This
guest post is authored by Mark Bivens. Mark is a Silicon Valley native
and former entrepreneur, having started three companies before “turning
to the dark side of VC.”
He is a venture capitalist that travels between Paris and Tokyo (aka the RudeVC). He is the Managing Partner of Shizen Capital (formerly known as Tachi.ai Ventures) in Japan. You can read more on his blog at http://rude.vc or follow him @markbivens. The Japanese translation of this article is available here.
The infographic we published last month proved popular. Some of the most encouraging feedback we received came from abroad, where foreign investors in the venture asset class expressed appreciation for visibility into Japan’s most active VC Funds. Even domestically, it appears that many local startup founders in Japan find our VC sector here equally opaque, and hence applauded this new transparency.
This collective feedback has inspired us to peel back one more layer of the onion: identifying Japan’s most active Lead VC funds.
What defines a Lead VC?
Quite simply, a Lead VC in a startup is the first venture capital fund to commit to a startup’s fundraising round. The Lead VC structures the investment round, establishes the terms and valuation in a term sheet, and sets the schedule for transaction closing. In Western markets, the Lead VC often represents the largest check in the round, though not necessarily, and this is far less common in Japan.
Japan Lead VC Radar 2021
Accordingly, the Japan Lead VC Radar, 2021 edition depicted below, reflects the number of investments by led by Japan’s independent VC funds into domestic startups in 2021. In a future post I will elaborate on why we believe this is an important tool for Japan’s growing venture ecosystem. Feel free to contact us for any requested corrections.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based LifeHub, the Japanese startup developing a chair-type mobility that can stretch its legs to move in bipedal motion like human, announced on Tuesday that it has secured 100 million yen (about $870,000) from CyberAgent Capital and Incubate Fund in a seed round. This follows their previous pre-seed round securing 30 million yen (about $260,000) from Incubate Fund. LifeHub was launched back in 2021 by three founders. Having been fascinated with building robots since he was a child, CEO Hiroshi Nakano studied robotics and drones at university, and later worked at one of the world’s largestcomputer-aided engineering vendor where he was involved in mobility development and research. CTO Kazuhiro Nomiya designs and develops biomechanics and artificial muscles while CSO Yasuhiro Arakawa specializes in control systems and autonomous driving. The company advocates human augmentation. Unlike conventional wheelchairs, Transella, their flagship product, is able to crouch, stand up, climb over steps, and ride escalators. The mobility is mainly comprised of parts made in Japan which excels in miniaturization technology. It can solve the problems of conventional wheelchairs because of its extended mobility of not only horizontal but also vertical range of movement. Toru Akaura, one of…
Tokyo-based LifeHub, the Japanese startup developing a chair-type mobility that can stretch its legs to move in bipedal motion like human, announced on Tuesday that it has secured 100 million yen (about $870,000) from CyberAgent Capital and Incubate Fund in a seed round. This follows their previous pre-seed round securing 30 million yen (about $260,000) from Incubate Fund.
LifeHub was launched back in 2021 by three founders. Having been fascinated with building robots since he was a child, CEO Hiroshi Nakano studied robotics and drones at university, and later worked at one of the world’s largestcomputer-aided engineering vendor where he was involved in mobility development and research. CTO Kazuhiro Nomiya designs and develops biomechanics and artificial muscles while CSO Yasuhiro Arakawa specializes in control systems and autonomous driving.
The company advocates human augmentation. Unlike conventional wheelchairs, Transella, their flagship product, is able to crouch, stand up, climb over steps, and ride escalators. The mobility is mainly comprised of parts made in Japan which excels in miniaturization technology. It can solve the problems of conventional wheelchairs because of its extended mobility of not only horizontal but also vertical range of movement.
The conceptual image of Transella Image credit: LifeHub
Toru Akaura, one of the representative partner at Incubate Fund, decided to invest in the mobility startup’s first funding round (pre-seed round). He says,
I couldn’t believe it when I heard a lot of ideas from Nakano-san for the first time. But he passionately said “We can do it,” so I bet 30 million yen on them. And his team created the half-size prototype. I’m very much in love with their ability to make things happen.
