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Australia, NZ Chamber of Commerce in Japan holds startup confab at new office

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This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. The Australia-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ANZCCJ) on Tuesday evening held, with support from Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and Japan Australia Business Co-operation Committee, a Tech Startup confab at its new headquarters inside WeWork Shimbashi, in Tokyo. The panel comprised Australian Paul Chapman of fintech firm Moneytree, New Zealand-raised Yuta Iguchi of Million Steps Partner now doing Israel-focused business in Japan, Japan manager Shota J. Adam of mattress provider Koala.com and Kiwi-Aussie serial entrepreneur Terrie Lloyd (Japan Travel CEO), moderated by Jared Campion of Carter Search. See also: Moneytree, Japanese personal finance app, raises $9M to better serve corporate users Japanese personal finance app Moneytree raises $1.5 million Moneytree gives Japanese consumers smarter access to their finances Japan-based MetroWorks raises funds from Sunbridge Global Ventures Part of the Small/Medium-sized Enterprises Support Programme, it brought an audience ranging from ANZ Bank and HRExperts to Rio Tinto and Vega Global, illustrating the keen interest by foreign affiliates as to communication and human resource aspects of tech startups in Japan. In addition to SME, ANZCCJ has a program supporting Youth…

This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.


Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy

The Australia-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ANZCCJ) on Tuesday evening held, with support from Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and Japan Australia Business Co-operation Committee, a Tech Startup confab at its new headquarters inside WeWork Shimbashi, in Tokyo.

The panel comprised Australian Paul Chapman of fintech firm Moneytree, New Zealand-raised Yuta Iguchi of Million Steps Partner now doing Israel-focused business in Japan, Japan manager Shota J. Adam of mattress provider Koala.com and Kiwi-Aussie serial entrepreneur Terrie Lloyd (Japan Travel CEO), moderated by Jared Campion of Carter Search.

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Part of the Small/Medium-sized Enterprises Support Programme, it brought an audience ranging from ANZ Bank and HRExperts to Rio Tinto and Vega Global, illustrating the keen interest by foreign affiliates as to communication and human resource aspects of tech startups in Japan. In addition to SME, ANZCCJ has a program supporting Youth Jobs too.

Image credit: ANZCCJ

Moneytree’s Chapman in particular noted how opportunities open up, referring to how the banking sectors in Japan and Australia both are conservative, yet once a trend begins, the momentum will be maintained on a long-term basis. For fintech, Open Banking — meaning accessibility via cyberspace to bank accounts — is a prominent example of this.

Hiring, training and retaining personnel were points stressed by intercultural expert Shota Adam of Internet-dependent Koala.com while the need to familiarize/educate clients and customers was emphasized by Messrs. Iguchi and Lloyd alike, though the latter apparently has an eye on philanthropic endeavors like disaster prevention activities as well.

Nikkei presents AG/SUM 2018 in Central Tokyo with an eye to next year, 2020

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This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. AG/SUM (Agritech Summit) 2018 was presented by Nikkei from June 11 in Tokyo’s Nihombashi area, which from the Edo era has been home to Shinto shrines dedicated to medicinal plants. The district, under redevelopment by Mitsui Fudosan which was a major event sponsor, also has a concentration of pharmaceuticals firms ranging the gamut from Daiichi-Sankyo (with its Kusuri [Medicine] Museum) to Takeda Pharmaceutical’s newly-opened global headquarters building. The three-day event is part of the newly-launched “summit” series run by Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the flagship daily newspaper of the NIKKEI news concern; originally focused on finance and regulation, it is now aiming at such fields as life sciences and transportation, with an eye to the expansion of business activities in reflection of the Rugby World Cup next year in Japan as well as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics/Paralympics. The agriculture-centered event comprised a Symposium, an Exhibition and a Start-up Pitch Run plus a Reverse Pitch, in addition to a Marche where stalls lined the underground passageway leading from the main venues of Nihombashi Life Science Building and Nihombashi Mitsui Hall to the…

This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.


