THE BRIDGE

Masaru Ikeda

Masaru Ikeda

Masaru started his career as a programmer/engineer, and previously co-founded several system integration companies and consulting firms. He’s been traveling around Silicon Valley and Asia exploring the IT industry, and he also curates event updates for the Tokyo edition of Startup Digest.

Articles

Takafumi Horie’s restaurant app, Teriyaki, receives major investment

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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Teriyaki is a mobile app that curates restaurants selected by foodies. It was launched last November here in Japan by former Livedoor CEO Takafumi Horie. As of March 4th, it had surpassed 60,000 downloads with more than 1,100 restaurants listed. Tokyo-based online learning platform developer Hitomedia announced today it has invested an undisclosed sum in the foodie app. For the company, this is its third investment in the internet industry following US-based social commerce startup Fancy (last October) and Japanese online English learning service provider Langrich (last December). Hitomedia’s CEO Masayasu Morita explained the rationale behind the investment: When one of our subsidiaries set up a Facebook page to promoting their publication on Japanese food, it acquired more than a million likes from around the world. So we believe an app like Teriyaki has a great potential to be accepted by a global audience. via Venture Now

teriyaki_featurdimage

Teriyaki is a mobile app that curates restaurants selected by foodies. It was launched last November here in Japan by former Livedoor CEO Takafumi Horie. As of March 4th, it had surpassed 60,000 downloads with more than 1,100 restaurants listed.

Tokyo-based online learning platform developer Hitomedia announced today it has invested an undisclosed sum in the foodie app. For the company, this is its third investment in the internet industry following US-based social commerce startup Fancy (last October) and Japanese online English learning service provider Langrich (last December).

Hitomedia’s CEO Masayasu Morita explained the rationale behind the investment:

When one of our subsidiaries set up a Facebook page to promoting their publication on Japanese food, it acquired more than a million likes from around the world. So we believe an app like Teriyaki has a great potential to be accepted by a global audience.

via Venture Now

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Japanese internet marketing giant Allied Architects partners with growth hacking startup AppSocially

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Tokyo-based internet marketing company Allied Architects (TSE:6081) announced today that it has partnered with and invested an undisclosed sum in the growth hacking startup AppSocially. AppSocially was launched back in February by Japanese serial entrepreneur Yusuke Takahashi, and it has been providing growth hacking solutions by helping app developers analyze how much their existing users help bring in new users. Allied Architects recently started expanding its business into the big data market. Partnering with AppSocially can be seen as a part of this effort. They also invested in Japanese text analysis company Metadata just last month. The company plans to provide better marketing solutions for its clients, combining AppSocially’s high-accuracy metrics and analysis technology with its own marketing platform, Monipla. via Venture Now

allied-architects-and-appsocially_logos

Tokyo-based internet marketing company Allied Architects (TSE:6081) announced today that it has partnered with and invested an undisclosed sum in the growth hacking startup AppSocially.

AppSocially was launched back in February by Japanese serial entrepreneur Yusuke Takahashi, and it has been providing growth hacking solutions by helping app developers analyze how much their existing users help bring in new users.

Allied Architects recently started expanding its business into the big data market. Partnering with AppSocially can be seen as a part of this effort. They also invested in Japanese text analysis company Metadata just last month. The company plans to provide better marketing solutions for its clients, combining AppSocially’s high-accuracy metrics and analysis technology with its own marketing platform, Monipla.

via Venture Now

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Japanese livestreaming app TwitCasting to support collaborative broadcasting

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We have featured the Japanese live broadcasting app TwitCasting more than a few times here on The Bridge. Moi Corporation, the startup that operates the service, recently unveiled that it is planning to add a new multi-person broadcast feature very soon. Many international TV news stations like CNN and BBC sometimes bring live feeds from multiple locations onto a single screen. The app’s new feature will allow up to four users to bring their live feeds into a single program channel. The company hopes this feature will let new users enjoy collaborative broadcasting with veteran users, and encourage them to start their own live programs using the app. This feature will be available upon the next update, so keep an eye out for it. The startup also announced that the Twitcasting service has surpassed 5.45 million users. The founder sees this as a significant figure, as it’s more than the current population of Finland – a country where he used to live and that he respect a lot. Interestingly, the name of his company Moi Corporation also represents a Finland connection, as ‘Moi’ means ‘hi’ or ‘hello’ in Finnish. via TechCrunch Japan

twitcasting_screenshot

We have featured the Japanese live broadcasting app TwitCasting more than a few times here on The Bridge. Moi Corporation, the startup that operates the service, recently unveiled that it is planning to add a new multi-person broadcast feature very soon.

Many international TV news stations like CNN and BBC sometimes bring live feeds from multiple locations onto a single screen. The app’s new feature will allow up to four users to bring their live feeds into a single program channel. The company hopes this feature will let new users enjoy collaborative broadcasting with veteran users, and encourage them to start their own live programs using the app. This feature will be available upon the next update, so keep an eye out for it.

