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Japan’s Boostnote secures funding to boost global expansion of GitHub alternative

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This guest post is authored by Masanori Hashimoto, co-founder and CEO of Nulab, the Fukuoka-based startup behind SaaS (software as a service) platforms like Backlog, Cacoo and Typetalk. In addition to managing his startup, he has been involved in various local initiatives encouraging entrepreneurship such as Oreoka.com and Myojo Waraku. See the original story in Japanese. Fukuoka-based Maisin & Co., the Japanese startup developing a programmer tool called Boostnote, recently announced that it has rebranded into BoostIO and raised an undislosed sum from Japanese seed round-focused startup funds Anri and F Ventures in addition to six angel investors. Participating angel investors include several key players on the local startup scene in the western Japan city of Fukuoka such as Shinji Hamauzu (CEO of Aratana) and Shuhei Hiya (Tech Lead of Tsumug, Former Head of Uhuru Technical Rockstars). Junji Murakami, one of the Myojo Waraku startup festival organizers, is helping increase angel investors in the city because he thinks not only VC funds but also angel investors are crucial upon building the local startup community. Other angel investors participating in this round were Masao Ito (CEO of User Local), Shinichi Iwata (Japan head of Atomico and former President of Skype Japan),…

This guest post is authored by Masanori Hashimoto, co-founder and CEO of Nulab, the Fukuoka-based startup behind SaaS (software as a service) platforms like Backlog, Cacoo and Typetalk.

In addition to managing his startup, he has been involved in various local initiatives encouraging entrepreneurship such as Oreoka.com and Myojo Waraku.


L to R: Anri Samata (founder of Anri), Kazumasa Yokomizo (CEO of BoostIO CEO), Choi Junyoung (BoostIO CTO)
Image credit: BoostIO

See the original story in Japanese.

Fukuoka-based Maisin & Co., the Japanese startup developing a programmer tool called Boostnote, recently announced that it has rebranded into BoostIO and raised an undislosed sum from Japanese seed round-focused startup funds Anri and F Ventures in addition to six angel investors.

Participating angel investors include several key players on the local startup scene in the western Japan city of Fukuoka such as Shinji Hamauzu (CEO of Aratana) and Shuhei Hiya (Tech Lead of Tsumug, Former Head of Uhuru Technical Rockstars). Junji Murakami, one of the Myojo Waraku startup festival organizers, is helping increase angel investors in the city because he thinks not only VC funds but also angel investors are crucial upon building the local startup community.

Other angel investors participating in this round were Masao Ito (CEO of User Local), Shinichi Iwata (Japan head of Atomico and former President of Skype Japan), Yusuke Sato (President of FreakOut Holdings) and an unnamed angel investor.

Angel investors participating in this round
Image credit: BoostIO

With native apps for platforms including Macintosh, Windows, Linux, Android and iOS, Boostnote allows system developers to save and share their source codes online. The open source project was launched in beta under the previous name of Boost back in 2015 but it has succeeded in engaging contributors from around the world to build up a global community.

Programmers worldwide are now participating in development and improvement of Boostnote, which is also so loosely operated as a warm community that their users can help each others solve questions and bugs. Going forward, the team expects to provide more versatile solutions while verifying technical issues.

Boostnote
Image credit: BoostIO

Boostnote is characterized by its global spread in both developers and users since almost all developers and 82% of users are based outside Japan. With user access from more than 200 countries, the service has seen a good growth by taking the “global-first” strategy from Day One. In view of a notebook app, many of us will first come up with Evernote but the app has become complicated and heavy because of too many functions that are overloaded and eventually churn existing users. I wish Boostnote maintains simplicity yet still excites programmers.

The BoostIO team has strength not only in software development but also as to community of open source programmers that they have been steadily building. Their co-founders CEO Kazumasa Yokomizo and CTO Choi Junyoung are looking at future workstyle through open source activities while having started stepping toward the next growth under the stealth mode. Just after they finished a meeting with their investors, I had a chance to talk with them. They looked full of energy and told me:

I want to make big things happen within 2018.

Happy new year to all!