AG/SUM Pitch Run finalists
Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy

AG/SUM (Agritech Summit) 2018 was presented by Nikkei from June 11 in Tokyo’s Nihombashi area, which from the Edo era has been home to Shinto shrines dedicated to medicinal plants. The district, under redevelopment by Mitsui Fudosan which was a major event sponsor, also has a concentration of pharmaceuticals firms ranging the gamut from Daiichi-Sankyo (with its Kusuri [Medicine] Museum) to Takeda Pharmaceutical’s newly-opened global headquarters building.

The three-day event is part of the newly-launched “summit” series run by Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the flagship daily newspaper of the NIKKEI news concern; originally focused on finance and regulation, it is now aiming at such fields as life sciences and transportation, with an eye to the expansion of business activities in reflection of the Rugby World Cup next year in Japan as well as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics/Paralympics.

The agriculture-centered event comprised a Symposium, an Exhibition and a Start-up Pitch Run plus a Reverse Pitch, in addition to a Marche where stalls lined the underground passageway leading from the main venues of Nihombashi Life Science Building and Nihombashi Mitsui Hall to the nearest railway stations, namely Mitsukoshimae subway station for Ginza and Hanzomon Metro lines as well as the JR Shin-Nihombashi station, nearby Nihombashi Information Center.

AG/SUM Reverse Pitch
Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy

The Pitch Run was held with 26 participants, in two parts (a.m. and p.m.) on June 12, with the Reverse Pitch being gathered in the early evening of the same day. The competitors vied for the main Nikkei Award while the Mizuho Award (namesake after Mizuho Bank, Mizuho standing for the Japanese phrase meaning plentiful harvest, roughly equivalent to “cornucopia”) was subsidiary. The Reverse Pitch was more of a participant feedback and follow-up session for pitch participants.

The a.m. session judges were Plug and Play Tech Center’s Seena Amidi, World Innovation Lab’s Namiko Kajiwara, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings’ Uraki Fumiko and Nihon Keizai Shimbun’s Keiichi Murayama while the p.m. judges were Bits x Bites’ Matilda Ho, RocketSpace’s Shaina Silva, Mistletoe’s Eriko Suzuki and euglena’s Akihito Nagata; Mizuho Bank’s Naoto Oohitsu was a judge for both sessions.

Musca CEO Mitsutaka Kushima
Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy

The joint winners of the Mizuho Award turned out to be three companies, all from Japan – graft biotech outfit Gra & Green, plant factory maker PlantX and insect-tech Musca [“musca” meaning fly in Latin]. The Nikkei award went to the international quartet of U. California Berkeley-affiliated Sugarlogix, Stanford-related Agribody Technologies, vineyard support tech provider Biome Makers and non-fermentation winemaker AVA Winery.

Speaking of wine, along with visitors from Israel (though only contaminant detector manufacturer Inspecto showed up this year, MBR-supported hydroponics firm FreightFarms opting out this year, depriving me of a chance to ask about Kosher foodstuff) and elsewhere in the Middle East (Turkish agro-finance service Tarfin and sensor data processor Tarsens [with NVIDIA backing], where Halal is a huge market), afficianados of the beverage like myself found AVA tech intriguing for such diets.

It is hoped that next year the event can be expanded and brings more general visitors to the Marche and other public outreach aspects – as for example the Turkish start-ups in fact stayed on through Monday after in order to gain more information and further exchange. In addition perhaps more start-up involvement from South American and even Africa, not to mention elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, could be possible.