The startup also announced that the Twitcasting service has surpassed 5.45 million users. The founder sees this as a significant figure, as it’s more than the current population of Finland – a country where he used to live and that he respect a lot. Interestingly, the name of his company Moi Corporation also represents a Finland connection, as ‘Moi’ means ‘hi’ or ‘hello’ in Finnish.

via TechCrunch Japan

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Japan’s Line Corporation to launch mobile movie app for kids

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Japanese internet company Line Corporation announced yesterday that it is planning to soon launch an iOS movie app for pre-school kids and their parents. The app is called ‘Line Kids Doga’, and the company intends to use it to provide child-safe content. The app will provide more than 1,500 movies across 28 animation titles including Doraemon, Pokemon, Pretty Cure, Anne of Green Gables, and Thomas and Friends. The service has two pricing plans. The freemium version lets you to watch movies up to 40 minutes a day for free, and you can earn more minutes by persuading yout Line contacts to give them to you. There are two subscription options: If you pay 500 yen ($5) a month, you can watch any of 300 episodes from selected video programs. If you pay 400 yen ($4) a month, you can watch any episodes of one program that you have selected. The company will introduce an Android version this coming spring. via Venture Now

line2

Japanese internet company Line Corporation announced yesterday that it is planning to soon launch an iOS movie app for pre-school kids and their parents. The app is called ‘Line Kids Doga’, and the company intends to use it to provide child-safe content.

The app will provide more than 1,500 movies across 28 animation titles including Doraemon, Pokemon, Pretty Cure, Anne of Green Gables, and Thomas and Friends.

The service has two pricing plans. The freemium version lets you to watch movies up to 40 minutes a day for free, and you can earn more minutes by persuading yout Line contacts to give them to you. There are two subscription options: If you pay 500 yen ($5) a month, you can watch any of 300 episodes from selected video programs. If you pay 400 yen ($4) a month, you can watch any episodes of one program that you have selected.

The company will introduce an Android version this coming spring.

via Venture Now

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Japanese cloud-based accounting platform Freee partners with Recruit’s AirRegi

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Our readers may recall that a couple of Japanese mobile payment solutions recently struck partnerships with tablet-based register apps. And now there’s another announcement in this space. Tokyo-based Freee, the startup behind the Cloud-based accounting app of the same name, announced yesterday that it has partnered with Recruit Lifestyle. Freee will integrate with Recruit Lifestyle’s tablet-based register app AirRegi in order to automate invoicing and accounting at retail stores, thus cutting out much time-consuming work. Since its launch back in November, AirRegi has acquired more than 35,000 merchants across Japan (as of March 18th, 2014). Freee has more than 60,000 user accounts, including freelancers, startups, and SMEs. The company recently introduced an iOS app aiming to help their users finish accounting tasks without having to spend so much time in front of a desktop terminal. via Internet.com (Japan)

airregi-freee

Our readers may recall that a couple of Japanese mobile payment solutions recently struck partnerships with tablet-based register apps. And now there’s another announcement in this space.

Tokyo-based Freee, the startup behind the Cloud-based accounting app of the same name, announced yesterday that it has partnered with Recruit Lifestyle. Freee will integrate with Recruit Lifestyle’s tablet-based register app AirRegi in order to automate invoicing and accounting at retail stores, thus cutting out much time-consuming work.

Since its launch back in November, AirRegi has acquired more than 35,000 merchants across Japan (as of March 18th, 2014). Freee has more than 60,000 user accounts, including freelancers, startups, and SMEs. The company recently introduced an iOS app aiming to help their users finish accounting tasks without having to spend so much time in front of a desktop terminal.

via Internet.com (Japan)

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CyberAgent launches crowdsourced jobs platform for mothers in Japan

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Japanese internet company CyberAgent recently launched a crowdsourcing platform called Mama & Crowd, which is focused on crowdsourced jobs for women with kids. Many mothers typically want to work to supplement their household income, but it can be difficult to find a nursery that would allow for conventional work at an office. The platform aims to help these mothers work at home by giving them crowdsourced jobs they can do while still caring for their kids. via CNET Japan

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Japanese internet company CyberAgent recently launched a crowdsourcing platform called Mama & Crowd, which is focused on crowdsourced jobs for women with kids.

Many mothers typically want to work to supplement their household income, but it can be difficult to find a nursery that would allow for conventional work at an office. The platform aims to help these mothers work at home by giving them crowdsourced jobs they can do while still caring for their kids.

via CNET Japan

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Japanese customer loyalty app Tamecco attracts investment of nearly $1M

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Osaka-based ‘Yume no Machi SoZo Iinkai‘ (literally meaning ‘committee creating a dream town’) is the company behind Japan’s leading food delivery site Demaecan. It recently announced that it has invested 100 million yen (approximately $983,000) in Tokyo-based Tamecco, a startup that has been developing a customer loyalty app using artificial intelligence technology. Tamecco has partnered with more than 300 restaurant and retail chains in Japan. Their app helps them establish a solid relationship with customers by leveraging its geographical and social media features. The company was launched back in 2012 by former investment banker Jonah Oh. They also have Google Japan’s former CEO Koichiro Tsujino on their advisory board. via Venture Now

tamecco_featured

Osaka-based ‘Yume no Machi SoZo Iinkai‘ (literally meaning ‘committee creating a dream town’) is the company behind Japan’s leading food delivery site Demaecan. It recently announced that it has invested 100 million yen (approximately $983,000) in Tokyo-based Tamecco, a startup that has been developing a customer loyalty app using artificial intelligence technology.