Hirofumi Kondo, President and CEO of CyberAgent Capital participating in the latest round, first met LifeHub’s Nakano last year at Incubate Camp, an annual entrepreneurship bootcamp program organized by Incubate Fund. In the event, Kondo mentored Nakano and then won the third place of the Capitalist Award which lets entrepreneurs evaluate capitalists as mentors. Kondo says,
Still in a seed round, so we decided our investment based on not only technical or business advantage but also on his personal character. We can help make their business global.
Kondo introducing LifeHub’s Nakano as mentors at Incubate Camp 14th. Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
LifeHub is not the first robotics startup aiming to assist people’s movements, but many of conventional solutions are not suitable for daily use due to cumbersome wearing or installation process. Because of its shape, the mobility device can be used by anyone by simply sitting down to move even on stairs, steep slopes, and rough roads, so it must have a huge need all over the world. The company plans to use the funds to develop a full-scale model of the product by this spring but the global semiconductor shortage may impact their schedule or force them to push it back.
The company is about to set its business model, likely starting with a high-function wheelchair for the elderly and physically challenged. In the future, they are aiming to make it used for climbing stairs, autonomous driving, sharing mobility services for business-to-business use as well as global business expansion. For now, the company plans to offer a unit of the wheelchair for 1.5 million yen (about $13,000) for purchase, or 10,000 yen (about $86) per month on a subscription basis for nursing care, but the price may vary greatly as they have completed no full-scale prototype yet.
Nakano delivers his pitch at Incubate Camp 14th. Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
We’ve seen more than a few startups developing smart wheelchairs, mobility devices, and robots for transportation, but LifeHub’s mobility clearly takes a different approach in terms of moving like a vehicle as well as human bipedal movement. Based on the potential of the technology and the business, Akaura and Kondo praised Nakano, saying that he might be “Elon Mask from Japan”.
Akaura concluded our conversation with saying,
This will be a world-class product. I believe that Nakano has the potential to lead the world from Japan.
See the original story in Japanese. Singapore-based Next Web Capital (NeW) announced on Tuesday that it has secured $10 million in funding from WiL (World Innovation Lab) and crypto exchange Bitbank in addition to the launch of an accelerator aiming to support entrepreneurs in the Web3 and crypto space. The firm supports global Web3.0 protocols, aiming to co-create new projects with entrepreneurs from Japan. The firm was founded by seven Japanese entrepreneurs – Sota Watanabe (CEO, Stake Technologies / Founder, Astar Network), Shun Ishikawa (COO, Astar Network), Kei Seki (Fund Manager, Astar Network), Yudai Suzuki (Co-founder, Fracton Ventures), Toshihiko Kamei (Co-founder, Fracton Ventures), Naoki Akazawa (Co-founder, Fracton Ventures), and Yusuke Obinata (Web3 Foundation). NeW plans to support entrepreneurs starting their business in the new ecosystem based on cryptos and blockchain. Specifically speaking, the firm provides mentoring by its founders and other members, share their experience in addition to offering financial support by actively participating in the DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) and other ecosystems. They also plan to use SAFT (Simple Agreement for Future Tokens) to raise funds for participating entrepreneurs. Expressing his expectations, Masaya Kubota, Partner at WiL, says, In encouraging more and more Japanese startups to expand into the…
Singapore-based Next Web Capital (NeW) announced on Tuesday that it has secured $10 million in funding from WiL (World Innovation Lab) and crypto exchange Bitbank in addition to the launch of an accelerator aiming to support entrepreneurs in the Web3 and crypto space. The firm supports global Web3.0 protocols, aiming to co-create new projects with entrepreneurs from Japan.
The firm was founded by seven Japanese entrepreneurs – Sota Watanabe (CEO, Stake Technologies / Founder, Astar Network), Shun Ishikawa (COO, Astar Network), Kei Seki (Fund Manager, Astar Network), Yudai Suzuki (Co-founder, Fracton Ventures), Toshihiko Kamei (Co-founder, Fracton Ventures), Naoki Akazawa (Co-founder, Fracton Ventures), and Yusuke Obinata (Web3 Foundation).
