See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Adoir, the Japanese startup running online platforms for videographers called Vook, announced on Monday that it has secured 100 million yen (about $875,000) in funding from Mizuho Bank with loans from government-backed Japan Finance Corporation. No details on financial terms have been included. Launched back in February of 2016 as a beta version, the platforms allow users to share their knowledge and experiences about filming and videography, consisting of Vook note for sharing technical information among users and an invitation-only online portfolio showcase called Vook port. In addition to offering the service online, the company holds user meet-ups and bootcamp events across Japan to help the creators form a community. The platform now has tens of thousand people as users, and many of them are involved in on-the-spot filming, animation producion, computer graphics, virtual reality and other video creation jobs. In additon to knowledge sharing in this sector, the platform is also well used for connecting business opportunities among users. Going forward, the platform will aim to serve computer graphics creators, music composers and actors beyond dealing with camera-related topics and video-editing expertise. The company says that the funds will be used to…
The Adoir team: CEO Shuntaro Okamoto sits on the left on the front row.
Tokyo-based Adoir, the Japanese startup running online platforms for videographers called Vook, announced on Monday that it has secured 100 million yen (about $875,000) in funding from Mizuho Bank with loans from government-backed Japan Finance Corporation. No details on financial terms have been included.
Launched back in February of 2016 as a beta version, the platforms allow users to share their knowledge and experiences about filming and videography, consisting of Vook note for sharing technical information among users and an invitation-only online portfolio showcase called Vook port. In addition to offering the service online, the company holds user meet-ups and bootcamp events across Japan to help the creators form a community.
The platform now has tens of thousand people as users, and many of them are involved in on-the-spot filming, animation producion, computer graphics, virtual reality and other video creation jobs. In additon to knowledge sharing in this sector, the platform is also well used for connecting business opportunities among users.
Going forward, the platform will aim to serve computer graphics creators, music composers and actors beyond dealing with camera-related topics and video-editing expertise. The company says that the funds will be used to enhance system development and content production for such efforts.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based startup Agrimedia announced in late October that it has fundraised 250 million yen (about $2.2 million US) from Globis Capital Partners (GCP). Coinciding with this, the company also revealed that Minoru Imano, General Partner and COO at GCP, will join the management board of Agrimedia as an external director. Agrimedia has been offering three different types of business based on the concept of connecting city life with agriculture: giving people the chance to get involved in various agricultural experiences, cultivating human resources for agribusiness and building an agriculture-focused logistics network. The Tokyo startup provides vegetable gardens for rental in 70 suburban locations in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, called Share Batake, where urban gardeners can participate in growing vegetables without bringing their own tools to these gardens. Agri Navi, another service by the company, provides agriculture-related job opportunities to registrants who are mostly aged under 40s. In addition, they are also building a logistics and distribution platform leveraging Michi-no-eki (government-designated rest areas found along roads and highways) and farmer’s direct sales depots across Japan. Using the funds, Agrimedia will further develop web services and knowledge tools towards building a new platform for agribusiness, in…
Agrimedia’s Share Batake, a vegetable garden for rental in a suburb location Image credit: Agrimedia
Tokyo-based startup Agrimedia announced in late October that it has fundraised 250 million yen (about $2.2 million US) from Globis Capital Partners (GCP). Coinciding with this, the company also revealed that Minoru Imano, General Partner and COO at GCP, will join the management board of Agrimedia as an external director.
Agrimedia has been offering three different types of business based on the concept of connecting city life with agriculture: giving people the chance to get involved in various agricultural experiences, cultivating human resources for agribusiness and building an agriculture-focused logistics network.
The Tokyo startup provides vegetable gardens for rental in 70 suburban locations in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, called Share Batake, where urban gardeners can participate in growing vegetables without bringing their own tools to these gardens. Agri Navi, another service by the company, provides agriculture-related job opportunities to registrants who are mostly aged under 40s. In addition, they are also building a logistics and distribution platform leveraging Michi-no-eki (government-designated rest areas found along roads and highways) and farmer’s direct sales depots across Japan.
