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Japanese AR sports platform provider Meleap raises $6.6M to cultivate viewership

Hado
Meleap

Takeshi Hirano 2018.12.04

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Meleap, the Japanese startup developing the Hado augmented reality(AR)-powerd sports game series and expanding a franchise of arcade stores that offer gaming experiences in town, announced on Thursday that it has raised 720 million yen (about $6.3M US) from I-Mercury Capital, DBJ Capital, IncubateFund, Canal Ventures, Yugengaisya Hide Inter, and SMBC Venture Capital. The company has secured a cumulative total of 1.11 billion yen (around $9.8M US) in fundraising so far. It plans to use the funds raised to increase the store numbers, and with the prospect of forming a pro-league in its sights, it will strengthen the business pertaining to viewership.

See also:

Japan’s Meleap raises $2.6M to offer augmented reality-based sports experiences globally

Hado is an AR sports game that requires players to wear a head mounted display and an arm sensor to battle each other three on three. Players use energy balls and shields freely to earn points over a period of 80 seconds.

The company currently operates 52 stores in 23 countries in Asia, North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. 1.3 million people have played the game and the overseas sales ratio is 60%.

Additionally, with regards to the pro-league, which is the reason for the fundraising this time around, Meleap will hold the Hado World Cup on December 8th. It has assembled the national teams that won the preliminary rounds held in seven countries around the world, including Japan and the UK, in order to decide the world’s best. With the evolution to a pro-league, from now the company will broadcast content for viewers to watch as teams compete in the game. Furthermore, it has also prepared prizes for the programs.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

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Japan’s Clear, study notes organizer app, gets $880K to help fresh grads find right job

Clear (formerly Arcterus)

Masaru Ikeda 2018.12.02

See the orioginal story in Japanese. Japan’s Arcterus, providing educational services including a notebook-sharing app named Clear, announced on Friday that it has fundraised 100 million yen in a series C round. Participating investors consist of a fund by Shinsei Bank and Shinsei Corporate Investment in addition to Zoshinkai Holdings, a leading Japanese company behind correspondence education service and cram school chains. With the series A round back in July of 2015 and the series B round back in November of 2016, this round brings the EdTech startup their total equity funding to about 400 million yen (about $3.5 million US). Arcterus was founded in 2010 October by Goichiro Arai (CEO) who has held various posts including Resort Business Manager at Japanese resort development / management major Hoshino Resort together with Yoshiki Shiraishi (COO/CFO) who was Arai’s classmate at Keio Business School. Clear, launched in December of 2013, allows notebooks sorted by subject or educational unit to be shared with other users and is available for Android, iOS and web. After five years from launch, the app has marked 2.2 million downloads, over 1 million monthly active users, and about 250,000 shared study notes online, boasting its popularity in…

Goichiro Arai, CEO of Arcterus
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

See the orioginal story in Japanese.

Japan’s Arcterus, providing educational services including a notebook-sharing app named Clear, announced on Friday that it has fundraised 100 million yen in a series C round. Participating investors consist of a fund by Shinsei Bank and Shinsei Corporate Investment in addition to Zoshinkai Holdings, a leading Japanese company behind correspondence education service and cram school chains. With the series A round back in July of 2015 and the series B round back in November of 2016, this round brings the EdTech startup their total equity funding to about 400 million yen (about $3.5 million US).

Arcterus was founded in 2010 October by Goichiro Arai (CEO) who has held various posts including Resort Business Manager at Japanese resort development / management major Hoshino Resort together with Yoshiki Shiraishi (COO/CFO) who was Arai’s classmate at Keio Business School.

Clear, launched in December of 2013, allows notebooks sorted by subject or educational unit to be shared with other users and is available for Android, iOS and web. After five years from launch, the app has marked 2.2 million downloads, over 1 million monthly active users, and about 250,000 shared study notes online, boasting its popularity in Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, and other Asian markets.

See also:

Japan’s Arcterus wins Global EdTech Startup Awards with study notes organizer app Clear

Goichiro Arai joined a fireside chat at Techsauce Summit 2017 in Bangkok.
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

The company will use the funds to foray into recruiting business, aiming to eliminate the mismatch between enterprises and job-seeking fresh graduates while the level of “churn” in new hires is getting higher these days. According to Arai, study skills needed at university and business skills are different, however, it is supposed they will primarily assess personality and aptitude of users based on their study log on the Clear app and then propose the right job to them.

Given the fact that students majoring (or to be expected to major) in science and medical courses account for half of all Clear users, the company wants to answer the needs of companies hoping to hire these graduates as employees.