NeW plans to support entrepreneurs starting their business in the new ecosystem based on cryptos and blockchain. Specifically speaking, the firm provides mentoring by its founders and other members, share their experience in addition to offering financial support by actively participating in the DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) and other ecosystems.
Founders of New Web Capital
They also plan to use SAFT (Simple Agreement for Future Tokens) to raise funds for participating entrepreneurs. Expressing his expectations, Masaya Kubota, Partner at WiL, says,
In encouraging more and more Japanese startups to expand into the global market, I am glad that such young and talented members have joined forces. We want to push them and hope that they will become role models and create a new image of entrepreneurs in the Web3 world.
Toshihiko Kamei, one of the co-founder of NeW, says
For entrepreneurs, especially in the Web3 and crypto space, it’s important to start their business globally from Day 1. Seeing global projects by Japanese entrepreneurs such as Astar Network, UXD Protocol and InsureDAO, more and moe Japanese entrepreneurs are taking on global challenges but the the number of them is still limited.
While technologies, domains, and regulations in each country are changing at a rapid pace, Web 3.0 entrepreneurs are blazing new trails. Our intention to encourage more entrepreneurs from Japan has led us this initiative. The seven of us expect to become role models for Web 3.0 entrepreneurs by being at the forefront of the world ourselves, and also doing our best to support them so that they can become the next role models for entrepreneurs who are willing to take on the world.
It is yet to be decided whether NeW will hold an event-driven acceleration program like more than a few existing accelerators have been doing. If you are interested in joining the program, you should directly contact anyone of the founders or e-mail them through their website.
This guest post is authored by Mark Bivens. Mark is a Silicon Valley native and former entrepreneur, having started three companies before “turning to the dark side of VC.” He is a venture capitalist that travels between Paris and Tokyo (aka the RudeVC). He is the Managing Partner of Shizen Capital (formerly known as Tachi.ai Ventures) in Japan. You can read more on his blog at http://rude.vc or follow him @markbivens. The Japanese translation of this article is available here. We’ve mentioned this before: the venture ecosystem in Japan is on the rise! Now we have some supporting evidence. The Japan VC Radar indicates the most active VC funds in Japan last year. Based on data sourced from Startup DB or the funds directly, the Japan VC Radar depicts the number of new domestic investments in 2021 by Japan’s independent VC funds (note: please feel to contact us for any corrections).
This
guest post is authored by Mark Bivens. Mark is a Silicon Valley native
and former entrepreneur, having started three companies before “turning
to the dark side of VC.”
He is a venture capitalist that travels between Paris and Tokyo (aka the RudeVC). He is the Managing Partner of Shizen Capital (formerly known as Tachi.ai Ventures) in Japan. You can read more on his blog at http://rude.vc or follow him @markbivens. The Japanese translation of this article is available here.
We’ve mentioned this before: the venture ecosystem in Japan is on the rise! Now we have some supporting evidence. The Japan VC Radar indicates the most active VC funds in Japan last year.
Based on data sourced from Startup DB or the funds directly, the Japan VC Radar depicts the number of new domestic investments in 2021 by Japan’s independent VC funds (note: please feel to contact us for any corrections).
Osaka-headquartered Warrantee, the Japanese startup offering free insurance services in the US and Singapore, has publicly filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its initial public offering (IPO), according to a source close to the company. We were told that the company plans to trade under the symbol WRNT on the NASDAQ. Warrantee declined to further comment when contacted by Bridge despite admitting the news is true. Generally speaking, profiles of companies are available on the SEC website just after their IPO application is accepted, but Warrantee’s one does not appear there as of this writing. According to a person familiar with IPO applications in the U.S., the SEC search and retrieval function is not applied for foreign companies until the listing is approved. If the schedule follows SEC’s convention, financial terms are expected to become clear in April followed by the IPO in May as long as everything goes well. Founded back in October of 2013 by CEO Yusuke Shono, Warrantee started its business with helping consumers turn product warranties into digital followed by foraying into the on-demand insurance market in 2017 in collaboration with insurance companies. Subsequently the company started offering free or low-cost on-demand…
Yusuke Shono Image credit: Warrantee
Osaka-headquartered Warrantee, the Japanese startup offering free insurance services in the US and Singapore, has publicly filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its initial public offering (IPO), according to a source close to the company. We were told that the company plans to trade under the symbol WRNT on the NASDAQ. Warrantee declined to further comment when contacted by Bridge despite admitting the news is true.
