THE BRIDGE

Junya Mori

Junya Mori

Junya is an editor at The Bridge. He writes about the Asian tech scene, focusing on innovation. Previously, he was the deputy editor of greenz.jp.

http://blog.junyamori.com

Articles

Japan’s Bizer, cloud-based back-office service for SMEs, raises $815,000 in funding

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See the original story in Japanese. The progression of cloud migration of small and medium sized companies is predicted, and a variety of players are acting on this trend. BizGround, providers of the small to mid-sized company geared cloud-based back-office service Bizer, is also one of these players. Tokyo-based BizGround recently announced that it has fundraised 1 million yen (about $815,000) from Salesforce Ventures, the investment arm of Salesforce.com, as well as from Incubate Fund. See also: Bizer mitigates company registration paperwork, leveraging crowdsourced professionals Launched as a platform for businesses to get counseling from professionals such as tax accountants and lawyers, Bizer subsequently added features for automatically generating paperwork and forms that are to be submitted to government offices as well as features to take care of other tasks involved in business operations. Gradually the service is becoming a total support back office platform. Along with the announcement of this round of funding, the company has announced a large scale site renewal as well as support for smartphone and tablet users, a 30-day free trial plan, and more. The screens of each feature have been completely redesigned for clarity and ease of use as shown below. CEO Yuichi Hatakeyama…

bizer_featuredimage

See the original story in Japanese.

The progression of cloud migration of small and medium sized companies is predicted, and a variety of players are acting on this trend. BizGround, providers of the small to mid-sized company geared cloud-based back-office service Bizer, is also one of these players.

Tokyo-based BizGround recently announced that it has fundraised 1 million yen (about $815,000) from Salesforce Ventures, the investment arm of Salesforce.com, as well as from Incubate Fund.

See also:

Launched as a platform for businesses to get counseling from professionals such as tax accountants and lawyers, Bizer subsequently added features for automatically generating paperwork and forms that are to be submitted to government offices as well as features to take care of other tasks involved in business operations. Gradually the service is becoming a total support back office platform.

Along with the announcement of this round of funding, the company has announced a large scale site renewal as well as support for smartphone and tablet users, a 30-day free trial plan, and more. The screens of each feature have been completely redesigned for clarity and ease of use as shown below.

CEO Yuichi Hatakeyama says that in managing BizGround he feels there are two main values they must offer, those are “optimizing business with the cloud” and “crowdsourcing support”.

Hatakeyama commented on the necessity of human support and contractors as a small to medium sized business aimed service:

“We’re getting users who no matter what can’t get the cloud to work for them, but by also offering the human power of the “crowd”, I think we can expand the ways businesses get aid. Makitori, another service specifically focused on paperwork around hiring and retirement, is also seeing increased use.

From this I also feel that there are a certain number of users out there who are in need of this kind of human power. Moving forward we will continue strengthening the two main pillars of our services, “cloud” and “crowd”, but we also plan to strongly reinforce the human power support of the “crowd” part. Soon we are planning on releasing a new human power service, and we are also thinking about expanding the scope of our offerings.”

For small to medium sized businesses who haven’t made the move to the cloud yet, support to help handle that transition is indispensable. It seems that this may be Bizer’s biggest strength, as they focus their attention on their “cloud” and “crowd” hybrid service.

With this latest funding, aiming to strengthen the management system of the company, staff member Akiha Tanaka will take the position of company director while Keisuke Wada, a partner of Incubate Fund, will assume the role of external director. Currently the company is supporting the establishment of over 150 new companies, with requests for company establishment increasing monthly. Through this recent funding, the company will be strengthening their marketing efforts as well as offering their services to more people who are preparing to start companies.

In Japan, around 100,000 companies are established annually. As for Bizer, they have helped in the establishment of 10,000 companies, 10% of the year’s total, and in the future they are looking to help bring Japan’s business foundation rate up from the present 5% to 10%.

Translated by Connor Kirk

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Japan’s H2L unveils haptic wearable controller UnlimitedHand on Kickstarter

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Tokyo-based H2L, a Japanese hardware startup spun off from the University of Tokyo, today announced a haptic game controller called UnlimitedHand at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2015 and launched a Kickstarter campaign this morning. With a bandage-like device having motion sensor and muscle displacement sensor around the arm, the UnlimitedHand controller 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. Virtual reality games integrating head-mounted displays have been attracting gamers. By integrating with these devices, the UnliitedHand controller gives users a unique experience as seen in the video above. H2L is exhibiting the product at TechCrunch Disurpt SF 2015, which is taking place today to Wednesday in San Francisco. They started fundraising via the Kickstarter campaign, planning to provide the UnlimitedHand device to gaming companies, gaming developers, and game users. The product is available $188 to $248 through pre-orders. They will integrate with more content and gaming titles leveraging virtual or augmented reality technologies. Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by Kurt Hanson

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Tokyo-based H2L, a Japanese hardware startup spun off from the University of Tokyo, today announced a haptic game controller called UnlimitedHand at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2015 and launched a Kickstarter campaign this morning.

H2L CEO Kenichiro Iwasaki delivers a pitch at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2015.
H2L CEO Kenichiro Iwasaki delivers a pitch at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2015.

With a bandage-like device having motion sensor and muscle displacement sensor around the arm, the UnlimitedHand controller 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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Virtual reality games integrating head-mounted displays have been attracting gamers. By integrating with these devices, the UnliitedHand controller gives users a unique experience as seen in the video above.

H2L is exhibiting the product at TechCrunch Disurpt SF 2015, which is taking place today to Wednesday in San Francisco. They started fundraising via the Kickstarter campaign, planning to provide the UnlimitedHand device to gaming companies, gaming developers, and game users.

The product is available $188 to $248 through pre-orders. They will integrate with more content and gaming titles leveraging virtual or augmented reality technologies.

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by Kurt Hanson

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Japanese smartglasses launch crowdfunding campaign again, this time for global expansion

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See the original story in Japanese. Our readers may recall that major Japanese optical retailer Paris Miki Holdings (TSE:7455) had launched a crowdfunding campaign for Fun’iki Ambient Glasses, successfully raising more than double the initial goal of 3 million yen ($30,000 at the exchange rate then). The company has just started another crowdfunding campaign with the same product, but this time it is via the global edition of Makuake, a crowdfunding platform of Japan’s internet giant CyberAgent (TSE:4751), with the aim of reaching out to the global audience. Unlike other smartglasses like the Google Glass eyewear which typically projects images on their lenses, Fun’iki Smart Glasses links in on a smartphone to convey various information through light and sound, such as e-mail notifications, social media updates, schedule reminders, stock price movements and weather updates. Powered by compact USB rechargeable Li-ion batteries, multicolored LEDs automatically light up the lenses according to personalized settings. The crowdfunding campaign targets the initial goal of 3.33 million yen, or about $27,600, with 24 days remaining as of this writing. I would like to see how the product can attract global consumers as they have done so well with Japanese campaign backers. Translated by Masaru Ikeda…

funiki-ambient-glasses_featuredimage

See the original story in Japanese.

Our readers may recall that major Japanese optical retailer Paris Miki Holdings (TSE:7455) had launched a crowdfunding campaign for Fun’iki Ambient Glasses, successfully raising more than double the initial goal of 3 million yen ($30,000 at the exchange rate then). The company has just started another crowdfunding campaign with the same product, but this time it is via the global edition of Makuake, a crowdfunding platform of Japan’s internet giant CyberAgent (TSE:4751), with the aim of reaching out to the global audience.

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Unlike other smartglasses like the Google Glass eyewear which typically projects images on their lenses, Fun’iki Smart Glasses links in on a smartphone to convey various information through light and sound, such as e-mail notifications, social media updates, schedule reminders, stock price movements and weather updates. Powered by compact USB rechargeable Li-ion batteries, multicolored LEDs automatically light up the lenses according to personalized settings.

The crowdfunding campaign targets the initial goal of 3.33 million yen, or about $27,600, with 24 days remaining as of this writing. I would like to see how the product can attract global consumers as they have done so well with Japanese campaign backers.

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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Japan’s smart lock Akerun secures $3.7 million from Jafco, YJ Capital, others

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Photosynth, the Japanese startup developing smart lock solution Akerun, announced today that it has fundraised 450 million yen ($3.7 million) from Jafco, YJ Capital, Gaiax, and Beta Catalyst. The funds will be used to strengthen sales and engineering efforts. Photosynch graduated from the Startup Innovator Program by Japan’s NEDO, or New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization. The program aims to create global, mega-venture companies within ten years in Japan where R&D-focused manufacturing companies are less likely to be born. Some 420 companies have applied for the program, while 14 companies have been selected to receive support from the organization. Photosynth is the first graduate from the program because startups that receive funds of more than 100 million yen ($830,000) are requested to quit. Photosynth started shipping their flagship smart-lock solution Akerun in April. In July, the company announced a wireless data gateway device called Akerun Remote, which allows users to lock or unlock a key from a feature phone or a desktop web browser as well as the Akerun smartphone app. They also recently started a new service meeting corporate needs. Since the July launch, the new product has attracted many businesses,…

akerun-series-featuredimage

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Photosynth, the Japanese startup developing smart lock solution Akerun, announced today that it has fundraised 450 million yen ($3.7 million) from Jafco, YJ Capital, Gaiax, and Beta Catalyst. The funds will be used to strengthen sales and engineering efforts.

Photosynch graduated from the Startup Innovator Program by Japan’s NEDO, or New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization. The program aims to create global, mega-venture companies within ten years in Japan where R&D-focused manufacturing companies are less likely to be born. Some 420 companies have applied for the program, while 14 companies have been selected to receive support from the organization. Photosynth is the first graduate from the program because startups that receive funds of more than 100 million yen ($830,000) are requested to quit.

Photosynth started shipping their flagship smart-lock solution Akerun in April. In July, the company announced a wireless data gateway device called Akerun Remote, which allows users to lock or unlock a key from a feature phone or a desktop web browser as well as the Akerun smartphone app. They also recently started a new service meeting corporate needs.

Since the July launch, the new product has attracted many businesses, mainly co-working spaces, restaurants, diners, etc. Users will be charged on a monthly basis, helping the company pile up sales through the subscription-based business model. That’s why the company will focus on acquiring business users.

The company recently introduced the handsfree unlock function, which allows users to automatically unlock a key when close to a door. Based on user feedback, they will keep improving and enhancing the functionality of the product because, which is their strength.

Photosynth is taking a lean startup approach, a rare case for a hardware startup, however it will be interesting to see how the company develops the smart lock market from here.

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Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by Kurt Hanson

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Japan’s wearable smart-toy startup Moff raises $1.3M to expand to new markets

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Moff, the Japanese startup developing sensor-embedded wearable smart-toy Moff Band, announced today that it has fundraised 160 million yen ($1.3 million) from Japanese gaming giant Bandai Namco Entertainment (TSE:3832), mobile gaming developer Orso, investment company TomyK, and other angel investors. Since its launch in October 2013, the company has fundraised 210 million yen. Moff began selling the Moff Band device on Amazon.com last fall, attracting many users in Japan and the US. The device adopts the company’s original posture recognition and data analysis technologies, while the company has been planning and developing the active gamification platform that converts actions into user experiences such as emitting a sound based on a user’s action. Moff will use the funds to strengthen its structure to focus on developing the gamification platform, users’ action- and activity-based analysis technologies using artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as business development with partnering companies. Coinciding with the funds, Moff established a wholly-owned subsidiary called Moff USA in the US. Albert Chu, former vice president of Apple, AT&T, and Access, was named as CEO of the US subsidiary for business development in the US. In a previous interview with The…

moff

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Moff, the Japanese startup developing sensor-embedded wearable smart-toy Moff Band, announced today that it has fundraised 160 million yen ($1.3 million) from Japanese gaming giant Bandai Namco Entertainment (TSE:3832), mobile gaming developer Orso, investment company TomyK, and other angel investors. Since its launch in October 2013, the company has fundraised 210 million yen.

Moff began selling the Moff Band device on Amazon.com last fall, attracting many users in Japan and the US. The device adopts the company’s original posture recognition and data analysis technologies, while the company has been planning and developing the active gamification platform that converts actions into user experiences such as emitting a sound based on a user’s action.

Moff will use the funds to strengthen its structure to focus on developing the gamification platform, users’ action- and activity-based analysis technologies using artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as business development with partnering companies.

albert-b-chu-akinori-takahagi
From the left: Moff USA CEO Albert B. Chu, Moff CEO Akinori Takahagi

Coinciding with the funds, Moff established a wholly-owned subsidiary called Moff USA in the US. Albert Chu, former vice president of Apple, AT&T, and Access, was named as CEO of the US subsidiary for business development in the US.

In a previous interview with The Bridge, Moff CEO Akinori Takahagi said that there is huge potential for the smart-toy market in the US. Hence, the establishment of the US-based subsidiary is a natural move for the startup.

Moff said that they will focus on inventing gamified fitness solutions by developing sensor devices and the gamification platform, looking to expand beyond the smart-toy vertical to vaster markets.

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by Kurt Hanson

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Boost: GitHub alternative from Japan that helps developers manage pieces of source codes

Junya Mori Junya Mori
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See the original story in Japanese. Fukuoka-based Maisin & Co. released a new product called Boost in beta on August 27th, as a platform for system developers to save and share their source codes. In March, Maisin was graduated from the second batch of Slogan Viling Ventures, an EduTech-focused acceleration program in Tokyo. Subsequently the company secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Slogan Coant and Viling Venture Partners, in addition to the BonAngels Pacemaker Fund. Based on a series of interviews with some hundred system developers, Maisin CEO Kazumasa Yokomizo found out that they would save pieces of their source codes using various tools. In order to help them put these pieces together and manage them with a tool, Yokomizo and his team developed the Boost app and introduced it as beta this time. The app allows developers to save short codes and snippets as well as markdown files for every module into the cloud then share them with their other team members, while completed source codes are typically shared via GitHub. The Boost app is provided as a Mac App, allowing users to save and retrieve their codes in the app. While the app is available for free to individual users, Maisin is considering a charge fee for team usage after the official release. Looking ahead, the…

boost_featuredimage

See the original story in Japanese.

Fukuoka-based Maisin & Co. released a new product called Boost in beta on August 27th, as a platform for system developers to save and share their source codes.

In March, Maisin was graduated from the second batch of Slogan Viling Ventures, an EduTech-focused acceleration program in Tokyo. Subsequently the company secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Slogan Coant and Viling Venture Partners, in addition to the BonAngels Pacemaker Fund.

Based on a series of interviews with some hundred system developers, Maisin CEO Kazumasa Yokomizo found out that they would save pieces of their source codes using various tools. In order to help them put these pieces together and manage them with a tool, Yokomizo and his team developed the Boost app and introduced it as beta this time.

The app allows developers to save short codes and snippets as well as markdown files for every module into the cloud then share them with their other team members, while completed source codes are typically shared via GitHub. The Boost app is provided as a Mac App, allowing users to save and retrieve their codes in the app.

boost-screenshot1
Saving source codes.
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Retrieving source codes.
boost-screenshot3
Sharing source codes with other team members.

While the app is available for free to individual users, Maisin is considering a charge fee for team usage after the official release. Looking ahead, the company plans to strengthen functions like real-time update of shared source codes and team-wide communication, trying to make the app available as an open source platform.

The Boost project was launched as part of Yokomizo’s effort to fill the engineering skills gap with his CTO Junyoung Choi, with Yokomizo’s aim being elimination of extraneous programming steps upon developing an app. It will be interesting to see how favorably their concept will be received by other system developers.

