Japan’s Xenoma, developing a smart apparel product called E-skin, announced today that it has fundraised 200 million yen (about $1.8 million) from UTokyo Innovation Platform (an investment firm backed by the University of Tokyo) in addition to two existing investors; Beyond Next Ventures (BNV) and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). This follows their previous 180 million yen (about $1.6 million) funding from BNV and JST’s SUCCESS Program.
Using the funds, the firm will strengthen their company structure so that they can receive orders for a customized version of the business-use product while aiming to develop an optimized technology to produce a low-price version for consumers.
E-skin consists of a compression-fit E-skin shirt with 14 stretch/strain sensors and a controller named E-skin Hub which is attachable to the shirt. These sensors are directly mounted on shirts, so that it is lightweight and can detect the user’s motion accurately. The controller has a 3-axis accelerometer and can monitor overall body motion without requiring Lighthouse or other 3D scanner motion capture devices.
See the original story in Japanese. Shogo Sato is known for having experience as a manager of famous Japanese comedian groups such as Ninety Nine and London Boots at Yoshimoto Kogyo (TSE:9665), a major Japanese entertainment conglomerate, and as the founder of Qreator Agent providing agent service for creators in 2015 as well. He had also been involved in managing and promoting celebrities like Rika Shiiki (female university student / entrepreneur) and Yoichi Ochiai (Assistant Professor at University of Tsukuba). Sato has been managing a TV program production company called Firebug as well as Qreator Agent. Firebug recently launched a video app focused on 30-second episode broadcasts, named Thirty. The app is available for Android and iOS, so one can download it from Google Play or iTune AppStore (the app was initially named VEM but appears to have been rebranded). TV programs for millennials become mobile viewing-optimized Firebug has taken on production of programs or killer contents for famous video distribution services thus far. Based on such experience and knowledge, Sato felt certain of demands for single and short-length contents in the video viewing experience by smartphone. Thirty, the first service by the firm, focuses on 30-second videos in vertically…
Shogo Sato is known for having experience as a manager of famous Japanese comedian groups such as Ninety Nine and London Boots at Yoshimoto Kogyo (TSE:9665), a major Japanese entertainment conglomerate, and as the founder of Qreator Agent providing agent service for creators in 2015 as well. He had also been involved in managing and promoting celebrities like Rika Shiiki (female university student / entrepreneur) and Yoichi Ochiai (Assistant Professor at University of Tsukuba).
Sato has been managing a TV program production company called Firebug as well as Qreator Agent. Firebug recently launched a video app focused on 30-second episode broadcasts, named Thirty. The app is available for Android and iOS, so one can download it from Google Play or iTune AppStore (the app was initially named VEM but appears to have been rebranded).
TV programs for millennials become mobile viewing-optimized
Firebug has taken on production of programs or killer contents for famous video distribution services thus far. Based on such experience and knowledge, Sato felt certain of demands for single and short-length contents in the video viewing experience by smartphone. Thirty, the first service by the firm, focuses on 30-second videos in vertically long screen optimized for smartphone display.
When one starts the Thirty app, a list of videos is displayed. Users can watch a 30-second video to the end or skip to the next one by swiping. Thirty learns each user’s taste by analyzing what videos he / she watched to the end or skipped viewing at the beginning. Applying cooperative filtering between users having similar attributes, the app displays a video considered to suit user’s taste on the top list and prompts them to view it preferentially.
Currently, the app prepares channels such as variety, information, comics or lifestyle as of the launch mainly providing contents to the general public, and allows users to view all of them for free of charge. Sato answered THE BRIDGE’s interview by noting that he would like to try establishing rather specialized channels such as fishing or documentary, as well as pay contents in the future:
In the future, we may introduce a charging system depending on contents. For example, we allow users to watch the first three episodes for free but charges for the rest. However, that would be after our users are fully established, which means six months or one year later.
Many of contents from Thirty will be provided as commercial spots to be inserted as in the way TV broadcasters handle them. Since the commercial spots have to be optimized for vertically long screen, advertisers will arrange for conventional TV commercials or produce original ones.
Through the experience of viewing video with smartphone, a combination with user location information becomes available hitherto unable to be realized using conventional TV. Utilizing the combination of location information and videos, Sato showed us some ambitious concepts: Thirty displays certain commercial videos only while riding on Yamanote Line, or users can watch certain programs only when climbing Mt.Fuji. In addition, he mentioned the possibility of O2O (Online-to-Offline) and geomarketing.
