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%).
Zeals is an equity-method affiliate of Freakout Holdings (TSE: 6094) and has developed AI-powered marketing bots for e-commerce companies and others. The company announced on Thursday that it has secured 5 billion yen (over $38 million US) in its latest round. Participating investors are the Japanese government-backed JIC Venture Growth Investments, Z Venture Capital, Japan Post Capital, and Salesforce Ventures. The sum includes debt financing from Mizuho nank and Mitsui UFJ Bank. Zeals was founded in April of 2014 with developing conversational robot software as its core business. In May of 2017, the company officially launched the Fanp chatbot management tool, but later pivoted to interactive advertising using chatbots. Prior to the latest round, they secured a seed round in January of 2015, a Series A round in May of 2017, a Series B round in January of 2018, an extended Series B round in April of 2019, and 1.8 billion yen in April of 2021. The latest round brought their funding sum up to date to over 7.65 billion yen (over $59 million US) including debt. Zeals’ solution allows users to purchase products while conversing with a chatbot, and has been introduced to approximately 400 companies with a total…
Image credit: Zeals
Zeals is an equity-method affiliate of Freakout Holdings (TSE: 6094) and has developed AI-powered marketing bots for e-commerce companies and others. The company announced on Thursday that it has secured 5 billion yen (over $38 million US) in its latest round. Participating investors are the Japanese government-backed JIC Venture Growth Investments, Z Venture Capital, Japan Post Capital, and Salesforce Ventures. The sum includes debt financing from Mizuho nank and Mitsui UFJ Bank.
Zeals was
founded in April of 2014 with developing conversational robot software as
its core business. In May of 2017, the company officially launched the
Fanp chatbot management tool, but later pivoted to interactive
advertising using chatbots. Prior to the latest round, they secured a
seed round in January of 2015, a Series A round in May of 2017, a Series
B round in January of 2018, an extended Series B round in April of
2019, and 1.8 billion yen in April of 2021. The latest round brought
their funding sum up to date to over 7.65 billion yen (over $59 million
US) including debt.
Zeals’ solution allows users to purchase
products while conversing with a chatbot, and has been introduced to
approximately 400 companies with a total of 4.3 million end users, which
has contributed to analyzing 450 million conversation data sets (as of
March of 2021). Leveraging the asset of these data sets, it
enables user-oriented communication and supports clients’ marketing
strategies.
Zeals’ IPO filing application to the Tokyo Stock
Exchange Mothers was approved in November, however, the company
soon postponed listing procedures due to deteriorating funding trends
resulting from changes in U.S. monetary policy, IPO market trends, and
the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The company said it would make a new
decision on when to resume the procedures after assessing trends.
In his recent “Note” post, Masahiro Shimizu, founder and CEO of Zeals, revealed that the company’s team has tripled in size from before the COVID-19 pandemic to about 300 people, including about 100 engineers, 80% of whom are foreigners. The company plans to focus on product development, NLG (natural language generation) development, and global expansion, aiming to deliver chatbot-based commerce solutions to 100 million monthly active users by 2030.
Tokyo- and Bangkok-based fintech startup Opn (formerly Omise, formerly Synqa) announced on Monday that it has secured $120 million US in a Series C+ round. Reuters reported that this round made the company become Japan’s 5th unicorn. A unicorn refers to a startup with a value of over $1 billion. Investors in the latest round are JIC Venture Growth Investments, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, and Mars Growth Capital (jointly operated by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Israel-based fintech company Liquidity Capital). The startup was founded in 2013 by CEO Jun Hasegawa and COO Ezra Don Harinsut. Among disclosed funding updates, their previous round was made in June 2020 and secured $80 million from several Toyota Motor-affiliated companies and SCB 1OX, the startup investment arm of Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand. Opn’s clients include Toyota Motor and Thai duty-free giant King Power. The company claims that it serves more than 7,000 merchants, mainly in Japan and Southeast Asia, including McDonald’s and Toyota Motor. See also: Omise secures series B++ round funding from Global Brain, Mitsui Fudosan, SMDV Omise, Global Brain to build global network of co-working spaces for blockchain startups Japan’s Global Brain establishing fund to invest in blockchain tech, jointly with…
Opn founders: CEO Jun Hasegawa on right, COO Ezra Don Harinsut on left Image credit: Opn
Tokyo-
and Bangkok-based fintech startup Opn (formerly Omise, formerly Synqa)
announced on Monday that it has secured $120 million US in a Series C+
round. Reuters reported that this round made the company become Japan’s
5th unicorn. A unicorn refers to a startup with a value of over $1
billion.
Investors in the latest round are JIC Venture Growth
Investments, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, and Mars Growth Capital (jointly
operated by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Israel-based fintech
company Liquidity Capital).
The startup was founded in 2013 by
CEO Jun Hasegawa and COO Ezra Don Harinsut. Among disclosed funding
updates, their previous round was made in June 2020 and secured $80
million from several Toyota Motor-affiliated companies and SCB 1OX, the
startup investment arm of Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand.
Opn’s clients include Toyota Motor and Thai duty-free giant King Power. The company claims that it serves more than 7,000 merchants, mainly in Japan and Southeast Asia, including McDonald’s and Toyota Motor.
The Bridge
Masaru Ikeda
