Japanese startup Dots for, the company aiming to help digitalizing rural villages in Africa with distributed communications using mesh network technology, announced on Friday that it has secured 100 million yen (about $670,000 US) in a seed round. Participating investors arew Anobaka, Quantum Leap Ventures (QXLV), G-Startup Fund, and unnamed several angel investors. QXLV followed their previous investment in the startup’s pre-seed seed round in September of 2022.
The company says that it will use the funds to help people in rural areas of African gain access digital services and spend daily lives comparable to those in cities. It also expects to contribute to improving the incomes of rural residents through allowing them to remotely obtain jobs from developed countries and urban areas in Africa through efforts including matching sales of agricultural products.
Dots for was founded in October of 2021 by Carlos Oba, who has worked at Amazon, Recruit, and C Channel, among others, in business startups and management. Prior to launching Dots for, he led the launch of a service for motorcycle cab operators in Tanzania and other countries as a new business manager at Wassha, the Japanese startup delivering electricity to off-grid areas in Africa.
While urban areas in African countries are experiencing economic development and digitalization, rural areas with low incomes are facing a variety of unresolved issues, including Internet connectivity. The company uses mesh network technology to build wireless network infrastructure called d.CONNECT in rural villages in Africa at an overwhelmingly low cost and in a short period of time.
Tokyo-based VC firm Nextblue announced on Tuesday that it has launched its second fund. It has not yet reached its final close but aims to eventually reach a size of 5 billion yen (about $33.6 million US). The new fund aims to create social impact to improve the women’s wellbeing in Japan through the realization of DEIB (Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging). Three business companies including electric power company JERA and Japanese leading PR firm Sunny Side Up Group (TSE: 2180) and several anonymous individual investors have invested in the latest fund. JERA is a 50-50 power generation company owned by TEPCO Holdings (TSE: 9501) and Chubu Electric Power (TSE: 9502). JERA currently has 26 thermal power plants across Japan. The company’s goal is to achieve zero-emission power generation by 2050 through thermal power generation mixing hydrogen with natural gas, zero-emission thermal power generation using hydrogen and ammonia as fuel, and the introduction of renewable energy. The investors in the latest fund are expected to provide an environment for Japanese and European portfolio companies to conduct PoCs (proof of concepts) on women’s wellbeing businesses. Nextblue’s managing partner Kanako Inoue says that JERA’s participation indicates that the power company is committed…
Nextblue’s managing partners: From left, Vincent Tan, Kanako Inoue, Yuichi Kori Image credit: Nextblue
Tokyo-based VC firm Nextblue announced on Tuesday that it has launched its second fund. It has not yet reached its final close but aims to eventually reach a size of 5 billion yen (about $33.6 million US). The new fund aims to create social impact to improve the women’s wellbeing in Japan through the realization of DEIB (Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging).
Three business companies including electric power company JERA and Japanese leading PR firm Sunny Side Up Group (TSE: 2180) and several anonymous individual investors have invested in the latest fund. JERA is a 50-50 power generation company owned by TEPCO Holdings (TSE: 9501) and Chubu Electric Power (TSE: 9502).
JERA currently has 26 thermal power plants across Japan. The company’s goal is to achieve zero-emission power generation by 2050 through thermal power generation mixing hydrogen with natural gas, zero-emission thermal power generation using hydrogen and ammonia as fuel, and the introduction of renewable energy.
The investors in the latest fund are expected to provide an environment for Japanese and European portfolio companies to conduct PoCs (proof of concepts) on women’s wellbeing businesses. Nextblue’s managing partner Kanako Inoue says that JERA’s participation indicates that the power company is committed to changing the world from within the company, as it has been working on new challenges in the energy industry,.
The first fund invests in 39 companies, 4 companies exited
The firm’s first fund was launched in April of 2020 and subsequently announced its first close in March of 2021. The fund size at that point was estimated at 3 billion yen ($28 million in the exchange rate at that time). According to Inoue, investments were made in 39 companies from the first fund, of which about half were Japanese startups and the other half were European startups.
In terms of vertical category, she said, most of their Japanese investees were SaaS startups, in line with industry trends in Japan, while their investments in Europe were largely made into the healthcare and food sectors. This is because, while DTx (Digital Therapeutics) startups have emerged, they are not always effective in treating chronic diseases and other conditions, so the focus was more on somewhat mix of healthcare and food, which usually provides something directly consumed by the body.
In a recent interview with Bridge, Inoue says,
With the first fund, we wanted to prove that Japanese VCs were valuable to European startups and that we could bring European startups to the Japan market.
During the pandemic, some of our portfolio companies struggled to raise funds in Europe and the US, but it was relatively easy for them to access funds in Japan. I think we were able to prove the importance of diversifying the Cap Table .