Production cost of each program becomes almost zero
Since Thirty can designate the time range to display each program episode freely, the program organization becomes flexible unlike typical TV or radio. Although it is a contrast to the live commerce growing lively, the firm does not plan to carry on live streaming at the moment, unless it has contents exceptionally acceptable by a mass audience. In short-length movie creation, creators can shoot 20 episodes together at one time and that contributes to reduction of performance fee or production cost per episode. Sato told us about the future vision for Thirty.
We will also invite posts of excellent short-length videos from public. The Firebug staffers will evaluate, edit and display them on Thirty. We want to make Thirty a place for select people, not for anybody.
This July, Firebug fundraised from an interesting line-up of investors, RKB Mainichi Broadcasting and Avex Ventures. If the app stored an overwhelming number of short-length videos, cinematization or provision of TV programs may be possible through rearrangement of these videos. As the number of Thirty users increase, the firm can construct a financial system returning a part of the profit to actors or creators.
Shogo Sato (R) talks with Yoichi Ochiai (L) at a startup event in Fukuoka by F Ventures earlier this month. Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Updated: Some part describing Profile Book has been deleted because the company says it has no longer intention to sell Profile Book individually. Tokyo-based Oneteam, developing collaborative business communication tool under the same name and an employee profile management tool called Profile Book, announced today that it ha fundraised 380 million yen (about $3.4 million) in the latest round. Participating investors in this round are Daiwa Corporate Investment, Nissay Capital, FFG Venture Business Partners, Iwagin Jigyo Souzou Capital, and Fringe81 (TSE:6550). Detailed financial terms, such as which round this is or who leads this round, have been still unknown. We were told that the company uses the funds to strengthen sales, system development and marketing effort with the aim to expand their business and to evolve the company’s flagship communication tool product. Prior to this, Oneteam unveiled last week that it has welcomed Daisuke Sato, former CTO at Japanese cloud-based personnel management startup SmartHR, as a new employee in addition to appointing Atsushi Nagase, CTO at Japanese crowdfunding site Campfire, who recently joined the company’s advisory board. For the company, this funding follows their series A round raising about $1.8 million from Nissay Capital…
Updated: Some part describing Profile Book has been deleted because the company says it has no longer intention to sell Profile Book individually.
Tokyo-based Oneteam, developing collaborative business communication tool under the same name and an employee profile management tool called Profile Book, announced today that it ha fundraised 380 million yen (about $3.4 million) in the latest round. Participating investors in this round are Daiwa Corporate Investment, Nissay Capital, FFG Venture Business Partners, Iwagin Jigyo Souzou Capital, and Fringe81 (TSE:6550). Detailed financial terms, such as which round this is or who leads this round, have been still unknown.
We were told that the company uses the funds to strengthen sales, system development and marketing effort with the aim to expand their business and to evolve the company’s flagship communication tool product. Prior to this, Oneteam unveiled last week that it has welcomed Daisuke Sato, former CTO at Japanese cloud-based personnel management startup SmartHR, as a new employee in addition to appointing Atsushi Nagase, CTO at Japanese crowdfunding site Campfire, who recently joined the company’s advisory board.
For the company, this funding follows their series A round raising about $1.8 million from Nissay Capital back in January of 2016 as well as their seed round raising about $480,000 from CyberAgent Ventures back in May of 2015. Coinciding with the latest funding, Oneteam claims that it has partnered with Fringe81 to work together on sales and product development around the SaaS (Software as a Service) business for both firms.
Founded back in February of 2015, Oneteam has been developing a collaborative communication tool under the same name, specifically designed aiming to improve the productivity of employees working apart. Their paying users are now about ten times than that at the time of the tool’s official release back in June of 2016. The company revealed then that it was serving over 2,500 businesses centered on the Southeast Asian market (including freemium users), aiming to acquire 100,000 users within the year of 2016.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based AirX announced last week that it had officially launched a helicopter ridesharing service called CodeShare, enabling cheap use of helicopters through utilization of idle inventory at helicopter operations. The firm provides ridesharing from Tokyo Heliport in Shinkiba to Narita Airport, Hakone and Hatsushima, targeting users who do not wish to waste time on traffic congestion. For conventional charter flights, it costs 880,000 yen (about $7,800) on average from Tokyo to Narita Airport (this service is also being provided by AirX as Airos), but CodeShare reduces this price to 59,800 yen (about $530) by utilization idle inventory and rideshares with other passengers. It charges 69,800 yen (about $620) per person to Hakone and Hatsushima. This service was realized due to the cost structure of typical helicopter flight services. According to AirX, fixed costs account for 85% of the total operation costs in the helicopter management. In other words, whether a helicopter flies or not, huge costs mount constantly just as long as a helicopter operator owns it. Since charter flights are the mainstay of helicopter operations conventionally, operating companies have to set higher airfares in order to hedge risks due to uncertainty in terms…
Some AirX members: CEO Kiwamu Tezuka (second from left) and Director Taiki Tada (third from left)
Tokyo-based AirX announced last week that it had officially launched a helicopter ridesharing service called CodeShare, enabling cheap use of helicopters through utilization of idle inventory at helicopter operations. The firm provides ridesharing from Tokyo Heliport in Shinkiba to Narita Airport, Hakone and Hatsushima, targeting users who do not wish to waste time on traffic congestion.
