See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Cover, the startup offering management production services of VTubers (short for “virtual YouTubers”), announced on Friday that its IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on March 27 with plans to offer 1.5 million shares for public subscription and to sell 1,864,100 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 10,927,400 shares. The underwriting will be co-led by Mizuho Securities and Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities while Cover’s ticker code will be 5253. Based on the estimated issue price of 710 yen (about $5.3) and total number of issued shares (61,124,200), the company will be valued at 43 billion yen (about $320 million). Its share price range will be released on March 7 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on March 8 and pricing on March 14. According to the consolidated statement as of March 2022, they posted revenue of 13.6 billion yen (about $101 million) with an ordinary profit of 1.85 billion yen (about $13.7 million). Founded back in June of 2016, Cover started with producing virtual reality content followed by releasing the Ping Pong League game back in…
Tokyo-based Cover, the startup offering management production services of VTubers (short for “virtual YouTubers”), announced on Friday that its IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on March 27 with plans to offer 1.5 million shares for public subscription and to sell 1,864,100 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 10,927,400 shares. The underwriting will be co-led by Mizuho Securities and Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities while Cover’s ticker code will be 5253.
Based on the estimated issue price of 710 yen (about $5.3) and total number of issued shares (61,124,200), the company will be valued at 43 billion yen (about $320 million). Its share price range will be released on March 7 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on March 8 and pricing on March 14. According to the consolidated statement as of March 2022, they posted revenue of 13.6 billion yen (about $101 million) with an ordinary profit of 1.85 billion yen (about $13.7 million).
Founded back in June of 2016, Cover started with producing virtual reality content followed by releasing the Ping Pong League game back in 2017. The company launched Vtuber Tokino Sora in September of 2017, which became later a smash hit.
Subsequenly, Cover launched the Hololive female VTuber group which later led to their Vtuber agency business called Hololive Production. The company now has 71 Vtubers (48 for Japan, 9 for Indonesia, and 14 for English-speaking countries), and 31 out of them have earned over 1 million followers in their YouTube channel. The total number of YouTube Channel followers of all VTubers in the company has exceeded 10 million.
Cover’s monetization hevily depends on Vtuber and its related businesses such as producing livestreaming content, live performance events, merchandising, and licensing and tie-ups. Led by CEO Motoaki Tanigo (38.2%), their major sharholders include Strive (17.3%), Valley (5.5%), CTO Kazuyuki Fukuda (5%), and Mizuho Capital (3.6%).
See the original story in Japanese. Moi Corporation, the company behind Japanese mobile live streaming app TwitCasting, announced last week that its IPO application to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange had been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on April 27 with plans to offer 1,041,800 shares for public subscription and to sell 354,200 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 1,320,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by SBI Securities while Moi’s ticker code will be 5031. Its share price range will be released on April 19 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on April 12 and pricing on April 18. According to the consolidated statement as of January 2021, they posted revenue of 4.939 billion yen ($39.5 million) with an ordinary profit of 195 million yen ($1.6 million). Based on the estimated issue price of 470 yen (about $3.8), the company will be valued at 6.2 billion yen ($49.5 million). The TwitCating app was originally launched as a side project of Akamatsu’s previous startup Sidefeed. In 2012, the project was split off as a new company called Moi from Sidefeed in 2012. The service has attracted more than 10 million users by…
Moi Corporation, the company behind Japanese mobile live streaming app TwitCasting, announced last week that its IPO application to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange had been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on April 27 with plans to offer 1,041,800 shares for public subscription and to sell 354,200 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 1,320,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by SBI Securities while Moi’s ticker code will be 5031.
Its share price range will be released on April 19 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on April 12 and pricing on April 18. According to the consolidated statement as of January 2021, they posted revenue of 4.939 billion yen ($39.5 million) with an ordinary profit of 195 million yen ($1.6 million). Based on the estimated issue price of 470 yen (about $3.8), the company will be valued at 6.2 billion yen ($49.5 million).