Arcterus is launching an ad service on the Clear app, aiming to help cram schools better reach students. Unlike other conventional ads targeting parents of students, the app can offer a direct access students and allows advertisers more efficiently market their service according to the user profile, such as where they live or which grade they are in.

Tokyo-based Itokuro (TSE;6049), a potential competitor for Arcterus and the Japanese education company behind portal sites on cram schools and private schools, is now boasting a market cap of over $600 million US with a P/E ratio of 60. Besides Clear, Arcterus is handling a teaching tool for tutor school named Caiz or an individual tutoring cram school in the residential area of Ota City, Tokyo named Shiki Gakuin. Insights from these businesses are expected to help expand their new revenue stream.

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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Japan’s biotech firm Spiber raises $44M to set up synthetic spider silk plant in Thailand

Spiber

SCORE 1,232

Masaru Ikeda 2018.12.01

See the original story in Japanese. Considering that the spider’s silk is the toughest biological material ever studied, Japanese startup Spiber has researched and succeeded in developing synthesis spider thread for multiple purposes. At the press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, the company announced it has secured about 5 billion yen (about $44 million US) in the latest round led by government-backed Cool Japan fund. Cool Japan revealed it has invested 2 billion yen ($17.6 million US) in this round while other participating investors have not been disclosed. Founded back in 2007, Spiber is a spin-off from Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, and headquartered in Yamagata, three hours north of Tokyo by bullet train. Prior to this round, the company had reportedly raised over $210 million US. It is said that this round brings their total equity funding to date to over $260 million US. See also: With new silk-producing technology, Japanese biotech startup does what a spider can With new silk-producing technology, Japanese biotech startup does what a spider can The fund will be used to establish a mass-production facility while the spiber company is now in transition from the research and technology development phase to the mass-production…

Spiber director Kazuhide Sekiyama (left) shakes hands with Cool Japan COO/CIO Yuji Kato
before the Moon Parka hooded sweatshirt
Imge credit: Masaru Ikeda

See the original story in Japanese.

Considering that the spider’s silk is the toughest biological material ever studied, Japanese startup Spiber has researched and succeeded in developing synthesis spider thread for multiple purposes. At the press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, the company announced it has secured about 5 billion yen (about $44 million US) in the latest round led by government-backed Cool Japan fund. Cool Japan revealed it has invested 2 billion yen ($17.6 million US) in this round while other participating investors have not been disclosed.

Founded back in 2007, Spiber is a spin-off from Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, and headquartered in Yamagata, three hours north of Tokyo by bullet train. Prior to this round, the company had reportedly raised over $210 million US. It is said that this round brings their total equity funding to date to over $260 million US.

See also:

With new silk-producing technology, Japanese biotech startup does what a spider can

With new silk-producing technology, Japanese biotech startup does what a spider can
The fund will be used to establish a mass-production facility while the spiber company is now in transition from the research and technology development phase to the mass-production phase. The company plans to develop a huge world-class plant for protein fermentation and purification operations in eastern Thailand (Rayong Province), planning to produce structural protein products for apparel and automobile industries.

The area of the new plant in Thailand will be about 100 times that of the pilot plant located within their headquarters in Yamagata. The new plant construction will start in mid-2019, with launch of commercial production targeted during 2021. After the new plant starts operating, structural proteins will be fermented / purified in Thailand and then carried to Japan for textile production (including yarn twisting and fabric processing). Production volume varies depending on the targeted kind of proteins but is expected to be several million tons on an annual basis.

Kazuhide Sekiyama, Director and Representative Executive Officer of Spiber, says they chose Thailand as a base for the new plant because the country is highly ranked in producing and exporting sugar, proving it can provide abundant biomass resources for protein fermentation.

Aerial view of Spiber’s headquarters and plant, located adjacent to Institute for Advanced Biosciences,
Keio University in Tsuruoka, Yamagata

Since 2015, Spiber has been developing a hooded sweatshirt using their synthetic spider silk-based garment called Qmonos in partnership with leading Japanese sports apparel manufacturer Goldwin. The new prototype (ver. 2.75) of the Moon Parka sweatshirt was introduced at the press conference.

This is the 31st investment case for the Cool Japan fund since its foundation. After Naoki Kitagawa (former CEO of Sony Music Entertainment) and Yuji Kato (CEO of East Investment Capital) were appointed as new CEO and COO/CIO respectively in July, the firm invested in US video production startup Tastemade prior to this investment.

