Japanese leading fashion e-commerce site Zozotown introduced a smart bodysuit called Zozosuit on Wednesday, aiming to help customers know their body measurements upon buying clothes online. A user can take one for free but 3,000 yen (about $27 US) will be charged for additional each piece.
Consisting of tops and bottoms, the outfit has stretch sensors that instantly allow users to measure their body. By placing a smartphone in front of it, your body measurement data can be transferred via Bluetooth from the outfit to the Zozotown mobile app. This state-of-the-art technology was jointly developed by New Zealand startup StretchSense which Start Today, the company behind Zozotown, invested in last year.
Body measurements will be applied when a user buys an outfit of the company’s first private brand Zozo which is planned to debut in late November. Start Today says the new technology is expected to help customers relieve concerns of buying clothes in the wrong sizes, planning to add more useful search and recommendation functions into the app.
Kamarq Holdings is a startup to offer the high quality and connected furniture brand Kamarq. The company announced on Wednesday that it has fundraised 400 million yen (about $3.6 million US) from Japan’s leading housing information provider Lifull (TSE:2120). For Kamarq, this follows their 350 million yen (about $3.2 million US) funding conducted in March of last year. We are now in touch with them to find which funding round this is. Lifull said that the decision was made because they believe of a high affinity between their core business with Kamarq’s products since the former has jointly started vacation rentals business with Rakuten in addition to real estate listings services. Kamarq unveiled Sound Table as their first product line-up in June last year followed by securing about $2.2 million yen (about $20,000 US), more than double of their initially targeted funding amount, through a crowdfunding campaign for the product’s pre-orders on Makuake. Thanks to The Bridge’s English article reproduced on VentureBeat, the team was selected by the LAUNCH Festival, a large startup conference hosted by renowned American investor and serial entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, as one of seven finalists in the Smart Home category to deliver a pitch onstage back…
Kamarq Holdings is a startup to offer the high quality and connected furniture brand Kamarq. The company announced on Wednesday that it has fundraised 400 million yen (about $3.6 million US) from Japan’s leading housing information provider Lifull (TSE:2120). For Kamarq, this follows their 350 million yen (about $3.2 million US) funding conducted in March of last year. We are now in touch with them to find which funding round this is.
Lifull said that the decision was made because they believe of a high affinity between their core business with Kamarq’s products since the former has jointly started vacation rentals business with Rakuten in addition to real estate listings services.
Kamarq unveiled Sound Table as their first product line-up in June last year followed by securing about $2.2 million yen (about $20,000 US), more than double of their initially targeted funding amount, through a crowdfunding campaign for the product’s pre-orders on Makuake. Thanks to The Bridge’s English article reproduced on VentureBeat, the team was selected by the LAUNCH Festival, a large startup conference hosted by renowned American investor and serial entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, as one of seven finalists in the Smart Home category to deliver a pitch onstage back in April this year. The company also raised 30,000 Singapore dollars (about $22,000 US) on a Kickstarter campaign.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Xenodata Lab., the Japanese startup developing an AI-powered finance data analytics leveraging Natural Language Processing (NLP), announced today that it has raised 250 million yen (about $2.2 million US) in the latest funding round. This is supposed a series A round. Participating investors are Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), Teikoku Databank (Japan’s leading business credit reporting company), Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings (TSE:8616), Okasan Securities (TSE:8609), Kabu.com Securities, DBJ Capital, Mizuho Capital, and SMBC Venture Capital. This round follows the startup’s 60 million yen funds from BTMU, Teikoku Databank, Kabu.com Securities, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital. Regarding each investor’s intention in this round, Xenodata Lab. explains as follows: BTMU, Teikoku Databank, Kabu.com Securities….Follow-on strategic investment coinciding with business partnership Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings, Okasan Securities…New strategic investment coinciding with business partnership DBJ Capital, Mizuho Capital, SMBC Venture Capital…Portfolio investment See also: Tokyo Office Tour: Xenodata Lab. uses AI to help investors analyze financial reports Xeno Flash, developed by Xenodata Lab., specializes in listed stocks in Japan and uses XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) analysis, PDF table analysis, and PDF graph analysis to convert information attached to various financial-related materials into tabular data, which they then…
Yojiro Seki, founder and CEO of Xenodata Lab., makes a pitch at MUFG FinTech Accelerator Demo Day. Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Tokyo-based Xenodata Lab., the Japanese startup developing an AI-powered finance data analytics leveraging Natural Language Processing (NLP), announced today that it has raised 250 million yen (about $2.2 million US) in the latest funding round. This is supposed a series A round. Participating investors are Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), Teikoku Databank (Japan’s leading business credit reporting company), Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings (TSE:8616), Okasan Securities (TSE:8609), Kabu.com Securities, DBJ Capital, Mizuho Capital, and SMBC Venture Capital. This round follows the startup’s 60 million yen funds from BTMU, Teikoku Databank, Kabu.com Securities, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital.