The TwitCating app was originally launched as a side project of Akamatsu’s previous startup Sidefeed. In 2012, the project was split off as a new company called Moi from Sidefeed in 2012. The service has attracted more than 10 million users by 2015, and then the cumulative number of its registered users hit 33.6 million in the end of July of 2021. The app allows users to livestream their performances and shows as well as monetize them.
Moi says that 60% of the app’s users are 24 years old or younger while more than half of them are female (62%). The company is making money through selling points which users purchase and redeem for items to liven up their shows or extend the time limit of livestreaming. The sales of the points account for 96% of the company’s total revenue, having seen a steady growth – 1.224 billion yen ($9.8 million) in 2019, 2.319 billion yen ($18.5 million) in 2020, and 5.28 billion yen($42.2 million)i n 2021.
Led by Yosuke Akamatsu (59.7%), the company’s major shareholders include East Ventures (17.15%), Mandela Capital Limited (4.61%), Global Brain (4.14%), and SBI AI & Blockchain Fund (4.14%).
See the original story in Japanese. Singapore-based Next Web Capital (NeW) announced on Tuesday that it has secured $10 million in funding from WiL (World Innovation Lab) and crypto exchange Bitbank in addition to the launch of an accelerator aiming to support entrepreneurs in the Web3 and crypto space. The firm supports global Web3.0 protocols, aiming to co-create new projects with entrepreneurs from Japan. The firm was founded by seven Japanese entrepreneurs – Sota Watanabe (CEO, Stake Technologies / Founder, Astar Network), Shun Ishikawa (COO, Astar Network), Kei Seki (Fund Manager, Astar Network), Yudai Suzuki (Co-founder, Fracton Ventures), Toshihiko Kamei (Co-founder, Fracton Ventures), Naoki Akazawa (Co-founder, Fracton Ventures), and Yusuke Obinata (Web3 Foundation). NeW plans to support entrepreneurs starting their business in the new ecosystem based on cryptos and blockchain. Specifically speaking, the firm provides mentoring by its founders and other members, share their experience in addition to offering financial support by actively participating in the DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) and other ecosystems. They also plan to use SAFT (Simple Agreement for Future Tokens) to raise funds for participating entrepreneurs. Expressing his expectations, Masaya Kubota, Partner at WiL, says, In encouraging more and more Japanese startups to expand into the…
Singapore-based Next Web Capital (NeW) announced on Tuesday that it has secured $10 million in funding from WiL (World Innovation Lab) and crypto exchange Bitbank in addition to the launch of an accelerator aiming to support entrepreneurs in the Web3 and crypto space. The firm supports global Web3.0 protocols, aiming to co-create new projects with entrepreneurs from Japan.
The firm was founded by seven Japanese entrepreneurs – Sota Watanabe (CEO, Stake Technologies / Founder, Astar Network), Shun Ishikawa (COO, Astar Network), Kei Seki (Fund Manager, Astar Network), Yudai Suzuki (Co-founder, Fracton Ventures), Toshihiko Kamei (Co-founder, Fracton Ventures), Naoki Akazawa (Co-founder, Fracton Ventures), and Yusuke Obinata (Web3 Foundation).
NeW plans to support entrepreneurs starting their business in the new ecosystem based on cryptos and blockchain. Specifically speaking, the firm provides mentoring by its founders and other members, share their experience in addition to offering financial support by actively participating in the DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) and other ecosystems.
Founders of New Web Capital
They also plan to use SAFT (Simple Agreement for Future Tokens) to raise funds for participating entrepreneurs. Expressing his expectations, Masaya Kubota, Partner at WiL, says,
In encouraging more and more Japanese startups to expand into the global market, I am glad that such young and talented members have joined forces. We want to push them and hope that they will become role models and create a new image of entrepreneurs in the Web3 world.
Toshihiko Kamei, one of the co-founder of NeW, says
For entrepreneurs, especially in the Web3 and crypto space, it’s important to start their business globally from Day 1. Seeing global projects by Japanese entrepreneurs such as Astar Network, UXD Protocol and InsureDAO, more and moe Japanese entrepreneurs are taking on global challenges but the the number of them is still limited.