Using the funds, Agrimedia will further develop web services and knowledge tools towards building a new platform for agribusiness, in addition to focusing on hiring new talents for business development.
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. All the pictures used in this article are courtesy of the AEA organizer. The sixth Asia Entrepreneurship Award (AEA) 2017 competition took place from October 25th to 27th, 2017 at the KOIL facilities on the University of Tokyo Kashiwa-no-ha Campus (located in Chiba Prefecture’s Kashiwa “Smart City”) northeast of the Japanese capital. 21 technology startups from 15 countries/regions mainly in Asia participated in the three-day event. Claro Energy from India, which avails a solar irrigation system for agriculture, won this year’s top award, while Singaporean image software firm ViSenze was runner-up as well as Audience Prize winner and engineering solutions provider Webgears WGT of Russia － offering Smart City programs － came in for the third-place finish. Claro Energy was established in early 2011 with the goal of disrupting the farm irrigation sector first on the Indian subcontinent, then around the rest of the world. Claro’s solar irrigation solutions to farmers should replace expensive Diesel engines/pumps. Besides being expensive Diesel-based pumps pollute extensively and use additional carbon footprint in the supply chains. Their intellectual property enables revectoring of horizontal solar solutions such as solar grids. Over the past six years…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. All the pictures used in this article are courtesy of the AEA organizer.
Participants are on a tour.
The sixth Asia Entrepreneurship Award (AEA) 2017 competition took place from October 25th to 27th, 2017 at the KOIL facilities on the University of Tokyo Kashiwa-no-ha Campus (located in Chiba Prefecture’s Kashiwa “Smart City”) northeast of the Japanese capital. 21 technology startups from 15 countries/regions mainly in Asia participated in the three-day event.
Claro Energy from India, which avails a solar irrigation system for agriculture, won this year’s top award, while Singaporean image software firm ViSenze was runner-up as well as Audience Prize winner and engineering solutions provider Webgears WGT of Russia － offering Smart City programs － came in for the third-place finish.
India’s Claro Energy wins the 1st prize.
Claro Energy was established in early 2011 with the goal of disrupting the farm irrigation sector first on the Indian subcontinent, then around the rest of the world. Claro’s solar irrigation solutions to farmers should replace expensive Diesel engines/pumps. Besides being expensive Diesel-based pumps pollute extensively and use additional carbon footprint in the supply chains.
Their intellectual property enables revectoring of horizontal solar solutions such as solar grids. Over the past six years they have deployed over 7,000 solar irrigation pumps across 15 states in India. They are also driving a lot of business model innovation in this space. Kartik Wahi, Co-founder and Director, made the presentation on behalf of Claro Energy.
Singapore’s ViSenze wins the 2nd prize.
ViSenze powers visual commerce at scale for retailers and image recognition for enterprises. Major shopping sites like the Japanese Rakuten Ichiba (ViSenze has Japan’s Rakuten as a corporate mainstayer too), the British ASOS and adidas, the globally-renowned German sportswear brand site, also use ViSenze to convert any UGC content into immediate product search opportunities, uplifting conversion rates.
Spun-off from the National University of Singapore in 2012 by web entrepreneurs and computer vision scientists, the company’s mission is to simplify the way people search and discover the visual world. ViSenze is venture-backed by WI Harper in addition to aforementioned Rakuten, and officially supported by MasterCard. CEO and Co-founder Oliver Tan gave his firm’s final pitch.
Webgears is a software technology company focusing on novel web-based three-dimensional (3D) graphics for industrial applications, plus for gaming use. Their product is a graphics engine, which lets the clients extract significantly more value from 3D models as well as interactive 3D graphics by almost eliminating hardware requirements and moving interactive 3D content to the cloud.
The Russian outfit has been working closely with Dassault Systèmes of France, a global leader in the 3D field. These days coming to be well-recognized by the WGT brand mark among those in-the-know in the industry, Webgear is expanding its activities overseas, for example involving Smart City endeavors in Southeast Asia. According to CEO Larisa Dydykina who presented the Webgears pitch, they have just opened a new U.S. office in California where her son is located to further push business globally.
