Gitai US Office in Los Angeles Image credit: Gitai
Tokyo-based Gitai, the Japanese telexistance robotics startup for the space industry, announced last week that it has opened an office in Los Angeles for R&D, manufacturing, and business development. The company will begin recruiting project managers as well as various types of engineers in earnest. They had been conducting all business activities in Tokyo until now. As collaboration with US agencies and private companies like Nanoracks and NASA has increased, including the successful onboard demonstration of their robot to the International Space Station last year, the company has decided to facilitate US operations.
Prior to launching Gitai in 2016 (under its previous name of MacroSpace), the company’s founder Sho Nakanose previously worked for IBM Japan followed by founding an IT services company in India and sold it to an Indian company. Some of our readers may recall that Yuto Nakanishi, a humanoid scientist/engineer and former CEO of Schaft (acquied by Google X), joined Gitai as COO (now CRO, Chief Robot Officer). Gitai secured $4.1 million US in a Series A round in July of 2019 followed by 1.8 billion yen (about $17 million US in the exchange rate at the time) in a Series B round in March of 2021.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based fashion item rental startup AirCloset announced on Friday that its IPO application to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange had been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on July 29 with plans to offer 733,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 130,000 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 136,700 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho Securities while AirCloset’s ticker code will be 9557. Its share price range will be released on July 11 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on July 12 and pricing on July 19. The final public offering price will be determined on July 20. Based on the company’s estimated issue price is 870 yen (about $6.5) per share, its market cap is approximately 6.4 billion yen (about $47.5 million). According to its consolidated statement as of June of 2021, the company posted revenue of 2.89 billion yen ($21.4 million) with an ordinary profit of 29.35 million yen ($217,000). Since its launch back in July of 2014, AirCloset has been offering a variety of fashion item rental services. Starting with a monthly subscription-based service delivering outfits coordinated by professional stylists, the…
Tokyo-based fashion item rental startup AirCloset announced on Friday that its IPO application to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange had been approved.
The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on July 29 with plans to offer 733,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 130,000 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 136,700 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho Securities while AirCloset’s ticker code will be 9557.
Its share price range will be released on July 11 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on July 12 and pricing on July 19. The final public offering price will be determined on July 20.
Based on the company’s estimated issue price is 870 yen (about $6.5) per share, its market cap is approximately 6.4 billion yen (about $47.5 million). According to its consolidated statement as of June of 2021, the company posted revenue of 2.89 billion yen ($21.4 million) with an ordinary profit of 29.35 million yen ($217,000).
Since its launch back in July of 2014, AirCloset has been offering a variety of fashion item rental services. Starting with a monthly subscription-based service delivering outfits coordinated by professional stylists, the company launched a physcal store in October of 2016 followed by a monthly subscription-based rental mall service back in April of 2020.
Led by founder and CEO Satoshi Amanuma (17.8%), the company’s major shareholders include Monoful Pte. Ltd. (14.28%), Terrada Warehouse (10.92%), Sumitomo Corporation (10.3%, TSE: 8053) , SIG Asia Fund IV, LLLP (10.30%), Jafco (8.75%, TSE: 8595), managing director Yusuke Maekawa (4.01%), Samurai Incubate (3.50%), managing director Shoichi Kotani (2.06%), SMBC Venture Capital (2.06%), and Nakazono Holdings (2.04%, operator of “White Kyubin” laundry shop chain).
Tokyo-based LegalForce announced on Thursday that it has secured approximately 13.7 billion yen (over $101.6 million US) in a Series D round. The round is led by by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 with participation from Sequoia China, Goldman Sachs, WiL (World Innovaion Lab, Mizuho Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, and others. WiL, Mizuho Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital followed their previous investment. The latest round brought the startup’s funding sumup to approximately 17.9 billion yen (over $132.8 million US). LegalForce has been offering two SaaS tools: LegalForce and LegalForce Cabinet. LegalForce uses natural language processing and other technologies to offer functions such as reviewing contracts according the type of agreement, detecting clauses that may be omitted or risky in addition to prevent omissions and oversights. Sine its launch back in April of 2019, the service has been serving more than 2,000 companies and law firms. Regarding LegalForce Cabinet, when you upload contracts/documents into it, its artificial intelligence will automatically read titles, names of contracting parties, and contract expiration date to create a ledger of them. As of June, the service is used by over 450 companies.
The LegalForce team Image credit: LegalForce
Tokyo-based LegalForce announced on Thursday that it has secured approximately 13.7 billion yen (over $101.6 million US) in a Series D round.