While technologies, domains, and regulations in each country are changing at a rapid pace, Web 3.0 entrepreneurs are blazing new trails. Our intention to encourage more entrepreneurs from Japan has led us this initiative. The seven of us expect to become role models for Web 3.0 entrepreneurs by being at the forefront of the world ourselves, and also doing our best to support them so that they can become the next role models for entrepreneurs who are willing to take on the world.
It is yet to be decided whether NeW will hold an event-driven acceleration program like more than a few existing accelerators have been doing. If you are interested in joining the program, you should directly contact anyone of the founders or e-mail them through their website.
This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese. Tokyo-based Soda, the Japanese startup behind a marketplace specializing in sneakers and streetwear called SNKRDUNK (pronounced as Sneaker Dunk), announced today that it has secured an undisclosed sum in a series D round from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (SBVF2), which brought the company’s valuation up to 38 billion yen or $340 million US. This follows the company’s series C round back in July where it secured 6.2 billion yen (about $54 million US), meaning that their valuation became 1.6 times in just 4 months. The previous round was led by Korean tech giant Naver’s Kream with participation from Altos, SoftBank Ventures Asia, JAFCO Group, and existing investors including basepartners, Coloplast Next, and The Guild. The funds raised in the latest round will be used for expanding into the Asian markets such as Singapore, Australia, and Hong Kong in addition to strengthening business expansion effort in Japan, AI-based logistics, authenticity assessment, and customer support. This is SBVF2’s second investment in a Japanese startup following cash injection into biotech startup Aculys Pharma. SoftBank Vision Fund 1 (SBVF1) had been investing 100 billion yen in each startup on average, mainly focused on…
This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese.
Tokyo-based Soda, the Japanese startup behind a marketplace specializing in sneakers and streetwear called SNKRDUNK (pronounced as Sneaker Dunk), announced today that it has secured an undisclosed sum in a series D round from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (SBVF2), which brought the company’s valuation up to 38 billion yen or $340 million US.
This follows the company’s series C round back in July where it secured 6.2 billion yen (about $54 million US), meaning that their valuation became 1.6 times in just 4 months. The previous round was led by Korean tech giant Naver’s Kream with participation from Altos, SoftBank Ventures Asia, JAFCO Group, and existing investors including basepartners, Coloplast Next, and The Guild.
The funds raised in the latest round will be used for expanding into the Asian markets such as Singapore, Australia, and Hong Kong in addition to strengthening business expansion effort in Japan, AI-based logistics, authenticity assessment, and customer support. This is SBVF2’s second investment in a Japanese startup following cash injection into biotech startup Aculys Pharma.
SoftBank Vision Fund 1 (SBVF1) had been investing 100 billion yen in each startup on average, mainly focused on US-based unicorns which are valued over $1 billion. However, the average ticket size of the second fund (SBVF2) has been reduced to 20 billion yen ($177 million), and some of Japanese startups have been gradually becoming the fund’s potential investees.
In an interview with Forbes Japan, SBVF2’s managing partner Kentaro Matsui shared his fund’s five investment principles: 1. market size, 2. innovativeness of services, products, and technologies, 3. accelerating growth through AI (artificial intelligence) and data utilization, 4. entrepreneurs and management team with a clear vision, and 5. sustainability of the business and a clear path to profitability.
In the statement, Soda claims AI-based logistics as one of what the fund is used for. By optimizing the logistics process leveraging cutting-edge technologies, the company expects to allow customers to experience the new standard of trading – sell today, receive tomorrow. It’s unnecessary to say technology is the key to breakthroughs here.
According to the SoftBank Group’s financial results for the second quarter ending March 31, 2022, SVF1 and SFVF2 have 81 and 157 portfolio companies respectively.