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Japan’s Skydisc raises $6.5M to bring one-stop AI and IoT solution to various industries

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See the original story in Japanese. Fukuoka-based Skydisc, a Japanese startup focused on developing and offering a one-stop solution from artificial intelligence to IoT (Internet of Things), announced today that it has fundraised 740 million yen (about $6.5 million) in the latest round. It’s supposed to be a series A round. Investors participating in this round are Nissay Capital, DG Daiwa Ventures (the joint venture of Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities), Energy & Environment Investment, Yamaguchi Capital (the investment arm of Yamaguchi Financial Group), Kaga Electronics (TSE:8154), Dogan Beta (the investment arm of a Fukuoka-based financial consulting firm) and Archetype Ventures. For Skydisc, this follows their seed round raising 100 million yen (about $855,000) back in January of 2016 which Nissay Capital, Dogan and Archetype previously participated in too. See also: Startups spring into action to secure apex access Myojo Waraku: Japan’s rendition of SXSW begins in Fukuoka with showcasing prominent startups Since its launch back in October of 2013, Skydisc has been developing a variety of detachable sensor devices and the cloud for storing, then analyzing data from these devices. Offering products including SkyLogger (previously known as Ginga Box), the company’s flagship sensor product line-up, that allow users to…

See the original story in Japanese.

Fukuoka-based Skydisc, a Japanese startup focused on developing and offering a one-stop solution from artificial intelligence to IoT (Internet of Things), announced today that it has fundraised 740 million yen (about $6.5 million) in the latest round. It’s supposed to be a series A round. Investors participating in this round are Nissay Capital, DG Daiwa Ventures (the joint venture of Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities), Energy & Environment Investment, Yamaguchi Capital (the investment arm of Yamaguchi Financial Group), Kaga Electronics (TSE:8154), Dogan Beta (the investment arm of a Fukuoka-based financial consulting firm) and Archetype Ventures. For Skydisc, this follows their seed round raising 100 million yen (about $855,000) back in January of 2016 which Nissay Capital, Dogan and Archetype previously participated in too.

See also:

Skydisc founder and CEO Osamu Hashimoto was onstage at the Toryumon startup event in Fukuoka in September.
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

Since its launch back in October of 2013, Skydisc has been developing a variety of detachable sensor devices and the cloud for storing, then analyzing data from these devices. Offering products including SkyLogger (previously known as Ginga Box), the company’s flagship sensor product line-up, that allow users to choose up to three detachable sensors out of 14 different sensors to plug into a circuit board. Data acquired with these sensors can be monitored on SkyAnalyzer (previously known as Ginga Cloud), the company’s data management and analysis platform. In particular for the agricultural industry, Skydisc has already started offering an optimized package called Hatamori, literally meaning vegetable field keeper.

Starting off with connected sensors and the analytics cloud, the firm’s services have been further evolved so that they are playing an important role in automated oeprations, especially in the industries suffering from the lack of successors of skilled workers.

In the factory safety sector, Skydisc has introduced an AI- and IoT-powered machine fault detection system to a major power plant, succeeded in detecting faults with 95% accuracy. The firm, together with Kyushu University, has been conducting a joint research of automated fault detections around factory equipments and ball bearings, with the aim to improve the detection accuracy. The firm claims their technology is highly evaluated because of succeeding creating fault case data model by simulating from normal time data, which it’s told is the most difficult in the AI technique.

In the field of mechanical safety, Skydisc released a mobile app called Smart Choshinbo, literally meaning a smart auscultation rod, which allows users to predict possible faults and failures based on the sound collected with a smartphone. Going forward, the firm plans to provide it as part of a service package that enables users to predict possible faults and failures based on fluctuation data of vibration and electric current. They are collaborating with Kyushu Institute of Technology for a research applying AI and IoT into nursing care services.

Screenshots of Smart Choshinbo, the “smart auscultation rod” mobile app

Thanks to a high reputation to SkyAI, Skydisc’s IoT data analytics cloud, the company was recently approved by Nvidia, the world’s leading chip maker, as a partner for the latter’s AI and deep learning-focused startup incubator Nvidia Inception Program.

Skydisc uses the funds to secure AI engineering experts and business developers from Japan and the rest of the world, aiming to assign them to collaborative research and development with Kyushu University and Kyushu Institute of Technology.

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Japan’s PLENGoer Robotics unveils palm-sized cubic assistant robot at CES 2017

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See the original story in Japanese. Osaka-based robotics startup PLEN Project established a joint venture named PLENGoer Robotics with Chinese home appliance manufacturer Goertek (SHE:002241) back in March. In a promotional video released to coincide with the announcement, the firm had implied a launch of its first product within 2016. As it had noted, PLENGoer Robotics last month unveiled a personal assistant robot PLEN CUBE as its first products, along with detailed information including functions, photo and specs. Although PLEN CUBE is still under development, the firm is exhibiting and demonstrating at CES 2017 in Las Vegas. See also: From Monozukuri Hub Meetup: DFM and prototype experts meet hardware startups PLEN CUBE has a rectangular parallelepiped form which has one side at about 7.5cm; it is equipped with camera, display, speaker and microphone, and various functions such as face-tracking and voice / gesture recognition are included. Without any special setting, users can give orders to PLEN CUBE to photograph still images / moving images, save, distribute and share online. Since the product is still incomplete, the firm is going to improve it based on feedbacks gained at the CES 2017 exhibit and to implement crowdfunding, aiming to compete using a product version and starting to sell on a full scale in summer of 2017. PLEN…

PLEN CUBE
Image Credit: PLENGoer Robotics

See the original story in Japanese.