Regarding each investor’s intention in this round, Xenodata Lab. explains as follows:
BTMU, Teikoku Databank, Kabu.com Securities….Follow-on strategic investment coinciding with business partnership
Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings, Okasan Securities…New strategic investment coinciding with business partnership
Xeno Flash, developed by Xenodata Lab., specializes in listed stocks in Japan and uses XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) analysis, PDF table analysis, and PDF graph analysis to convert information attached to various financial-related materials into tabular data, which they then apply their own algorithm to in order to extract the most important financial points, and furthermore, through natural language processing, they are able to pull up a background of specific numerical values from an enormous amount of sentence data in the material.
Of the 3,600 listed Japanese stocks, only 500 companies, corresponding to 14% of all stocks, are issuing financial reports which individual investors can refer to when making investment decisions. In other words, since the price fluctuations are so intense, account analysis reports are not issued by most of the small and medium-sized companies invested in by individuals, but if they use Xeno Flash, it would be possible for companies to make them available.
Xenodata Lab offers their analytics to Kabu.com Securities, Okasan Securities, Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings to help them improve productivity in their operations as well as better serve their customers. Teikoku Databank uses the analytics to help research and development of their company credit database while Xenodata Lab. also uses Teikoku’s data of unlisted companies in Japan to improve the functionality of the Xeno Flash platform.
BTMU hosted MUFG FinTech accelerator (now known as MUFG Digital Accelerator) where Xenodata won the first batch Demo Day last year which led the team to draw a huge attention in the FinTech sector. We’ll expect to see further business collaboration between MUFG group companies and Xenodata Lab.
With the funds this time around, Xenodata Lab. will enhance the coverage of their analytics solutions beyond corporate financial reports while developing the function that enables predicting future performances of listed companies to better serve securities companies and corporate clients.
Tokyo-based startup ‘Bank‘… the company behind an online pawnshop app called ‘CASH‘… announced today that it has been acquired by Japanese internet giant and service conglomerate DMM.com for 7 billion yen, or about $62.2 million US. The app was just launched as early as three months ago late in June this year. Launched by Yusuke Mitsumoto, the founder of online shop builder Stores.jp, the Tokyo startup provides a mobile app that enables users to take a snapshot of an item of value and transmit it for evaluation. If the seller agrees to the price presented by the platform, he or she can obtain an advance on the sale to their account. The startup has hitherto never raised funds from investors since its foundation back in February of this year, thus it seems fully owned by founder Mitsumoto. He unveiled that DMM has acquired the entire stake in ‘Bank’ by paying 7 billion yen in cash as of October 31st. See also: Innovative online pawnshop app, ‘CASH,’ crashes on first day of operation (Japan Today) The Bridge’s past articles covering Yusuke Mitsumoto and his previous startup Bracket (or its service Stores.jp) Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Tokyo-based startup ‘Bank‘… the company behind an online pawnshop app called ‘CASH‘… announced today that it has been acquired by Japanese internet giant and service conglomerate DMM.com for 7 billion yen, or about $62.2 million US. The app was just launched as early as three months ago late in June this year.
Launched by Yusuke Mitsumoto, the founder of online shop builder Stores.jp, the Tokyo startup provides a mobile app that enables users to take a snapshot of an item of value and transmit it for evaluation. If the seller agrees to the price presented by the platform, he or she can obtain an advance on the sale to their account.
The startup has hitherto never raised funds from investors since its foundation back in February of this year, thus it seems fully owned by founder Mitsumoto. He unveiled that DMM has acquired the entire stake in ‘Bank’ by paying 7 billion yen in cash as of October 31st.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Crowd Realty, the Japanese startup offering a real estate-focused crowdfunding platform under the same name, announced on Monday that it has raised 350 million yen (about $3.1 million US) from SBI FinTech Fund in addition to three affiliated companies of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG): The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Kabu.com Securities. Founded back in December of 2014, the Tokyo startup secured an estimated 6-digit figures in US dollars from Global Brain in a seed round back in November of 2015, followed by securing an undisclosed amount in another funding from SBI FinTech Fund in December of 2016. Crowd Realty said that it will use the funds to strengthen the platform. The company launched a project called Kyomachiya No.1 Fund on May 26th this year, aiming to raise funds to renovate traditional wooden townhouses in Kyoto into vacation rental suites for inbound visitors. They successfully reached their funding target of 72 million yen in about three weeks after launching the project. Some of our readers may remember that Kyoto-based vacation rentals operator Tomaruba has recently secured funding from Crowdworks and others. Crowd Realty also manages several overseas crowdfunding projects…
Tokyo-based Crowd Realty, the Japanese startup offering a real estate-focused crowdfunding platform under the same name, announced on Monday that it has raised 350 million yen (about $3.1 million US) from SBI FinTech Fund in addition to three affiliated companies of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG): The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Kabu.com Securities. Founded back in December of 2014, the Tokyo startup secured an estimated 6-digit figures in US dollars from Global Brain in a seed round back in November of 2015, followed by securing an undisclosed amount in another funding from SBI FinTech Fund in December of 2016.