From the firm’s first fund’s portfolio, INFORICH (TSE: 9338), operator of the ChargeSPOT mobile battery sharing service in Japan, IPOed, while Lana Lab (process mining company, Germany), First A (quick commerce for drugs, Germany), and Bento (aggregating multiple web links into one link, Switzerland), have been respectively acquired by other companies.
MUFG Innovation Partners (MUIP) recently announced that it has just launched its fund III, following its fund II announced in August of 2021. The new fund is expected to have a size of 20 billion yen (about $135 million), the same as each of the previous two funds. The new fund is managed by Mitsubishi UFJ Innovation Partners with financially backed from MUFG Bank and other group companies. In contrast to Mitsubishi UFJ Capital (MUCAP), which usually makes pure investments, MUIP is a corporate venture capital focused on strategic investments exploring collaboration with MUFG companies. MUIP’s AUM (assets under management), including its three core funds and fund of funds (FoF) for the US and Israel markets, now totals approximately 80 billion yen (about $540 million). According to Takashi Sano, Chief Investment Officer at MUIP, the new fund will more focus on investments in Japan and the U.S., following the establishment of the MUFG Ganesha Fund ($300 million US) for India and the MUIP Garuda 1 Fund ($100 million US) for Southeast Asia from last year through this year. In addition, the MUIP Fund II has increased the ratio of investments in Japanese startups compared to the Fund I although it…
Creative Commons License Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) Photo by yo & via Flickr
MUFG Innovation Partners (MUIP) recently announced that it has just launched its fund III, following its fund II announced in August of 2021. The new fund is expected to have a size of 20 billion yen (about $135 million), the same as each of the previous two funds. The new fund is managed by Mitsubishi UFJ Innovation Partners with financially backed from MUFG Bank and other group companies.
In contrast to Mitsubishi UFJ Capital (MUCAP), which usually makes pure investments, MUIP is a corporate venture capital focused on strategic investments exploring collaboration with MUFG companies. MUIP’s AUM (assets under management), including its three core funds and fund of funds (FoF) for the US and Israel markets, now totals approximately 80 billion yen (about $540 million).
According to Takashi Sano, Chief Investment Officer at MUIP, the new fund will more focus on investments in Japan and the U.S., following the establishment of the MUFG Ganesha Fund ($300 million US) for India and the MUIP Garuda 1 Fund ($100 million US) for Southeast Asia from last year through this year. In addition, the MUIP Fund II has increased the ratio of investments in Japanese startups compared to the Fund I although it is unclear whether or not this trend will be applied to the Fund III.
MUFG’s investment and financing initiatives for startups (Amounts represent the total amount of investment including unexecuted amounts) Image credit: MUFG Innovation Partners
Sano says,
MUFG has invested in Liquidity Capital, an Israeli FinTech startup investing in AI startups, from its Fund I and II, and has also invested in Mars Growth Capital, a joint venture established by MUFG Bank and Liquidity Capital in 2020. Mars Growth Capital is preparing a growth stage-focused fund (up to 20 billion yen or $134.6 million US) for the Japanese market while other MUIP-related initiatives are also increasing in Japan.
MUIP will continue to invest in non-fintech startups, including generative AI startups, to explore synergies with MUFG companies. It will also work with overseas banks in which MUFG Bank has invested, such as Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri) in Thailand and Bank Danamon in Indonesia, to encourage these banks’ business partners to introduce new technologies from the startups in which they have invested.
MUIP has invested in more than 40 startups through several funds to date, and the total investment in 2022 reached about 10 billion yen ($67.3 million US). For middle-stage and later startups, MUIP has also made direct investments from MUFG Bank and others, bringing the total amount of its investment framework in startups and other digital companies to approximately 570 billion yen ($3.8 billion US).
As for large funds from major Japanese financial conglomerates, SMBC launched a $200 million corporate venture capital fund called SMBC Asia Rising Fund in Singapore in May, jointly with Incubate Fund. In April, Mizuho Financial Group established a $10 billion corporate venture capital called Mizuho Innovation Frontier. In both cases, their investments are intended to explore synergies with their core businesses respectively.
Tokyo-based Josys, the Japanese startup offering outsourced corporate IT service to manage employees’ IT devices and SaaS accounts, announced on Wednesday that it has secured 13.5 billion yen (about $91.7 million US) in a Series B round. This round is led by Global Brain and Globis Capital Partners with participation from Jafco (TSE:8595), Raksul (TSE:4384), SMBC-GB Growth Fund (managed by SMBC Venture Capital Management and Global Brain), 31 Ventures (managed by Mitsui Fudosan and Global Brain), Norinchukin Capital, Z Venture Capital, WiL (World Innovation Lab), NTT Docomo Ventures, Value Chain Innovation Fund (managed by Seino Holdings and Spiral Innovation Fund), and Yamauchi-No.10 (owned by Nintendo founder’s family office). Global Brain, Yamauchi-No.10, and WiL followed this previous investment in Josys’ previous Series A round. The latest round brought the company’s funding sum up to date tp 17.9 billion yen (about $120 million US). Most of the investors are not operating company-backed but purely investment companies, which means that they are expecting business growth rather than business synergies with enterprises. Josys will use the funds to expand its global presence and diversify the company size of their targeted potential users. The service was initially launched in September of 2021 as the fourth…
Josys CEO Yasukane Matsumoto Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Tokyo-based Josys, the Japanese startup offering outsourced corporate IT service to manage employees’ IT devices and SaaS accounts, announced on Wednesday that it has secured 13.5 billion yen (about $91.7 million US) in a Series B round.