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

news

Next-gen drone startup Aeronext wins pitch arena at B Dash Camp Fall 2018 in Fukuoka

B Dash Camp Fukuoka 2018

Masaru Ikeda 2018.11.24

See the original story in Japanese. Japanese outstanding VC firm B Dash Ventures held its flagship semi-annual conference B Dash Camp 2018 Fall in Fukuoka from October 3rd to 5th. 16 startups which passed document examination participated in the preliminary of Pitch Arena, and 6 teams were chosen for finalists. The top prize went to Aeronext, a startup developing next-gen drone technologies. This article introduces the finalists and their pitches. The judges for the final round of Pitch Arena were as follows: Kotaro Chiba (Investor / Drone Fund) Shinji Kimura (AnyPay) Taichi Murakami (Livesense) Yusuke Sato (Hey) Genki Shiota (Akatsuki) Ken Tamagawa (Soracom) Top Prize / PERSOL Award winner: Aeronext Aeronext develops next-gen drone technologies. Using its own technology called 4D Gravity, the firm had launched drone products optimized for various use cases: Next VR optimized for 360-degree VR photographing, Next DELIVERY specialized in delivery services and Next INDUSTRY available for infrastructure inspection, surveying, security and agriculture. By improving drone airframes from hardware perspective, these products acquired significant technical superiority in body axis stability or high-speed flight. The firm aims a business scaling-up by founding joint ventures in cooperate with major companies specialized in each use case. Currently, the firm…

See the original story in Japanese.

Japanese outstanding VC firm B Dash Ventures held its flagship semi-annual conference B Dash Camp 2018 Fall in Fukuoka from October 3rd to 5th. 16 startups which passed document examination participated in the preliminary of Pitch Arena, and 6 teams were chosen for finalists. The top prize went to Aeronext, a startup developing next-gen drone technologies.

This article introduces the finalists and their pitches. The judges for the final round of Pitch Arena were as follows:

Kotaro Chiba (Investor / Drone Fund)
Shinji Kimura (AnyPay)
Taichi Murakami (Livesense)
Yusuke Sato (Hey)
Genki Shiota (Akatsuki)
Ken Tamagawa (Soracom)

Top Prize / PERSOL Award winner: Aeronext

Aeronext develops next-gen drone technologies. Using its own technology called 4D Gravity, the firm had launched drone products optimized for various use cases: Next VR optimized for 360-degree VR photographing, Next DELIVERY specialized in delivery services and Next INDUSTRY available for infrastructure inspection, surveying, security and agriculture.

By improving drone airframes from hardware perspective, these products acquired significant technical superiority in body axis stability or high-speed flight. The firm aims a business scaling-up by founding joint ventures in cooperate with major companies specialized in each use case. Currently, the firm is developing Next VTOL, the airplane capable of vertical take-off and landing with fixed wings utilizing its own multicopter technologies.

They fundraised from Drone Fund in May of last year.

2nd Place / Lexus Award winner: Medulla by Sparty

Sparty provides the hair-care brand Medulla for female users, allowing periodical purchase of shampoo and hair treatment customizable in accordance with hair quality and condition. The shampoo market in Japan is formed with many varieties and even the most popular product can acquire only 5% of the share. The firm expects that the next trend in the shampoo market must be personalization and launched this service in May 22nd.

Just answering to seven questions, users can periodically receive optimal shampoo and hair treatment chosen from among more than 100 recipes. The firm aims to encourage an innovation in the data-driven hair-care market. It currently has six demonstration spots within Tokyo are and is going to expand them nationwide through cooperation with hair-salons.

Jobcan Award winner: Kuraseru by Kuraseru

When an inpatient who is hardly treated by home medical care leaves hospital, social workers or care managers in hospital have to look for a nursing facility which can accept him. Kuraseru develops and manages the hospital-leaving arrangement SaaS (Software as a Service) Kuraseru targeting social workers and care managers.

These procedures are currently done by phone and facsimile, and Kuraseru aims to improve the efficacy of the work by replacing all these procedures. The firm had fundraised 50 million yen (about $450,000) from 500 Startups Japan in June.

600 by 600

600 is the refrigerator-based drink / convenience goods sales service. It is, so to speak, the free convenience store for offices, hospital, or apartment houses. All goods have IC tags attached, and the refrigerator detects which goods were picked and then calculates the price automatically triggered by opening and closing the door. Purchasers pay for them by swiping credit cards to reader on the door.

The firm had officially launched the service this June and commenced a new integrated service of storage / unmanned convenience store from this month. 600 replenishes commodity goods in the refrigerator twice a week and also provides a concierge service; users can purchase their favorites items from among 600 items by requesting through a chat tool in advance.

The firm had fundraised from Apricot Ventures back in June.