The round is led by by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 with participation from Sequoia China, Goldman Sachs, WiL (World Innovaion Lab, Mizuho Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, and others. WiL, Mizuho Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital followed their previous investment. The latest round brought the startup’s funding sumup to approximately 17.9 billion yen (over $132.8 million US).
LegalForce has been offering two SaaS tools: LegalForce and LegalForce Cabinet.
LegalForce uses natural language processing and other technologies to offer functions such as reviewing contracts according the type of agreement, detecting clauses that may be omitted or risky in addition to prevent omissions and oversights. Sine its launch back in April of 2019, the service has been serving more than 2,000 companies and law firms.
Regarding LegalForce Cabinet, when you upload contracts/documents into it, its artificial intelligence will automatically read titles, names of contracting parties, and contract expiration date to create a ledger of them. As of June, the service is used by over 450 companies.
Tokyo-based Wassha, building a retail platform by networking local kiosks in rural Africa, announced on Friday that it has raised $1.14 billion yen (about $8.2 million US) in a series C round. Dai-ichi Life Insurance, Daikin Industries (TSE: 6367), Mistletoe Japan, Yamaha Motor (TSE: 7272), and the University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC) participated in this round. UTEC also participated in Wassha’s series A and series B rounds while Daikin Industries, Mistletoe Japan, and Yamaha Motor follow on their investments from the startup’s series B round. The latest round brought their funding sum up to date to approximately 3.5 billion yen (about $26 million yen). Wassha was founded in November of 2013 under its previous name of Digital Grid. The company first started its business with a prepaid solar power delivery service to off-grid areas. In this service, solar panels and rechargeable batteries are installed at affiliated kiosks in rural villages without electricity, and LED lanterns, radios, tablets and other household appliances are provided for rent free of charge. The kiosk rents these appliances to village residents who visit the kiosk and pay fees by mobile to return an empty battery and receive get a charged one on a…
Image credit: Wassha
Tokyo-based Wassha, building a retail platform by networking local kiosks in rural Africa, announced on Friday that it has raised $1.14 billion yen (about $8.2 million US) in a series C round. Dai-ichi Life Insurance, Daikin Industries (TSE: 6367), Mistletoe Japan, Yamaha Motor (TSE: 7272), and the University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC) participated in this round.
UTEC also participated in Wassha’s series A and series B rounds while Daikin Industries, Mistletoe Japan, and Yamaha Motor follow on their investments from the startup’s series B round. The latest round brought their funding sum up to date to approximately 3.5 billion yen (about $26 million yen).
Wassha was founded in November of 2013
under its previous name of Digital Grid. The company first started its
business with a prepaid solar power delivery service to off-grid areas.
In this service, solar panels and rechargeable batteries are installed
at affiliated kiosks in rural villages without electricity, and LED
lanterns, radios, tablets and other household appliances are provided for rent free of charge. The kiosk rents these appliances to village residents who visit the kiosk and pay fees by mobile to return an empty battery and receive get a charged one on a daily basis.
recharge their
batteries and pay fee the residents by mobile payments.
Our readers may recall that three investors in the latest round – Daikin Industries, Mistletoe Japan, and Yamaha Motor – announced that each of them would collaboratively work with Wassha when they previously announced their participation in the series B round. With Daikin Industries, Wassha has jointly developed a subscription-based air conditioner rental business in developing countries through Baridi Baridi, a joint venture of the two companies; With Yamaha Motor, Wassha will jointly study a logistics business (a distribution network using motorcycles to connect kiosks); and with Mistletoe Japan, Wassha considers to leverage the kiosk network for the investor’s portoflio startups. Dai-ichi Life says this is a part of their impact investment activities.
First started its service in Tanzania, the company
also has now its presence in Uganda and Mozambique, and plans to expand
into the Democratic Republic of the Congo within the year. They have so
far partnered with more than 5,100 local kiosks. LED lanterns, their flagship product, has been rented 100,000 times per day. Going forward, they
plan to leverage their network of the kiosks to provide both social and
business services in finance, logistics, and other various areas.