Tamecco has partnered with more than 300 restaurant and retail chains in Japan. Their app helps them establish a solid relationship with customers by leveraging its geographical and social media features.

The company was launched back in 2012 by former investment banker Jonah Oh. They also have Google Japan’s former CEO Koichiro Tsujino on their advisory board.

via Venture Now

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Indonesia’s Touchten Games closes Series B funding from Japanese investors

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Based on the original article in Japanese Touchten Games is a Jakarta-based game studio which raised Series B financing from Japan’s CyberAgent Ventures back in November 2013. And the games startup most recently announced that it has completed its Series B round, by raising funds from Japanese animation studio Tms Entertainment, Singapore’s UOB Venture Management, and Indonesian incubator Ideosource. The amount(s) of funds were not disclosed. Early this year, Tms Entertainment invested in Blina, an Indonesian E-commerce site for baby products. We hope to take a more detailed look at Tms’s involvement with Indonesian startups in the near future. Touchten, a startup that just celebrated its fifth year in business this March, is now focusing on developing its online-to-offline Touchten Platform (see above). Incorporating a gamification approach, the launch of this platform actually helped a lot as they were trying to complete their Series B round. On this platform, users can acquire points based on the result of the games they played. Those points can be exchanged for items at partnering retail stores, who then also benefit when those users enter the shops. Touchten Platform will be implemented in a new Touchten game to be released this month for the…

touchten-platform_screenshot

Based on the original article in Japanese

Touchten Games is a Jakarta-based game studio which raised Series B financing from Japan’s CyberAgent Ventures back in November 2013. And the games startup most recently announced that it has completed its Series B round, by raising funds from Japanese animation studio Tms Entertainment, Singapore’s UOB Venture Management, and Indonesian incubator Ideosource. The amount(s) of funds were not disclosed.

Early this year, Tms Entertainment invested in Blina, an Indonesian E-commerce site for baby products. We hope to take a more detailed look at Tms’s involvement with Indonesian startups in the near future.

Touchten, a startup that just celebrated its fifth year in business this March, is now focusing on developing its online-to-offline Touchten Platform (see above). Incorporating a gamification approach, the launch of this platform actually helped a lot as they were trying to complete their Series B round.

On this platform, users can acquire points based on the result of the games they played. Those points can be exchanged for items at partnering retail stores, who then also benefit when those users enter the shops.

Touchten Platform will be implemented in a new Touchten game to be released this month for the Indonesian market. We understand that the acquired points can be used in some of Indonesia’s biggest convenience stores, certain restaurants, karaoke cafes, or movie theaters. They plan to expand the platform in Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam by the end of this year, and are also now looking for potential partner companies in the Philippines and Malaysia.

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NTT Docomo launches dog monitoring service

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NTT Docomo recently launched a pet dog-monitoring service called PetFit. It is available for a 25,900 yen fee (approximately $255), which includes a deposit fee for the monitoring device and one-year data transmission charge. By attaching a bluetooth-enabled tag to your dog, the service’s mobile app keeps you updated about how you dog is behaving (is he walking or sleeping, for example). If the device’s base station loses the signal from the tag, the service recognizes he that he is out of range and sends you a notification e-mail to encourage you to find him. You can record history of his past behavior, as well as the atmospheric temperature around him, in the cloud, and even consult a veterinarian using the service. via CNET Japan

petfit

NTT Docomo recently launched a pet dog-monitoring service called PetFit. It is available for a 25,900 yen fee (approximately $255), which includes a deposit fee for the monitoring device and one-year data transmission charge.

By attaching a bluetooth-enabled tag to your dog, the service’s mobile app keeps you updated about how you dog is behaving (is he walking or sleeping, for example). If the device’s base station loses the signal from the tag, the service recognizes he that he is out of range and sends you a notification e-mail to encourage you to find him.

You can record history of his past behavior, as well as the atmospheric temperature around him, in the cloud, and even consult a veterinarian using the service.

petfit-device

via CNET Japan

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Japan’s Cybridge launches recipe site in Vietnam

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Tokyo-based system integration company Cybridge recently announced it has launched a recipe site in Vietnam called Eccook. The company has a local subsidiary called Cybridge Asia in Ho Chi Minh, responsible for managing the website. via Venture Now

eccook_screenshot

Tokyo-based system integration company Cybridge recently announced it has launched a recipe site in Vietnam called Eccook. The company has a local subsidiary called Cybridge Asia in Ho Chi Minh, responsible for managing the website.

via Venture Now

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