THE BRIDGE

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YourTrade raises $7M to offer return solution for cross-border e-commerce merchants

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Tokyo-based YourTrade, the Japanese startup aiming to optimize cross-border logistics for e-commerce merchants, announced on Wednesday that it has raised 100 million yen (about $7 million US) in a seed round from Genesia Ventures and Anri. The company offers cross-border e-commerce merchants to resell returned goods and backlogged inventory from overseas sales to local sales channels. It also offers services like the collection and inspection returned goods and resale through local sales channels. The service aims to solve a number of problems in cross-border sales, such as the cost of returning and disposing goods, to avoid the financial burden. Starting with Taiwan, YourTrade plans to expand the service globally, and is currently seeking merchants looking for ways to reduce waste in their overseas sales. CEO Hiroto Yanagisawa is a certified public accountant in the US. Prior to launching YourTrade, he joined Sumitomo Corporation, where he was in charge of overseas exports of steel products, management of operating companies, and investment operations. Prior to coming back to Tokyo to launch YourTrade in 2021, he has been managing a U.S. subsidiary and engaged in new business at the trade major’s Chicago branch from 2015 to 2020. See also: How to make international…

The YourTrade team
Image credit: YourTrade

Tokyo-based YourTrade, the Japanese startup aiming to optimize cross-border logistics for e-commerce merchants, announced on Wednesday that it has raised 100 million yen (about $7 million US) in a seed round from Genesia Ventures and Anri.

The company offers cross-border e-commerce merchants to resell returned goods and backlogged inventory from overseas sales to local sales channels. It also offers services like the collection and inspection returned goods and resale through local sales channels.

The service aims to solve a number of problems in cross-border sales, such as the cost of returning and disposing goods, to avoid the financial burden. Starting with Taiwan, YourTrade plans to expand the service globally, and is currently seeking merchants looking for ways to reduce waste in their overseas sales.

CEO Hiroto Yanagisawa is a certified public accountant in the US. Prior to launching YourTrade, he joined Sumitomo Corporation, where he was in charge of overseas exports of steel products, management of operating companies, and investment operations.

Prior to coming back to Tokyo to launch YourTrade in 2021, he has been managing a U.S. subsidiary and engaged in new business at the trade major’s Chicago branch from 2015 to 2020.

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via PR Times

Japan’s virtual YouTuber management agency Cover files for IPO valued at $320M

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Cover, the startup offering management production services of VTubers (short for “virtual YouTubers”), announced on Friday that its IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on March 27 with plans to offer 1.5 million shares for public subscription and to sell 1,864,100 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 10,927,400 shares. The underwriting will be co-led by Mizuho Securities and Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities while Cover’s ticker code will be 5253. Based on the estimated issue price of 710 yen (about $5.3) and total number of issued shares (61,124,200), the company will be valued at 43 billion yen (about $320 million). Its share price range will be released on March 7 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on March 8 and pricing on March 14. According to the consolidated statement as of March 2022, they posted revenue of 13.6 billion yen (about $101 million) with an ordinary profit of 1.85 billion yen (about $13.7 million). Founded back in June of 2016, Cover started with producing virtual reality content followed by releasing the Ping Pong League game back in…

Image credit: Cover

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Cover, the startup offering management production services of VTubers (short for “virtual YouTubers”), announced on Friday that its IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on March 27 with plans to offer 1.5 million shares for public subscription and to sell 1,864,100 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 10,927,400 shares. The underwriting will be co-led by Mizuho Securities and Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities while Cover’s ticker code will be 5253.

Based on the estimated issue price of 710 yen (about $5.3) and total number of issued shares (61,124,200), the company will be valued at 43 billion yen (about $320 million). Its share price range will be released on March 7 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on March 8 and pricing on March 14. According to the consolidated statement as of March 2022, they posted revenue of 13.6 billion yen (about $101 million) with an ordinary profit of 1.85 billion yen (about $13.7 million).

Founded back in June of 2016, Cover started with producing virtual reality content followed by releasing the Ping Pong League game back in 2017. The company launched Vtuber Tokino Sora in September of 2017, which became later a smash hit.