See the original story in Japanese. Atama Plus, the Japanese startup offering AI-based learning materials for cram schools under the same name, announced Wednesday that it has fundraised about 5 billion yen (about $46.4 million US) in a series B round. In addition to existing investors such as DCM Ventures and JAFCO Group, participating investors include the Singapore Government-backed Temasek Holdings’ Pavilion Capital and US-based T. Rowe Price. This has brought the company’s funding sum to date up to about 8.2 billion yen (about $74.6 million). The learning platform allows users to shorten the time to acquire basic academic skills. It can detect where students are likely to get stuck during learning, so it can teach the teacher when they are likely to get stuck, enabling precise and efficient coaching. It is being used in more than 2,500 classrooms, including Japanese notable cram school chains like the Sundai Group and the Z-kai Group, as it is expected to have a high learning effect. In July of last year, the company began offering online mock exams, and in December, it launched a joint research group with Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto to link the company’s learning data to the university’s entrance exams….
Atama Plus, the Japanese startup offering AI-based learning materials for cram schools under the same name, announced Wednesday that it has fundraised about 5 billion yen (about $46.4 million US) in a series B round. In addition to existing investors such as DCM Ventures and JAFCO Group, participating investors include the Singapore Government-backed Temasek Holdings’ Pavilion Capital and US-based T. Rowe Price. This has brought the company’s funding sum to date up to about 8.2 billion yen (about $74.6 million).
The learning platform allows users to shorten the time to acquire basic academic skills. It can detect where students are likely to get stuck during learning, so it can teach the teacher when they are likely to get stuck, enabling precise and efficient coaching. It is being used in more than 2,500 classrooms, including Japanese notable cram school chains like the Sundai Group and the Z-kai Group, as it is expected to have a high learning effect.
In July of last year, the company began offering online mock exams, and in December, it launched a joint research group with Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto to link the company’s learning data to the university’s entrance exams. With the latest fund, the company aims to expand its business by increasing employees from the current 160 to 250.
Overseas investors joined the round for the first time
Image credit: Atama Plus
It is rare for foreign funds such as Temasek and T. Rowe Price to invest in privately held Japanese companies, but there have been a few cases in the past, including Studyst and SuperStudio (both from Pavilion Capital), and Freee and Sansan (both from T. Rowe Price).
Global investments (mostly in the US) in the first half of 2021 totaled $288 billion, up significantly from $110 billion in the same period last year. Among these investments, Temasek has invested in 47 companies in the first half of 2021 alone. Temasek invested in 47 companies in the first half of 2021 alone, while T. Rowe Price’s investments totaled $5 billion.
So, why haven’t they paid more attention to Japanese startups so far? As I heard from a local investor, typical overseas investors tend to evaluate deals based on market size. They simply evaluate companies based on their market cap, so the upside is Apple as their market cap hit $2.4 trillion as of this writing.
Manwhile, foreign investors are unlikely to invest in startups which cannot compete in the global arena. Conversely, these investors recognized that Atama Plus CEO Inada and his team could compete globally. In fact, Inada said that the reason for having foreign funds in this round is aiming for a global IPO.
Competing in the global market
The world’s most valued EduTech companies – Toppr (India), Byju’s (India) Yuanfudao (China), and Descoplica (Brazil)
According to Inada the global education market is estimated $3.8 trillion, while $226 billion in Japan alone including $9 billion for cram and prep schools. The Yano Research Institute’s report (forecast as of 2019) says that the market of cram schools, prep schools, language learning and qualification courses is estimated to be about $25.3 billion, with Benesse at the top of the industry with sales of about $4 billion while other businesses scattered across the country.
Meanwhile, as shown in the list of unicorns, Asian startups are making remarkable progress in the global education market. In particular, India’s Byju’s (valued at $16.5 billion) and China’s Yuanfudao (valued at $15.5 billion) may be definite rivals for Atama Plus in the global competition because both of the startups were founded back in 2017 when Atama Plus was so. By the way, Japanese largest education company Benesse is valued at about $2.4 billion (as of this writing).
Inada and his team’s idea wants to take a firm position as a top player by starting with cram and prep schools in Japan first (there about 50,000 schools nationwide), while at the same time expanding the business beyond cram and prep school materials, such as online mock exams and the joint project with Ritsumeikan. The platform used to have a problem taking a long time for onboarding, but now it has been streamlined and the introduction to cram and prep schools has become smoother than before.