This round is led by Global Brain and Globis Capital Partners with participation from Jafco (TSE:8595), Raksul (TSE:4384), SMBC-GB Growth Fund (managed by SMBC Venture Capital Management and Global Brain), 31 Ventures (managed by Mitsui Fudosan and Global Brain), Norinchukin Capital, Z Venture Capital, WiL (World Innovation Lab), NTT Docomo Ventures, Value Chain Innovation Fund (managed by Seino Holdings and Spiral Innovation Fund), and Yamauchi-No.10 (owned by Nintendo founder’s family office).
Global Brain, Yamauchi-No.10, and WiL followed this previous investment in Josys’ previous Series A round. The latest round brought the company’s funding sum up to date tp 17.9 billion yen (about $120 million US). Most of the investors are not operating company-backed but purely investment companies, which means that they are expecting business growth rather than business synergies with enterprises. Josys will use the funds to expand its global presence and diversify the company size of their targeted potential users.
The Josys management team Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
The service was initially launched in September of 2021 as the fourth business of Japanese online printing and on-demand logistics company Raksul (TSE:4384). Earlier this year, it was spun off from and incorporated as a subsidiary of Rakusul. In March of 2022, Josys increased its capital through a third-party allotment to undisclosed investors to become an equity-method affiliate from a consolidated subsidiary of Raksul (35.6% of voting rights at that time). Raksul’s voting right ownership in Josys has been apparently diluted after the Series A round.
The service allows companies to integrate and outsource management, procurement, and kitting IT devices and SaaS accounts for their employees. It aims to improve the operational efficiency of a company’s IT management department, expecting to reduce the workload of corporate IT departments by about a quarter through cloud computing and outsourcing. The company expects it may help companies reduce the turnover rate of staff in charge of IT systems.
The company’s new global expansion effort includes their service launch in 40 countries in the North America and Asia Pacific regions. The entire Josys team is about 120 people. Of these, 30 are in Japan, 70 in India, 10 in Vietnam, and the rest of the team are based in San Francisco Bay Area. Many of the systems required have been developed in India while the overall service design is being done in the Bay Area. Sales and on-boarding processes in the Asia Pacific Region are provided by their teams in Singapore and Malaysia.
Josys’ upcoming business domain by including larger enterprises as a target Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Josys has been focused on small and medium-sized businesses with less than 300 employees but will now target larger enterprises going forward. In some large enterprises, SaaS is not centrally managed by the system department (so called ‘shadow IT’), and the collapse of IT governance is becoming an issue. The company believes that the integration of employee-based information ledgers will contribute to the reconstruction of the Single Source of Truth (SSOT) for IT management.
The Josys management in Japan. From left, VP of Japan Marketing Michibumi Serizawa, CEO Yasukane Matsumoto, Japan SVP Kiyomitsu Takayama, and VP of Japan Sales Mikito Hayashi. Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
To strengthen the team, the company appoints Kiyomitsu Takayama, former Japan head of Pendo.io Japan, as Japan SVP at Josys; Mikito Hayashi, former Executive Officer and General Manager of Enterprise Sales at ZVC Japan, as VP of Japan Sales at Josys; and Michibumi Serizawa, former General Manager of Major Account Sales at Palo Alto Networks, as Japan Sales at Palo Alto Networks. In addition, the company will launch the Josys Academy to share knowledge and insights to help Japanese companies adopt digital transformation.
Josys initially introduced the concept of its business in September of 2021 and subsequently launched it in 2022, seeing a 10-fold increase in ARR (annual recurring revenue) over the past year (specific values not disclosed). The company attributed the growth to the management burden of IT devices and SaaS, the increase in IT deployment in each department, and the dispersion of IT managers, while many companies have massively adapted work-from-home and SaaS as the new normal after COVID-19.