Osaka-based robotics startup PLEN Project established a joint venture named PLENGoer Robotics with Chinese home appliance manufacturer Goertek (SHE:002241) back in March. In a promotional video released to coincide with the announcement, the firm had implied a launch of its first product within 2016.

As it had noted, PLENGoer Robotics last month unveiled a personal assistant robot PLEN CUBE as its first products, along with detailed information including functions, photo and specs. Although PLEN CUBE is still under development, the firm is exhibiting and demonstrating at CES 2017 in Las Vegas.

See also:

PLEN CUBE has a rectangular parallelepiped form which has one side at about 7.5cm; it is equipped with camera, display, speaker and microphone, and various functions such as face-tracking and voice / gesture recognition are included. Without any special setting, users can give orders to PLEN CUBE to photograph still images / moving images, save, distribute and share online.

Since the product is still incomplete, the firm is going to improve it based on feedbacks gained at the CES 2017 exhibit and to implement crowdfunding, aiming to compete using a product version and starting to sell on a full scale in summer of 2017.

Members of PLEN Project and PLENGoer Robotics at Myojo-Waraku 2016 in Fukuoka
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

PLEN Project had previously launched a human-shaped robot named PLEN2. In contrast with PLEN2’s concept focusing on open source and customization by users, PLENGoer Robotics focuses on development of more practical service robots targeting common household / individual users and actually emphasizes practical functions, camera or computer vision in its first product PLEN CUBE.

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Fukuoka’s mayor visits Taiwan for closer ties with local startup community, government

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See the original story in Japanese. IDEASShow, one of the largest startup conferences in Taiwan, was held in the island’s biggest city of Taipei in July. Around the same time, the Mayor of Fukuoka City, Japan – Soichiro Takashima – visited Taipei, and various events to promote invitational activities for Taiwanese startups available from Fukuoka City were held. See also: All the Signs Say Welcome (Highlighting Japan) Startup Visa: Entrepreneurial Incentives for Foreigners in Fukuoka (Fukuoka Now) Fukuoka City National Strategic Special Zone for Global Startups & Job Creation (Fukuoka City) On July 21st, an event called Fukuoka Night was held at Taiwan Startup Hub (TSH) which was established by the Taiwanese Executive Yuan. At this event, Mayor Takashima went onstage and presented the support plans offered by Fukuoka City, such as startup visa issuance or renting of office plus salary support scheme for foreign startups, which all became available under Japan’s national strategic economic zone operation. Also he exhorted the audience to take part in a matching event for Japanese investment funds and startups known as Fukuoka Startup Selection, which is scheduled for November 10th. From the day after Fukuoka Startup Selection, another startup festival called Myojo Waraku will…

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Taiwan Startup Hub

See the original story in Japanese.

IDEASShow, one of the largest startup conferences in Taiwan, was held in the island’s biggest city of Taipei in July. Around the same time, the Mayor of Fukuoka City, Japan – Soichiro Takashima – visited Taipei, and various events to promote invitational activities for Taiwanese startups available from Fukuoka City were held.

See also:

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Fukuoka Night held at Taiwan Startup Hub

On July 21st, an event called Fukuoka Night was held at Taiwan Startup Hub (TSH) which was established by the Taiwanese Executive Yuan. At this event, Mayor Takashima went onstage and presented the support plans offered by Fukuoka City, such as startup visa issuance or renting of office plus salary support scheme for foreign startups, which all became available under Japan’s national strategic economic zone operation. Also he exhorted the audience to take part in a matching event for Japanese investment funds and startups known as Fukuoka Startup Selection, which is scheduled for November 10th. From the day after Fukuoka Startup Selection, another startup festival called Myojo Waraku will be held.

In addition, Mayor Takashima announced that a startup support base in Fukuoka Startup Café and Taiwan Startup Hub will cooperate and start mutually supporting both the Japanese startups expanding into Taiwan and the Taiwanese startups expanding into Japan. The startups under support by either of the organizations will be allowed to use office spaces in Fukuoka and Taipei.

