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Japanese women’s fashion media site 4meee raises $500,000

Takeshi Hirano 2014.08.11

See the original article in Japanese. 4meee! (pronounced “for me”) is an e-commerce and curated fashion site for young women. Tokyo-based Rocket Venture, the company behind the service, announced today that it has raised 50 million yen ($500,000) from Japanese investment firm Global Brain as well as Future Investment, the investment arm of Japanese system integrator Future Architect. The team was featured at a recent demo day event of Tokyo-based startup incubator Movida Japan. Since its April launch they have published more than 1,000 articles and surpassed 1 million monthly page views. See also: In conversation with co-founders of Japan’s curated fashion site for young women Their website is optimized for smartphones, where every article is comprised of easy-to-read texts and four images. Articles are written by about 80 curators and published based on the editor’s choice. The articles drive user traffic to other e-commerce sites, where they generate a 15% conversion rate and $1.5 million in two weeks through advertorials.

See the original article in Japanese.

4meee! (pronounced “for me”) is an e-commerce and curated fashion site for young women. Tokyo-based Rocket Venture, the company behind the service, announced today that it has raised 50 million yen ($500,000) from Japanese investment firm Global Brain as well as Future Investment, the investment arm of Japanese system integrator Future Architect.

The team was featured at a recent demo day event of Tokyo-based startup incubator Movida Japan. Since its April launch they have published more than 1,000 articles and surpassed 1 million monthly page views.

See also:

In conversation with co-founders of Japan’s curated fashion site for young women

Their website is optimized for smartphones, where every article is comprised of easy-to-read texts and four images. Articles are written by about 80 curators and published based on the editor’s choice. The articles drive user traffic to other e-commerce sites, where they generate a 15% conversion rate and $1.5 million in two weeks through advertorials.

From the left: Tomomi Kuwayama (CTO), Arisa Sakanashi (director), and Yoshimi Kuwayama (CMO)

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Venue rental marketplace Space Market wins top prize at Rising Expo 2014

Masaru Ikeda 2014.08.08

See the original story in Japanese. Japan’s CyberAgent Ventures held its annual Rising Expo 2014 event which showcased up-and-coming 15 startups to a crowd of local investors and entrepreneurs [1]. Tokyo-based Space Market, the startup that operates a venue rental marketplace under the same name, won the top prize at this year’s event. Space Market lists unused or idle venues and allows users to pick one to rent on demand for business needs such as corporate meetings, shareholder meetings, training courses, and other events. Reservations are made online. In addition to the top prize, the company also won two prizes from the event’s sponsors: the Recruit Career prize and the Sumitomo Fudosan prize. We will keep you update with more about who were chosen as finalists at the event. Disclaimer: The author was one of the selection judges. ↩

See the original story in Japanese.

Japan’s CyberAgent Ventures held its annual Rising Expo 2014 event which showcased up-and-coming 15 startups to a crowd of local investors and entrepreneurs [1]. Tokyo-based Space Market, the startup that operates a venue rental marketplace under the same name, won the top prize at this year’s event.

Space Market lists unused or idle venues and allows users to pick one to rent on demand for business needs such as corporate meetings, shareholder meetings, training courses, and other events. Reservations are made online.

In addition to the top prize, the company also won two prizes from the event’s sponsors: the Recruit Career prize and the Sumitomo Fudosan prize. We will keep you update with more about who were chosen as finalists at the event.

Disclaimer: The author was one of the selection judges. ↩

news

Japan’s Ticket Street raises $3M from eBay, Gree Ventures

Takeshi Hirano 2014.08.07

See the original story in Japanese. Ticket Street is a Tokyo startup providing a platform focused on the buying and selling of show tickets. The Nikkei reported that the startup has fundraised 300 million yen (or about $3 million) from US e-commerce giant eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) and Japan’s Gree subsidiary Gree Ventures. See also: Ticket Street: How Japan’s ticket-reselling site keeps up rapid growth Because eBay has online ticket marketplace StubHub under its wings, the Tokyo company plans to partner with the US counterpart to start selling tickets from this fall for MLB and NBA games in Japan. Ticket Street was originally launched by a freelance engineer and was subsequently incorporated in August of 2011. To date, it has fundraised 75 million yen (about $750,000) in total from Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, and Mizuho Capital as well as Incubated Fund. Ticket Street partnered with other online marketplace services such as Yahoo Auction (by Yahoo Japan) and Ticket Checkit (by Japanese internet company Zigexn) earlier this year and started sharing inventory data for available tickets with each others.