Crowd Realty said that it will use the funds to strengthen the platform.
The company launched a project called Kyomachiya No.1 Fund on May 26th this year, aiming to raise funds to renovate traditional wooden townhouses in Kyoto into vacation rental suites for inbound visitors. They successfully reached their funding target of 72 million yen in about three weeks after launching the project. Some of our readers may remember that Kyoto-based vacation rentals operator Tomaruba has recently secured funding from Crowdworks and others. Crowd Realty also manages several overseas crowdfunding projects such as mortgage loans for real estates in Estonia.
The company was selected in 2016 for the 2nd batch of startup accelerator “Tokyo Accelerate Program” which is run by one of Tokyo’s leading private railway companies, followed by winning the Demo Day competition of MUFG Digital Accelerator’s 2nd batch this year. Through their efforts at MUFG Digital Accelerator, Crowd Realty gains a partnership with Kabu.com Securities for integrating an investor base with each other, alongside Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance for creating a system to help more money circulate in rural areas of Japan.
Focused on the Long Tail market in the real estate sector, the company aims to create a decentralized peer-to-peer direct financing system for real estate.
See the original story in Japanese. Kyoto-based Tomaruba, the Japanese startup running vacation rentals businesses focused on traditional Japanese houses, announced today that it has secured funding from Japanese crowdsourcing platform operator Crowdworks (TSE:3900). Tomaruba also unveiled that it has fundraised 83 million yen (about $732,000 US) in total, with prior funding from B Dash Ventures, Anri, and unnamed angel investors. Tomaruba offers planning, managing and attracting customers for vacation rentals, especially focused on the whole building rentals. The company has been renovating traditional Japanese houses into vacation rentals sites while driving customer traffic from inbound visitors. In addition to managing more than 10 facilities including Yadoru Kyoto Washi-no-yado, the company also offers Machiya Support, a management agency service for vacation rentals owners. In September, Tomaruba released an iPad app called Smart Vacation Rental Pad, which allows vacation rentals guests to control home appliances in their accommodation or check out hot spots in their neighborhood, aiming to implement it into 50 vacation rentals sites including Tomaruba’s own facilities. In addition to remote control functions of air conditioners and smart home devices, the iPad app has a sensor that will notify a vacation rentals owner when it detects sound louder than…
Kyoto-based Tomaruba, the Japanese startup running vacation rentals businesses focused on traditional Japanese houses, announced today that it has secured funding from Japanese crowdsourcing platform operator Crowdworks (TSE:3900). Tomaruba also unveiled that it has fundraised 83 million yen (about $732,000 US) in total, with prior funding from B Dash Ventures, Anri, and unnamed angel investors.
Tomaruba offers planning, managing and attracting customers for vacation rentals, especially focused on the whole building rentals. The company has been renovating traditional Japanese houses into vacation rentals sites while driving customer traffic from inbound visitors. In addition to managing more than 10 facilities including Yadoru Kyoto Washi-no-yado, the company also offers Machiya Support, a management agency service for vacation rentals owners.
Smart VR Pad Image credit: Tomaruba
In September, Tomaruba released an iPad app called Smart Vacation Rental Pad, which allows vacation rentals guests to control home appliances in their accommodation or check out hot spots in their neighborhood, aiming to implement it into 50 vacation rentals sites including Tomaruba’s own facilities. In addition to remote control functions of air conditioners and smart home devices, the iPad app has a sensor that will notify a vacation rentals owner when it detects sound louder than a certain decibel degree, aiming to contributing to improving convenience for both of owners and guests of vacation rentals.
Tomaruba partially utilizes crowdsourced workers for responding to online inquiries and telephone inquiries from their customers. Tomaruba claims that the funding was made because their business model meets the Crowd Ecosystem, the new concept that Crowdworks recently announced as one of their medium-term management plans in the latest financial results briefing. Tomaruba uses the funds to strengthen developing the Smart VR Pad app, expand beyond Kyoto, and hire talents to gaining the service level.
Masaru Ikeda
The Bridge