Japan’s Abeja, Google Analytics for retail stores, secures $38M series C round

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Abeja, the company offering solutions for retail stores to improve customer path or traffic based on image analysis and machine learning technologies, announced today that it has raised 4.25 billion yen (about $38.4 million) in a series C round. Participating investors are SBI Investment, Daikin Industries, TBS Innovation Partners, Topcon, Japan Post Capital and Musashi Seimitsu Industry, in addition to existing investors including PNB-Inspire Ethical Fund, Nvidia and Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ). The company uses the funds to set up AI (artificial intelligence) management locations in ASEAN countries and the US for their flagship cloud Abeja Platform, enhance their vertical-focused SaaS (Software as a Service) platform Abeja Insight, strengthen R&D efforts and improve intellectual property management, plus hire talented staffers in the deep learning space. Founded in September of 2012, followed by graduation from the 1st batch of the Orange Fab Asia acceleration program, Abeja has raised an undisclosed sum in an angel and a seed round. Subsequently, the company has raised six figures in US dollars from Salesforce in a series A round back in 2014, followed by securing 700 million yen (about $7 million at the exchange rate then)…

Abeja CEO/CTO Yosuke Okada explains about Abeja Platform Partner Ecosystem
(Photographed at Docomo Innovation Village in November of 2016)
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Abeja, the company offering solutions for retail stores to improve customer path or traffic based on image analysis and machine learning technologies, announced today that it has raised 4.25 billion yen (about $38.4 million) in a series C round. Participating investors are SBI Investment, Daikin Industries, TBS Innovation Partners, Topcon, Japan Post Capital and Musashi Seimitsu Industry, in addition to existing investors including PNB-Inspire Ethical Fund, Nvidia and Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ).

The company uses the funds to set up AI (artificial intelligence) management locations in ASEAN countries and the US for their flagship cloud Abeja Platform, enhance their vertical-focused SaaS (Software as a Service) platform Abeja Insight, strengthen R&D efforts and improve intellectual property management, plus hire talented staffers in the deep learning space.

Founded in September of 2012, followed by graduation from the 1st batch of the Orange Fab Asia acceleration program, Abeja has raised an undisclosed sum in an angel and a seed round. Subsequently, the company has raised six figures in US dollars from Salesforce in a series A round back in 2014, followed by securing 700 million yen (about $7 million at the exchange rate then) in a series B round from INCJ, Archetype, Inspire-PNB Partners. The funding at this time is seen making the amount raised to date total at 5 billion yen (about $45 million).

See also:

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Japan has its successful Unicorn. Next it needs its first Unicorpse.

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This guest post is authored by Mark Bivens. Mark is a Silicon Valley native and former entrepreneur, having started three companies before “turning to the dark side of VC.” He is a venture capitalist that travels between Paris and Tokyo (aka the RudeVC). You can read more on his blog at http://rude.vc or follow him @markbivens. The Japanese translation of this article is available here. Japan witnessed its first successful unicorn take flight this week in the IPO of Mercari. Since its launch in 2013, Mercari has become Japan’s leading online flea market platform, allowing people to buy and sell secondhand items on a smartphone app with a brilliant UX. In just five years, the startup has reached a valuation of $6 billion, the largest IPO for a tech company since Line Corp. went public in July 2016. Hats off to the investors who backed Mercari, especially East Ventures who subscribed to the vision during the company’s seed round. And deep bow to the tireless leadership of Shintaro Yamada and his team at Mercari for your collectively heroic efforts! My hope is that Mercari represents a watershed moment for tech innovation in Japan. I’ve encountered mixed prognostications here in Tokyo…

mark-bivens_portraitThis guest post is authored by Mark Bivens. Mark is a Silicon Valley native and former entrepreneur, having started three companies before “turning to the dark side of VC.” He is a venture capitalist that travels between Paris and Tokyo (aka the RudeVC). You can read more on his blog at http://rude.vc or follow him @markbivens. The Japanese translation of this article is available here.


Image credit: Bakhtiar Zein / 123RF

Japan witnessed its first successful unicorn take flight this week in the IPO of Mercari.
Since its launch in 2013, Mercari has become Japan’s leading online flea market platform, allowing people to buy and sell secondhand items on a smartphone app with a brilliant UX. In just five years, the startup has reached a valuation of $6 billion, the largest IPO for a tech company since Line Corp. went public in July 2016.

Hats off to the investors who backed Mercari, especially East Ventures who subscribed to the vision during the company’s seed round. And deep bow to the tireless leadership of Shintaro Yamada and his team at Mercari for your collectively heroic efforts!