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Pitch competition winner SkyRec awarded Fukuoka Startup Package

At a pitch competition held during Fukuoka Night, five Taiwanese startups made pitches. The competition winner was SkyRec, providing in-store analytics and solution for retailers, after winning this year’s Slush Asia. Two members from the team are invited to Fukuoka City, to be supported for full-scale business development. The other four teams, namely a provider of golf course information support Golface; a game developer utilizing augmented reality (AR) and location-based service (LBS) Toii; an installment payment service for C2C (consumer-to-consumer) trading Installments; and a developer of an app showing shortest routes in subway stations Thinktank, will be invited to Fukuoka Startup Selection, as transportation and accommodation costs will be covered by Fukuoka Directive Council.

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Four teams failed to win the competition but will be invited to the Fukuoka Startup Selection

On July 22nd, Mayor Takashima made a courtesy call on Mayor Ko Wen-je of Taipei City, who is known for utilizing social media during the election campaign. They confirmed the establishment of mutual contact points for startup support. The cooperation between Fukuoka City and the Taiwanese startup ecosystem dependent on grassroots activities is seen developing into a cross-border support system at local administration levels.

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From the left: Mayor of Fukuoka City Soichiro Takashima, interpreter and Mayor of Taipei City Ko Wen-je
fukuoka-taipei-participants-at-taipei-city-office
Leading members of Fukuoka startups also made a courtesy call on the Mayor

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

If Conference 2016 in NYC connects Japan, US tech scenes

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This article is a contribution from New York-based journalist / translator Kasumi Abe. The Bridge reformatted and reproduced the article submitted to Nulab Blog, by courtesy of both Nulab and Abe. On 11 April, an event called If Conference (‘If Con’ for short) was held in New York City, aimed at connecting the tech scenes of Japan and the US. The venue was filled with some 250 visitors. The event got particularly lively in which many questions were thrown among the participants. Keynote 1: Pathway to Success in America for Japanese Companies If Con started from 12:30pm on 11 April, at Microsoft Technology Center in Times Square. First of all, William Lohse, who is founder / general partner of Social Starts and founder / CEO of Pivot Conference in addition to also being an investor, gave the keynote speech about tips for Japanese startups upon developing in the US and gaining success there. Lohse garnered much attention due to his familiarity with tech trends in both Japan and the US. Although it was a weekday and on a Monday afternoon to boot, the venue was filled to capacity from the onset! As he frequently flies back and forth between the…

This article is a contribution from New York-based journalist / translator Kasumi Abe. The Bridge reformatted and reproduced the article submitted to Nulab Blog, by courtesy of both Nulab and Abe.

nyc-if-conference-2016-1

On 11 April, an event called If Conference (‘If Con’ for short) was held in New York City, aimed at connecting the tech scenes of Japan and the US. The venue was filled with some 250 visitors. The event got particularly lively in which many questions were thrown among the participants.

Keynote 1: Pathway to Success in America for Japanese Companies

nyc-if-conference-2016-3

If Con started from 12:30pm on 11 April, at Microsoft Technology Center in Times Square.

First of all, William Lohse, who is founder / general partner of Social Starts and founder / CEO of Pivot Conference in addition to also being an investor, gave the keynote speech about tips for Japanese startups upon developing in the US and gaining success there.

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Lohse garnered much attention due to his familiarity with tech trends in both Japan and the US. Although it was a weekday and on a Monday afternoon to boot, the venue was filled to capacity from the onset!

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As he frequently flies back and forth between the two countries as well as is renowned for being knowledgable about Japan’s tech scene, questions for the keynoter from the audience centered on Japanese entrepreneurs or Japan’s tech community within the US.

Nulab CEO Hashimoto presents “The Tech City Fukuoka”

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From 2pm, Nulab CEO Masanori Hashimoto took to the stage and introduced Japan’s Startup Visa system which has been newly implemented for issuance of visa for foreign entrepreneurs coming to the City of Fukuoka as the initial case for Japan, or the collaborative event between ‘tech’ and ‘creative’ called Myojo Waraku organized by Hashimoto and others.

See also:

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His speech peppered with jokes sometimes drew laughter from the audience, with active discussions taking place during Q&A afterwards. He appeared to be very nervous, but the staff was relieved that he was able to contribute to the promotion of Nulab and the City of Fukuoka.

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The Nulab CEO answered a question as to whether Myojowaraku will be held also in New York City or not:

The reason why we could carry out the event in Taiwan and London other than in Fukuoka was the support provided by the respective city. If New York City will support us, then I would like to hold it as well.

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In retrospect, he noted:

I was very nervous because it was my first speech in New York City, but receiving good responses to a story about Ramen noodle as an introduction of the City of Fukuoka allowed me to speak as usual after that.

Meanwhile, other sessions regarding ‘Tips to Work with International Startups in New York’ was held in another place within Microsoft Technology Center, and that enlivened the venue as well.