Participants at a mentoring session during the program.
This award competition has been held annually since 2012 aiming to realize an Asian ecosystem that generates innovation through collaborations of industry, government and academia. It has since then gathered together many young entrepreneurs from Asia not to mention from Oceania, in order to expand human networks through mentorship, discussion and mutual interaction.
With the particular focus this year being on support for business collaboration between technology startups and locally-rooted companies, AEA has for over half a dozen years been offering various schemes where the startups surroundings in each country and recent trends thereto can be studied in depth, not to mention learning more about the background of successful ecosystems.
Japan’s Genome Clinic wins the Kashiwa-no-ha Award.
As to the new Kashiwa-no-ha prize, established this year for a technology, product or service which could be useful in developing the Kashiwa-no-ha Campus as a smart city, this award was won by Genome Clinic of Japan, which as the name suggests is involved in genome medicine. In addition to the AEA 2017 prizes above, Thai startup AIM GLOBAL INNOVATION obtained the NanoCarrier Prize, named after one of the leading supporters of the competition; AIM produces cute robots for training of autistic children.
AIM Global Innovation wins the NanoCarrier Kashiwa-no-ha Award.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Progate, offering an online code learning service under the same name, announced on Monday that it has launched an English version of the service as beta for global expansion. Launched back in September of 2014, it has been offering a service that allows budding programmers to learn to code. Based on their proprietary learning method using slide deck-based learning materials and actual coding practices, their users can receive training online without setting up a coding environment. The company has acquired 200,000 users in three years since the launch. Regarding the global expansion plan, Progate intends to kick it off with a focus on India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and other Asian markets. Going forward, they will aim for further global reach including expansion into the US and European markets while looking at potential future funding. See also: Japan’s online coding school startup Progate nabs $880K for Asian expansion Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Tokyo-based Progate, offering an online code learning service under the same name, announced on Monday that it has launched an English version of the service as beta for global expansion.
Launched back in September of 2014, it has been offering a service that allows budding programmers to learn to code. Based on their proprietary learning method using slide deck-based learning materials and actual coding practices, their users can receive training online without setting up a coding environment. The company has acquired 200,000 users in three years since the launch.
Regarding the global expansion plan, Progate intends to kick it off with a focus on India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and other Asian markets. Going forward, they will aim for further global reach including expansion into the US and European markets while looking at potential future funding.
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Yoyo Wallet, Europe’s fastest-growing mobile wallet provider, is mulling expansion worldwide but is in particular focused on the Asia-Pacific region, with Japan as a cornerstone. The four-year-old fintech outfit, based out of London, had just two months ago conducted its Series B fund run. Thus today Yoyo Wallet is well-funded enough to be able to find strong partners in Asia, not to mention that it could recently open a pilot base in Singapore. In addition, the startup has also been testing out the waters through a (still stealth-ish) New York office, so in view of fathoming the situation overseas, Yoyo Wallet’s Co-Founder and CEO Alain Falys was in Tokyo this week for the Rakuten FinTech Conference 2017; it’s worth noting that he visited Japan last year as well. Regarding the fintech conference, not only the serial entrepreneur M. Falys but also UK finance provider PremFina‘s CEO Bundeep Singh Rangar (a McGill and a Columbia School of Journalism graduate who has garnered much media attention) and blockchain-centered startup Wyre Co-Founder and CEO Michael Dunworth (an erstwhile Sydneysider fund transfers expert who…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
Image credit: Yoyo Wallet
Yoyo Wallet, Europe’s fastest-growing mobile wallet provider, is mulling expansion worldwide but is in particular focused on the Asia-Pacific region, with Japan as a cornerstone. The four-year-old fintech outfit, based out of London, had just two months ago conducted its Series B fund run. Thus today Yoyo Wallet is well-funded enough to be able to find strong partners in Asia, not to mention that it could recently open a pilot base in Singapore. In addition, the startup has also been testing out the waters through a (still stealth-ish) New York office, so in view of fathoming the situation overseas, Yoyo Wallet’s Co-Founder and CEO Alain Falys was in Tokyo this week for the Rakuten FinTech Conference 2017; it’s worth noting that he visited Japan last year as well.