Subsequenly, Cover launched the Hololive female VTuber group which later led to their Vtuber agency business called Hololive Production. The company now has 71 Vtubers (48 for Japan, 9 for Indonesia, and 14 for English-speaking countries), and 31 out of them have earned over 1 million followers in their YouTube channel. The total number of YouTube Channel followers of all VTubers in the company has exceeded 10 million.

Cover’s monetization hevily depends on Vtuber and its related businesses such as producing livestreaming content, live performance events, merchandising, and licensing and tie-ups. Led by CEO Motoaki Tanigo (38.2%), their major sharholders include Strive (17.3%), Valley (5.5%), CTO Kazuyuki Fukuda (5%), and Mizuho Capital (3.6%).

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Japan’s digital logistic platform Giho secures $4.7M for Taiwan expansion

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See the original story in Japanese. Yokohama-based Willbox, the Japanese startup behind the Giho digital logistics platform, announced on Monday that it has secured about 700 million yen (about $4.7 million) in a series A round. This round is led by SMBC Venture Capital with participation from Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Marubeni Ventures, Anobaka, Salesforce Ventures, Golden Asia Fund III, and Mizuhoo Capital. Golden Asia Fund is a joint venture between Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Industrial Technology Investment Corporation (ITIC), the investment arm of Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). For the logistics startup, this follows their pre-series A round announced in May, which was led by SMBC Venture Capital with participation from Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Marubeni Ventures. Anobaka participated in their seed and pre-series A rounds as well. The company will use the funds to accelerate the development of its services to expand its customer base, as well as to enhance its operations in Japan and Taiwan. Willbox was founded in 2019 by Motonari Kami. His family has been running a Kawasaki-based company called Koei, which handles large-size packaging and logistics for heavy and precision machinery, for half a century. International logistics of large cargoes for heavy and…

Image credit: Willbox

See the original story in Japanese.

Yokohama-based Willbox, the Japanese startup behind the Giho digital logistics platform, announced on Monday that it has secured about 700 million yen (about $4.7 million) in a series A round. This round is led by SMBC Venture Capital with participation from Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Marubeni Ventures, Anobaka, Salesforce Ventures, Golden Asia Fund III, and Mizuhoo Capital. Golden Asia Fund is a joint venture between Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Industrial Technology Investment Corporation (ITIC), the investment arm of Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).

For the logistics startup, this follows their pre-series A round announced in May, which was led by SMBC Venture Capital with participation from Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Marubeni Ventures. Anobaka participated in their seed and pre-series A rounds as well. The company will use the funds to accelerate the development of its services to expand its customer base, as well as to enhance its operations in Japan and Taiwan.

Willbox was founded in 2019 by Motonari Kami. His family has been running a Kawasaki-based company called Koei, which handles large-size packaging and logistics for heavy and precision machinery, for half a century. International logistics of large cargoes for heavy and precision machinery require packing in wooden crates before placing them in containers, and these crates are made by specialized craftsmen each time, according to the shape and size of the cargo. For this reason, unlike small cargo, it is not possible to immediately estimate shipping costs or decide on a carrier for the international logistics.

Willbox targets the area of FCL (Full Container Load), mainly for exports. 120 logistics companies are registered with Giho, of which about 20% are packing companies like Koei, and the rest are forwarders, shipping operators, and land transportation companies to ports. Logistics companies spend more than half of their time preparing quotations, but 80% of those quotations will be a waste because of lost orders. Willbox says that based on the information collected from logistics companies, the platform allows shippers to get quotes in about 10 seconds after the data input.

via PR Times

TakeMe raises $2M to help restaurants get ready for tourist surge as Japan reopening borders