Panel Discussion: Global Macro Trends / Launching Products in Japan

From 3pm to 5pm, two large panel discussions were held. One was on the theme of ‘global macro trends’ as mulled by CEOs of New York-based Japanese / US startups or analysts. The other was about perspectives on business development into Japan, by CEOs of startups which had actually developed their business into Japan.

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Moderated by Ash Ryan (Developer Evangelist, Adobe), joining this panel were Ada Gries (CEO, OKPanda), Yoki Gibo (Director, Noom), and Odile Baneiflah (Head of International Operations, Meetup.com).

In another hall, several sessions having ‘Mental Game for Innovation’, ‘Structuring Your Startup for Success’ or ‘Trends in Japanese / US Startups’ as themes were held.

Keynote 2: How to Disrupt Personal Mobility Industry

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As a finale to the event, CEO of Silicon Valley-based Whill Satoshi Sugie gave an evening keynote speech about development and future of next-generation powered wheelchairs. This session was also very well attended, with standing audiences!

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Sugie shared the corporate philosophy of Whill which had just started in 2012 and episodes from the development of the Whill wheelchair. He concluded that what he wants to create is not just a powered wheelchair, but a personal mobility in a new category, which makes everyone want to ride it.

See also:

After 6pm, a networking event was held with light meals and drinks, where participants were asking speakers many questions, or discussing ideas among themselves.

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The visitors were mainly entrepreneurs or students, and the ratio of men to women looked nearly equal.

I obtained the impression of the event from one of the If Con organizers, Masato Okunishi, after this.

He said:

The event was successful thanks to a lot of participants, more than we had imagined. Through this event, we could sense afresh the necessity or importance of the need for such events or communities, even in New York City.

We had received many testimonials like “It was worthwhile to come here today.” From US tech-related people, it was highly evaluated with comments like ‘I could come in contact with Japanese things for the first time’ including Japan-originated or Japanese startups through this event.

From Japanese or Japan-related people living in the US, we heard their impressions that it was nice to attend such a local event in New York. The common point in both feedbacks was that it was a new type of event that was not to be found before.

As an ambition for the future, we want to have more New Yorkers know about Japanese / US startups, and also have the Japanese become familiar with the tech situation in New York. We are happy if the community of If Con or our regular meet-up event Japan NYC Startups will enhance the circumstances for Japanese / US startups in New York.

It is expected that the relationship on the tech side between Japan and New York, or the US overall will be strengthened further in the future.

Photos taken at If Conference 2016

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Light exercise during the intermission to become refreshed, with a cooldown to follow
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The participants are treated to various drinks and snacks from sponsoring companies, such as green tea by Ito-en, draft beer by Sapporo and baumkuchen by Baum’s Sho.

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Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy and Masaru Ikeda

Skydisc lands $855K to enhance detachable sensor packages for agriculture et al.

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Fukuoka-based Skydisc, a Japanese startup focused on developing detachable sensors and cloud services for data management, announced on Wednesday that it has fundraised 100 million yen (about $855,000) from three Japanese VC firms. Participating investors are Nissay Capital (investment arm of Japan’s leading insurance company) , Archetype Ventures (investment arm of Archetype), and Fukuoka-based VC firm Dogan. Since its launch back in October of 2013, Skydisc has been developing a variety of detachable sensor devices and the cloud for storing, then analyzing data from these devices. Prior to founding Skydisc, the company’s founder and CEO Osamu Hashimoto had been committed to the study of data analysis using high-speed distributed processing at Kyushu University. He was also developing sensor devices to acquire data in the study, which led him to launch the Skydisc business. Ginga Box, the company’s flagship sensor product line-up, allows users to choose up to three detachable sensors out of 14 different sensors to plug into a circuit board. Data acquired with these sensors can be monitored on Ginga Cloud, the company’s data management and analysis platform. Skydisc’s devices typically can detect temperature, humidity, three-axis acceleration, carbon dioxide concentration, and PM2.5 (particulate matter 2.5) concentration so that it…

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Skydisc’s Ginga Box detachable sensor series (Image: Fukuoka Startup Selection, Fukuoka City Office)

Fukuoka-based Skydisc, a Japanese startup focused on developing detachable sensors and cloud services for data management, announced on Wednesday that it has fundraised 100 million yen (about $855,000) from three Japanese VC firms. Participating investors are Nissay Capital (investment arm of Japan’s leading insurance company) , Archetype Ventures (investment arm of Archetype), and Fukuoka-based VC firm Dogan. Since its launch back in October of 2013, Skydisc has been developing a variety of detachable sensor devices and the cloud for storing, then analyzing data from these devices.