Image credit: Yoyo Wallet
Regarding the fintech conference, not only the serial entrepreneur M. Falys but also UK finance provider PremFina‘s CEO Bundeep Singh Rangar (a McGill and a Columbia School of Journalism graduate who has garnered much media attention) and blockchain-centered startup Wyre Co-Founder and CEO Michael Dunworth (an erstwhile Sydneysider fund transfers expert who is now a San Francisco entrepreneur) gathered together to discuss “Innovation in FinTech” on September 27th at the Hotel New Otani venue. The conference also had participants like Professor Emeritus Yukio Noguchi of Hitotsubashi University [this reporter’s former fellow contributor to “BP Navigator” magazine], speaking on blockchain and the digital economy, plus other eminent persons.
Image credit: Yoyo Wallet
Returning to Yoyo Wallet, according to its CEO – who had in the past created a global electronic invoice company OB10 (now known as Tungsten Network) – it is not another “mobile wallet” app for the smartphone user but a tool for the retailer whose ePOS can become a powerful business generator when it takes advantage of the simple, quick and attractive “rail” set for them by the Yoyo Wallet platform. In a nutshell, the mobile app lets users gain “electronic point card” benefits while also letting the retailers know what kind of preferences the consumers have upon shopping. The increased incentives availed have been shown to motivate consumers into using Yoyo Wallet even more, as was borne out by the fact that the Europe-based Caffè Nero chain of 650 stores already having turned 5% of its total payment volume onto Yoyo Wallet, barely 3 months from launch.
Image credit: Yoyo Wallet
The Yoyo Wallet CEO sees their loyalty-driven set-up altering Japanese “cash-preferred” inclination which, like German buying behavior, could be changed into a digital money-oriented one where even tax invoices can be handled. Although its business in UK was led by the university sector wherein students were the early adopters, the difference in the Japanese student canteen system and suchlike will likely mean a targeting of the retail sector for Japan. A 20% share of the mobile payment market will be aimed for once the startup gains appropriate local entities as partners. Since queries as to security and other concerns were clearly addressed by CEO Falys, I would like to wish him and his company “Bonne Chance!” in breaking into the Japanese market.
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. The Gift Show’s Life x Design exhibition was held from August 30 to September 2 at Tokyo Big Sight, where the startup role in the fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) as related to gifts and other items closely related to daily life was underscored by a specialized corner which brought together several startups offering IoT solutions. At this corner, planned in cooperation with Japanese IT publisher ASCII, in addition to Mamorio, which keeps tabs on such items in one’s possession as keys and other products one might be liable to misplace, there were three other startups showcasing their products such as those monitoring infants. See also: Mamorio, major Japanese pharma tie up for dementia sufferer support Of particular interest was the startup Yukai Engineering, which engineers dental hygiene-use items such as robot-like toothbrush which is designed to motivate children as well as the elderly to brush their teeth and ensuring they are kept track of. As the average Japanese lifespan is extended, dental hygiene is said to be a benchmark to Quality of Life. Of particular interest was the startup…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
Mamorio exhibits their botth at the Gift Show’s Life x Design exhibition. Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
The Gift Show’s Life x Design exhibition was held from August 30 to September 2 at Tokyo Big Sight, where the startup role in the fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) as related to gifts and other items closely related to daily life was underscored by a specialized corner which brought together several startups offering IoT solutions.
At this corner, planned in cooperation with Japanese IT publisher ASCII, in addition to Mamorio, which keeps tabs on such items in one’s possession as keys and other products one might be liable to misplace, there were three other startups showcasing their products such as those monitoring infants.
Of particular interest was the startup Yukai Engineering, which engineers dental hygiene-use items such as robot-like toothbrush which is designed to motivate children as well as the elderly to brush their teeth and ensuring they are kept track of. As the average Japanese lifespan is extended, dental hygiene is said to be a benchmark to Quality of Life.
Of particular interest was the startup Yukai Engineering, which offers IoT products as exemplified by BOCCO robot-linked toothbrush for children and even the elderly, enabling them to be monitored. Speaking of toothbrushing generally in an observation unrelated to this specific product… especially with the average Japanese lifespan continuing to be extended, dental hygiene built up from early on can be considered to indicate the level of Quality of Life.
In addition, there were other startup exhibitors providing items that uses design to market itself and even those not design-oriented but able to use unique features as stressing traditional Japanese customs and utilizing brands from the past. Collaborations among different companies from various sectors were especially eye-catching.
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Singapore-based micro-survey firm Happi is launching its 2.0 app over the Asia-Pacific region, starting with Southeast Asia, Oceania, India, Sri Lanka and Japan as well as Columbia. It has other locations in the pipeline now. Available in 11 languages, the app includes a self-service portal to enable partners and clients to conduct market research and consumer activation quickly, easily and inexpensively. Happi was founded by Greg Lipper in January of 2016 and has to date processed over 2.5 million survey responses from over 20,000 users – mostly university students – in Singapore and Manila. The Happi founder says, What turns this around from a marketing perspective is its ease and frequency. Instead of sitting through a 45-minute survey where you never hear from the company again, respondents only take a minute to answer questions, win prizes, and we can touch base with them anytime we want. This micro-survey app enables clients to understand, engage and converse at scale with precisely defined consumer segments. The surveys are quick and regular, enticing respondents back with opportunities to win prizes and contribute to their favorite causes…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
Happi
Singapore-based micro-survey firm Happi is launching its 2.0 app over the Asia-Pacific region, starting with Southeast Asia, Oceania, India, Sri Lanka and Japan as well as Columbia. It has other locations in the pipeline now. Available in 11 languages, the app includes a self-service portal to enable partners and clients to conduct market research and consumer activation quickly, easily and inexpensively.
Happi was founded by Greg Lipper in January of 2016 and has to date processed over 2.5 million survey responses from over 20,000 users – mostly university students – in Singapore and Manila.
The Happi founder says,
What turns this around from a marketing perspective is its ease and frequency. Instead of sitting through a 45-minute survey where you never hear from the company again, respondents only take a minute to answer questions, win prizes, and we can touch base with them anytime we want.
Happi CEO Greg Lipper
This micro-survey app enables clients to understand, engage and converse at scale with precisely defined consumer segments.
The surveys are quick and regular, enticing respondents back with opportunities to win prizes and contribute to their favorite causes in return for answering 5-question surveys.
Chief Happiness Officer Lipper said,
We have a relationship based on daily conversations with consumers – not a drive-by survey.
Happi recruits users through alliances with a wide range of charities, teams, clubs, community and student activity groups, offering them a risk-free, cost-free and community-building way to raise funding.
Lipper adds,
This gives businesses and individuals around the world the power to ask precisely profiled consumers what they really want, and then deliver a tailored promotion to them based on those exact preferences, adds Lipper.
Happi’s new self-service portal enables clients to define their segments, check on the number of responders who meet that profile, launch surveys and see their results in interactive reports.
Notes Lipper,
Traditional market research is expensive, complex, and resource intensive, meaning only the largest of Asian companies and multinationals are able to include formal market research in their planning and development. Happi makes market research faster, easier and cheaper so that a broader range of companies can use it. This ‘Research Lite’ approach is the first step on the path to more sophisticated marketing plans and digital engagement strategies for SMEs across the region.
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. The Award for Academic Startups, marking its fourth year, held its presentation ceremony at Tokyo Big Sight’s East Hall 1 on the opening day of “Innovation Japan.” The annual two-day event is sponsored by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) in cooperation with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). The 2017 ceremony in particular was special in that the award category came to include an “Early Edge” Award which is for startups that had been launched within the last three years and headed by someone aged 30 years old or younger. The winner of this newly-instituted award was Lily MedTech, headed by Shiho Azuma with support provided by the University of Tokyo. The firm is offering a system for an easier-to-use breast cancer screening based on research results from JST’s Center Of Innovation program. The fact that the young lady CEO’s mother had passed away from breast cancer added extra weight to the need to promote this new technology. Conventional screening methods are detested by women despite the fact that it is a prevalent form of cancer…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
L to R: Takashi Azuma (Prof. of Mechanobio Engineering, the University of Tokyo), Shiho Azuma (CEO of Lily MedTech), Shuichi Matsuda (Chair of Award Selection Committee / Prof. Emeritus, Waseda University)
The winner of this newly-instituted award was Lily MedTech, headed by Shiho Azuma with support provided by the University of Tokyo. The firm is offering a system for an easier-to-use breast cancer screening based on research results from JST’s Center Of Innovation program. The fact that the young lady CEO’s mother had passed away from breast cancer added extra weight to the need to promote this new technology. Conventional screening methods are detested by women despite the fact that it is a prevalent form of cancer which can be life-threatening.
There are some two thousand university-linked startups in Japan but the country is still far behind the US for example in terms of robustness and vigor for this category of startups. The Award for Academic Startups looks to find and highlight technologies based on “own ground” research and development rather than relying on non-Japanese work. Minister Motoo Hayashi in charge of the industry portfolio were among the dignitaries in attendance at the ceremony this year.
Cyfuse Biomedical presented their proprietary 3D bio-printing technology.
Other awards, categorized after the heads of JST, NEDO and the Japan Venture Society as well as the ministers in charge of Education/Science & Technology and of Economy, Trade & Industry, were given to such medical field startups like ORTHOreBIRTH which in tandem with Nagoya Institute of Technology produced an artifical sponge-like bone product – cleared by FDA for use in the United States – as well as Cyfuse Biomedical, along with Saga University, realizing 3D printing of blood vessels and internal organs.
Of interest for me were the power device development plans announced by FLOSFIA as backed by Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo’s Edge Capital plus the development of a new transparent (thermal) insulation material (called SUFA) by tiem factory utilizing Kyoto University research findings and working with materials company YKK AP. The remaining award was given to the University of Tokyo-affiliated PKSHA Technology using an algorithm for furthering Deep Learning.
Benjamin Joffe from Shenzhen-based accelerator HAX shared the latest trends in hardware startups.
See the original story in Japanese. Ambient Intelligence Technology, a Japanese startup developing and manufacturing underwater drones, announced on Monday that it has fundraised 190 million yen (about $1.7 million) in the latest round. This round was led by Beyond Next Ventures with participation from Mitsui Sumitomo Insuarance Venture Capital, SMBC Venture Capital, and Freebit Investment. Using the funds, the company intends to accelerate the spread of business-use drones for maintaining and managing underwater infrastructure, aiming to start drone rentals by November in addition to drone sales by next spring. The company was launched back in 2014 by CEO Shohei Ito and Chairman Yasushi Nakauchi. Ito graduated from College of Engineering Systems, University of Tsukuba, while Nakauchi is a professor majoring in human-robot interface and intelligent environments at the University of Tsukuba. They are focused on developing and manufacturing underwater drones, especially the high demand types that can dive down to a depth of 300 meters, or 980 feet. Since even a typical diving professional can go down to a depth of about 40 meters (130 feet) only, a hard-to-operate and expensive Remotely Operated Vehicle is used to check out much lower depths. While momentum is building to set better…
Ambient Intelligence Technology, a Japanese startup developing and manufacturing underwater drones, announced on Monday that it has fundraised 190 million yen (about $1.7 million) in the latest round. This round was led by Beyond Next Ventures with participation from Mitsui Sumitomo Insuarance Venture Capital, SMBC Venture Capital, and Freebit Investment. Using the funds, the company intends to accelerate the spread of business-use drones for maintaining and managing underwater infrastructure, aiming to start drone rentals by November in addition to drone sales by next spring.