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based TakeMe, the startup offering marketing and payments solutions for diners and restaurants in Japan, announced today that it has secured 260 million yen (about $2 million) from Taiwan-based New Economy Ventures and unnamed angel investors in the latest round back in March. As far as we can learn from publicly available information, this follows their $9.2 million funding in July of 2018, which appears to be a series A round. New Economy Ventures has so far invested in Taiwanese crypto infrastructure platform Cybavo (acquired by US Fintech unicorn Circle in 2022), Internet of Energy service provider NextDrive as well as Taiwanese startup XREX offering SaaS (software as a service) and PaaS (platform as a service) for crypto businesses. The firm is focused on supporting regional expansion of startups in East Asia. Previously known as Japan Foodie, TakeMe was founded in December of 2015 by Dong Lu, a Chinese serial entrepreneur from Beijing. After attending a university in Tokyo, he worked at Goldman Sachs and then earned an MBA degree from Stanford University. Subsequently, following working at a consulting firm and a VC, he founded two startups and then sold them out. TakeMe has…

Image credit: TakeMe

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based TakeMe, the startup offering marketing and payments solutions for diners and restaurants in Japan, announced today that it has secured 260 million yen (about $2 million) from Taiwan-based New Economy Ventures and unnamed angel investors in the latest round back in March. As far as we can learn from publicly available information, this follows their $9.2 million funding in July of 2018, which appears to be a series A round.

New Economy Ventures has so far invested in Taiwanese crypto infrastructure platform Cybavo (acquired by US Fintech unicorn Circle in 2022), Internet of Energy service provider NextDrive as well as Taiwanese startup XREX offering SaaS (software as a service) and PaaS (platform as a service) for crypto businesses. The firm is focused on supporting regional expansion of startups in East Asia.

Previously known as Japan Foodie, TakeMe was founded in December of 2015 by Dong Lu, a Chinese serial entrepreneur from Beijing. After attending a university in Tokyo, he worked at Goldman Sachs and then earned an MBA degree from Stanford University. Subsequently, following working at a consulting firm and a VC, he founded two startups and then sold them out. TakeMe has been so far backed by multiple renowned angel investors: Ikuo Nishioka, Xiao-Hang Yuan, Koutaro Chiba, Naoki Shimada, Yusuke Tanaka, and Legend Partners (Tomohito Ebine’s fund).

TakeMe was also hit hard by the pandemic. For more than three and a half years, TakeMe has been focused on offering digital transformation (DX) solutions for F&B businesses. The initiative includes offering Shopify-like solutions so that restaurants can easily build a take-out and delivery ordering site as well as developing API integrations with online travel agencies (OTAs) and restaurant booking services.

The TakeMe order plaform is adopted by over 50 restaurant chain brands in Japan.
Image credit: TakeMe

In addition to providing restaurants with most of the payment methods used by Japanese consumers and inbound travelers, TakeMe also acts as an intermediary between OTAs and restaurant reservation services, guiding customers to the most suitable restaurants they desire. The platform has been integrated with OTAs like Alibaba’s Fliggy, Hong Kong-based Klook as well as the TableCheck restaurant customer management system.

In July, TakeMe was integrated with the Camel order aggregation platform, which enables restaurants to manage orders from various food delivery services such as UberEats, menu, Wolt, and Demae-can. The integration means that the TakeMe platfom alone allows restaurants to manage bookings from sending local consumers and inbound visitors to accepting orders from food delivery services. Some restaurants are now using the platform for managing even in-store orders.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced last week that his country would lift up the COVID-19-related travel ban on October 19th, exempting foreign visitors to Japan from visa requirements. With the recent weaker Yen trend, the tourism and restaurant industries have high expectations for the revival of inbound visitors’ demand. TakeMe plans to use the funds to enhance its TakeMe Order management system and to accelerate developing functions for inbound visitors.