Tokyo-based Mujin, the Japanese startup developing intelligent robotics solutions for industrial use, announced on Tuesday that it has secured 12.3 billion yen (over $83 million US) in a Series C round. Participating investors include SBI Investment, Pegasus Tech Ventures, Accenture, Dr. James Kuffner (robotics researcher, CEO of Toyota’s Wovn Planet Holdings), and 7-Industries Holdings. This follows the company’s Series B round back in August of 2014. The latest round brought their funding sum up to date to 20.5 billion yen (about $139 million). Mujin was founded in 2011 by robotics scientist Rosen Diankov and grew out of the University of Tokyo. His team developed OpenRAVE, motion planning software for real robot applications, as well as Mujin Controller, software enabling simulate different robot motion patterns and optimize performance before full-scale operation. In 2012, the company secured 75 million yen (about $960,000 US in the exchange rate at the time) from the University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC) and other investors in a Series A round. See also: 9 Japanese robotics startups to watch in 2014 In robotics operations, automation of complex processes has conventionally been considered difficult. However, Mujin Controller has given intelligence to robots, enabling them to adapt to changes…
Image credit: Mujin
Tokyo-based Mujin, the Japanese startup developing intelligent robotics solutions for industrial use, announced on Tuesday that it has secured 12.3 billion yen (over $83 million US) in a Series C round. Participating investors include SBI Investment, Pegasus Tech Ventures, Accenture, Dr. James Kuffner (robotics researcher, CEO of Toyota’s Wovn Planet Holdings), and 7-Industries Holdings. This follows the company’s Series B round back in August of 2014. The latest round brought their funding sum up to date to 20.5 billion yen (about $139 million).
Mujin was founded in 2011 by robotics scientist Rosen Diankov and grew out of the University of Tokyo. His team developed OpenRAVE, motion planning software for real robot applications, as well as Mujin Controller, software enabling simulate different robot motion patterns and optimize performance before full-scale operation. In 2012, the company secured 75 million yen (about $960,000 US in the exchange rate at the time) from the University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC) and other investors in a Series A round.
In robotics operations, automation of complex processes has conventionally been considered difficult. However, Mujin Controller has given intelligence to robots, enabling them to adapt to changes in the environment. In addition to industrial robots, Mujin also provides large-scale automation solutions by linking robots with robot hands, AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles), conveyors, and other devices.
The company will use the funds to invest in technology for intelligent robot controllers and 3D vision systems to achieve greater sophistication and multifunctionality. They also plan to launch new products such as mobile robots and devanning robots, provide total automation solutions, promote business expansion into the European market in addition to the US market where they already have presence.
Japanese startup Caster, the company offering online-based office assistant services for companies, announced on Wednesday that its initial listing application on the Tokyo Stock Exchange had been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on October 4 with plans to offer 350,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 52,500 shares in over-allotment options. The underwriting will be led by Daiwa Securities while Caster’s ticker code will be 9331. Based on the company’s estimated issue price is 650 yen (about $4.5) per share, its market cap is approximately 1.24 billion yen (about $8.5 million). Its share price range will be released on September 14 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on September 19 and pricing on September 25. The final public offering price will be determined on September 26. According to its consolidated statement as of August of 2022, the company posted revenue of 3.34 billion yen ($23 million) with an ordinary loss of 161.8 million yen ($1.1 million). Founded in September of 2014, the company offers Caster Biz and other services helping enterprises connect with freelance or contract-based remote workers to outsource corporate tasks such as secretary, personnel, accounting, and translation operations. Over 800 remote workers…
Japanese startup Caster, the company offering online-based office assistant services for companies, announced on Wednesday that its initial listing application on the Tokyo Stock Exchange had been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on October 4 with plans to offer 350,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 52,500 shares in over-allotment options. The underwriting will be led by Daiwa Securities while Caster’s ticker code will be 9331.
Based on the company’s estimated issue price is 650 yen (about $4.5) per share, its market cap is approximately 1.24 billion yen (about $8.5 million). Its share price range will be released on September 14 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on September 19 and pricing on September 25. The final public offering price will be determined on September 26. According to its consolidated statement as of August of 2022, the company posted revenue of 3.34 billion yen ($23 million) with an ordinary loss of 161.8 million yen ($1.1 million).
Founded in September of 2014, the company offers Caster Biz and other services helping enterprises connect with freelance or contract-based remote workers to outsource corporate tasks such as secretary, personnel, accounting, and translation operations. Over 800 remote workers have been registered while the company has served more than 2,900 companies in total as of 2021.
Major shareholders include Incubate Fund (25.24% through two funds), Blue Monday (20.05%, founder and CEO Shota Nakagawa’s asset management company), WiL (11.1%), Daiwa Corporate Investment (9.33%), Strive (6.08%), CEO Nakagawa (3.54%), Gree Co-Invest (3.3%), SMBC Venture Capital (2.8%), Gunosy Capital (2.43%), Hideaki Ishikura (1.7%, managing director), Dip (1.21%, TSE:2379), and Yamaguchi Capital (1.21%).
The Bridge
Masaru Ikeda
