Tokyo-based Jiraffe announced today that it had launched a so-called “honesty” app for 40 English-speaking markets. The app, dubbed Japan’s answer to Sarahah, is called Peing – QuestionBox with the aim to to help users collect “honest” anonymous feedback from their friends, co-workers and neighbors.
Peing was initially launched for Japanese users by freelance engineer Seseri (his real name has not been disclosed) back in November last year. The service saw about 200 million page views in a month from November 2017 to December 2017, and was subsequently acquired by Jiraffe last month.
According to the company’s CEO Teruaki Aso, they expect the English version will target U.S., UK, Hong Kong, India and other English-speaking markets because even the original Japanese version has seen user access from Mainland China since its Launch.
Aso said in a recent interview with The Bridge:
The overseas expansion is challenging for us. But the rapid launch of the English version was made possible since the app has adopted a global platform like Twitter (for user authentication process).
The company plans to integrate with other platforms like China’s Weibo, and also to support Instagram formats and Chinese language to gain more market share in this sector.
See the original story in Japanese. Japan’s Mercari, providing the peer-to-peer marketplace app under the same name, announced in December that it has established Mercari R4D, a Research & Development organization with the aim to deploy emerging technologies to the society. Toshiya Kimura, Manager of Engineering Department at Mercari, was appointed the head of the new initiative. The name R4D stands for ‘Research for Development, Design, Deployment and Disruption.’ Mercari has been utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning technologies so far, and the firm will begin projects for social deployment and commercialization of these technologies in cooperation with other enterprises or educational organizations through the initiative. At this time, eight research themes jointly with Sharp and university laboratories have already been chosen, as follows: Communications with multiple locations utilizing 8K TVs with Corporate R&D Business Unit, Sharp Outletless office with wireless power feed system with Kawahara Lab, The University of Tokyo Deep Hashing Network for similar image search with Ochiai Lab, Tsukuba University 3D form estimation from product image posted on the marketplace with Ochiai Lab, Tsukuba University Background auto-specification from product image with Ochiai Lab, Tsukuba University Trust framework using blockchain with Keio University Internet of Things ecosystem…
Mercari CEO Shintaro Yamada introduces in-house AI research initiative Mercari R4D Image credit: Sekiko Suzuki/The Bridge
Japan’s Mercari, providing the peer-to-peer marketplace app under the same name, announced in December that it has established Mercari R4D, a Research & Development organization with the aim to deploy emerging technologies to the society. Toshiya Kimura, Manager of Engineering Department at Mercari, was appointed the head of the new initiative.
The name R4D stands for ‘Research for Development, Design, Deployment and Disruption.’ Mercari has been utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning technologies so far, and the firm will begin projects for social deployment and commercialization of these technologies in cooperation with other enterprises or educational organizations through the initiative. At this time, eight research themes jointly with Sharp and university laboratories have already been chosen, as follows:
Communications with multiple locations utilizing 8K TVs with Corporate R&D Business Unit, Sharp
Outletless office with wireless power feed system with Kawahara Lab, The University of Tokyo
Deep Hashing Network for similar image search with Ochiai Lab, Tsukuba University
3D form estimation from product image posted on the marketplace with Ochiai Lab, Tsukuba University
Background auto-specification from product image with Ochiai Lab, Tsukuba University
Trust framework using blockchain with Keio University
Internet of Things ecosystem with Cross-tech Design Lab, Kyoto University of Art & Design
Application of quantum annealing technology to art field with Ohzeki Lab, Tohoku University
According to Mercari CEO Shintaro Yamada, the investment amount to these research activities has not been clearly set yet, but it will be at several hundred millions of yen (several millions of dollars)-scale next year. The research themes are chosen from mid-to long-term plans requiring 3 to 5 years, as well as ones utilizing IoT or blockchain technologies having application possibility of social infrastructure.
Research is already being undertaken in the above eight themes and more themes will possibly be added. The commercialization and deployment of research results may be brought about as a Mercari product in the future. Yamada explains the background to the foundation of R4D:
Mercari achieved 100 million downloads just the other day. Meanwhile, we have implemented the wrongful exhibit detection system utilizing AI technology or the auto-estimation of weight of items to the app for the U.S.. One of our purposes is to differentiate the app by technologies through R&D.