Generally speaking, profiles of companies are available on the SEC website just after their IPO application is accepted, but Warrantee’s one does not appear there as of this writing. According to a person familiar with IPO applications in the U.S., the SEC search and retrieval function is not applied for foreign companies until the listing is approved. If the schedule follows SEC’s convention, financial terms are expected to become clear in April followed by the IPO in May as long as everything goes well.
Founded back in October of 2013 by CEO Yusuke Shono, Warrantee started its business with helping consumers turn product warranties into digital followed by foraying into the on-demand insurance market in 2017 in collaboration with insurance companies. Subsequently the company started offering free or low-cost on-demand insurance services in the US and Singapore where state-run affordable and universal health insurance systems are less common unlike Japan.
Warrantee’s core team is located in Tokyo and Osaka, but they also have offices in Singapore, New York City, and Silicon Valley. In our coverage last year, someone anonymous involved in the company suggested the possibility of an IPO in the US via a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company). However, the effort is not via a SPAC but a direct one.
Regarding recent NASDAQ listings by Japanese firms, our readers may recall Medirom, the operator of the Re.Ra.Ku massage chain, went public in December of 2020. The youngest Japanese entrepreneur having succeeded in IPO on NASDAQ was Yo Matsushima, who listed his company Crayfish (now known as e-Machi Town) on both the U.S. market and the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Mothers market in 2000 at his age of 26. 36-year-old Warrantee’s Shono appears to be the youngest Japanese entrepreneur ever to go public his company on NASDAQ only.
This is a developing story and may be updated for further details.
See the original story in Japanese. Los Angeles-based Cashi Cake, the startup behind Misaky Tokyo and other D2C-focused Japanese confectionery brands, announced on Wednesday that it has secured 120 million yen (about $1 million) in the first tranche of its seed round. Participating investors include Chiba Dojo Fund, Coconala Skill Partners (CSP), Headline Asia in addition to angel investors including Hiromi Okuda and Shin Murakami. This follows two angel rounds when the startup received 60 million yen (about $600,000) in total from ISGS Investment Works, Jun Nishikawa, Kazuma Yamauchi, Kotaro Tamura, Yoichiro Hirano, Heart Catch and others. The latest tranche brought their total funding sum up to 180 million yen (about $1.6 million). The company will use the funds to expand confectionery manufacturing capacity as well as strengthening the development effort of a seaweed drink brand. Founded by Alyssa Miky in September of 2019, Cashi Cake uses a proprietary technology to process seaweed agar to develop high-end Japanese confectionery products. After serving the Academy Awards and Emmy Awards eve as a vendor, her company has collaborated with Kim Kardashian’s fragrance brand KKW and been featured in the Bon Appétit food magazine. The company has 310,000 followers on its Tiktok account.
Los Angeles-based Cashi Cake, the startup behind Misaky Tokyo and other D2C-focused Japanese confectionery brands, announced on Wednesday that it has secured 120 million yen (about $1 million) in the first tranche of its seed round. Participating investors include Chiba Dojo Fund, Coconala Skill Partners (CSP), Headline Asia in addition to angel investors including Hiromi Okuda and Shin Murakami.
This follows two angel rounds when the startup received 60 million yen (about $600,000) in total from ISGS Investment Works, Jun Nishikawa, Kazuma Yamauchi, Kotaro Tamura, Yoichiro Hirano, Heart Catch and others. The latest tranche brought their total funding sum up to 180 million yen (about $1.6 million). The company will use the funds to expand confectionery manufacturing capacity as well as strengthening the development effort of a seaweed drink brand.
Founded by Alyssa Miky in September of 2019, Cashi Cake uses a proprietary technology to process seaweed agar to develop high-end Japanese confectionery products. After serving the Academy Awards and Emmy Awards eve as a vendor, her company has collaborated with Kim Kardashian’s fragrance brand KKW and been featured in the Bon Appétit food magazine. The company has 310,000 followers on its Tiktok account.
The Bridge
Masaru Ikeda
Takeshi Hirano