Inada thinks that the education market in China and India is still under development, and the challenge there is offering better access to education rather than pursuing the quality of learning materials. The inflated valuations of education startups in these markets are much dependent on marketing-led growth but his company may have a better chance of winning the competition with the quality of products, he says.
Merpay’s Aoyagi joined the board
From left: Naoki Aoyagi (newly-appointed advisor for Atama Plus, CEO of Merpay), Daisuke Inada (Founder and CEO of Atama Plus)
Prior to the latest funding, Merpay CEO Naoki Aoyagi joined the advisory board of Atama Plus. Inada’s intention having him on the board is to learn how to compete in the global market. In the past decade, we haven’t seen that many tech entrepreneurs from Japan challenging the world.
Aoyagi is around Inada’s age, and his experience having startups like Gree and Merpay grown up to giants will certainly be very beneficial for Inada’s team. Atama Plus uses the funds to expand to 250 employees, and such a growth at a startups is the first-time experience for Inada even if he has worked at the education business unit at an enterprise like Mitsui & Co. Inada wants to property deal properly with growing pains that may occur in the future by learning from him in advance.
The company’s latest funding has a huge potential in terms of not only a rare case of funding for a Japanese startup from global institutional investors but also a case study of those looking at global expansion. We’ll keep our eyes on how they will fare from now on.
See the original story in Japanese. Japanese startup Kaizen Platform, offering website user interface improvement solutions, announced on Wednesday that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 22 with plans to offer 1,550,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 751,300 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 3,459,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho securities while Kaizen’s ticker code will be 4170. Its share price range will be released on December 3 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on December 7 and pricing on December 11. According to the consolidated statement as of December 2019, they posted revenue of 1.3 billion yen (about $12.5 million) with an ordinary loss of 249 million yen ($2.8 million). Based on the estimated issue price of 1,100 yen (about $10.6), the company will be valued at about 16.9 billion yen ($162 million). Kaizen Platform founded a Delaware company with establishing its global headquarters in San Francisco as well its Japan branch in Tokyo in March to April of 2013, followed by launching a website optimization solution back in August of the same year. In addition…
Japanese startup Kaizen Platform, offering website user interface improvement solutions, announced on Wednesday that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 22 with plans to offer 1,550,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 751,300 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 3,459,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho securities while Kaizen’s ticker code will be 4170.
Its share price range will be released on December 3 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on December 7 and pricing on December 11. According to the consolidated statement as of December 2019, they posted revenue of 1.3 billion yen (about $12.5 million) with an ordinary loss of 249 million yen ($2.8 million). Based on the estimated issue price of 1,100 yen (about $10.6), the company will be valued at about 16.9 billion yen ($162 million).
Kaizen Platform founded a Delaware company with establishing its global headquarters in San Francisco as well its Japan branch in Tokyo in March to April of 2013, followed by launching a website optimization solution back in August of the same year. In addition to offering website optimization solutions, the company launched the Kaizen Video service as part of the Kaizen Ad business.
Kaizen Platform established a Japanese company and its subsidiary Kaizen Platform USA in April ofo 2017. During this process, the founding company was dissolved in a merger with the US subsidiary, In addition, the company established a joint venture with NTT Ad called DX Catalyst, making it an equity-method affiliate by acquiring its 49% stake in April this year.
In addition to helping clients optimize their websites, the company is now focused on creating client’s video clips utilizing existing content for affordable rates and fast turnaround. They disclosed several KPIs they have achieved as of Q3 this year: 772 companies, 16,480 registered users (clients and professionals), and 2,124,000 yen as ARPU (average revenue per user).
Led by founder and CEO Kenji Sudo (32.43%), the company’s major shareholders include Eight Roads Ventures Japan (18.41%), GREE Ventures (now known as Strive, 9.39%), co-founder and CTO Toshimasa Ishibashi (8.11%), NTT Ad (7.29%), SBI Investment (4.59%), YJ Capital (3.82%), Colopl (3.05%), Dai Nippon Printing (2.88%), and GMO Venture Partners (1.91%).