The company was launched back in 2014 by CEO Shohei Ito and Chairman Yasushi Nakauchi. Ito graduated from College of Engineering Systems, University of Tsukuba, while Nakauchi is a professor majoring in human-robot interface and intelligent environments at the University of Tsukuba. They are focused on developing and manufacturing underwater drones, especially the high demand types that can dive down to a depth of 300 meters, or 980 feet. Since even a typical diving professional can go down to a depth of about 40 meters (130 feet) only, a hard-to-operate and expensive Remotely Operated Vehicle is used to check out much lower depths. While momentum is building to set better maintenance and management procedures for improved service life of dams and ports, the company is looking to introduce underwater drones into this market.
Spider, an underwater drone product to be released from the company next spring, has eight thrusters and can be connected to the mother ship through use of a single tether cable. Operated via game pad, the drone can dive to a depth of 300 meters and has a maximum battery capacity of about four hours. This drone has as its biggest feature a software which enables computer vision-based position holding and automated depth/attitude control for the drone body. By utilizing such features, the drone allows users to easily monitor and research water environments even if faced with strong currents.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. It was in 2015 that the city of Gotemba led by young Mayor Yohei Wakabayashi availed climbers scaling Mt. Fuji from the Shizuoka side with sturdy lavatory structures able to double as emergency shelters in the event of natural disasters (now, the sheds could be equipped with alarm-sensors to turn them into better sanctuaries…). But since April this year there has been a major push in Gotemba to harness technology emanating from a Japanese startup ー albeit via major telecommunications carrier KDDI, which has just announced the buyout of said startup. Soracom, established in 2014 by former Amazon Web Services (AWS) evangelist Ken Tamagawa, has been offering Internet of Things (IoT) service over circuits leased from the giant NTT group ー formerly the Japanese phone monopoly. The startup last year decided to help KDDI, which has a mobile telephony service called au, build its own IoT network. It is upon this technology that Mt. Fuji entryway Gotemba decided to collaborate in realizing a system to keep track of climbers using the pathway leading up to the mountaintop. Beginning on August…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
It was in 2015 that the city of Gotemba led by young Mayor Yohei Wakabayashi availed climbers scaling Mt. Fuji from the Shizuoka side with sturdy lavatory structures able to double as emergency shelters in the event of natural disasters (now, the sheds could be equipped with alarm-sensors to turn them into better sanctuaries…). But since April this year there has been a major push in Gotemba to harness technology emanating from a Japanese startup ー albeit via major telecommunications carrier KDDI, which has just announced the buyout of said startup.
Soracom, established in 2014 by former Amazon Web Services (AWS) evangelist Ken Tamagawa, has been offering Internet of Things (IoT) service over circuits leased from the giant NTT group ー formerly the Japanese phone monopoly. The startup last year decided to help KDDI, which has a mobile telephony service called au, build its own IoT network. It is upon this technology that Mt. Fuji entryway Gotemba decided to collaborate in realizing a system to keep track of climbers using the pathway leading up to the mountaintop.
Screenshot of the website
Beginning on August 10, 2017 (a day before the newly-instituted Japanese Mountain Day holiday) an IoT-based tracking experiment is being conducted. IoT sensors have been placed along the hiking route, enabling a more accurate count by the municipal authorities as to those trekking up the Mt. Fuji pathway… search & rescue helicopters in particular being faced with hazards when flying near Japan’s highest mountain.
With technical support from KDDI’s research institute, a Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) network being run on the KDDI LoRa PoC Kit ー underpinned by Soracom tech prowess utilized to develop said kitー will be tried out until the end of this mountain-climbing season.
It is said KDDI had been eyeing a sizable corporate buyout within the information-communication sector after being beat to the punch by SoftBank in the attempt to acquire mobile carrier eAccess some years ago. Interestingly, KDDI until recently has been working with another startup Colopl, which is strong in games but in past few years have pushed drone use, aiming to utilize IoT and VR/AR for promotion of rural communities in Japan. Furthermore, KDDI has been working with another startup, Fukuoka-based SkyDisc, regarding tropical fruit cultivation as well. It remains to be seen how startups will handle their relations with KDDI.
The winner of this newly-instituted award was 