The firm plans to enhance its engineer structure to 1000-staffer organization from current 100-staffer one. In addition, it started establishment of an organization capable of scaling by micronizing each function. Kimura explains the firm’s future vision:
As Fujifilm engaged in development of cosmetics, we may start different business in the future and are considering how to make good use of our owned technologies.
As the Japanese artist Sputniko!, a renowned British/Japanese artist and designer, who joined the team as Senior Producer, various direction of deployment can be seen, for example utilizing technologies which are hard to deploy immediately into a form of design or art. The firm focuses on research as well as commercialization and visualization of technology jointly with external research organizations.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Base, the e-commerce platform provider dubbed Japan’s answer to Shopify, announced on Thursday that it has fundraised 1.5 billion yen (about $13.3 million US) from Japanese VC firm Global Brain and Japanese accounting SaaS (Software as a service) provider Money Forward (TSE:3994). This round was led by Global Brain but no financial term of the deal has been disclosed. Base has partnered with Money Forward to share a potential user base of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) with each others. Using the funds, Base plans to strengthen hiring talents to solidify management foundation. On the same day, Base announced that it has spun off payments platform businesses, such as PAY.JP and PAY ID, to set up a fully-owned subsidiary called Pay. Kenichi Takano, the current project leader for payment platform businesses at Base, was appointed CEO for the new company while Base CEO Yuta Tsuruoka joined the management board. See also: Base, Japan’s answer to Shopify, snags $14M to strengthen payment solutions unit Expanding beyond e-commerce platform The highly anticipated e-commerce platform has been advanced to the next stage by serving 450,000 merchants and 3 million mobile app users while their payments business…
L to R: Pay CEO Kenichi Takano, Base CEO Yuta Tsuruoka Image credit: Base
Tokyo-based Base, the e-commerce platform provider dubbed Japan’s answer to Shopify, announced on Thursday that it has fundraised 1.5 billion yen (about $13.3 million US) from Japanese VC firm Global Brain and Japanese accounting SaaS (Software as a service) provider Money Forward (TSE:3994). This round was led by Global Brain but no financial term of the deal has been disclosed. Base has partnered with Money Forward to share a potential user base of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) with each others. Using the funds, Base plans to strengthen hiring talents to solidify management foundation.
On the same day, Base announced that it has spun off payments platform businesses, such as PAY.JP and PAY ID, to set up a fully-owned subsidiary called Pay. Kenichi Takano, the current project leader for payment platform businesses at Base, was appointed CEO for the new company while Base CEO Yuta Tsuruoka joined the management board.
The highly anticipated e-commerce platform has been advanced to the next stage by serving 450,000 merchants and 3 million mobile app users while their payments business has processed transactions 40 times more than that one year ago. Tsuruoka showed his confidence by seeing some actual performance indicators are higher than disclosed ones while his company claims that it saw the greatest growth last year since its launch.
In response to our question about the situation of Base Live, the company’s recently-launched live commerce platform that enables merchants to introduce and sell products through live performance, he told us that it still gives them some impact on transactions while there are many apparel merchants whose monthly sales reach nearly 1 million yen ($8,800). However, the live commerce platform has become popular among merchants in view of another channel for creating a fan base.
This large-scale funding may be based on all these results. Regarding the purpose of the funding, Tsuruoka says:
Our funding purpose has been changed from surviving to growing.
No doubt that the payments business was spun off because this space has high potential for extensive growth. While the Base platform has been esteemed because it allows anyone to easily build an e-commerce presence, the company’s payments businesses have to deal with different types of data and serve diverse user demographics. So the company spin-out is reasonable in optimizing their decision-making process from now on.
The company now has a staff of about 100 people, which is doubled from last year, including 20 staffers in charge of payments businesses.