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Yappli, the Japanese startup that provides a mobile app development platform under the same name, announced that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 22 with plans to offer 350,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 726,600 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 4,495,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho securities while Yappli’s ticker code will be 4168. Based on the estimated issue price of 2,960 yen (about $28.4) and a total number of 11,663,600 shares in the market including public subscription, the company will be valued at 34.5 billion yen ($330 million). Its share price range will be released on December 2 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on December 4 and pricing on December 10. According to the consolidated statement as of December 2019, they posted revenue of 1.71 billion yen ($16.4 million) with a net loss of 798 million yen ($7.6 million). The company was founded in February of 2013 under its original name of Fastmedia. It launched the Yappli no-code application development system which allows both app developers and…
Tokyo-based Yappli, the Japanese startup that provides a mobile app development platform under the same name, announced that IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on December 22 with plans to offer 350,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 726,600 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 4,495,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho securities while Yappli’s ticker code will be 4168.
Based on the estimated issue price of 2,960 yen (about $28.4) and a total number of 11,663,600 shares in the market including public subscription, the company will be valued at 34.5 billion yen ($330 million). Its share price range will be released on December 2 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on December 4 and pricing on December 10. According to the consolidated statement as of December 2019, they posted revenue of 1.71 billion yen ($16.4 million) with a net loss of 798 million yen ($7.6 million).
The company was founded in February of 2013 under its original name of Fastmedia. It launched the Yappli no-code application development system which allows both app developers and non-developers to develop their apps without programming skills.
Their revenue comes from initial support fee as well as monthly subscription consisting of a base usage fee, paid options, and billing based on the number of devices that receive push notifications through the app that users have developed. As of September 2020, the platform has been adopted to develop 527 apps while these apps have been downloaded about 65 million times in total. The platform’s churn rate has remained below 1% since December of 2016 and has been seeing 0.88% for the latest quarter.
Led by both Co-founder / CEO Yasufumi Ihara and Managing Director Masafumi Sano (20.75% respectively), the company’s major shareholders include YJ Capital (18.58%), Eight Roads Ventures Japan (10.02%), Globis Capital Partners (15.74%), Co-founder Masumi Kuroda (7.33％), Salesforce (3.71%), Itochu Technology Ventures (1.59％), and angel investor Shogo Kawada (0.42%).
See the original story in Japanese. 17 Media Japan, the local operating company of mobile livestreaming app 17 Live or ‘Ichinana’ also known as Livit in the English-speaking countries, announced today that Hirofumi Ono was appointed as Global CEO of its parent company M17 Entertainment Limited (M17). Focused on the Japanese market, M17 will be continually responsible for service operations in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, and other Asian countries. Former M17 CEO Joesph Phua will step down as CEO to become a non-executive chairman. Ono will also continue to serve 17 Media japan as its president. The Japanese operations of the livestreaming app was launched back in 2017 by Ono who has been backing M17 as one of investors – Co-founder & Managing Partner of Infinity Venture Partners. The app now has become an outstanding platform where singers and entertainers perform their live shows. It has acquired 45 million registrants as of November of 2019. Along with this, Ono announced that he will be stepping down from his role as managing director at Infinity Ventures in September. He was involved in launching the VC firm back in 2008 together with Akio Tanaka and Masashi Kobayashi. See also: Infinity Venture…
M17 Entertainment’s new Global CEO Hirofumi Ono Image credit: M17 Entertainment
17 Media Japan, the local operating company of mobile livestreaming app 17 Live or ‘Ichinana’ also known as Livit in the English-speaking countries, announced today that Hirofumi Ono was appointed as Global CEO of its parent company M17 Entertainment Limited (M17). Focused on the Japanese market, M17 will be continually responsible for service operations in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, and other Asian countries. Former M17 CEO Joesph Phua will step down as CEO to become a non-executive chairman. Ono will also continue to serve 17 Media japan as its president.
The Japanese operations of the livestreaming app was launched back in 2017 by Ono who has been backing M17 as one of investors – Co-founder & Managing Partner of Infinity Venture Partners. The app now has become an outstanding platform where singers and entertainers perform their live shows. It has acquired 45 million registrants as of November of 2019.