My hope is that Mercari represents a watershed moment for tech innovation in Japan. I’ve encountered mixed prognostications here in Tokyo this week. Some view it as a game-changer. Others remain skeptical, contending that Mercari remains an exception in a culture which stigmatizes failure.

Numerous people in both camps have told me that the absence of unicorns in Japan has been an embarrassment to the world’s third largest economy and former technology powerhouse viewed with intimidation in the West.

True, the U.S., Europe, and China possess herds of tech unicorns. Even today, I would submit that Europe punches above its weight in its proportion of unicorns. As I had explained in a recent interview to ITmedia News, Europe now counts about 30 technology unicorns, over 25% of the U.S. figure, which is impressive given that Europe only receives 1/10th of VC funding with substantially lower fundraising rounds compared to the U.S. As a VC during the breakout years of Europe’s tech sector, I have been fortunate to witness and invest in this magical phase.

And magical it is. The birth of unicorns in Europe has awakened international investors to the Old Continent’s potential. Capital from America and China has found it way into Europe. Now it appears that a few savvy investors from Japan are discovering the potential as well. Perhaps Mercari can unleash a similar stampede.

Granted, the term unicorn is annoyingly overused and increasingly inaccurate. However, investment bankers, research analysts, and investors love it (not to forget tech journalists, of course). Government officials across the globe have also almost universally adopted the unicorn mantra. Some use it as a metric on which to score points in petty rivalries about whose nation boasts the best tech ecosystems. One could also argue that a proliferation of unicorns is a sign of inefficiency in the capital markets.

Although I am hopeful that Japan will produce more tech unicorns in short order, I submit that the real litmus test will come in the form of a more macabre milestone: Japan’s first unicorpse.

Now please don’t misunderstand me. I applaud each and every aspiring unicorn venture, and I wish them no harm. I also salute the as-of-yet unsung heroes: the entrepreneurs who are still struggling out of the spotlight to reach escape velocity. Some of you will hopefully join the unicorn club, whereas many of you will not cross the $1B barrier but still build great companies of lasting value. Just as I wept at the end of Seabiscuit, I would not take pleasure in seeing a bunch of dead unicorn carcasses.

However, although Aileen Lee’s term refers to an arbitrary valuation threshold (remember: $1B is just another number), there is something stratospheric, ostentatious, and memorable about the $1 billion mark. On today’s scales, when you’ve crossed $1B, you’ve made it beyond the big leagues; you’ve become a near-mythical creature.

By the same token, a $1B failure will also be monumental. The topic of faltering unicorns is still a bit taboo, and the projected “dying unicorn lists” are not publicized (I know of one in particular that has recently attracted Japanese VC funding to the surprise of the local insiders).

But make no mistake, there has been and will be more blood. Probably several more unicorpses around the world. Such is the nature of venture building. This is actually a good thing, because global success stories of game-changing disruption cannot exist in an environment devoid of colossal failures.

Japan’s first unicorpse, whenever it happens, will represent a new inflection point. How the community reacts will reveal the true potential of Japan’s innovation ecosystem.

Loopin’ for more — Upon attending “Startup Mantra” recitals in Tokyo

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This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Startups, Startups Everywhere Tokyo I daresay is as of June looking to launch full-fledged efforts to leverage various international events, not only the Olympiad but also — American football in Japan having besmirched its name during May — Rugby World Cup, Gov. Yuriko Koike having had to clear some obstacles such as those related to Central Fish Market and development/environment issues. As a prelude, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in late May organized in conjunction with Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Invest Japan Center a Startup Tokyo gathering. It was followed thereupon by startup-focused events, to culminate in the once-every-five-year international fire safety and disaster mitigation event which this year particularly highlights startup roles. Thus, the startup mantra recitations. To underscore Tokyo’s friendliness towards foreign-affiliated startups the Startup Tokyo seminar was held at a WeWork facility in ARK Hills South, aptly located next to JETRO HQ as well as Invest Japan office. The event was opened by the Governor herself, with a short speech. In fact, prior to her arrival the participants got to view a looping video of her exhorting…

This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.