Prior to founding Skydisc, the company’s founder and CEO Osamu Hashimoto had been committed to the study of data analysis using high-speed distributed processing at Kyushu University. He was also developing sensor devices to acquire data in the study, which led him to launch the Skydisc business.

Ginga Box, the company’s flagship sensor product line-up, allows users to choose up to three detachable sensors out of 14 different sensors to plug into a circuit board. Data acquired with these sensors can be monitored on Ginga Cloud, the company’s data management and analysis platform.

Skydisc’s devices typically can detect temperature, humidity, three-axis acceleration, carbon dioxide concentration, and PM2.5 (particulate matter 2.5) concentration so that it can be applied to environment managing businesses, logistics and distribution, agriculture, and other business sectors. Especially for the agricultural industry, Skydisc already started offering an optimized package called Hatamori, literally meaning vegetable field keeper.

The company claims that they will use the funds to solidify management foundation, hire talents to strengthen developing sensors and analyzing acquired data, in addition to polishing up the product management process for mass-manufactured sensor devices.

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Skydisc CEO Osamu Hashimoto delivers his pitch at Myojo Waraku 2015, Fukuoka, Japan

Via TechCrunch Japan

Japan’s preventive healthcare startup Symax secures funding from Draper Nexus, others

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See the original story in Japanese. There was a healthcare startup-focused showcasing event called Health2.0 Asia in Tokyo in November, where we saw various services born out of Japan in the healthcare sector drawing much attention globally. A Japanese startup called Symax won the startup pitch competition in the event. This company announced today that it has secured funding from Draper Nexus Venture Partners, iSG Investment Works and several angel investors in a series A round. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed. Since its launch back in June of 2014, Symax has been developing a sensor device that can be attached to Western-style toilets, telling users their health condition by analyzing their urine on a daily basis for a monthly charge of about $10. Based on a unique analysis algorithm, their technology detects lifestyle diseases such as gout and diabetes with 99% accuracy. Users can check out their analyzed result using the Symax mobile app. Regardless of whether users have no subjective symptoms, Symax claimed that this solution can discover 86% out of all different types of lifestyle diseases. They say that user companies or other facilities installing many units in their venue can reduce an initial investment…

symax-with-toilet

See the original story in Japanese.

There was a healthcare startup-focused showcasing event called Health2.0 Asia in Tokyo in November, where we saw various services born out of Japan in the healthcare sector drawing much attention globally. A Japanese startup called Symax won the startup pitch competition in the event.

This company announced today that it has secured funding from Draper Nexus Venture Partners, iSG Investment Works and several angel investors in a series A round. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.

Since its launch back in June of 2014, Symax has been developing a sensor device that can be attached to Western-style toilets, telling users their health condition by analyzing their urine on a daily basis for a monthly charge of about $10. Based on a unique analysis algorithm, their technology detects lifestyle diseases such as gout and diabetes with 99% accuracy. Users can check out their analyzed result using the Symax mobile app.

Regardless of whether users have no subjective symptoms, Symax claimed that this solution can discover 86% out of all different types of lifestyle diseases. They say that user companies or other facilities installing many units in their venue can reduce an initial investment to about one-tenth that for conventional similar solutions which usually costs more than hundreds of thousand US dollars. Leveraging acquired data, they are considering the launch of data marketing business targeting health insurance societies and companies.

We look forward to the launch of the Simax solution which aims to watch over people’s health condition without forcing them to add a new habit to their daily lives.

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Symax founder and CEO Maria Tsuruoka delivered a pitch at the Myojo Waraku event in November.

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Myojo Waraku: Japan’s rendition of SXSW begins in Fukuoka with showcasing prominent startups

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Myojo Waraku is an annual festival taking place in Japan’s western city of Fukuoka with a flavor of America’s South by South West (SXSW) festival, showcasing prominent startups, digital media and music performers from the land of the rising sun. The first edition took place in 2011, followed by holding of the festival’s global versions in Taipei and London. This year’s event was kicked off with a pitch session today where five Japanese startups delivered a pitch to a crowd from the local startup community and investors from outside Japan. Here’s a quick rundown of startups showcased at the event: Capitalico by Alpaca Alpaca has developed a forex trading platform using the deep learning technology called Capitalico. Based upon image recognition deep learning technology, the Capitalico platform allows users to easily find a forex chart from an archive since 2001 as well as a live forex chart which is similar to what you have on hand so that users don’t need to acquire programming skills to backtest their trading strategies. See also: Japan’s deep learning startup Alpaca raises $1M to launch AI-based forex trading platform UnlimitedHand by H2L H2L has a haptic game controller called UnlimitedHand. With a bandage-like device having motion sensor…

myojo-waraku-2015-vc-panel-1

Myojo Waraku is an annual festival taking place in Japan’s western city of Fukuoka with a flavor of America’s South by South West (SXSW) festival, showcasing prominent startups, digital media and music performers from the land of the rising sun. The first edition took place in 2011, followed by holding of the festival’s global versions in Taipei and London.