On a related note, Base unveiled on Thursday that it has launched another fully-owned subsidiary called Base Bank. They claim the new company will target a new business area but no further details have been disclosed. In view of Japanese C2C marketplace startup Mercari having invested in Base and founded a new business-focused subsidiary called Souzoh, Base Bank may aim at a similar goal like building various apps and diversifying businesses.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Money Forward (TSE:3994), the Japanese company providing SaaS (software as a service)-based accounting solutions, announced last week that it is launching a new division called MF Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Lab with the aim to develop new services leveraging such emerging technologies. The new project will be led by Money Forward’s CTO Takuya Nakade in addition to Junichi Kanda, Executive Director in charge of Business Development and External Affairs. Kanda was a former BOJ (Bank of Japan) and FSA (Financial Services Agency of Japan) official but joined the startup in September last year. The company says it intends to make a blockchain- and cryptocurrency-powered business the third business pillar for them following accounting SaaS platforms for individuals and companies. With curated members among their current employees and hiring new talents from outside the company, it aims to form a new 100-people division within three years. It’s not definite but is likely for the company to apply for a cryptocurrency service operator registration to FSA. There are a variety of blockchain- or cryptocurrency-powered applications. Given that remittance fee in Japan is higher than other countries, they will probably come up with a remittance service as…
L to R: Takuya Nakade (CTO, Money Forward), Junichi Kanda (Executive Director, Business Development and External Affairs) Image credit: Money Forward
Tokyo-based Money Forward (TSE:3994), the Japanese company providing SaaS (software as a service)-based accounting solutions, announced last week that it is launching a new division called MF Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Lab with the aim to develop new services leveraging such emerging technologies. The new project will be led by Money Forward’s CTO Takuya Nakade in addition to Junichi Kanda, Executive Director in charge of Business Development and External Affairs. Kanda was a former BOJ (Bank of Japan) and FSA (Financial Services Agency of Japan) official but joined the startup in September last year.
The company says it intends to make a blockchain- and cryptocurrency-powered business the third business pillar for them following accounting SaaS platforms for individuals and companies. With curated members among their current employees and hiring new talents from outside the company, it aims to form a new 100-people division within three years. It’s not definite but is likely for the company to apply for a cryptocurrency service operator registration to FSA.
There are a variety of blockchain- or cryptocurrency-powered applications. Given that remittance fee in Japan is higher than other countries, they will probably come up with a remittance service as a targeted one leveraging these technologies. Since the Japanese conventional remittance system has a cost problem and challenges to innovate its mechanism, a possible decentralized version would bring us significant benefits.
The possible blockchain-based remittance service would have high convenience and affinity with the company’s existing businesses which are mainly focused on helping users improve cashflow. Expected use case includes fee-free or low-free remittance service accompanying an automated erasure function upon money reception.
Money Forward has been aggressively pursuing new business after their IPO in August of 2017. The company launched a mobile piggybank app called Shiratama last September, followed by acquiring Klavis, the Japan-/Singapore-based startup behind accounting and book-keeping software Streamed. Also, the company founded a subsidiary called MF Kessai last June, aiming to launch a B2B postpay settlement service.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Every, the Japanese startup behind online recipe video media Delish Kitchen, announced on Thursday that it has raised about 2.06 billion yen (about $18.3 million) from WiL (World Innovation Lab), Itochu (TSE:8001), GMO Venture Partners, Ad Hack Ventures and DCM Ventures. This follows their previous round funding of about 3.37 billion yen (about $30 million) and brought their total funding amount up to 5.43 billion yen (about $48.2 million). Japanese startup Dely, running online video recipe media Kurashiru which is considered to be one of the closest competitors for Delish Kitchen, has fundraised 3.7 billion yen (about $32.8 million) to date. Dely’s latest funding has let them exceed Delish Kitchen in terms of how much funding amount has been secured in total. Through four video media channels, Every said it serves 44 million users every month. Kurashiru sees Delish Kitchen winning in terms of video play views per user according to App Ape Analytics while a Nielsen report says Delish Kitchen has a larger audience using the app to prepare lunch. Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Tokyo-based Every, the Japanese startup behind online recipe video media Delish Kitchen, announced on Thursday that it has raised about 2.06 billion yen (about $18.3 million) from WiL (World Innovation Lab), Itochu (TSE:8001), GMO Venture Partners, Ad Hack Ventures and DCM Ventures. This follows their previous round funding of about 3.37 billion yen (about $30 million) and brought their total funding amount up to 5.43 billion yen (about $48.2 million).