TOSBEC
Image credit: Invest Tokyo

Startups, Startups Everywhere

Tokyo I daresay is as of June looking to launch full-fledged efforts to leverage various international events, not only the Olympiad but also — American football in Japan having besmirched its name during May — Rugby World Cup, Gov. Yuriko Koike having had to clear some obstacles such as those related to Central Fish Market and development/environment issues.

As a prelude, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in late May organized in conjunction with Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Invest Japan Center a Startup Tokyo gathering. It was followed thereupon by startup-focused events, to culminate in the once-every-five-year international fire safety and disaster mitigation event which this year particularly highlights startup roles. Thus, the startup mantra recitations.

To underscore Tokyo’s friendliness towards foreign-affiliated startups the Startup Tokyo seminar was held at a WeWork facility in ARK Hills South, aptly located next to JETRO HQ as well as Invest Japan office. The event was opened by the Governor herself, with a short speech. In fact, prior to her arrival the participants got to view a looping video of her exhorting the merits of Tokyo.

See also:

Yuriko Koike, Governor of Tokyo
Image credit: Invest Tokyo

Invest Tokyo

The Governor noted that the Financial Times [I would note the paper is owned by Nikkei now] and some others had found Tokyo to be the best city to live, and that thanks to first-instance use of National Strategic Special Zone scheme, the Tokyo One-Stop Business Establishment Center (TOSBEC) facilitates corporate foundation for startups as well as foreign companies to set up branches and subsidiaries.

The WeWork Japan CEO Chris Hill then spoke about the foray made by the international collaboration group into Tokyo since the beginning of this year. His staff gave a presentation after this, and invited participants to explore the facility while networking with entrepreneurs there, including two (a Japanese husband-and-wife team as represented by cleanliness expert Ms. Ohashi and a global outfit) who presented their experiences.

American businessman Mr. Erek Yedwabnick spoke on behalf of his international Internet consultant colleagues at Webguru. He noted that even with the combined knowledge of multinational web-savvy people and language support from his Japanese wife it would have been quite cumbersome to set up shop so quickly without use of TOSBEC. As it is, going forth Webguru will need to negotiate IP issues and suchlike.

See also:

Chris Hill, CEO of WeWork Japan
Image credit: Invest Tokyo

Expanding Business

As for Ouchi Detox headed by Ms. Ohashi, she outlined her company expansion. A former nurse, she started out at an individual level armed with knowhow as to compact storage of goods and struck a chord with the social problem of “hoarders” in Japan. She methodically expanded business, gaining IT-literacy and business-computing prowess (her husband being good with numbers too), to enable incorporation.

Apparently, she is expanding operations into Kyoto area with a business partner located there. As it is, Kyoto and other history-laden locations in Japan could use expertise in proper storage methods since some items with value could become irretrievably ruined, whether they be family heirlooms (as the old saying goes, a spoilt… or moldy, as it were… apple will ruin the whole basket) or invaluable documentation.

Interestingly, clean storage can be seen becoming a good business in Asia-Pacific overall. Not only such necessities as the need to reduce allergens and infections becoming widespread, there is the Damocles sword of natural and even man-made disasters hanging over the region so preparedness in terms of appropriate storage and maintenance is foreseen forming new demands at home/work (including collab space).

Waka Ohashi, CEO of Ouchi Detox
Image credit: Invest Tokyo

Coworking space WeWork makes headway in Japan, uses government-related activities

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This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. WeWork, the New York-born coworking space operation with a global company which entered the Japanese market this year. It already has four locations to Tokyo, thanks to adept leveraging of government-related activities. There are already many real estate companies in Japan looking to use the increased demand to expand their business, but foreign-affiliated services that until now were targeting the high-end of the market is joining the fray. The Roppongi/ARK Hills South base where the Governor of Tokyo visited to highlight investments from abroad recently is one example. ARK Hills is known as the base for Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), affiliated with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Within ARK Hills also can be found the associated Invest Tokyo center, which handles activities like bringing in foreign direct investment. See also: How to start a business in Tokyo using Metropolitan Government resources Tokyo Government looking to attract foreign entrepreneurs in effort to create New Tokyo But those near other properties such as Toranomon Hills located close to the Japan Red Cross and Mid-Town Hibiya, in addition to…

This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.


