics develops the original personal assistant robot. The team introduced this time a personal assistant robot capable of changing a general home into a smart home by controlling camera functions or household appliances, which was exhibited at CES too.
Unlike conventional cameras requiring pushing a shatter button, PLENGoer Robotics’ camera recognizes ideal photo opportunities and provides natural photos automatically.
Hironori Miyauchi, Business Development Manager, Visual Information Device Business Division, QD Laser
QD Laser develops the retina scanning type laser eyewear which projects images directly to wearer’s retina from the built-in laser projector on the eyewear frame. The number of visually handicapped people with impaired vision, who are not completely blind but have cloudy eyesight, totals at about 1.5 million in Japan and 250 million in the world including developing countries so this technology has a possibility of contributing to improvement of their quality of life.
With the specially designed optical system, QD Laser is able to project clear images regardless of the accommodation of eyes including eyesight or in-focus position. The team has been developing the glasses as medical instrument or welfare equipment in order to recover visual senses of visually handicapped people mainly caused by dysfunctions of anterior ocular segments such as corneas and lens. The team also implied the application possibilities in other fields such as AR or smart glasses where significant expansion is expected in the future.
Secual
Naoki Nishida, COO of Secual
Secual was founded in June of 2015, aiming to realize a new style of home security utilizing IoT. When the built-in sensor of the device installed on a window or a door detects unusual vibration, it transmits information to the firm’s center system via the gateway and notifies user’s smartphone of the analyzed information.
The device costs about $90 at least. Since it can be easily installed without requiring wiring works, the team approaches possible users who had gave up introducing home security due to high costs or installation limitations in rental houses, and aims to secure profit by setting $8.7 as the monthly charge.
The team is also developing new devices that work with Secual and is looking to various kinds of business development such as utilization in welfare facilities through strengthening cooperation with external organizations.
Vaqso develops the scent generation device attachable to HMD (head-mount display). Linking with VR contents, it is able to shoot out various realistic smells and provides VR experience with higher reality. The device can be installed to all HMD on the market.
After the pitch competition held at the communication area with a casual atmosphere, the awards ceremony was held at the main arena.
The scent device for VR Vaqso team took 3rd place and the personal assistant robot PLENGoer Robotics team took 2nd place. The top prize went to the retina scanning type laser eye-ware QD Laser team.
(From left) Jeffrey McDaniel, Hikari Takahashi, and Shuji Fujita as judges for the pitch competition
The chief judge of the pitch competition Jeffrey McDaniel, Executive-in-Residence of Innovation Works hosting the accelerator AlphaLab Gear, commented on Japanese hardware startups:
Presentation in English must be the great first step to make appeal to overseas investors. I hope you all grow up utilizing Japanese manufacturing background.
After the competition, judge Shuji Fujita (President of EO Osaka) and judge Hikari Takahashi (Co-founder of Brain Portal) gave advices to eight participant teams about the key to success in business development. Fujita and Takahashi made great efforts to support the Japanese startup culture.
Supplemental Prizes
Yoshiaki Tsuda, Chief Director, Digital Design Lab of All Nippon Airways which acts as the travel sponsor of this event
The qualifier QD Laser team was given a ticket to the pitch competition in Hardware Cup Final (19th to 20th April, Pittsburgh), as well as round-trip tickets from Japan to New York and travel expense support of $2,600 by the travel sponsor All Nippon Airways.
PLENGoer Robotics in 2nd place and Vaqso in 3rd place were given exhibition rights at demonstration area in Hardware Cup Final and travel expense supports ($1,800 for 2nd place and $880 for 3rd place) as well. Moreover, participation rights to Hardware Cup Demo Day which will be held either in New York or Pittsburgh will be awarded to all higher-ranking winners.
While it was the first Monozukuri Hardware Cup held this time, eight teams were chosen as finalists from 24 applicants through documentary elimination and competed fiercely to qualify for Hardware Cup Final by presenting their own products and business plan.
I hope that holding Monozukuri Hardware Cup continuously in the Kansai area will contribute to further growth of the Japanese hardware startups and become a foothold for creating the ecosystem of manufacturing.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Masaru Ikeda
The Bridge
This is a guest post by Mari Futagami, Community Manager of Kyoto-based hardware startup accelerator 