This year’s event was kicked off with a pitch session today where five Japanese startups delivered a pitch to a crowd from the local startup community and investors from outside Japan.

Here’s a quick rundown of startups showcased at the event:

Capitalico by Alpaca

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Alpaca has developed a forex trading platform using the deep learning technology called Capitalico. Based upon image recognition deep learning technology, the Capitalico platform allows users to easily find a forex chart from an archive since 2001 as well as a live forex chart which is similar to what you have on hand so that users don’t need to acquire programming skills to backtest their trading strategies.

See also:

UnlimitedHand by H2L

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H2L has a haptic game controller called UnlimitedHand. With a bandage-like device having motion sensor and muscle displacement sensor around the arm, it allows users to input their hand motions into a game. The device has a functional electrical stimulator that gives users a virtual touch, allowing users to “feel” the impact or the touch of a character in a game.

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Symax

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Symax is a sensor device that can be attached to western-style toilets, telling users their health condition by analyzing their urine on a daily basis for a monthly charge of about $10. Based on a unique analysis algorithm, their technology detects lifestyle diseases such as gout and diabetes with 99% accuracy.

The team won at a startup competition at Health 2.0 Asia in Tokyo earlier this month, looking to acquire companies which want to optimize medical cost for their employees as well as nursing homes and condo developers which serve elderly people in particular.

Skydisc

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Skydisc has developed a variety of sensor devices and the cloud for storing, then analyzing data from these devices. Their device typically can detect temperature, humidity, three-axis acceleration, carbon dioxide concentration, and PM2.5 (particulate matter 2.5) concentration so that it can be applied to environment managing businesses, logistics and distribution, agriculture, and other business sectors. The company is expecting to secure funds worth 110 to 150 million yen (about $897,000 to $1.22 million) by the end of this November.

Soracom

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Soracom is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) focused on distributing SIM cards, allowing IoT developers to distribute SIM cards for 3G or 4G (LTE) cellular data connectivity under their brand to customers. In this way, it aims to help IoT developers shift their business model from from hardware sales to recurring subscription-based charging.

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Following the showcase on the stage, four venture capitalists from different markets discussed what they expect from the Japanese startup scene. Participating investors are:

  • Chee-Kong Choun, Pavilion Capital, the north Asia-focused investment initiative by Singapore’s state-run Temasek Holdings
  • Steve Jang, San Francisco-based angel investor
  • Tina Cheng, Partner and Chief Representative of Taiwan, Cherubic Ventures
  • Keith Nilsson, co-founder and Managing Partner Visionnaire Ventures

This panel was moderated by James Riney, the new head of 500 Startups Japan, the regional microfund by US-based startup-focused investment fund 500 Startups.

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Keith Nilsson

Keith explained that many investors in the US are looking at the Japanese market, exploring investment opportunities especially in key categories like hardware development, one of the strengths in the Japanese startup scene.

Tina pointed out that Japanese angel investors are looking for opportunities outside Japan, encouraging more entrepreneurs to gain a mindset of risk-taking.

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Chee-Kong Choun

Chee-Kong says, one of the key values in transitioning trends in the region is that more investors have begun investing in startups because of their company or product quality rather than the conventional criteria of their founder background or experience in business.

Steve says that many Japanese companies have turned to Silicon Valley and spend a week or more there to meet up with local entrepreneurs, which is very useful for both sides in understanding each others. In addition, he also pointed out that more startups from Japan and Korea are starting by forming a multilingual team, developing products targeting the global market from the beginning, in contrast with conventional startups starting the global expansion after stabilizing the sales in their home turf market.

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Steve Jang

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

NTT Docomo unveils the first 6 startups for its new incubation program

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See the original story in Japanese. NTT Docomo held a kick-off event for its incubation program today, unveiling six startups chosen for its first batch. The program, which was first announced back in February, selected these six from 124 applicants. The startups are to be incubated and mentored for the next five months. Here’s a quick run down of the chosen six: Easeeat by Willmore This service helps consumers buy allergy-free food products at supermarkets. They presented last year at our pitch event, and we’re delighted to see them among those selected. The new app appears to be based on its previous app, Allergy Checker (pictured above), which allowed you to scan a barcode on the product’s package, and then it tells you the ingredients and whether or not its safe for you. Pairy by Timers This couples app is a sort of Japanese alternative to Couple (US & UK) or Between (Korea), specializes in establishing communication just for couples. It’s already live, and has plans to extend its business to online-to-offline marketing and e-commerce services. Some of our readers may recall that they presented at Myojo Waraku in Fukuoka last years. Nanovel by Gadget This service aggregates short novels authored…

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See the original story in Japanese.