WeWork Shimbashi location
Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy

WeWork, the New York-born coworking space operation with a global company which entered the Japanese market this year. It already has four locations to Tokyo, thanks to adept leveraging of government-related activities. There are already many real estate companies in Japan looking to use the increased demand to expand their business, but foreign-affiliated services that until now were targeting the high-end of the market is joining the fray.

The Roppongi/ARK Hills South base where the Governor of Tokyo visited to highlight investments from abroad recently is one example. ARK Hills is known as the base for Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), affiliated with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Within ARK Hills also can be found the associated Invest Tokyo center, which handles activities like bringing in foreign direct investment.

See also:

But those near other properties such as Toranomon Hills located close to the Japan Red Cross and Mid-Town Hibiya, in addition to city center Marunouchi and shopping district Ginza, are now available in Japan’s capital. As for the nearby Shimbashi WeWork site, it is close to Toranomon/Kasumigaseki, the government quarters of Japan, and the WeWork location just south of the Foreign Ministry-supported ASEAN Centre is now home to the Australia-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce (ANZCC).

It will soon open its Shibuya branch, the place now known as the startup hub of Tokyo; Plug-and-Play is another foreign player already sited in the area. Although not fully­confirmed at press time, it is understood that a foreign batterytech startup seems to find the possibility of a Shibuya office with easy access to the Canadian Embassy quite enticing. Further reporting on this will be forthcoming after the stealth mode period.

AI medical startup Ubie gets estimated $2.7M from Osaka power company’s VC arm

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See the original story in Japanese. Japan’s Ubie, providing AI (Artificial Intelligence)-driven medical services such as AI Monshin Ubie and Dr. Ubie, announced this month that it had raised funds from Kanden Venture Management (KVM) which is a corporate venture capital of The Kansai Electric Power Company headquartered in Osaka. The amount raised and the investment round have not been disclosed but are estimated to be about 300 million yen (about $2.7 million) in its series A round judging from the disclosed information and the previous round, the 60 million yen (about $550,000)-fundraising from D4V in its seed round conducted last September. The Japan version of KISS…Keep-It-Simple-Security method in vogue among overseas startups today… is said to have been utilized. Ubie was founded in May of 2015 by Dr. Yoshinori Abe, a medical practitioner who formerly worked at The University of Tokyo Hospital,  and engineer Kouta Kubo formerly serving at the Japanese medical information service major M3. So far, Ubie has launched two products: AI Monshin Ubie and Dr. Ubie. AI Monshin Ubie is the AI-driven medical inquiry SaaS (Software as a Service) targeting users at medical institutions, in order to support document creation of clinical records under supervision from…

Yoshinori Abe (center right), Kouta Kubo (center left) and the team member of Ubie.
Image credit: Ubie

See the original story in Japanese.

Japan’s Ubie, providing AI (Artificial Intelligence)-driven medical services such as AI Monshin Ubie and Dr. Ubie, announced this month that it had raised funds from Kanden Venture Management (KVM) which is a corporate venture capital of The Kansai Electric Power Company headquartered in Osaka. The amount raised and the investment round have not been disclosed but are estimated to be about 300 million yen (about $2.7 million) in its series A round judging from the disclosed information and the previous round, the 60 million yen (about $550,000)-fundraising from D4V in its seed round conducted last September. The Japan version of KISS…Keep-It-Simple-Security method in vogue among overseas startups today… is said to have been utilized.