For conventional charter flights, it costs 880,000 yen (about $7,800) on average from Tokyo to Narita Airport (this service is also being provided by AirX as Airos), but CodeShare reduces this price to 59,800 yen (about $530) by utilization idle inventory and rideshares with other passengers. It charges 69,800 yen (about $620) per person to Hakone and Hatsushima.
Comparison of typical required time in using helicopters and automobiles Image credit: AirX
This service was realized due to the cost structure of typical helicopter flight services. According to AirX, fixed costs account for 85% of the total operation costs in the helicopter management. In other words, whether a helicopter flies or not, huge costs mount constantly just as long as a helicopter operator owns it. Since charter flights are the mainstay of helicopter operations conventionally, operating companies have to set higher airfares in order to hedge risks due to uncertainty in terms of passenger numbers.
CodeShare matches helicopters of ideal size from among idle inventory of partnered helicopter operators according to the number of passengers, as based on reservation information. By minimizing risks related to costs, AirX realized this affordable flat-fee service. Reservations are accepted until three days before boarding (or 24 hours before at the shortest if without baggage). AirX also provides a transportation service from departure place to heliport and a baggage delivery service from departure place to final destination as a standard package without requiring additional fees (same-day delivery costs extra).
CodeShare Image credit: AirX
AirX, currently consisting of eight members, was founded in February of 2015 by Kiwamu Tezuka (CEO) and Taiki Tada (Director), both from FreakOut. While Tezuka had engaged in research of formulation / algorithm design of transportation optimization at university and Tada led a busy life requiring frequent long-distance movement, they came to develop this service aimed at disrupting means of transportation.
AirX fundraised tens of hundreds of yen (hundreds of thousands of US dollars) from Anri and individual investors in its seed round in 2016. Speaking of a benchmark for the service, New York-based Blade has been providing a similar service in the US and had secured more than $6 million in total through its seed / series A round. In South America, Voom had a smooth launch based in Brazil’s Sao Paolo, a city known for heavy traffic.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Creww, the Japanese startup behind a community platform offering open innovation opportunities to startups, announced on Wednesday that it is foraying into the coworking space business with the collaboration of major developers and real estate agencies. Named after Creww’s current headquarters called “Creww Dock” in Nakameguro, Tokyo, the new initiative will be conducted under the name of “Docks“. The company plans to unveil five Docks in Tokyo by April of 2018, the first of which is “Dock-Toranomon” and is set to open on October 30th in the Shiroyama Trust Tower (by Mori Trust) in Kamiyacho, Tokyo. Docks are not only for startups and entrepreneurs. General enterprises are also scheduled to move in and it is expected that they will contribute not only to physical space sharing but also to encouraging collaboration between companies and to fostering open innovation. In the so-called startup hub cities around the world the supply of coworking space exceeds the demand for startups, especially in Singapore and Seoul. In these cities, free spaces are provided by government agencies and local municipalities, but private coworking spaces are often more popular, many times dependent on the presence, or lack of, a…
Tokyo-based Creww, the Japanese startup behind a community platform offering open innovation opportunities to startups, announced on Wednesday that it is foraying into the coworking space business with the collaboration of major developers and real estate agencies. Named after Creww’s current headquarters called “Creww Dock” in Nakameguro, Tokyo, the new initiative will be conducted under the name of “Docks“.
The company plans to unveil five Docks in Tokyo by April of 2018, the first of which is “Dock-Toranomon” and is set to open on October 30th in the Shiroyama Trust Tower (by Mori Trust) in Kamiyacho, Tokyo. Docks are not only for startups and entrepreneurs. General enterprises are also scheduled to move in and it is expected that they will contribute not only to physical space sharing but also to encouraging collaboration between companies and to fostering open innovation.
Another view of Dock-Toranomon Image credit: Creww
In the so-called startup hub cities around the world the supply of coworking space exceeds the demand for startups, especially in Singapore and Seoul. In these cities, free spaces are provided by government agencies and local municipalities, but private coworking spaces are often more popular, many times dependent on the presence, or lack of, a community centered around the coworking space.
WeWork recently announced its entry into the Japanese market in partnership with Mitsubishi Estate and expects to open 10 to 20 coworking spaces in Tokyo. In addition to this, recently Plug and Play Japan announced the start of an accelerator program in Tokyo and has made it clear that a coworking space will be set up in Shibuya for partner companies and startups. From the beginning of this year Nikkei started the “Nikkei Office Pass” which can be used across the coworking spaces of 25 metropolitan areas with a flat fee, and due to the renewal of the service, the trial service will close this month.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Styler, the Japanese startup offering an O2O (offline to online) support service for fashion and apparel stores under the same name, announced on Wednesday that it has rebranded the service to Facy. In conjunction with this, the Facy app will employ a new function that allows users to complete purchases and payments online. Styler’s founder and CEO Tsubasa Koseki says that the reason for rebranding is that the previous service name was often misidentified as a “styling service” by new users. The new service name was chosen with the intention of offering a real life purchasing experience to online customers, with “Facy” stemming from “face-to-face”. The company name will remain Styler. With the addition of the e-commerce function to Facy, it will allow physical fashion and apparel stores to easily set up their online storefront. For this function, Styler takes care of everything from the delivery of goods to the settlement of payments for online customers of shops on Facy. From the shops’ point of view, it is similar to Uber Eats’ system. Styler provides a series of services for shops and in return takes 20% of the price of items sold (with…
Tokyo-based Styler, the Japanese startup offering an O2O (offline to online) support service for fashion and apparel stores under the same name, announced on Wednesday that it has rebranded the service to Facy. In conjunction with this, the Facy app will employ a new function that allows users to complete purchases and payments online.
Styler’s founder and CEO Tsubasa Koseki says that the reason for rebranding is that the previous service name was often misidentified as a “styling service” by new users. The new service name was chosen with the intention of offering a real life purchasing experience to online customers, with “Facy” stemming from “face-to-face”. The company name will remain Styler.
With the addition of the e-commerce function to Facy, it will allow physical fashion and apparel stores to easily set up their online storefront. For this function, Styler takes care of everything from the delivery of goods to the settlement of payments for online customers of shops on Facy. From the shops’ point of view, it is similar to Uber Eats’ system. Styler provides a series of services for shops and in return takes 20% of the price of items sold (with the current campaign it is 10%).
Koseki explained:
When customers want fashion items they are going to physical stores. But, the user experience at these stores is not necessary high.
Meanwhile, using online search engines to meet the abstract needs of fashion is also not suitable. Stores are accustomed to proposing products that suit the needs of these customers.
With Facy, we want to connect the good points of online and offline, so that purchasing can be completed there.
Using their own media to address fashion related topics, Facy’s website has 15 million unique users (UUs) a month, including 500,000 monthly active users (MAUs) who use the mobile app to interact with shops or browse interactions between shops and other users. The company intends to raise it to about 1 million MAUs by the end of the year through various measures.
Koseki added:
About 250 stores are currently using Facy. As our presence in the industry has increased, there have been increasing cases of major companies approaching us asking, ‘Won’t you join us?’
One of the reasons they have been afforded such a reputation is Facy’s high conversion rate as that of an O2O app. One example given to us of the power of Facy was that of Journal Standard, a fashion brand/retailer as well as a client of Facy, which put on a campaign offering, “Buy 10,000 yen, get 1,000 yen off,” and revealed that 22% of the customers that made purchases were from Facy. Putting aside rewards like discount campaigns, this performance is more than ten times better than the number of O2O customers driven from social network service-based interactions.
As for the future of Styler, in order to secure the scalability of the media operation, the company is looking into using artificial intelligence based on fashion information transmitted by stores and the posted contents of users to automatically write articles. Because it is funded by Transcosmos (TSE:9715), a leading BPO (business process outsourcing0 provider in Japan, it may be possible to operate a chatbot for stores that performs the function of a call center, etc. In terms of overseas deployment, Styler has been developing services for Asia from an office in Vietnam for some time. The company has started recruiting for jobs in Taipei, and has begun operating a Chinese Facebook page. Based on this knowledge, it seems that a service launch in Taiwan can be expected in the not so distant future.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda
Masaru Ikeda