Along with this, Ono announced that he will be stepping down from his role as managing director at Infinity Ventures in September. He was involved in launching the VC firm back in 2008 together with Akio Tanaka and Masashi Kobayashi.
In addition to investing in ventures in Japan and the Greater China region, Ono has contributed to the growth of startups with his unique style of entrepreneurial involvement as a founding member of them. The startups he was involved in managing include Rekoo Japan (the company behind Sunshine Ranch), Jmty.jp (Japanese classifieds site), Groupon Japan, Farfetch Japan, and of course 17 Media Japan. He has also made a significant impact on the startup ecosystem as an investor, hosting Infinity Ventures Summit (IVS), one of the largest venture conferences in Japan, for 12 years.
Below is his open letter on his Facebook timeline. (sic)
It is my pleasure to announce that I will be graduating from Infinity Ventures(IV), which I have led with Akio since 2008, this September.
And I will be taking on the role of Global CEO at M17 Entertainment, Ltd(M17). that is portfolio company of IV and is the parent company of 17 Media Japan where I have been acting as CEO over 3 years.
After launching 17 Media Japan from zero and leading its growth to No. 1 in Japan, there was a strong request from Joseph Phua, Co-Founder of M17 Global and Chairman, for me to take over the global CEO position, and after discussions with Akio and Joseph Huang internally in IV. I decided that the best way for me is to graduate from IV and commit to M17 as CEO so that I can contribute to those who helped me a lot during my time in IV by leading M17 to further growth stage.
In the 12 years since launching IV from scratch, I have had the great opportunity to not only invest but also run many companies on my own like Rekoo Japan (Sunshine Farm), Groupon Japan, Jimoty, Farfetch Japan, and 17 Media Japan. And fortunately most of them made great success to be leading companies in that industries and brought successful exit.
I am particularly pleased that Jimoty that I had built literally from scratch completely on my own went public this year.
I have also been able to get involved in some of the big exits for IVP’s fund, such as Soracom, freee and some of great investment like Wealth Navi and YeahKa (listed in HK and worth over 3billion USD now).
M17 is now expanding widely in Japan, Taiwan, India, HK, the US and the Middle East, and I will continue to grow the company so that we can expand our live streaming business even further around the world.
I am looking forward to a longer relationship with you as a serial entrepreneur.
As for IV, IVS President Toshiaki Shimakawa has successfully hosted more than 1,000 guests in the first online IVS, and the IV Japan team will continue to strengthen its operations with keeping investing in Japan and leading IVS.
Also, I will continue to contribute to IVS LaunchPad as an advisor to the development of our startups.
Sorry for that long message.
I would like to have opportunity to say hello to you individually if I could.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Hey, the Japanese tech firm behind payments startup and e-shop builder, announced today that it has secured series E round funding. Participating investors in this round are Bain Capital, Hong Kong-based Anatole, Goldman Saches, PayPal, YJ Capital (investment arm of Yahoo Japan) as well as World Innovation Lab (WiL). Hey has not disclosed the size of the entire round but their statement reveals Bain Capital alone will invest 7 billion yen (about $66 million) in this deal. Hey will use the funds to double its team from 200 to 400 staffers. Along with the funds, the company will acquire a full stake in Coubic, a Japanese startup behind scheduling and appointment booking solution under the same name. Coubic has recently integrated with “Reserve with Google”, which now allows consumers to make bookings or purchase tickets through Google Search and Maps from the local businesses using Coubic. Coubic has also recently integrated with Zoom in aim to help retailers offer online counseling or other learning services under the COVID-19 pandemic. Founded in October 2013 by ex-Googler Hiroshi Kuraoka, Coubic has now 2.5 million monthly active users and is serving more than 80,000 companies and…
Participating investors in this round are Bain Capital, Hong Kong-based Anatole, Goldman Saches, PayPal, YJ Capital (investment arm of Yahoo Japan) as well as World Innovation Lab (WiL). Hey has not disclosed the size of the entire round but their statement reveals Bain Capital alone will invest 7 billion yen (about $66 million) in this deal.