Ginco by Ginco

Ginco developed the wallet app under the same name available for multiple cryptocurrency. Not a few users in Japan deposit cryptocurrency to the exchange and leave it untreated, but Ginco suggests that users should own and manage their cryptocurrency by themselves to secure safety. Since its launch back in April 2018, the app has been downloaded more than 30,000 times, and the total dealt amount on the app comes to more than 3 billion yen (about $27 million).

The firm monetizes the app through customer transferring to various services where cryptocurrency is available. The firm added DEX (Decentralized Exchange) function enabling overseas users to trade tokens between users on Ginco and plans to launch hardware wallet next year too.

The firm fundraised 150 million yen (about $1.3 million) from Global Brain.

Choole by Rexit

Rexit provides the bridal reservation support platform Choole, allowing couples about to be married to choose wedding dress, hair-do, photographer, videographer and wedding hall. The choice of wedding dress or flowers is generally narrow because bridal item providers are tied up with each wedding hall, but Choole enables users to order to any provider directly and hold ceremonies in at reasonable price.

Since its launch back this June, more than 130 wedding halls have participated in this platform. The firm fundraised 55 million yen ($490,000) from Shinichiro Sugiyama (CEO of Valetudo), Genki Arai (CEO of Happy Element) and individual investors.

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

news

AI startup accelerator Zeroth partners with Softbank-backed Deepcore, shares deal flow

Masaru Ikeda 2018.11.23

See the original story in Japanese. Hong Kong-based Zeroth, an AI-focused startup accelerator, announced on Monday it has entered into a strategic partnership with Tokyo-based Deepcore, a Softbank-backed VC firm and incubator focused on AI startups. Through this alliance, the two companies will share their deal flow and information regarding investment in Japan and Asia. They will also cooperate with the entrepreneurial communities of each market. Zeroth Partner and CEO Tak Lo, whose previous work includes Director of TechStars in both New York and London, launched the accelerator in Hong Kong in 2016. Until now, three batches have turned out 33 companies, and AI startups from Japan such as Foxsy and Laboratik have participated. As of June 2018, the cumulative amount procured by the graduates is over 300 million yen (about $2.7M US). Lo said in an interview with The Bridge that Zeroth received physical and resource support from Deepcore due to this alliance, but did not disclose whether Deepcore had invested in Zeroth. Zeroth is currently accepting applications for its fourth batch, and from now is starting programs in Tokyo and Bangalore, India, in addition to Hong Kong. Deepcore’s incubation facility Kernel Hongo looks to be a promising space…

See the original story in Japanese.

Hong Kong-based Zeroth, an AI-focused startup accelerator, announced on Monday it has entered into a strategic partnership with Tokyo-based Deepcore, a Softbank-backed VC firm and incubator focused on AI startups. Through this alliance, the two companies will share their deal flow and information regarding investment in Japan and Asia. They will also cooperate with the entrepreneurial communities of each market.

Zeroth Partner and CEO Tak Lo, whose previous work includes Director of TechStars in both New York and London, launched the accelerator in Hong Kong in 2016. Until now, three batches have turned out 33 companies, and AI startups from Japan such as Foxsy and Laboratik have participated. As of June 2018, the cumulative amount procured by the graduates is over 300 million yen (about $2.7M US).

Lo said in an interview with The Bridge that Zeroth received physical and resource support from Deepcore due to this alliance, but did not disclose whether Deepcore had invested in Zeroth.

Zeroth is currently accepting applications for its fourth batch, and from now is starting programs in Tokyo and Bangalore, India, in addition to Hong Kong. Deepcore’s incubation facility Kernel Hongo looks to be a promising space for use during the expansion and Demoday of Zeroth’s program in Tokyo.

See also:

Zeroth Partner and CEO Tak Lo
Image credit: Zeroth

Prior to this tie-up, Hajime Hotta, CTO of Cinnamon, an AI startup from Japan, recently became a Zeroth Partner. Although he has been a mentor since its establishment, it appears he is involved in the overall operation of Zeroth, making full use of his knowledge and networks throughout Southeast Asia.

Hotta said in an interview with The Bridge that because of the alliance between Zeroth and Deepcore it will be easier for startups outside of Japan to reach the Japanese market in terms of business development and opportunities created, and likewise for Japanese startups it will become easier to enter overseas markets.

In addition to Hotta, Zeroth announced that Paul Pheby, who has been involved in numerous famous banks and mainly invests in Seoul and Hong Kong, also joined as a new Partner.

Kernel Hongo, operated by Deepcore in collaboration with WeWork
Image credit: Deepcore

Deepcore CEO Katsumasa Niki said the following in a statement to the press.