See the original story in Japanese.

Ticket Street is a Tokyo startup providing a platform focused on the buying and selling of show tickets. The Nikkei reported that the startup has fundraised 300 million yen (or about $3 million) from US e-commerce giant eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) and Japan’s Gree subsidiary Gree Ventures.

See also:

Ticket Street: How Japan’s ticket-reselling site keeps up rapid growth

Because eBay has online ticket marketplace StubHub under its wings, the Tokyo company plans to partner with the US counterpart to start selling tickets from this fall for MLB and NBA games in Japan.

Ticket Street was originally launched by a freelance engineer and was subsequently incorporated in August of 2011. To date, it has fundraised 75 million yen (about $750,000) in total from Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, and Mizuho Capital as well as Incubated Fund.

Ticket Street partnered with other online marketplace services such as Yahoo Auction (by Yahoo Japan) and Ticket Checkit (by Japanese internet company Zigexn) earlier this year and started sharing inventory data for available tickets with each others.

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Japanese startup consortium sets up robotics-focused category on major crowdfunding site

Junya Mori 2014.08.04

See the original story in Japanese. Makuake, a crowdfunding platform operated by CyberAgent, recently partnered with the i-Roobo Network Forum and added a new category focused on robotics-focused crowdfunding campaigns. The i-RooBo Network Forum is a consortium of startups in partnership with local governmental organizations in Kyoto and Osaka. The consortium established a flagship project called iRooBo * 100 to encourage development of 100 different types of robots by 2020. To raise money for the initiative they established a crowdfunding robotics category. Prior to this announcement, the desktop arm robot project (see video below) kicked off its crowdfunding campaign last month and raised more than 500,000 yen ($5,000) on the Makuake platform in only three days. The newly established category will list robotics projects from the consortium’s member companies, which require financial or other cooperative assistance. Upcoming listed projects include: Gadget/mobile app that encourages teeth brushing through an enjoyable user experience Soap bubble generator for kids It will be exciting to see what projects will be born out of the robotics-focused crowdfunding category.

See the original story in Japanese.

Makuake, a crowdfunding platform operated by CyberAgent, recently partnered with the i-Roobo Network Forum and added a new category focused on robotics-focused crowdfunding campaigns. The i-RooBo Network Forum is a consortium of startups in partnership with local governmental organizations in Kyoto and Osaka.

The consortium established a flagship project called iRooBo * 100 to encourage development of 100 different types of robots by 2020. To raise money for the initiative they established a crowdfunding robotics category.

Prior to this announcement, the desktop arm robot project (see video below) kicked off its crowdfunding campaign last month and raised more than 500,000 yen ($5,000) on the Makuake platform in only three days.

The newly established category will list robotics projects from the consortium’s member companies, which require financial or other cooperative assistance. Upcoming listed projects include:

Gadget/mobile app that encourages teeth brushing through an enjoyable user experience
Soap bubble generator for kids

It will be exciting to see what projects will be born out of the robotics-focused crowdfunding category.

news

Support this campaign to transform yourself with smartglasses

Junya Mori 2014.08.02

This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese. In May eyeglasses retail chainstore Jins, of Japan, unveiled smartglasses product Jins Meme. This product garnered extensive consumer attention due to the marked conceptual contrast with the Google Glass eyewear. A rival smartglasses product called Fun’iki Ambient Glasses has been developed by Paris Miki Holdings, another major Japanese optical retailer. The firm recently started a crowdfunding campaign with the goal of raising 3 million yen ($30,000) on Makuake, a crowdfunding platform operated by Japanese internet conglomerate CyberAgent. The glasses link to a smartphone to relay through light and sound a variety of information such as e-mail notifications, social media updates, schedule reminders, stock price movements, and weather updates. Powered by compact USB rechargeable Li-ion batteries, multicolored LEDs automatically light up the lenses according to personalized settings. The prototype smartglasses were introduced at Mobile World Congress earlier this year. The new version is now smaller yet has additional features like a smartphone illumination which warns users if they inadvertently leave the glasses behind.

This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese.

In May eyeglasses retail chainstore Jins, of Japan, unveiled smartglasses product Jins Meme. This product garnered extensive consumer attention due to the marked conceptual contrast with the Google Glass eyewear.

A rival smartglasses product called Fun’iki Ambient Glasses has been developed by Paris Miki Holdings, another major Japanese optical retailer. The firm recently started a crowdfunding campaign with the goal of raising 3 million yen ($30,000) on Makuake, a crowdfunding platform operated by Japanese internet conglomerate CyberAgent.