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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Japan’s cloud-based accounting startup Freee raises $29 million in series C round

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Freee, a cloud-based accounting platform startup under the same name, announced today that it has fundraised 3.5 billion yen ($29 million) from US-based VC firm DCM, Japan’s Recruit Holdings (TSE:6098), Japan Coinvest Limited Partnership in the series C round. With the latest funds, the company has fundraised 5.2 billion yen ($43 million) since its launch in 2012. See also: Japan’s accounting startup Freee raises $6M from Pavilion Capital and Recruit Holdings Japanese cloud-based accounting startup Freee raises $8M Japanese accounting startup Freee raises $2.7 million from Infinity Venture Partners and DCM At a news conference this July, Freee CEO Daisuke Sasaki revealed that he aims to make his company a unicon, a startup worth over $1 billion. Cloud-contained society, a new product concept by Freee, was announced following the introduction of several initiatives by the Japanese government, such as the launch of e-Gov API (application program interface) and the national identification number system, as well as the change of the electronic form storage method for tax documents. These changes may accelerate the adoption of cloud-based systems into many business applications, encouraging many startups to focus on cloud-based services for businesses. Freee also aims…

freee-daisuke-sasaki

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Freee, a cloud-based accounting platform startup under the same name, announced today that it has fundraised 3.5 billion yen ($29 million) from US-based VC firm DCM, Japan’s Recruit Holdings (TSE:6098), Japan Coinvest Limited Partnership in the series C round. With the latest funds, the company has fundraised 5.2 billion yen ($43 million) since its launch in 2012.

See also:

At a news conference this July, Freee CEO Daisuke Sasaki revealed that he aims to make his company a unicon, a startup worth over $1 billion.

Cloud-contained society, a new product concept by Freee, was announced following the introduction of several initiatives by the Japanese government, such as the launch of e-Gov API (application program interface) and the national identification number system, as well as the change of the electronic form storage method for tax documents. These changes may accelerate the adoption of cloud-based systems into many business applications, encouraging many startups to focus on cloud-based services for businesses.

Freee also aims to be a platform that supports small businesses. Using the funds, the company plans to develop services supporting a wider range of back office operations for small businesses. Freee launched a company foundation support service in June, followed by other menus like cloud-based accounting and payroll services. The company will launch a new service supporting the Japanese national identification number system for businesses in October, followed by supporting the change of the electronic form storage method by end of 2015.

Competition in this sector is heating up as many companies are shifting to cloud-based services. Sasaki explained how his company beats the competition:

Freee has the top share in Japan for cloud-based accounting, having accumulated much knowledge. In addition, we are the only company focused on cloud-based services for small businesses, which means our resources are focused on the targeted niche.

Based on all these factors, our designs for easy user operations are common in our all services. Many surrounding services will be integrated into the Freee accounting platform – taking a high share of the industry, which will also benefit our users.

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by Kurt Hanson

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Japanese HR company Slogan ties up with Singapore’s Coent, accelerates seed investment in Asia

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Slogan is expanding its “growth human capital” business. The company recently tied up with Singapore-based Coent Venture Partners and has started co-investing in startups in Southeast Asia. While Slogan has been involved with the EdTech-focused acceleration program Slogan Viling Ventures as a partner, the company began investing on the partnership for the first time. Coent Venture Partners is an investment fund led by Rearpa CEO Shuhei Morofuji who founded Tokyo-based medical human resources company SMS and is representing Viling Holdings, the administrator of Slogan Viling Ventures. Former Enigmo and Groupon Japan CFO Takeo Matsuda is also serving Coent Venture Partners as CFO. Accelerating seed investment in startups Slogan Coent, the investment fund jointly managed by Slogan and Coent Venture Partners, is valued at 160 million yen ($1.3 million), expecting to invest several million to 15 million yen in each of the seed-stage startups. The fund is not so large, but they are focused on human resource-related businesses. Slogan CEO Yutaka Ito explained: What makes us outstanding is our team. We can help startups expand their business in Southeast Asia leveraging the partnership with Singapore-based Coent Venture Partners. In addition, we have freelance engineers…

slogan-hidemaro-maekawa-yutaka-ito
From right to left: Slogan CEO Yutaka Ito, Growth Capital Division manager Hidemaro Maekawa

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Slogan is expanding its “growth human capital” business. The company recently tied up with Singapore-based Coent Venture Partners and has started co-investing in startups in Southeast Asia.

While Slogan has been involved with the EdTech-focused acceleration program Slogan Viling Ventures as a partner, the company began investing on the partnership for the first time.

Coent Venture Partners is an investment fund led by Rearpa CEO Shuhei Morofuji who founded Tokyo-based medical human resources company SMS and is representing Viling Holdings, the administrator of Slogan Viling Ventures. Former Enigmo and Groupon Japan CFO Takeo Matsuda is also serving Coent Venture Partners as CFO.

Accelerating seed investment in startups

Slogan Coent, the investment fund jointly managed by Slogan and Coent Venture Partners, is valued at 160 million yen ($1.3 million), expecting to invest several million to 15 million yen in each of the seed-stage startups. The fund is not so large, but they are focused on human resource-related businesses.

Slogan CEO Yutaka Ito explained:

What makes us outstanding is our team. We can help startups expand their business in Southeast Asia leveraging the partnership with Singapore-based Coent Venture Partners. In addition, we have freelance engineers on our team as technical advisors who have developed a number of services at startups from scratch. Based on these strengths, we are going to invest in startups using an angel investment approach.

Budding startups are typically short of resources, but we often hear that they especially lack engineers. Slogan Coent makes seed investments in these startups in conjunction with offering engineering resources, helping them design services in a launching phase.

This will benefit the entrepreneur side. Tokyo-based Bally’s, the startup behind an online travel magazine for females called Tabi Muse, fundraised from Slogan Coent because the startup lacked engineers as well as capital funds.

Slogan’s Growth Capital Division manager Hidemaro Maekawa explained:

The Slogan Coent fund has invested in two startups. We are planning to invest in three startups in June, while another three or four startups are under review for investment.

Slogan has excellent human resources since they have been operating as a human capital business. It hasn’t been released publicly, but supposedly highly capable students who came to Slogan now work for the startups Slogan invested in as interns. Slogan can introduce excellent human resources as well as provide skilled engineers, which is their big strength.

Supporting entrepreneurs creating new verticals

How are investment decisions made at the Slogan Coent fund? Ito explained:

Whether or not we invest in a startup depends on whether Slogan can get involved in and take a hands-on approach to their business as well as whether talented human resources can influence the growth of their business. We especially like to support startups that can leverage our connection with Asia and the strength that we have in the human capital business.

The business plan of regional expansion to Asia is not mandatory in getting funds. But if your business has this possibility, you will be able to fundraise hundreds of thousands of dollars from the fund. Ito and Maekawa said they have no limit in the vertical or geographical areas of businesses that they will invest in.

They supposedly do not judge whether it is possible to expand into Asia or not, but of course, if the business aims to expand into Asia, then getting funding of between 10 million yen to 30 million yen could be possible from Coent. However, Ito and Maekawa said they will not limit a decision to the business area and the client target.

Ito added:

Our mission is to send talented people to the venture business field and encourage the creation of new industries. To make this happen, we want to support entrepreneurs who can create new fields where more talented people are willing to join.

If the idea of creating new industries excites you, then you have chemistry with them. If you are a budding entrepreneur starting a new business, why not contact them? Slogan is also recruiting talented students as well as entrepreneurs who want to work with startups. Contact them.

Translated by Chieko Frost via Mother First
Edited by Kurt Hanson and Masaru Ikeda
Proofread by “Tex” Pomeroy

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Illuminated wooden box for drinking Japanese sake launches crowdfunding campaign

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See the original story in Japanese. In central Japan’s Gifu Prefecture, there is a graduate university called the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences, or IAMAS, which has turned out many well known creators. Recently, a new product has been introduced by the university. That product is the “Hikari Masu”, a wooden box for drinking Japanese sake featuring built-in LED lights that can be controlled through a special smartphone app to light up in different colors and patterns. The crowdfunding campaign for the “Hikari Masu” project began on July 7th and has now reached 60% of their funding goal with 54 days remaining. Funding will go towards mass production of the product. The “Hikari Masu” team was formed of graduates of IAMAS and professor Shigeru Kobayashi in September 2013 at an ideathon/hackathon aimed at new product development organized by established ventures in the area. It’s said that one day, when one member of the team who wanted to make a “masu” that lights up no matter what it took, suddenly built a prototype at home and brought it in, that was the deciding factor. Manufacturing will be handled by Gifu-based hand-crafted wooden box manufacturer Ohashi Ryoki, design and photography…

hikarimasu_featuredimage

See the original story in Japanese.

In central Japan’s Gifu Prefecture, there is a graduate university called the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences, or IAMAS, which has turned out many well known creators. Recently, a new product has been introduced by the university.

That product is the “Hikari Masu”, a wooden box for drinking Japanese sake featuring built-in LED lights that can be controlled through a special smartphone app to light up in different colors and patterns.

The crowdfunding campaign for the “Hikari Masu” project began on July 7th and has now reached 60% of their funding goal with 54 days remaining. Funding will go towards mass production of the product.

The “Hikari Masu” team was formed of graduates of IAMAS and professor Shigeru Kobayashi in September 2013 at an ideathon/hackathon aimed at new product development organized by established ventures in the area. It’s said that one day, when one member of the team who wanted to make a “masu” that lights up no matter what it took, suddenly built a prototype at home and brought it in, that was the deciding factor.

Manufacturing will be handled by Gifu-based hand-crafted wooden box manufacturer Ohashi Ryoki, design and photography by local printing company Sun Messe, hardware development by Trigger Device, and project management and software engineering by Pasona Tech.

The movement from ideathons and hackathons, to prototyping, to finally creating a finished product is a very interesting process to follow. The amount of companies carrying this kind of technological strength in Japan is quite impressive.

If we continue to see the spread of this pattern of using crowdfunding platforms to turn ideas into tangible things, surely we’ll be seeing more and more interesting products coming from many different areas of the country.

Translated by Connor Kirk
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

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Japan’s Cerevo unveils BlueNinja sensor module, eases development of IoT products

Junya Mori Junya Mori
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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Cerevo, the Japanese startup behind a variety of smart consumer electronics devices, recently announced BlueNinja, a module with Bluetooth and 9-axis sensors designed for developers of IoT (Internet of Things) products. This is the second product from Cerevo’s new flagship brand Cerevo Maker Series, specifically targeting hardware developers, and the company’s first originally-developed product. The BlueNinja module uses BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and Toshiba’s low-power application processor TZ1001 as its main system. This module encloses 9-axis sensors along with circuit charging/discharging lithium-ion batteries, allowing users to develop IoT devices like activity trackers using just the module and batteries without special knowledge. The module has a wide range of development phase applications from prototyping to mass manufacturing, and users can also order by 100 or 1,000 units as required. In addition to the module, Cerevo introduced a development kit consisting of the module and a breakout board with debug console output. Cerevo started receiving orders for the mobule on the company’s e-commerce site; it expects the first lot to be shipped in early August. The module will be also exhibited at Makers Faire Tokyo 2015, which will take place at Tokyo Big Sight on August 1st and 2nd. Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Cerevo, the Japanese startup behind a variety of smart consumer electronics devices, recently announced BlueNinja, a module with Bluetooth and 9-axis sensors designed for developers of IoT (Internet of Things) products. This is the second product from Cerevo’s new flagship brand Cerevo Maker Series, specifically targeting hardware developers, and the company’s first originally-developed product.

The BlueNinja module uses BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and Toshiba’s low-power application processor TZ1001 as its main system. This module encloses 9-axis sensors along with circuit charging/discharging lithium-ion batteries, allowing users to develop IoT devices like activity trackers using just the module and batteries without special knowledge.

The module has a wide range of development phase applications from prototyping to mass manufacturing, and users can also order by 100 or 1,000 units as required. In addition to the module, Cerevo introduced a development kit consisting of the module and a breakout board with debug console output.

Cerevo started receiving orders for the mobule on the company’s e-commerce site; it expects the first lot to be shipped in early August. The module will be also exhibited at Makers Faire Tokyo 2015, which will take place at Tokyo Big Sight on August 1st and 2nd.

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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