Mobile payments startup Coiney and online shop builder Stores.jp — both of Japan — announced on Wednesday that the two companies have set up a stock holding company called Hey, in order to integrate their business operations. Yusuke Sato, Director of FreakOut Holdings (TSE:6094), and Naoko Samata, co-founder and CEO of Coiney, were respectively appointed President and Executive Vice President of this holding company.
Both Coiney and Stores.jp started their services back in 2012. Total volume transacted on these two platforms have grown 10 times in three years since their launch back in January of 2015. With the business merger, both companies will expand their target to small companies in rural areas of Japan and popular influencers such as merchants. We were told that the two platforms are planning to launch new services with the aim of helping merchants improve their business and service experience.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Ginco, the Japanese startup developing a multi-cryptocurrency wallet app, announced on Wednesday that it raised 150 million yen (about $1.4M US) from Global Brain in the seed round. The company is currently developing a wallet app called Ginco that corresponds to the Ethereum key currency ETH (Ether), planning to release the iOS version in early February and the Android version in May. The funds raised this time will be devoted to development and the consolidation of a marketing system. News of Coincheck’s NEM leakage has made headlines around the world, but one reason the damage has grown is that much of the cryptourrency held by users was stored on the exchange. There are cases where exchanges provide wallets, but startups developing cold wallets and hardware wallets are drawing attention globally as they also make it possible to trade cryptocurrencies across multiple exchanges, optimize asset allocation, and provide a certain level of storage security of cryptocurrencies. The ecosystem created by a blockchain, like various systems and networks, is easy to understand if you organize it by layer and progression as follows: Infrastructure > Enhanced Technologies > dApp (decentralized apps) > On-Chain function > Off-Chain…
Tokyo-based Ginco, the Japanese startup developing a multi-cryptocurrency wallet app, announced on Wednesday that it raised 150 million yen (about $1.4M US) from Global Brain in the seed round. The company is currently developing a wallet app called Ginco that corresponds to the Ethereum key currency ETH (Ether), planning to release the iOS version in early February and the Android version in May. The funds raised this time will be devoted to development and the consolidation of a marketing system.
News of Coincheck’s NEM leakage has made headlines around the world, but one reason the damage has grown is that much of the cryptourrency held by users was stored on the exchange. There are cases where exchanges provide wallets, but startups developing cold wallets and hardware wallets are drawing attention globally as they also make it possible to trade cryptocurrencies across multiple exchanges, optimize asset allocation, and provide a certain level of storage security of cryptocurrencies.
The ecosystem created by a blockchain, like various systems and networks, is easy to understand if you organize it by layer and progression as follows:
Infrastructure > Enhanced Technologies > dApp (decentralized apps) > On-Chain function > Off-Chain function
The primary focus of Ginco, its cryptocurrency wallet app, is centered around dApp and the On-Chain function, and the company plans to expand its business in a multifaceted manner while watching trends in the ecosystem development. In the future, we were told that they have the possibility of developing with DEXs (decentralized exchanges).
Ginco Image credit: Ginco
Ginco’s predecessor AltaApps is a blockchain technology developer and consultancy headed by Muuto Morikawa. Our readers may recall Morikawa was previously introduced as the COO of the startup Onokuwa, which develops its own currency called CLAP. Morikawa is involved in various projects based on blockchain, among which Ginco is the closest to consumers, and whether accidental or inevitable, it can be described as the timely solution that cryptocurrency holders need. Although Ginco initially only supports ETH, it will correspond to ERC 20, BTC, BCH, XRP, Ripple and so on in the future.
In only about one month since the establishment of the company, and with a few days still left from the launch of the teaser site, already 1,000 people have completed the pre-registration for sign-up. Currently, about 20 employees, including full-time, outsourced and part-time workers, are working hard towards the release of the wallet app. Among them are three app designers, and Morikawa remarked that he is particularly interested in pursuing user experience.
Global Brain, the sole investor this round, founded the new subsidiary GB Blockchain Labs (GBBL) last year, and in addition to creating new funds focused on blockchain startups, along with Omise it is deeply involved in nurturing blockchain startups and fostering communities. The investment in Ginco is a reflection of this strategy. Morikawa also talked heatedly of his vision for the future, saying that the key to the success of blockchain businesses lies in participating in the community and that Ginco hopes to coexist and gain mutual prosperity with blockchain startups like Omise / OmiseGo and cryptocurrency apps like Bread.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Japan’s Zeals, providing messenger-driven interactive ad service Fanp, announced on Monday that it had raised 420 million yen (about $3.9 million) from JAFCO (TSE:8595) and FreakOut Holdings (TSE:6094, hereafter called FreakOut) in its series B round. This round succeeds the fundraising for a total amount of 80 million yen (estimated to be series A around) conducted last May and the one for an undisclosed amount (estimated to be seed round) conducted in January of 2015. For FreakOut, it is a follow-on investment continued from the previous round. The total amount of investment in Zeals is considered to exceed 500 million yen (about $4.6 million). Zeals explained about the purpose of this fundraising is to enhance system development capacity, human resource including communication designer (a new job for designing the conversation between machines) or marketing through Fanp promotion activities and events. The Zeals team currently consists of 16 members (and 11 outsourced staffers). According to CEO of Zeals Masahiro Shimizu, the communication designers play a key role in the business related to interactive ad services as growth hackers for A/B testing-based growth hack tools. As the author wrote about Infinity Venture Summit (IVS) held last…
Japan’s Zeals, providing messenger-driven interactive ad service Fanp, announced on Monday that it had raised 420 million yen (about $3.9 million) from JAFCO (TSE:8595) and FreakOut Holdings (TSE:6094, hereafter called FreakOut) in its series B round. This round succeeds the fundraising for a total amount of 80 million yen (estimated to be series A around) conducted last May and the one for an undisclosed amount (estimated to be seed round) conducted in January of 2015. For FreakOut, it is a follow-on investment continued from the previous round. The total amount of investment in Zeals is considered to exceed 500 million yen (about $4.6 million).
Zeals explained about the purpose of this fundraising is to enhance system development capacity, human resource including communication designer (a new job for designing the conversation between machines) or marketing through Fanp promotion activities and events. The Zeals team currently consists of 16 members (and 11 outsourced staffers). According to CEO of Zeals Masahiro Shimizu, the communication designers play a key role in the business related to interactive ad services as growth hackers for A/B testing-based growth hack tools.
As the author wrote about Infinity Venture Summit (IVS) held last December and there ZEALS won the 4th position, the firm had shifted the direction of development from the chatbot management tool to the conversational ads. Not a few web-based companies create landing pages for marketing. Unlike listing ads that aim to reach potential customers, in-feed ads linked to landing pages do not work effectively in most cases (Conversion Rate; CVR 0.8%).
Fanp (click to enlarge) Image credit: Zeals
On the other hand, the Fanp platform transfers users from in-feed ads to messengers in order to reach potential customers, and then provides interactive ads by chatbot. Acquiring user profile, it can also follow withdrawn users and urge them to access repeatedly by shifting display timing or changing approach means. With this system, CVR can be improved to 5.7% by seven times that of landing pages. Fanp has taken up 82.7% of domestic share in chatbot service field utilized for advertising (as of December 2017). The accumulated number of messages between users and chatbots is more than 42 million and the sales growth rate in MoM (month over month) reached 136% during the past six months.
Zeals had been developing and providing two versions of Fanp in accordance with the degree of communication design (chatbot responses): normal version for general businesses and light version for media. However, the firm currently concentrates its development resource to normal version because the sales amount gained from conversion is higher in general businesses. The company has not revealed the number of its customer, but it includes excellent companies providing web services with high unit price for users, such as Atrae operating the job-advertisement media Green, Career Design Center operating the career change website @type, Advance Create operating the insurance information website Hoken Ichiba, Investors Cloud operating the apartment management platform Tateru, Ajinomoto’s marketplace of healthy drink Glyna and Parente, in addition to Wave Contact dealing with contact lens.
Zeals has commenced provision of a consistent service including in-feed ads from the securement of traffic path to user transfer, and is also considering a plan to create its own chatbot and transfer users to its advertisers using this in the future. In Japan, Indeed which was purchased by Recruit (TSE:6098) or Tenshoku EX provided by ZIGExN (TSE:3679) are leading players as web-based user-transfer media while Zeals may envision that it can dominate the chatbot field by a method similar to them.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
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 called Facy, announced today that it has set up an office in Taiwan, officially launching the Facy Taiwanese version. The app is available for iOS and Android. Some of our readers may recall that the company has seen a sign preparing the Taiwan expansion by hiring local employees and launching a Facebook fanpage in Traditional Chinese. It took over half a year to prepare for their first overseas launch but finally their effort has seen the light of day. Initially launched in open beta under the previous name of Styler, the Facy app allows users to ask fashion retailers for advice on picking out outfits. In response to these requests, sales representatives at participating retailers will recommend which items users should buy. For retailers, the app works as an O2O (online-to-offline) platform that drives potential customers to real stores. In May of 2016 the app added a new social communication function that allows users to comment and ‘like’ other user’s posts, followed by rebranding and adding the commerce function that allows physical fashion and apparel stores…
Tokyo-based Styler, the Japanese startup offering an O2O (offline to online) support service for fashion and apparel stores called Facy, announced today that it has set up an office in Taiwan, officially launching the Facy Taiwanese version. The app is available for iOS and Android.