Ubie was founded in May of 2015 by Dr. Yoshinori Abe, a medical practitioner who formerly worked at The University of Tokyo Hospital,  and engineer Kouta Kubo formerly serving at the Japanese medical information service major M3. So far, Ubie has launched two products: AI Monshin Ubie and Dr. Ubie.

AI Monshin Ubie and Dr. Ubie

AI Monshin Ubie is the AI-driven medical inquiry SaaS (Software as a Service) targeting users at medical institutions, in order to support document creation of clinical records under supervision from specialists. The firm launched the beta version  last year and has been providing the product version to 50 institutions as of last December. Using natural language processing and question-setting algorithm, it automatically creates clinical document templates using AI-driven inquiry according to each patient’s answer type. It will contribute to time reduction in doctors’ desk work and patients’ wait time. From this month, it starts up operation at Hitachi General Hospital, and also planned for joint multi-center research with Miyazaki University commencing this summer.

Dr. Ubie is a disease prediction app for general users. This app was developed based on AI technology to detect future risk for diseases. It leverages Abe’s experience in latest medical treatment technology as well as knowledge of medical care for the elderly; it also adopted the disease name prediction algorithm based on probability / statistical model and machine learning technology.

Ubie was born out of the life science accelerator program Zentech Dojo Nihonbashi 4th batch, managed by the hardcore startup accelerator Indee Japan. With this fundraising, Ubie announced that it will enhance the function of AI Monshin Ubie for business expansion while carrying out overseas market development for Dr. Ubie.

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Japanese C2C marketplace app unicorn Mercari files for IPO

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-headquartered Mercari announced on Monday that its IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on 19 June. Daiwa Securities will lead the underwriting. Mercari was founded in 2013 by Shintaro Yamada who previously founded social game developer Unoh (subsequently acquired by Zynga). The company is well known for offering a mobile-focused C2C (consumer-to-consumer) marketplace but recently launched a bike-sharing service called Merchari as well as Mercari Fund to invest in other startups while developing a financial service called Merpay. According to the consolidated statement as of June of 2017, they posted a revenue of 22 billion yen (about $200 million, about 180% increase from last fiscal year) with an ordinary loss of 4.2 billion yen ($38 million, 1,200% increase). Led by the company’s founder/CEO Shintaro Yamada (28.83%), United (10.59%), co-founder Hiroshi Tomishima (7.20%) and Global Brain (5.60%) head up the top investors’ roster. See our past coverage of Mercari here. Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-headquartered Mercari announced on Monday that its IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on 19 June. Daiwa Securities will lead the underwriting.

Mercari was founded in 2013 by Shintaro Yamada who previously founded social game developer Unoh (subsequently acquired by Zynga). The company is well known for offering a mobile-focused C2C (consumer-to-consumer) marketplace but recently launched a bike-sharing service called Merchari as well as Mercari Fund to invest in other startups while developing a financial service called Merpay.

According to the consolidated statement as of June of 2017, they posted a revenue of 22 billion yen (about $200 million, about 180% increase from last fiscal year) with an ordinary loss of 4.2 billion yen ($38 million, 1,200% increase). Led by the company’s founder/CEO Shintaro Yamada (28.83%), United (10.59%), co-founder Hiroshi Tomishima (7.20%) and Global Brain (5.60%) head up the top investors’ roster.

See our past coverage of Mercari here.

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Japanese native ad platform startup Logly files for IPO

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Logly, a startup running an internet ad platform and recommendation service, announced on Thursday that its IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on 20 June. SMBC Nikko Securities will lead the underwriting. Since its launch back in 2006, the company has been offering Logly (demand-side platform), Logly Lift (enabling the placement of text-based ads on their partner media sites), Newzia Connect (context matching recommendation engine) and other services. In addition to Logly Lift, their primary revenue streams include Loyalfarm which was launched in November of 2016 to help media sites better engage their users. As to disclosure, Logly raised 120 million yen (approximately $1.15 million at the exchange rate then) from CA Mobile, Voyage Ventures, Mizuho Capital and SMBC Venture Capital in December of 2013, then  subsequently 300 million yen ($2.86 million) in June of 2015. The funds in 2015 made the startup a Voyage Group subsidiary when accounting through use of the equity method. According to the consolidated statement as of March of 2017, they posted a revenue of 911.8 million yen (about $8.3 million) with an…

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Logly, a startup running an internet ad platform and recommendation service, announced on Thursday that its IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Mothers Market on 20 June. SMBC Nikko Securities will lead the underwriting.