Japanese digital therapeutics startup CureApp secures $51.5M in series G round

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Tokyo-based digital therapeutics startup CureApp announced on Tuesday that it has secured about 7 billion yen (about $51.5 million US) from global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ:CG) in a series G round. This follows their previous round raising 2.1 billion yen ($19.7 million) back in March of 2017. The latest round brought their funding sum up to date to 13.4 billion yen ($98.6 million) while Japanese startup database Initial estimates CureApp’s valuation has reached 41.5 billion yen ($305 million) as of May. In conjunction with the latest funding, CureApp invites a director from Carlyle to the board. The investment firm aims to support the startup in the deployment of digital therapeutics for hypertension and the expansion of its development pipeline. Leveraging the investment firm’s expertise in the global healthcare industry, the startup expects to expand its sales and distribution network and strengthen its marketing and product development platform worldwide. CureApp was founded in July of 2014 by two medical doctors: Kota Satake (CEO) and Susumu Suzuki (CTO). In collaboration with the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Keio University School of Medicine, they released a smoking cessation app for clinically treating nicotine dependence in February of 2015. The app has got approval…

Image credit: CureApp

Tokyo-based digital therapeutics startup CureApp announced on Tuesday that it has secured about 7 billion yen (about $51.5 million US) from global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ:CG) in a series G round. This follows their previous round raising 2.1 billion yen ($19.7 million) back in March of 2017. The latest round brought their funding sum up to date to 13.4 billion yen ($98.6 million) while Japanese startup database Initial estimates CureApp’s valuation has reached 41.5 billion yen ($305 million) as of May.

In conjunction with the latest funding, CureApp invites a director from Carlyle to the board. The investment firm aims to support the startup in the deployment of digital therapeutics for hypertension and the expansion of its development pipeline. Leveraging the investment firm’s expertise in the global healthcare industry, the startup expects to expand its sales and distribution network and strengthen its marketing and product development platform worldwide.

CureApp was founded in July of 2014 by two medical doctors: Kota Satake (CEO) and Susumu Suzuki (CTO). In collaboration with the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Keio University School of Medicine, they released a smoking cessation app for clinically treating nicotine dependence in February of 2015. The app has got approval as a digital therapeutics platform in August of 2020 and then to be covered by medical insurance in December of the same year.

In addition, CureApp has also developed digital therapeutics for hypertension, based on joint research with the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Jichi Medical University, received regulatory approval in April this year. For other target diseases, the startup is conducting research and development in a number of disease areas including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), alcoholism, cancer, and chronic heart failure.

Japan’s free insurance startup Warrantee to commence trading on NASDAQ

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We reported earlier this year that Osaka-headquartered Warrantee, the Japanese startup offering free insurance services in the US and Singapore, has publicly filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its initial public offering (IPO) on NASDAQ. We recently learned the application has been approved by SEC. According to the regulator’s database EDGAR, the company has received SEC’s Notice of Effectiveness dated June 30. The company’s stock will be traded under its ticker code WRNT while it’s uncertain when the trading begins. Based on past cases, the trading will start within half to one month after the approval. We confirmed that Bloomberg has already set up a page showing Warrantee’s quotes. Meanwhile, Warrantee has posted a document titled Public Notice of Board of Directors’ Resolution on Issuance of Shares for Subscription on their website, which details the subscription and payment for the underlying shares and the shares subject of the Over-Allotment Option. Founded back in October of 2013 by CEO Yusuke Shono, Warrantee started its business with helping consumers turn product warranties into digital followed by foraying into the on-demand insurance market in 2017 in collaboration with insurance companies. Subsequently the company started offering free or low-cost on-demand…

Yusuke Shono
Image credit: Warrantee

We reported earlier this year that Osaka-headquartered Warrantee, the Japanese startup offering free insurance services in the US and Singapore, has publicly filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its initial public offering (IPO) on NASDAQ. We recently learned the application has been approved by SEC.

According to the regulator’s database EDGAR, the company has received SEC’s Notice of Effectiveness dated June 30. The company’s stock will be traded under its ticker code WRNT while it’s uncertain when the trading begins. Based on past cases, the trading will start within half to one month after the approval. We confirmed that Bloomberg has already set up a page showing Warrantee’s quotes.

Meanwhile, Warrantee has posted a document titled Public Notice of Board of Directors’ Resolution on Issuance of Shares for Subscription on their website, which details the subscription and payment for the underlying shares and the shares subject of the Over-Allotment Option.

Founded back in October of 2013 by CEO Yusuke Shono, Warrantee started its business with helping consumers turn product warranties into digital followed by foraying into the on-demand insurance market in 2017 in collaboration with insurance companies.