The glasses link to a smartphone to relay through light and sound a variety of information such as e-mail notifications, social media updates, schedule reminders, stock price movements, and weather updates. Powered by compact USB rechargeable Li-ion batteries, multicolored LEDs automatically light up the lenses according to personalized settings.

The prototype smartglasses were introduced at Mobile World Congress earlier this year. The new version is now smaller yet has additional features like a smartphone illumination which warns users if they inadvertently leave the glasses behind.

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Japan’s push notification analytics tool Growth Push to go global

Junya Mori 2014.07.31

This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese. Japanese startup Sirok has introduced a series of growth hacking tools for mobile developers, comprising of user behavior video recording tool Growth Replay, user retention rate improvement tool Growth Point, and push notification analytics tool Growth Push. The company announced yesterday that it will start the global expansion of Growth Push and extend its freemium limit in notification settings. The service allows users to conduct A/B testing to measure user responses by implementing their SDK. The setup is free, and there is no monthly fee for the first 50,000 notification testings. With the increased limit, a user will be able to test up to 1 million notification testings for free, so the company expects more individual developers to try the service in their app improvement efforts. Since its launch in August 2013, Growth Push has been adopted by about 1,700 apps and used for testing over 50 million notification settings to date. Notable apps that use the service include major gaming titles Brave Frontier and Girl Friend Beta. Sirok will add English, Korean, and Chinese interfaces to the testing platform. Sirok CEO Yuta Iizuka said the firm will sell…

This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese.

Japanese startup Sirok has introduced a series of growth hacking tools for mobile developers, comprising of user behavior video recording tool Growth Replay, user retention rate improvement tool Growth Point, and push notification analytics tool Growth Push.

The company announced yesterday that it will start the global expansion of Growth Push and extend its freemium limit in notification settings. The service allows users to conduct A/B testing to measure user responses by implementing their SDK. The setup is free, and there is no monthly fee for the first 50,000 notification testings. With the increased limit, a user will be able to test up to 1 million notification testings for free, so the company expects more individual developers to try the service in their app improvement efforts.

Since its launch in August 2013, Growth Push has been adopted by about 1,700 apps and used for testing over 50 million notification settings to date. Notable apps that use the service include major gaming titles Brave Frontier and Girl Friend Beta.

Sirok will add English, Korean, and Chinese interfaces to the testing platform. Sirok CEO Yuta Iizuka said the firm will sell the service globally:

In this space, there are many SaaS-based services, which were developed by European companies but are widely used in the US market. There’s huge potential out there because push notifications are common in any country.

I think many B2B services are shifting to B2C models, where even B2B services are adopting stylish user interfaces like typical consumer-focused apps. I think our service can compete with other testing platforms so we’d like to differentiate from them by focusing on better designs.

Sirok wants to target the US and Korean markets first, and expects to serve 500 million mobile devices having apps that have been tested with the Growth Push platform.

Furthermore, the company plans to consolidate their three different growth hacking tools in the future. Using a single unified SDK, it will allow users to manage various app improvement tactics from notification testings to marketing insights.

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Japan’s Vinclu launches Indiegogo campaign for light communication appcessory

Junya Mori 2014.07.31

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based startup Vinclu has started an Indiegogo campaign to raise $30,000 to produce its new appcessory product called Ayatori. The product plugs into a smartphone earphone jack and allows users to enjoy communicating with others by changing illumination patterns using the Ayatori app. VVinclu develops appcessories that help people connect. In 2013 they raised more than $6,000 on Japanese crowdfunding site campaign on Japanese crowdfunding site Campfire last year, and it was successfully closed with more than their $6,000 initial goal raised. Vinclu is active in the Tokyo startup scene, and have taken part in many local incubation initiatives like Incubate Camp (seasonal bootcamp event by Incubate Fund) and IVS (Infinity Venture Summit) Launch Pad. By combining with the Ayatori app the device will allow users to enjoy several never-seen-before experiences, where you will be notified by the illumination when any of other users having the same interest or the same hobby with you passes nearby. Japanese toy startup Moff has successfully leveraged software/hardware combinations. Besides the uniqueness of their product characteristics, they find value in metrics that can be obtained from the product when users play it.

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based startup Vinclu has started an Indiegogo campaign to raise $30,000 to produce its new appcessory product called Ayatori. The product plugs into a smartphone earphone jack and allows users to enjoy communicating with others by changing illumination patterns using the Ayatori app.

VVinclu develops appcessories that help people connect. In 2013 they raised more than $6,000 on Japanese crowdfunding site campaign on Japanese crowdfunding site Campfire last year, and it was successfully closed with more than their $6,000 initial goal raised. Vinclu is active in the Tokyo startup scene, and have taken part in many local incubation initiatives like Incubate Camp (seasonal bootcamp event by Incubate Fund) and IVS (Infinity Venture Summit) Launch Pad.

By combining with the Ayatori app the device will allow users to enjoy several never-seen-before experiences, where you will be notified by the illumination when any of other users having the same interest or the same hobby with you passes nearby.

Japanese toy startup Moff has successfully leveraged software/hardware combinations. Besides the uniqueness of their product characteristics, they find value in metrics that can be obtained from the product when users play it.

One item of the Vinclu product costs $25, two for $45. Shipping and delivery will start in December.

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Japan’s ExCo raises $3.3M, launches cardless online payments platform

Exchange Corporation

Shintaro Eguchi 2014.07.31

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based startup Exchange Corporation (ExCo for short) announced yesterday that it has launched a new payment solution called Paidy and raised about 330 million yen (or $3.3 million) from Arbor Ventures (Hong Kong), CyberAgent Ventures (Japan), Recruit Strategic Partners (Japan), 500 Startups (USA), and Cherubic Ventures (Taiwan). ExCo has developed various personal finance services including P2P loan market Aqush. Paidy allows you to complete an online payment without entering credit card numbers or login procedure. To buy something online with Paidy, all you need is to enter your name and e-mail address. You can also choose a lump-sum payment or installed payments up to 36 months. When you use Paidy at a retailer to buy something, ExCo pays them first and bills you later. In this way, the company reduces the risk of default in payment for retailers, but the simplicity of payment process makes consumers more easily to buy items online. In this space, we’ve seen similar services by companies like Klarna. This Swedish company mainly serves retailers and consumers in Scandinavian countries, Germany, and Austria, where the simplicity and speed-up of its purchasing process have improved the consumer conversion rate at online…

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based startup Exchange Corporation (ExCo for short) announced yesterday that it has launched a new payment solution called Paidy and raised about 330 million yen (or $3.3 million) from Arbor Ventures (Hong Kong), CyberAgent Ventures (Japan), Recruit Strategic Partners (Japan), 500 Startups (USA), and Cherubic Ventures (Taiwan).

ExCo has developed various personal finance services including P2P loan market Aqush. Paidy allows you to complete an online payment without entering credit card numbers or login procedure. To buy something online with Paidy, all you need is to enter your name and e-mail address. You can also choose a lump-sum payment or installed payments up to 36 months.

When you use Paidy at a retailer to buy something, ExCo pays them first and bills you later. In this way, the company reduces the risk of default in payment for retailers, but the simplicity of payment process makes consumers more easily to buy items online.

In this space, we’ve seen similar services by companies like Klarna. This Swedish company mainly serves retailers and consumers in Scandinavian countries, Germany, and Austria, where the simplicity and speed-up of its purchasing process have improved the consumer conversion rate at online retail stores.

Coinciding with this launch, the company also announced that it has started hiring people for the new business.

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Japan’s StudyPact qualifies for Seedstars World finals with learning goals achievement platform

SeedStars World

Masaru Ikeda 2014.07.30

See the original story in Japanese. SeedStars World is an initiative touring 33 cities worldwide to discover high profile startups. In Japan, a local preliminary competition event took place on 25 July at a co-working space in Harajuku, Tokyo. A number of startups from Japan and the rest of the world gave pitches to qualify for the final global competition next February in Geneva, Switzerland. Here is a rundown of the three teams selected. 1st Place: StudyPact StudyPact is a service that lets users set a study goal and monetary stakes as a sort of bet with themselves. They graduated from the 8th batch of an accelerator program hosted by Open Network Lab. To realize more effective learning platforms, the startups plans to tie up with other educational platforms and services like Duolingo, Anki, Memrise, Coursera and Edx. 2nd Place: Casy Casy offers crowdsourced housekeeping services. They were recently launched by Beenos, the incubation arm of Japanese internet company Netprice.com, and also announced that they have raised an undisclosed sum of investment from Beenos last month. 3rd place: AppTrader AppTrader is an auction house for apps. It allows users to buy and sell the property of apps listed on AppStore and…

See the original story in Japanese.

SeedStars World is an initiative touring 33 cities worldwide to discover high profile startups. In Japan, a local preliminary competition event took place on 25 July at a co-working space in Harajuku, Tokyo.

A number of startups from Japan and the rest of the world gave pitches to qualify for the final global competition next February in Geneva, Switzerland. Here is a rundown of the three teams selected.

1st Place: StudyPact

StudyPact is a service that lets users set a study goal and monetary stakes as a sort of bet with themselves. They graduated from the 8th batch of an accelerator program hosted by Open Network Lab. To realize more effective learning platforms, the startups plans to tie up with other educational platforms and services like Duolingo, Anki, Memrise, Coursera and Edx.

2nd Place: Casy

Casy offers crowdsourced housekeeping services. They were recently launched by Beenos, the incubation arm of Japanese internet company Netprice.com, and also announced that they have raised an undisclosed sum of investment from Beenos last month.

3rd place: AppTrader

AppTrader is an auction house for apps. It allows users to buy and sell the property of apps listed on AppStore and GooglePlay. Listing and bid submission are free. When a deal is closed, the platform allows a user to move the ownership of a user base as well as development resources.

The event website has more information on the many startups that have been selected in other participating cities. After Tokyo, the next local event will take place on August 1st (Friday) in Seoul, Korea.

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Japanese team to pitch connected stuffed toy at Imagine Cup world finals

Cuddly Connect

Masaru Ikeda 2014.07.29

See the original story in Japanese. The Imagine Cup is an annual global competition organized by Microsoft, with the aim of nurturing students to be competitive in the international arena. Our readers may recall that the Project N team was attending the finals in St. Petersberg, Russia from Japan last year. This year’s finalist team from Japan is Cuddly Connect from National Institute of Technology, Toba College. Prior to the world finals taking place later this week, the Cuddly Connect team received a send-off party, which included distinguished guests such as Yasuyuki Higuchi, CEO and President of Microsoft Japan, and Susumu Furukawa, former Chairman of Microsoft Japan and now a Graduate School of Media Design Studies professor at Keio University. Cuddly Connect is a remote communication system using a stuffed toy as an interactive interface. For many elderly people in Japan it can be difficult to spend time with grandchildren who may live far, and a working couple may have little time to spend with their children as well. The team developed Cuddly Connect to address such issues. Grandparents or parents can use a Kinect gesture sensor or a tablet PC to operate a stuffed toy of a grandchild or…

See the original story in Japanese.

The Imagine Cup is an annual global competition organized by Microsoft, with the aim of nurturing students to be competitive in the international arena. Our readers may recall that the Project N team was attending the finals in St. Petersberg, Russia from Japan last year.

This year’s finalist team from Japan is Cuddly Connect from National Institute of Technology, Toba College. Prior to the world finals taking place later this week, the Cuddly Connect team received a send-off party, which included distinguished guests such as Yasuyuki Higuchi, CEO and President of Microsoft Japan, and Susumu Furukawa, former Chairman of Microsoft Japan and now a Graduate School of Media Design Studies professor at Keio University.

Cuddly Connect is a remote communication system using a stuffed toy as an interactive interface. For many elderly people in Japan it can be difficult to spend time with grandchildren who may live far, and a working couple may have little time to spend with their children as well. The team developed Cuddly Connect to address such issues.

Grandparents or parents can use a Kinect gesture sensor or a tablet PC to operate a stuffed toy of a grandchild or child. It is in fact a biped walking robot equipped with a web camera, as well as a speaker and a microphone, all controlled via a .NET MicroFramework board in the toy. Cuddly Connect is part and parcel of the IoT (Internet of Things) industry that is receiving global attention. As such, whether the furry toy will make it to the top at the world finals will be of much interest.

The finals will start at 8:30am on August 1, Friday (Pacific Standard Time), or 1:30am on August 2, Saturday (Japan Standard Time). It will be livestreamed here if you’d like to tune in.

translation

Japanese women’s fashion media site 4meee raises $500,000

Venue rental marketplace Space Market wins top prize at Rising Expo 2014

Japan’s Ticket Street raises $3M from eBay, Gree Ventures

Japanese startup consortium sets up robotics-focused category on major crowdfunding site

Support this campaign to transform yourself with smartglasses

Japan’s push notification analytics tool Growth Push to go global

Japan’s Vinclu launches Indiegogo campaign for light communication appcessory

Japan’s ExCo raises $3.3M, launches cardless online payments platform