Since its launch back in 2006, the company has been offering Logly (demand-side platform), Logly Lift (enabling the placement of text-based ads on their partner media sites), Newzia Connect (context matching recommendation engine) and other services. In addition to Logly Lift, their primary revenue streams include Loyalfarm which was launched in November of 2016 to help media sites better engage their users.

As to disclosure, Logly raised 120 million yen (approximately $1.15 million at the exchange rate then) from CA Mobile, Voyage Ventures, Mizuho Capital and SMBC Venture Capital in December of 2013, then  subsequently 300 million yen ($2.86 million) in June of 2015. The funds in 2015 made the startup a Voyage Group subsidiary when accounting through use of the equity method.

According to the consolidated statement as of March of 2017, they posted a revenue of 911.8 million yen (about $8.3 million) with an ordinary profit of 49.9 million yen ($454,000) and a net profit of 63.5 million yen ($577,000). Led by the company’s CEO Hirokazu Yoshinaga (30.79%), its major shareholders include the company’s director Masahisa Kishimoto (17.98%), Voyage Group (15.24%), IT Media (5.36%), Voyage Ventures (5.24%) and CA Mobile (5.18%).

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Bangkok’s ad-wrapping startup Flare secures seed round from Japan’s KLab and Framgia

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See the original story in Japanese. Bangkok-based Flare, offering an ad-wrapping service for car owners under the same name, announced today that it has secured seed round funding from KLab Venture Partners and Framgia Holdings. Framgia Holdings is an Asia-focused investment arm of Japanese system integrator Framgia. Financial terms have not been disclosed but Flare said it will use the funds to strengthen system engineering and international expansion efforts. The Flare users owning automobiles log onto the service via a mobile app available, and selects a desired one from among campaigns offered by advertisers. After applying for the campaign through uploading photos of the auto and driver license, a wrapper will come and wrap the auto in the ad. The GPS information of driving record while putting the ad will be sent to Flare via the app. Each campaign budget is set by advertisers in advance and when an auto with the ad drives on a busy main street on a weekend, the budget will be greatly spent. Conversely, the budget will be spent less in local areas having minimal traffic under Flare’s charge system. Advertisers can confirm the spending pace of the budget or the progress of the campaign…

The Flare team
Image credit: Flare

See the original story in Japanese.

Bangkok-based Flare, offering an ad-wrapping service for car owners under the same name, announced today that it has secured seed round funding from KLab Venture Partners and Framgia Holdings. Framgia Holdings is an Asia-focused investment arm of Japanese system integrator Framgia. Financial terms have not been disclosed but Flare said it will use the funds to strengthen system engineering and international expansion efforts.

The Flare users owning automobiles log onto the service via a mobile app available, and selects a desired one from among campaigns offered by advertisers. After applying for the campaign through uploading photos of the auto and driver license, a wrapper will come and wrap the auto in the ad. The GPS information of driving record while putting the ad will be sent to Flare via the app.

A car wrapped with an Flare ad
Image credit: Flare

Each campaign budget is set by advertisers in advance and when an auto with the ad drives on a busy main street on a weekend, the budget will be greatly spent. Conversely, the budget will be spent less in local areas having minimal traffic under Flare’s charge system. Advertisers can confirm the spending pace of the budget or the progress of the campaign via the dashboard.

Since its launch back in August of 2017, the service has seen continuous growth and acquired more than 6,000 cars as registrants while temporary registration restrictions were imposed due to the rush of car registrations. In addition, the number of advertisers using Flare is also increasing.

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Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy