Japanese major crowdfunding platform Makuake and Fukuoka, the western Japanese city known for having been designated as a special economic zone for encouraging global entrepreneurship, announced today that they will jointly help foreign startups expand into the Japanese market by helping launch their crowdfunding campaigns.
Fukuoka City will help foreign startups, that have their own product, launch their crowdfunding campaign by recommending them to Makuake while the city looks to utilize existing schemes to help these startups gain funds, office locations and business opportunities. Startups having launched their crowdfunding campaign can typically enjoy the benefits of improving their public awareness and gaining necessary funds, in addition to making it easier to obtain loans on their own from financial institutions and cultivate distribution channels through user validation results.
Makuake has dealt with more than 100 crowdfunding campaigns from foreign enterprises and startups. Meanwhile, led by its startup support arm called Global Startup Center, Fukuoka City has been focused on inviting foreign startups to set up shop there.
Partnering scheme
As part of the partnership, both parties have just started helping to run two crowdfunding campaigns: Coffee Pixels – a solid coffee bar from Latvia (see this for campaign) – and Hope English – an English e-learning service from Taiwan (see this for campaign).
Celebrating its fifth year since the launch, Makuake has been cultivating potential crowdfunding projects from rural areas in Japan in partnership with regional banks. In the meantime they set up a branch office in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido last month. Through the partnership with Fukuoka City, we can expect they will further cultivate crowdfunding campaigns from Fukuoka and Kyushu regions as well as to help foreign startups gain more exposure in the Japanese market.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. This is part of our coverage of Slush Tokyo 2018. This year’s Slush Tokyo took place in late March at Tokyo Big Sight, a landmark exhibition venue on the city’s waterfront. Competing among other finalists chosen through a 2-day preliminary screening with 80 nominees, Munich-based Artisense, the German startup developing real-time mapping and computer vision technologies for autonomous driving, won the pitch competition this year. Every team had a presentation opportunity consisting of a five-minute pitch followed by a Q&A session. Here’s a quick rundown of the four finalist teams. Top Award Winner: Artisense (Germany) Supplementary award: 5 million yen in cash presented by Recruit Holdings Spun off from a computer vision laboratory in Munich, DeepTech AI startup Artisense offers technologies needed for autonomous driving and smart cities. Autonomous driving typically uses GPS (global positioning system) and precise map data. However, high-rise buildings in urban areas can interfere with GPS signals from satellites while such map data needs to be updated more frequently and accurately than a typical map for humans, costing a lot more. Using on-board stereo visible-light cameras instead of a rotating laser scanner, Artisense’s technology can generate map and data on…
This year’s Slush Tokyo took place in late March at Tokyo Big Sight, a landmark exhibition venue on the city’s waterfront. Competing among other finalists chosen through a 2-day preliminary screening with 80 nominees, Munich-based Artisense, the German startup developing real-time mapping and computer vision technologies for autonomous driving, won the pitch competition this year.
Every team had a presentation opportunity consisting of a five-minute pitch followed by a Q&A session. Here’s a quick rundown of the four finalist teams.
Top Award Winner: Artisense (Germany)
Supplementary award: 5 million yen in cash presented by Recruit Holdings
Spun off from a computer vision laboratory in Munich, DeepTech AI startup Artisense offers technologies needed for autonomous driving and smart cities. Autonomous driving typically uses GPS (global positioning system) and precise map data. However, high-rise buildings in urban areas can interfere with GPS signals from satellites while such map data needs to be updated more frequently and accurately than a typical map for humans, costing a lot more.
Using on-board stereo visible-light cameras instead of a rotating laser scanner, Artisense’s technology can generate map and data on a real-time basis leveraging their proprietary algorithm, which enables autonomous driving without relying on GPS and map data. The team recently won the Plug and Play Japan Award at the accelerator’s batch 0 demo day, and also succeeded in raising $250,000 in a seed round.
Ecosystem Award winner: Arilyn (Finland)
Supplementary award: Participation privileges for Tech in Asia Singapore 2018, Infinity Venture Summit 2018 Spring in Taipei
Arilyn develops an AR (augmented reality) app for iOS and Android. In addition to AR content authoring service, the startup provides merchants with a variety of integration services for their marketing efforts leveraging AR technologies.
JAL Award winner: UltraCelsius (Indonesia)
Supplementary award: Mileage points worth 250,000 miles presented by Japan Airlines
UltraCelsius develops coolant products using special chemicals which can keep anything cool for as long as six days. They offer a variety of products according to use cases, such as UltraCelsius Regular to place on the body to cool them down without electric power, UltraCelsius Curve to cool beverage bottles and cans, as well as UltraCelsius Mini that allows users to keep food cold very easily.
PR Times Award: BuyandShip (Hong Kong)
Supplementary Award: Complimentary one-year subscription for PR support
BuyandShip is a data-driven startup that optimizes logistics for cross-border e-commerce users. It allows users to consolidate delivered packages from different e-commerce platforms by giving them a virtual overseas address, so they can receive merchandise ordered for lower shipping expense.
The startup is now serving consumers in Hong Kong and Japan by giving them virtual addresses in the U.S., Japan, UK, Korea, China and Hong Kong. In Hong Kong alone, they now have 120,000 users and deal with 30,000 orders on a monthly basis. They had raised $2.3 million in a series A round last December.
See the original story in Japanese. Updated at Noon on April 11: The titles of Masui and Mizuguchi were revised according to the request from EDGEof’s PR agency. Entrepreneurs in Shibuya, Tokyo may have noticed that the building across from Tower Records on Fire Street has transformed into a new hub for innovators. Even during interior renovations, several impressive events were held there, including Hello Tomorrow, UN India / XPrize Innovation Meetup, and TEDxShibuya. After a prep period of about six months, the EDGEof gamechanger’s studio opened on April 1st. EDGEof’s six founders are startup supporter Taisuke Alex Odajima, internationally famous DJ innovation producer Ken Masui, serial social entrepreneur Daniel Goldman, TEDxTokyo founder Todd Porter, game designer creative director Tetsuya Mizuguchi, and serial entrepreneur/investor Taizo Son. The design of EDGEof’s logo represents how, even if the initial directions of the six founders is different, when they come together a new power is born. On April first, when the public was first offered a view of EDGEof at a press conference during its opening day, the six co-founders talked about the significance and perspective of the space (and the community). With keywords such as: Co-creation, Collaboration, Collective, etc., the theme is…
The six founders of EDGEof: (from left) Daniel Goldman, Todd Porter, Ken Masui, Taisuke Alex Odajima, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Taizo Son Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Updated at Noon on April 11: The titles of Masui and Mizuguchi were revised according to the request from EDGEof’s PR agency.
Entrepreneurs in Shibuya, Tokyo may have noticed that the building across from Tower Records on Fire Street has transformed into a new hub for innovators. Even during interior renovations, several impressive events were held there, including Hello Tomorrow, UN India / XPrize Innovation Meetup, and TEDxShibuya.
After a prep period of about six months, the EDGEof gamechanger’s studio opened on April 1st. EDGEof’s six founders are startup supporter Taisuke Alex Odajima, internationally famous DJ innovation producer Ken Masui, serial social entrepreneur Daniel Goldman, TEDxTokyo founder Todd Porter, game designer creative director Tetsuya Mizuguchi, and serial entrepreneur/investor Taizo Son. The design of EDGEof’s logo represents how, even if the initial directions of the six founders is different, when they come together a new power is born.
EDGEof Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
On April first, when the public was first offered a view of EDGEof at a press conference during its opening day, the six co-founders talked about the significance and perspective of the space (and the community). With keywords such as: Co-creation, Collaboration, Collective, etc., the theme is to accelerate the birth of ideas that may change the world by gathering together people who are trying to do something new. Odajima stressed that, while it can be a place to work jointly together, which is the original meaning of co-working, it will not be a so-called “co-working space” (in the real estate business sense that users pay to rent).
The building consists of nine floors, including the basement, ground floor, and rooftop, and each floor has a theme like food, media, startup collaborative innovation, and startup showroom. Mizuguchi’s studio is also set up at EDGEof, and both Rhizomatiks and Keio Media Design are participating in Synesthesia Lab. Additionally, Rhizomatiks worked on the interior design of EDGEof’s first floor entrance, and when visitors step through the door after conquering the bustling Shibuya streets they may feel as if they have been transported into a world of magic.
Exhibition of a living room that can be easily transported by a small truck Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Masui stressed that EDGEof is not specialized only in technology and business innovation, and that they are looking for people who are also trying to start something new in art, culture, research, and other fields, to be active members of the community. Although EDGEof uses a membership system, there is a space prepared for the media and journalists, and they have even kept members in mind who have just arrived from overseas and want to freshen up before heading into the throngs of Shibuya for meetings by preparing showers. The shower boxes use technology from Japanese water reclamation startup WOTA, which is yet another example of how each of the facilities at EDGEof have been carefully chosen and give it an air of distinction.
From abroad to Japan, and from Japan to the world– or in Porter’s own words, “Global ⇄ Local and Local ⇄ Local,” EDGEof is actively seeking to lend power to these paths and to that effect partnerships with Malaysia’s CO3 Social Office, Singapore’s Spectrum, and Korea’s FuturePlay have been decided. According to Odajima the company is currently discussing partnerships of some sort with 19 countries.
The window behind the stage on the 2nd floor’s EDGEof Club is big, and when viewed from Fire Street during a presentation looks as if someone is standing in the window frame. Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
EDGEof’s business model assumes sponsorship from large companies and startups. Through their sponsorship these companies can utilize EDGEof’s assets, but unlike the traditional open innovation approach, the companies are also asked to join the platform prepared by EDGEof and participate in the out of the box thinking project. “We are aiming for a never-ending Sagrada Familia method,” remarked Masui.
At the opening day held on April 1st there were exhibits of works by startups with advanced concepts, as well as booths set up by government organizations from Austria, France, Malaysia, and other countries for supporting entrepreneurs. It had the air of an expo or amusement park offering a glimpse of the future. Events and meetups will be held frequently, so I recommend dropping by now and then whenever they are held.
In the near future, a small lighthouse (searchlight) will be set up on the rooftop of EDGEof, symbolic of EDGEof’s quest to guide and support innovators who have yet to find their direction. Since it can also be seen from Shibuya’s famous the Shibuya Pedestrian Scramble, a symbol of chaos overflowing with passersby, the lighthouse, in more literal terms, also ensures that anyone can reach EDGEof without hesitation.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
EDGEof’s rooftop will house a mini lighthouse for stray innovators. Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Sukedachi, providing on-demand matching service between construction jobs and workers under the same name, announced on Thursday that it had fundraised about 530 million yen (about $5 million) from Itochu Technology Ventures, Genesia Ventures, Klab Venture Partners, Nippon Broadcasting System, Persol Holdings, Legend Partners and an undisclosed company, plus individual investors including Kotaro Chiba. Among these investors, Genesia Ventures and Klab Venture Partners also participated in the previous seed round back in August. The investment ratio or the payment dates are not disclosed, but the secured money will be spent for marketing and enrichment of human resources for service development. The firm had changed its company name from Tokyo Rocket to the current one in March of this year. Sukedachi allows workpeople specialized in construction works receive to notification of recruitment of construction jobs which meet their pre-registered conditions including residence and occupation. With this service, construction workers who are seeking jobs can contact directly to each desired construction site, and constructors suffering from chronic manpower shortage can recruit workers on almost ideal on-demand conditions. Sukedachi had focused on the unique business habit in the Japanese construction industry that construction workers are order…
Tokyo-based Sukedachi, providing on-demand matching service between construction jobs and workers under the same name, announced on Thursday that it had fundraised about 530 million yen (about $5 million) from Itochu Technology Ventures, Genesia Ventures, Klab Venture Partners, Nippon Broadcasting System, Persol Holdings, Legend Partners and an undisclosed company, plus individual investors including Kotaro Chiba.
Among these investors, Genesia Ventures and Klab Venture Partners also participated in the previous seed round back in August. The investment ratio or the payment dates are not disclosed, but the secured money will be spent for marketing and enrichment of human resources for service development. The firm had changed its company name from Tokyo Rocket to the current one in March of this year.
Sukedachi allows workpeople specialized in construction works receive to notification of recruitment of construction jobs which meet their pre-registered conditions including residence and occupation. With this service, construction workers who are seeking jobs can contact directly to each desired construction site, and constructors suffering from chronic manpower shortage can recruit workers on almost ideal on-demand conditions.
Yoichi Wagatsuma, CEO of Sukedachi
Sukedachi had focused on the unique business habit in the Japanese construction industry that construction workers are order receivers as workmen themselves and are also orderers as small enterprises, and the firm started this service. According to CEO of the firm Yoichi Wagatsuma, the number of registered workers since its launch in last November until this April reached 7,000 and has been increasing by 100 daily. The total ordering amount handled within Sukedachi exceeded 200 million yen (about $1.9 million).
The last time I covered this service before its launch, the “quality” of matched workers was concerned and the firm was trying to solve that by utilizing evaluation for each worker from orderers after completion of work. Since its launch, the firm has been operating the service with a policy of treating highly-rated workers preferentially, so that visualization or community creation related to this point seems to be a future task.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Japan’s Zpeer, offering veterinary services for pharmaceutical companies or veterinarians who care for pet animals / livestock animals, on Friday launched the pet merchandise review portal website Vet’s Eye which provides reviews posted by veterinarian to pet owners. This service was showcased at a pet industry fair Interpets 8th held at Tokyo Big Sight last month. Zpeer was founded in June of 2013. Since November in the same year, it has been managing the veterinarian community website Vetpeer, providing various contents which connect veterinarian and animal medical treatment-related companies. Vetpeer has been used by 8,000 veterinarians which is equivalent to about 60% Japanese town veterinarians who are engaged in pet medical care (not specialized in livestock animals). The firm monetizes its service by offering market research or merchandise promotion toward veterinarians, accepting requests animal medical treatment-related companies. In the new service Vet’s Eye launched this time, the firm is going to expand its user coverage to general consumers (pet owners). The service mainly consists of two contents: ‘veterinarian evaluation service’ which provides pet merchandise reviews by veterinarian and ‘100 opinions’ which is answering questions from pet owners by veterinarian. Same as Vetpeer, the firm…
Japan’s Zpeer, offering veterinary services for pharmaceutical companies or veterinarians who care for pet animals / livestock animals, on Friday launched the pet merchandise review portal website Vet’s Eye which provides reviews posted by veterinarian to pet owners. This service was showcased at a pet industry fair Interpets 8th held at Tokyo Big Sight last month.
Zpeer was founded in June of 2013. Since November in the same year, it has been managing the veterinarian community website Vetpeer, providing various contents which connect veterinarian and animal medical treatment-related companies.
Vetpeer has been used by 8,000 veterinarians which is equivalent to about 60% Japanese town veterinarians who are engaged in pet medical care (not specialized in livestock animals). The firm monetizes its service by offering market research or merchandise promotion toward veterinarians, accepting requests animal medical treatment-related companies.
In the new service Vet’s Eye launched this time, the firm is going to expand its user coverage to general consumers (pet owners). The service mainly consists of two contents: ‘veterinarian evaluation service’ which provides pet merchandise reviews by veterinarian and ‘100 opinions’ which is answering questions from pet owners by veterinarian. Same as Vetpeer, the firm aims to monetize by marketing support for animal medical treatment-related companies.
In the pet merchandise field, it is difficult for consumers to distinguish correct information due to many affiliated ads. For companies, means of providing information to pet owners are limited because it is a longtail market. Giving added value in information with evaluation by veterinarians, Vet’s Eye enables an efficient information channel for both pet owners and companies to be secured. The firm expects the increase of user inflow by asking companies to attach seals showing that evaluation information is provided at Vet’s Eye onto their products.
Zpeer has already been in the black and not raised funds from external investors, but it plans to develop to the U.S. accounting for a 30% share of pet-related market and revealed its future possibility of fundraising from investors depending on the business plan. In this field in the U.S., Veterinary Information Network may become Vetpeer’s competitor, but the Vetpeer team sees itself superior in terms of user experience and the business model, aiming to grow its service for use by veterinarians worldwide.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Japan’s Monozukuri Hardware Startup Consortium held Monozukuri Hardware Cup 2018 as a part of Hack Osaka 2018 last month. The consortium consists of Kyoto-based hardware-focused startup accelerator Makers Boot Camp, New York-based FabFoundry, and TechShop Japan. This event is regarded as the gateway to success for Japanese hardware startups aiming at the global market, and the top three teams will be invited to AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup Final 2018 which will be held in Pittsburgh, the U.S. and there compete in the pitch event with other teams chosen from North America (incl. Canada), South America, India, Israel and Korea for a prize of $50,000. See also: 8 hardware startups give pitches at first Hardware Cup in Osaka for Pittsburgh finals Among 27 Japanese teams that applied for Monozukuri Hardware Cup 2018, 8 teams were chosen as finalists according to the four selection criteria: 1: passion for business, 2: business potential in global market, 3: potential customers’ needs or large market, and 4: business superiority. The judges for Monozukuri Hardware Cup 2018 were as follows: Allen Miner (CEO, Sunbridge Group) Nobuhide Fujita (CEO, Seibu Shoko/former Chairman, EO Osaka) Ryota Matsuzaki (CEO, Kibidango) Paul Kim…
This event is regarded as the gateway to success for Japanese hardware startups aiming at the global market, and the top three teams will be invited to AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup Final 2018 which will be held in Pittsburgh, the U.S. and there compete in the pitch event with other teams chosen from North America (incl. Canada), South America, India, Israel and Korea for a prize of $50,000.
Among 27 Japanese teams that applied for Monozukuri Hardware Cup 2018, 8 teams were chosen as finalists according to the four selection criteria: 1: passion for business, 2: business potential in global market, 3: potential customers’ needs or large market, and 4: business superiority.
The judges for Monozukuri Hardware Cup 2018 were as follows:
Allen Miner (CEO, Sunbridge Group)
Nobuhide Fujita (CEO, Seibu Shoko/former Chairman, EO Osaka)
Ryota Matsuzaki (CEO, Kibidango)
Paul Kim (Digital Transformation Project Manager, Air Liquide Japon)
Top prize: Hachitama (Tokyo)
(qualifies for 2018 AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup Final 2018 as a representative of Japan)
Hachitama develops Toletta, the IoT (Internet of Things) toilet for cat capable of checking up urologic diseases. It cleans cat excrement automatically, identifies each cat by image recognition and records usage information including weight, urine quantity, or urination / defecation frequency. When any abnormal findings are detected, the information will be sent to their owners’ app. The team plans to monetize its service based on three factors: device / smartphone app, periodic purchase of recognized organic cat food and online consultation.
Hachitama was founded in 2015 (the company name was Pet Board Healthcare then). It succeeded in a crowdfunding campaign at Green Funding and was subsequently chosen for Morinaga Accelerator 2016 which is managed / supported by 01booster and Tokyo Accelerator which is managed by Dai-ichi Kangyo Credit Cooperative. After that, the team raised a total of 40 million yen (about $380,000) from Morinaga, Kanshin Mirai Fund (managed by Dai-ichi Kangyo Credit Cooperative), Actcall and 01booster, in addition to obtaining the subordinated loan from Japan Finance Corporation.
2nd place: Challenergy (Tokyo)
Challenergy develops wind power generator which can secure stable output even in strong winds, such as during a typhoon. Wind power generation has been attracting a lot of attention as a sustainable power generation method utilizing natural energy, but on the other hand, typical propeller-type wind power generators are easily affected by strong wind or turbulence and have problems such as bird strikes or low-frequency noises. In addition, the annual fault rate is estimated at 40-60% in Japan. Due to this, only 3GW of electric power is generated annually by wind power generation system in Japan, although the potential power generation capacity is 1,900GW.
Challenergy developed a unique-shaped wind power generator using the Magnus effect. It can perform stable power generation regardless of strong wind, turbulence and wind direction. As the safety as a power generator guaranteed, it can be installed even within town. The team won the top prize at Demo Day of JR East Startup Program 1st batch. It raised a total of 280 million yen (about $2.6) from Real Tech Fund, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital and THK as its first external funding.
3rd place: Smart Shopping (Tokyo)
Smart Shopping provides the daily goods price comparison website under the same name targeting individual users and also the inventory management / auto-ordering service utilizing the IoT device Smart Mat targeting enterprise users. The latter service measures residual amount by laying a mat under a product and orders it at the optimal timing automatically. It allows users to always secure necessary items which are likely to be forgotten.
This February, Smart Shopping raised about 200 million yen (about $1.9) from Adventure, MBC Prototyping Fund of Makers Boot Camp, NOS Ventures and angel investors including Masaru Tange.
The following teams were chosen as finalists but unfortunately missed the top three spots.
16Lab (Kanagawa) – Platform business using the world’s smallest module for IoT / wearables…… See these articles for details
Ha-ppi (Kumamoto) – Toothbrushing service required for realizing centurylong-lifespan
iBot (Tokyo) – Robot for carrying chairs automatically
Mimamora (Tokyo) – Monitoring service with the world’s smallest LoRa and GPS-mounted device
Oton Glass (Tokyo) – IoT smart glass enhancing sensations…… See this article for details.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
The Bridge
Masaru Ikeda
Takeshi Hirano
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