Some of our readers may recall that the company has seen a sign preparing the Taiwan expansion by hiring local employees and launching a Facebook fanpage in Traditional Chinese. It took over half a year to prepare for their first overseas launch but finally their effort has seen the light of day.
Initially launched in open beta under the previous name of Styler, the Facy app allows users to ask fashion retailers for advice on picking out outfits. In response to these requests, sales representatives at participating retailers will recommend which items users should buy. For retailers, the app works as an O2O (online-to-offline) platform that drives potential customers to real stores.
Styler’s Taiwan team working in Impact Hub Taipei Image credit: Styler
In May of 2016 the app added a new social communication function that allows users to comment and ‘like’ other user’s posts, followed by rebranding and adding the commerce function that allows physical fashion and apparel stores to easily set up their online storefront back in September last year. The company says they now have acquired about 500,000 monthly active users and have made monthly 4,520 matches between retailers and users.
About 70 fashion retailers in Taipei and Taichung are participating in the Facy Taiwan platform while featured articles posted on Facy are expected to be reproduced on Taiwan’s major media outlets such as GQ Taiwan, Vogue Taiwan, Line Taiwan, and Niusnews. The total number of likes on their Facebook fan pages for male and female customers in Taiwan are nearly double that targeting Japanese users. Since the company has been developing services for Asia from an office in Vietnam for some time, their further regional expansion beyond Taiwan can be also expected.
See the original story in Japanese. Kyoto-based Bertland, offering a SaaS (Software as a Service) based shipping and invoice issuing platform named Ship&co, announced ealier this month that it had fundraised 100 million yen (about $920,000) from Spiral Ventures in its pre-series A round. The money will be spent for recruitment of human resources and additional development of the system. BERTLAND was founded in November of 2008 by French entrepreneur Bertrand Thomas whose base for his activity is in Kyoto. Thomas came to Japan in 2003 to study at Kyoto University, and started writing a blog around 2005. His blog, dealing with Japanese culture, gradually became popular as to acquire 800-1,000 daily visitors. One day, Thomas wrote a post about Bento (Japanese lunch box). The post was received favorably by French readers and his friends, but it was pointed out that there is no means to purchase beautiful Bento boxes for people living abroad and that they have to depend on mail orders like eBay. Thomas sensed a business opportunity in this comment, and three weeks later, he launched an online marketplace dealing in Bento boxes named Bento&co using Shopify, with support from his wife and friends. Subsequently, he opened…
Bertrand Thomas, CEO of Ship&co Image credit: Ship&co
Kyoto-based Bertland, offering a SaaS (Software as a Service) based shipping and invoice issuing platform named Ship&co, announced ealier this month that it had fundraised 100 million yen (about $920,000) from Spiral Ventures in its pre-series A round. The money will be spent for recruitment of human resources and additional development of the system.
BERTLAND was founded in November of 2008 by French entrepreneur Bertrand Thomas whose base for his activity is in Kyoto.
Thomas came to Japan in 2003 to study at Kyoto University, and started writing a blog around 2005. His blog, dealing with Japanese culture, gradually became popular as to acquire 800-1,000 daily visitors. One day, Thomas wrote a post about Bento (Japanese lunch box). The post was received favorably by French readers and his friends, but it was pointed out that there is no means to purchase beautiful Bento boxes for people living abroad and that they have to depend on mail orders like eBay.
Thomas sensed a business opportunity in this comment, and three weeks later, he launched an online marketplace dealing in Bento boxes named Bento&co using Shopify, with support from his wife and friends. Subsequently, he opened a real shop Bento&co Kyoto in the Shinkyogoku area of Kyoto in 2012, and also started to exhibit products at various overseas events. The online shop has grown bigger as to receive orders from more than 100 countries.
One of the big problems that most e-commerce operators faced when their businesses have grown is the remarkable increase of product dispatch work. Especially for e-commerce operators who have to handle a lot of orders from overseas, it is common to reduce shipping fees by choosing suitable delivery companies according to transport destination. However, since each transportation operator has a unique format as to the invoice to be attached to a package, it is complicated to issue an invoice in handwriting or to properly use multiple invoice printing software provided by transportation operators. Additionally, customs invoices are needed for shipping overseas.