NTT Docomo held a kick-off event for its incubation program today, unveiling six startups chosen for its first batch. The program, which was first announced back in February, selected these six from 124 applicants. The startups are to be incubated and mentored for the next five months.

Here’s a quick run down of the chosen six:

Easeeat by Willmore

allergychecker_screenshot2

This service helps consumers buy allergy-free food products at supermarkets. They presented last year at our pitch event, and we’re delighted to see them among those selected. The new app appears to be based on its previous app, Allergy Checker (pictured above), which allowed you to scan a barcode on the product’s package, and then it tells you the ingredients and whether or not its safe for you.

Pairy by Timers

pairy_screenshot

This couples app is a sort of Japanese alternative to Couple (US & UK) or Between (Korea), specializes in establishing communication just for couples. It’s already live, and has plans to extend its business to online-to-offline marketing and e-commerce services. Some of our readers may recall that they presented at Myojo Waraku in Fukuoka last years.

Nanovel by Gadget

nanovel_screenshot

This service aggregates short novels authored by professional writers and dramatists. Each of the stories are shorter than 2,000 Japanese characters long, so readers won’t take more than five minutes to finish. It’s good material for avid readers to fill up spare ‘in-between’ time, in much the same way that casual gaming does.

Coromo

Using NFC (near-frequency communication) technology, this service allows users to design their smartphone home screen easily, with the idea of using it for advertising purposes. The team aims to build a platform where Android phone users can exchange home screen designs each other.

Funpicty (tentative name) by Soda

This service allows users to mix up pictures shot by various photo apps, and then share them with others. (Sorry, but not too many more details beyond this were disclosed.)

DecoAlbum by Prime Again

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This app lets you share your photos with your friends, giving you the ability to decorate with them numerous effects and features.

Singapore’s Intraix partners with Smart Integration on smarter home energy management in Japan

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Singapore-based startup Intraix has just announced a partnership with a Japanese company, Smart Integration, in the hopes of distributing its smart home energy management system to residential homes in Tokyo, Nara, and Okinawa by June of this year. Intraix’s system lets users monitor their energy consumption in a fun and easy way, keeping tabs on their usage via an iOS app or on the web. Through this partnership they aspire to install the system in 5,000 to 8,000 residential homes in its first year, and 14,000 in the following year. The solution includes energy budgeting and consumption prediction features, collecting data via an installed power meter which then sends information to the company’s proprietary data analysis engine, which it has dubbed its “Green Voices algorithm.” Intraix co-founder Darrell Zhang tells me that he has “much faith and confidence in the ability [of Smart Integration] to push the system to the market” in Japan. The Tokyo-based company, headed by CEO and founder Kazumasa Nomura, has established access to important sales channels and smart home system integrators. In fact, the company has already made partnerships with eight local agent companies in Japan to resell and integrate Intraix’s solution. There are already some…

intraix-logo

Singapore-based startup Intraix has just announced a partnership with a Japanese company, Smart Integration, in the hopes of distributing its smart home energy management system to residential homes in Tokyo, Nara, and Okinawa by June of this year. Intraix’s system lets users monitor their energy consumption in a fun and easy way, keeping tabs on their usage via an iOS app or on the web.

Through this partnership they aspire to install the system in 5,000 to 8,000 residential homes in its first year, and 14,000 in the following year. The solution includes energy budgeting and consumption prediction features, collecting data via an installed power meter which then sends information to the company’s proprietary data analysis engine, which it has dubbed its “Green Voices algorithm.”

Intraix co-founder Darrell Zhang tells me that he has “much faith and confidence in the ability [of Smart Integration] to push the system to the market” in Japan. The Tokyo-based company, headed by CEO and founder Kazumasa Nomura, has established access to important sales channels and smart home system integrators. In fact, the company has already made partnerships with eight local agent companies in Japan to resell and integrate Intraix’s solution.

There are already some smart energy competitors in Japan, but Darrell explains that Intraix’s system is different in that it includes a fun social element where its users can accumulate ‘Green Credits’ that can be used for rewards and rebates. There will also be weekly energy challenges as well. He believes that no competing home energy management system has such a rewards system.

Intraix provides smart energy monitor for larger buildings and data centers in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Any of our readers who attended the Myojo Waraku event in Fukuoka last year will recognize Intraix as one of the 10 startups who pitched.

You can learn more about Intraix’s residential smart home energy management solution in its promo video below.