Hey will use the funds to double its team from 200 to 400 staffers.
Along with the funds, the company will acquire a full stake in Coubic, a Japanese startup behind scheduling and appointment booking solution under the same name. Coubic has recently integrated with “Reserve with Google”, which now allows consumers to make bookings or purchase tickets through Google Search and Maps from the local businesses using Coubic.
Coubic has also recently integrated with Zoom in aim to help retailers offer online counseling or other learning services under the COVID-19 pandemic.
Founded in October 2013 by ex-Googler Hiroshi Kuraoka, Coubic has now 2.5 million monthly active users and is serving more than 80,000 companies and individuals across over 180 business categories.
Here’s what Hey CEO Yusuke Sato says in an official statement:
I’ll never forget the words of a customer I got the other day. That’s from President Suzuki of Hamanoyu, who use our Stores platform to sell his traditional inn’s flagship menu of red bream fish boiled with soy sauce.
He said in his letter to us:
“The kitchen, which had been bereft of guests, has been revitalized by orders online from from all over the country. Our staffs were encouraged by the fact that there were customers who wanted to stay with us, and we felt anew that we had to take a stand for the customers who wanted to come back someday.”
We were reminded that what we can do is small in the face of a major disaster, but nevertheless, we could be a source of hope and vitality for those who are in such a difficult situation.
Through this funding and the acquisition (of Coubic), we will further accelerate the rollout of features for individuals and small and medium-sized businesses in response to the new normal, such as early withdrawal of sales proceeds, support for opening an online store, and simplified online lesson booking through integration with the Zoom video conferencing service, which we have released to address the challenges associated with the pandemic and business restraint measures.
Together with Hey team and our new colleagues from Coubic, we will contribute to creating a society supported by an economy driven by persistence, passion and fun, rather than just pursuing profit and scale.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based user experience and interface (UX/UI) design agency Goodpatch announced today it has applied to be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and was approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on June 30with plans to offer 308,900 shares for public subscription and to sell about 98,900 shares in over-allotment options for a total of about 350,900 shares. The underwriting will be led by Daiwa Securities while Goodpatch’s ticker code will be 7351. Based on the estimated IPO price of 610 yen (about $5.7) a share, the company’s market valuation will be about 4.3 billion yen (about $40 million). Its share price range will be released on June 11 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on June 15 and pricing on June 19. According to the consolidated statement as of August 2019, they posted revenue of 1.41 billion yen (about $13.1 million) with an ordinary profit of 93 million yen (about $865,000). Goodpatch was founded in August of 2011. Prior to the company, CEO Naofumi Tsuchiya worked as an intern at San Francisco’s digital agency Btrax, and founded Goodpatch after returning home to Japan. The company’s name comes from the incubation…
Tokyo-based user experience and interface (UX/UI) design agency Goodpatch announced today it has applied to be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and was approved.
The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on June 30with plans to offer 308,900 shares for public subscription and to sell about 98,900 shares in over-allotment options for a total of about 350,900 shares. The underwriting will be led by Daiwa Securities while Goodpatch’s ticker code will be 7351.
Based on the estimated IPO price of 610 yen (about $5.7) a share, the company’s market valuation will be about 4.3 billion yen (about $40 million).
Its share price range will be released on June 11 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on June 15 and pricing on June 19. According to the consolidated statement as of August 2019, they posted revenue of 1.41 billion yen (about $13.1 million) with an ordinary profit of 93 million yen (about $865,000).
Goodpatch was founded in August of 2011. Prior to the company, CEO Naofumi Tsuchiya worked as an intern at San Francisco’s digital agency Btrax, and founded Goodpatch after returning home to Japan. The company’s name comes from the incubation space Dogpatch Labs in San Francisco. Their prototyping tool Prott, which was officially launched in October of 2014, has been introduced in major IT companies, startups, design farms, and so on.
Led by founder and CEO Naofumi Tsuchiya, the company’s major shareholders include Digital Garage Group (21.4%, DG Lab and DG Ventures), Blue Rose (8.24%), SBI Investment (7.93%), and Salesforce Ventures (3.08%).