Japanese startup Dely, running online video recipe media Kurashiru which is considered to be one of the closest competitors for Delish Kitchen, has fundraised 3.7 billion yen (about $32.8 million) to date. Dely’s latest funding has let them exceed Delish Kitchen in terms of how much funding amount has been secured in total. Through four video media channels, Every said it serves 44 million users every month. Kurashiru sees Delish Kitchen winning in terms of video play views per user according to App Ape Analytics while a Nielsen report says Delish Kitchen has a larger audience using the app to prepare lunch.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Cyber Security Cloud, the Japanese startup behind a cloud-based web application firewall (WAF) called Kogeki Shadan-kun, unveiled a new product called WafCharm earlier this month. WafCharm uses artificial intelligence to automatically apply a WAF signature (rule set) setting for websites hosted on Amazon Web Services. It can be used for free until the end of January 2018. By introducing WafCharm, the information systems division of a company operating a cloud-based web server on AWS can automate the complicated tasks of selecting and applying optimal signatures for defense against attacks. Typical WAF systems can be categorized into software-based, appliance-based, and cloud-based ones. Cyber Security Cloud has been specialized in developing cloud-based WAF solutions to secure cloud-based web servers, launched Kogeki Shadan-kun in December of 2013. Since then, the service has seen a steady increase in clients, including NTT Docomo, ANA (All Nippon Airways), and SBI Securities, and has been adopted by 4,000 websites in about three and a half years since the launch. The monthly report that the dashboard outputs can be easily used for meetings within a company, and in the event of damage, insurance of up to 10 million yen (about $88.2K…
Tokyo-based Cyber Security Cloud, the Japanese startup behind a cloud-based web application firewall (WAF) called Kogeki Shadan-kun, unveiled a new product called WafCharm earlier this month. WafCharm uses artificial intelligence to automatically apply a WAF signature (rule set) setting for websites hosted on Amazon Web Services. It can be used for free until the end of January 2018. By introducing WafCharm, the information systems division of a company operating a cloud-based web server on AWS can automate the complicated tasks of selecting and applying optimal signatures for defense against attacks.
Typical WAF systems can be categorized into software-based, appliance-based, and cloud-based ones. Cyber Security Cloud has been specialized in developing cloud-based WAF solutions to secure cloud-based web servers, launched Kogeki Shadan-kun in December of 2013. Since then, the service has seen a steady increase in clients, including NTT Docomo, ANA (All Nippon Airways), and SBI Securities, and has been adopted by 4,000 websites in about three and a half years since the launch. The monthly report that the dashboard outputs can be easily used for meetings within a company, and in the event of damage, insurance of up to 10 million yen (about $88.2K US) is accompanied (for the moment, there have been no applicable cases). The fact that compensation of up to 10 million yen can be granted may also be a factor in the growth of the company.
The dashboard for “Kougeki Shadan-kun” Image credit: Cyber Security Cloud
Cyber Security Cloud collects tendencies of web attacks and security defense from Kougeki Shadan-Kun, and based on the findings obtained, then WafCharm applies optimal rule sets to user instances leveraging artificial intelligence (AI). The application of rule sets according to the software stack, supporting the OWASP Top 10 security risks, and the speedy addition of new rule sets in response to new weaknesses are all automatically done for user instances on AWS.
AWS also provides 11 rule sets by five security vendors (as of December, 2017) as WAF Managed Rules. This is intended to make it easier to operate even for users less familiar with security measures while customized setting is difficult because detailed settings are black-boxed. Having said that, it is a painstaking task to manually set rule sets one by one. WafCharm aims at solving this pain point.
Cyber Security Cloud CEO Hikaru Ono says:
AWS has 34% market share in the global cloud user base. To reach one-third of all cloud users (by offering the WAF optimization service for AWS) would be a great opportunity. I think that WafCharm could set these cloud users free from security risks.
In 2016, two years after the service launch, Kougeki Shadan-kun won the largest share in the cloud-based WAF market in Japan. By introducing the new product WafCharm, Cyber Security Cloud has its sights set on the number one position in the global automated WAF operation sector. As a short-term goal the company is looking to sign with 10,000 companies in 2018. While looking at future user trends, it is also considering deploying services to other cloud platforms such as GCP (Google Cloud Platform) and Microsoft Azure.
Cyber Security Cloud was established in August of 2010 (under the name of Amitie). The company raised around 100 million yen (about $883K US) from Ambition, Legend Partners, Epsilon Group, Real World, SBI Investment and other investors in January of 2016.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
The Bridge
Takeshi Hirano
Masaru Ikeda