We regard this partnership with Zeroth as an important step to expand the boundary of our capability. Zeroth’s international perspective will provide us with a significant advantage to inspire entrepreneurs in Japan to address globally momentous issues with the power of AI. We are excited to pursue a shared vision with Zeroth.

Zeroth CEO Tak Lo had the following comments to share.

We are humbled to work with DEEPCORE, with whom we share a vision of the future of AI, its impact on technology businesses, and its opportunity to solve humanity’s great problems. Together we will work closely to realize that vision, and support AI founders across the world and specifically in Japan.

In December of last year, Zeroth raised $766,000 US in its first round from Animoca Brands (Australia Stock Exchange: AB1), which is a Hong Kong-based company that provides mobile games and subscription products. This year, Animoca Brands acquired 67% of the shares (a de facto merger) of Venture Classic Limited managed by Zeroth, and at the same time promised a capital contribution of $2 million US to Zeroth’s investment corporation Zeroth SPC, which became separate. Hong Kong’s financial conglomerate Sun Hung Kai also has a memorandum of understanding to make a direct investment in Zeroth SPC or startups it has invested in.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

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Ad giant Dentsu, SF-based Scrum Ventures jointly set up global sports-tech accelerator

Masaru Ikeda 2018.11.22

See the original story in Japanese. Japanese ad giant Dentsu (TSE:4324) and the San Francisco-based VC firm Scrum Ventures last month jointly held an explanatory meeting about Sports Tech Tokyo, the acceleration program focusing on sports tech. With 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics approaching, there seems to be the best momentum for sports tech to attract global attention. At the beginning of the event, Japanese footballer Keisuke Honda, also known as an investor for startups, provided a comment. The operation term of this acceleration program’s 1st batch is planned to be about one year, beginning in January of 2019. It is relatively longer than typical acceleration programs and consists of a six-month business starting round and a six-month activation round. This program commits not only to service / business development but also to establishment of business for participating teams. The system allows Play (eSports or fantasy sports), Watch (arena / stadium solution) and Support (player support technology) to apply this program, covering a wide range of services. 150 teams will be chosen from among applicant startups gathered from around the world next February, and a kick-off conference will be held in Tokyo during March of 2019. After next April,…

(L to R) Fumihiko Nakajima (Program Owner of Sports Tech Tokyo / Dentsu CDC) and Takuya Miyata (CEO of Scrum Ventures)

See the original story in Japanese.

Japanese ad giant Dentsu (TSE:4324) and the San Francisco-based VC firm Scrum Ventures last month jointly held an explanatory meeting about Sports Tech Tokyo, the acceleration program focusing on sports tech. With 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics approaching, there seems to be the best momentum for sports tech to attract global attention.

At the beginning of the event, Japanese footballer Keisuke Honda, also known as an investor for startups, provided a comment.

The operation term of this acceleration program’s 1st batch is planned to be about one year, beginning in January of 2019. It is relatively longer than typical acceleration programs and consists of a six-month business starting round and a six-month activation round. This program commits not only to service / business development but also to establishment of business for participating teams.

The system allows Play (eSports or fantasy sports), Watch (arena / stadium solution) and Support (player support technology) to apply this program, covering a wide range of services. 150 teams will be chosen from among applicant startups gathered from around the world next February, and a kick-off conference will be held in Tokyo during March of 2019.

Partial list of Sports Tech Tokyo mentors

After next April, Sports Tech Tokyo will choose some 10 to 20 finalists and plans to provide mentoring to them based in Japan and San Francisco. The program will line up 100 famous Mentors including Daniel Brusilovsky (technology lead of U.S. basketball team), Kai Bond (investor of Comcast Ventures) and Ryan Hoover (founder of Product Hunt / investor of Weekend Fund).

Sponsored companies of Sports Tech Tokyo

Sports Tech Tokyo plans to have a world Demo Day in San Francisco, as the conclusion of business development round in July of 2019. To increase appearance opportunities of participating startups, the program will hold pop-up events within tech conferences in Japan during October of 2019. It has acquired about 20 supporters / sponsorships including sports-related company or media.

Takayuki Hioki (Sports Marketing Japan) introduced sports business trends around the world. He also spoke on the evolution of sports business.

Takeshi Okada (ex-Manager of the Japanese national football team, right) and Kojiro Kurotobi (CEO of Sportsbull, left), along with Hiromu Nishiuchi (author of ‘Statistics is the most powerful knowledge,’ in center) delved into the potentials of sports tech.

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Japanese AR sports platform provider Meleap raises $6.6M to cultivate viewership

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