Ship&co (click to enlarge) Image credit: Ship&co
Thomas also considered a way to simplify the complicated work, and then he himself constructed a system, as Ship&co. The delivery companies that Ship&co cooperate with through API (Application Programming Interface) include Japan Post (international post / Yu-pack), FedEx, DHL, UPS, Sagawa and Yamato Transport (currently only its invoice-issuing system ‘C2’ is supported but ‘B2’ will also be supported from next month). It also covers e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, eBay, Base, PrestaShop, Magento, Amazon Marketplace, Rakuten, Next Engine, Stripe and WooCommerce, and plans to support Yahoo Shopping of Japan from next month.
Japanese delivery companies had been providing discount services to their customers in exchange for large-lot delivery orders. However, due to labor shortage in the delivery industry and the resulting rise in price therein, overseas shipping fee eventually becomes comparatively expensive as dependence on a certain transportation operator was born even for discount services.
Looking at global trends in this field, Shippo which raised $20 million in series B round last October, ShipStation which was purchased by Stamps.com (NYSE:STAMP) or ShippingEasy have gained power in the U.S. and Temando which was purchased by Neopost (EPA:NEO) appear to be in ascendancy in Australia, but Europe and Asia including Japan are still blue ocean markets.
Ship&co plans to cover La Poste of France in addition to Singapore Post and Australia Post, and will launch API enabling third-party developers to incorporate Ship&co into their own services around this summer. Looking to start overseas expansion, the firm is aiming for series A round fundraising in early 2019.
Ship&co is the first service listed on Shopify’s app store as a Japanese startup and is also recognized as the first FedEx Compatible Provider in the Asia-Pacific region. The firm aims to acquire approval of UPS Ready Provider as well in the future. The service will be showcased at E-commerce Fair 2018 Tokyo which will be held in Tokyo Big Sight, February 13th through 14th.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Spiral Ventures Japan announced the final closing of Spiral Ventures Japan Fund 1 with 7 billion yen (about $64 million US) limited partner commitments on Monday. The fund raise surpassed its initial target of 6 billion yen (about $55 million). Participating limited partners include Asics Ventures, Seino Holdings (TSE:9076), Tosho Printing (TSE:7913), Mori Trust, Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation – JAPAN, in addition to unnamed Japanese securities companies and foreign hedge funds. Spiral Ventures Japan announced the final closing of Spiral Ventures Japan Fund 1 with 7 billion yen (about $64 million US) limited partner commitments on Monday. The fundraise run surpassed its initial target of 6 billion yen (about $55 million). Participating limited partners include Asics Ventures, Seino Holdings (TSE:9076), Tosho Printing (TSE:7913), Mori Trust and Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation – JAPAN, in addition to unnamed Japanese securities companies and foreign hedge funds. The first fund is intended to invest in startups with focusing on “X-Tech” (fusion areas between Internet/technology and real industry), especially in two areas: industry-changing business and industry-creating business. The fund has invested a total of 2.1 billion yen ($19.3 million)…
Spiral Ventures Japan announced the final closing of Spiral Ventures Japan Fund 1 with 7 billion yen (about $64 million US) limited partner commitments on Monday. The fund raise surpassed its initial target of 6 billion yen (about $55 million). Participating limited partners include Asics Ventures, Seino Holdings (TSE:9076), Tosho Printing (TSE:7913), Mori Trust, Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation – JAPAN, in addition to unnamed Japanese securities companies and foreign hedge funds.
Spiral Ventures Japan announced the final closing of Spiral Ventures Japan Fund 1 with 7 billion yen (about $64 million US) limited partner commitments on Monday. The fundraise run surpassed its initial target of 6 billion yen (about $55 million). Participating limited partners include Asics Ventures, Seino Holdings (TSE:9076), Tosho Printing (TSE:7913), Mori Trust and Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation – JAPAN, in addition to unnamed Japanese securities companies and foreign hedge funds.
The first fund is intended to invest in startups with focusing on “X-Tech” (fusion areas between Internet/technology and real industry), especially in two areas: industry-changing business and industry-creating business. The fund has invested a total of 2.1 billion yen ($19.3 million) in 19 startups including OpenLogi (logistics), BizReach (human resource), Nurve (preliminary inspection of apartment rooms using virtual reality solutions), Z-Works (elderly caregiving solutions powered by Internet of Things) and Future Standard (rapid hardware/software prototyping). The fund’s typical investment size is 50 to 300 million yen ($460,000 to $2.8 million) for an early/middle-stage startup and up to 500 million yen ($4.6 million) for a later-stage startup.
The Bridge
Masaru Ikeda