Singapore- and Tokyo-based aquatech startup Umitron announced on Tuesday that it has raised 1.22 billion yen (about $9.2 million US) in a pre-series B round from ENEOS Holdings (TSE: 5020), QB Capital, and Toyo Seikan Group Holdings (TSE: 5901). The amount includes debt from Shoko Chukin Bank and other financial institutions. The latest round follows their series A round (raising 1.22 billion yen or $9.2 million US) back in 2018, and brought the funding sum to date up to 2.44 billion yen ($18.4 million US). Since its launch back in April of 2016, Umitron has developed several solutions for aquaculture farming such as Umitron Remora (AI-powered software that can be installed in existing facilities at large-scale aquaculture farms), Umitron Eagle (AI-powered real-time analysis for shrimp farming) as well as Umitron Pulse (web-based ocean satellite data service). The company announced in February that it has partnered with Eneos Holdings, one of the investors participating in this round, to launch joint research on technology applications in blue carbon businesses. Upon this funding, in addition to strengthening the business foundation of its existing and new services and cooperation with the investors, Umitron intends to accelerate its global business expansion for salmon and shrimp…
Umitron Pulse Image credit: Umitron
Singapore- and Tokyo-based aquatech startup Umitron announced on Tuesday that it has raised 1.22 billion yen (about $9.2 million US) in a pre-series B round from ENEOS Holdings (TSE: 5020), QB Capital, and Toyo Seikan Group Holdings (TSE: 5901). The amount includes debt from Shoko Chukin Bank and other financial institutions. The latest round follows their series A round (raising 1.22 billion yen or $9.2 million US) back in 2018, and brought the funding sum to date up to 2.44 billion yen ($18.4 million US).
Since its launch back in April of 2016, Umitron has developed several solutions for aquaculture farming such as Umitron Remora (AI-powered software that can be installed in existing facilities at large-scale aquaculture farms), Umitron Eagle (AI-powered real-time analysis for shrimp farming) as well as Umitron Pulse (web-based ocean satellite data service). The company announced in February that it has partnered with Eneos Holdings, one of the investors participating in this round, to launch joint research on technology applications in blue carbon businesses.
Upon this funding, in addition to
strengthening the business foundation of its existing and new services
and cooperation with the investors, Umitron intends to accelerate its
global business expansion for salmon and shrimp farming industries. The
company has teams in Singapore and Japan, and plans to set up more local
subsidiaries and business development teams in the major salmon farming
markets such as Nordic countries and Chile, as well as in Southeast
Asia, a major shrimp farming market.
Fukuoka-headquartered startup Nulab, offering various SaaS (software as a service) such as BackLog, Cacoo and Typetalk, announced on Tuesday that its IPO application to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange had been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on June 28 with plans to offer 510,300 shares for public subscription and to sell 290,800 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 1,429,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by SMBC Nikko Securities while Nulab’s ticker code will be 5033. Based on the company’s estimated issue price is 2,130 yen (about $16.8) per share, its market cap is approximately 13.74 billion yen (about $108 million). Its share price range will be released on June 10 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on June 13 and pricing on June 17. The final public offering price will be determined on June 20. According to its consolidated statement as of March of 2021, the company posted revenue of 1.94 billion yen ($15.3 million) with an ordinary loss of 8.52 million yen ($67,000). Since its launch back in March of 2004 by CEO Masanori Hashimoto and others, Nulab has been offering cloud-based solutions helping companies and individuals improve their productivity….
The Nulab team on the rooftop of its headquarters in Fukuoka, Japan Image credit: Nulab
Fukuoka-headquartered startup Nulab, offering various SaaS (software as a service) such as BackLog, Cacoo and Typetalk, announced on Tuesday that its IPO application to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange had been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on June 28 with plans to offer 510,300 shares for public subscription and to sell 290,800 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 1,429,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by SMBC Nikko Securities while Nulab’s ticker code will be 5033.
Based on the company’s estimated issue price is 2,130 yen (about $16.8) per share, its market cap is approximately 13.74 billion yen (about $108 million). Its share price range will be released on June 10 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on June 13 and pricing on June 17. The final public offering price will be determined on June 20. According to its consolidated statement as of March of 2021, the company posted revenue of 1.94 billion yen ($15.3 million) with an ordinary loss of 8.52 million yen ($67,000).
Since its launch back in March of 2004 by CEO Masanori Hashimoto and others, Nulab has been offering cloud-based solutions helping companies and individuals improve their productivity. In addition to its headquarters in Fukuoka, the company is actively expanding both domestically and internationally, and now has development and marketing teams in New York, Singapore, and Amsterdam as well as several Japanese cities.
Led by CEO Hashimoto (25.42%), the company’s major shareholders include co-founder / director / head of NY office Shinsuke Tabata (25.34%), Alioth (24.01%), Now (4.93%), Nulab’s ESOP (employee stock ownership plan, 4.48%), East Ventures (4.3% through two funds), XTech Ventures (2.74%), and Shinsei Capital Partners (1.46%).