Subsequently the company started offering free or low-cost on-demand insurance services in the US and Singapore where state-run affordable and universal health insurance systems are less common unlike Japan.

We have contacted Warrantee for further details but haven’t yet received any response as of this writing. This is a developing story and may be updated in the future.

Japan’s fashion item rental startup AirCloset files for IPO

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based fashion item rental startup AirCloset announced on Friday that its IPO application to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange had been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on July 29 with plans to offer 733,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 130,000 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 136,700 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho Securities while AirCloset’s ticker code will be 9557. Its share price range will be released on July 11 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on July 12 and pricing on July 19. The final public offering price will be determined on July 20. Based on the company’s estimated issue price is 870 yen (about $6.5) per share, its market cap is approximately 6.4 billion yen (about $47.5 million). According to its consolidated statement as of June of 2021, the company posted revenue of 2.89 billion yen ($21.4 million) with an ordinary profit of 29.35 million yen ($217,000). Since its launch back in July of 2014, AirCloset has been offering a variety of fashion item rental services. Starting with a monthly subscription-based service delivering outfits coordinated by professional stylists, the…

Image credit: AirCloset

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based fashion item rental startup AirCloset announced on Friday that its IPO application to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange had been approved.

The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on July 29 with plans to offer 733,000 shares for public subscription and to sell 130,000 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 136,700 shares. The underwriting will be led by Mizuho Securities while AirCloset’s ticker code will be 9557.

Its share price range will be released on July 11 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on July 12 and pricing on July 19. The final public offering price will be determined on July 20.

Based on the company’s estimated issue price is 870 yen (about $6.5) per share, its market cap is approximately 6.4 billion yen (about $47.5 million). According to its consolidated statement as of June of 2021, the company posted revenue of 2.89 billion yen ($21.4 million) with an ordinary profit of 29.35 million yen ($217,000).

Since its launch back in July of 2014, AirCloset has been offering a variety of fashion item rental services. Starting with a monthly subscription-based service delivering outfits coordinated by professional stylists, the company launched a physcal store in October of 2016 followed by a monthly subscription-based rental mall service back in April of 2020.

Led by founder and CEO Satoshi Amanuma (17.8%), the company’s major shareholders include Monoful Pte. Ltd. (14.28%), Terrada Warehouse (10.92%), Sumitomo Corporation (10.3%, TSE: 8053) , SIG Asia Fund IV, LLLP (10.30%), Jafco (8.75%, TSE: 8595), managing director Yusuke Maekawa (4.01%), Samurai Incubate (3.50%), managing director Shoichi Kotani (2.06%), SMBC Venture Capital (2.06%), and Nakazono Holdings (2.04%, operator of “White Kyubin” laundry shop chain).

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Japanese startup studio and consulting firm Ignition Point acquired by Dentsu

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-headquartered Ignition Point, offering digital transformation support for enterprises as well as startup studio functions, has been acquired by Dentsu Group (TSE: 4324). The firm will become a consolidated subsidiary of the ad giant. Financial terms for the acquisition has not yet been disclosed. Upon the acquisition, Ignition Point will soon begin collaborating with Dentsu Japan Network, the Japanese business operating company of the ad conglomerate, strengthening its business in the areas of business transformation (BX) and digital transformation (DX). Ignition Point was established in 2014 by Kazuhiro Aoyagi, a former Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting employee. After the acquisition, Aoyagi stepped down as president while Takafumi Suemune, former executive vice president and COO, became the new president. See also: DANX wants to roll out ‘pop-up’ and on-demand diners across Japan using food trucks Japan’s Pontely gives free DNA test for pet shop dogs, prevents future abandons, culls

Photograph by Dick Thomas Johnson
Used under the CC BY 2.0 license.

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-headquartered Ignition Point, offering digital transformation support for enterprises as well as startup studio functions, has been acquired by Dentsu Group (TSE: 4324). The firm will become a consolidated subsidiary of the ad giant. Financial terms for the acquisition has not yet been disclosed.

Upon the acquisition, Ignition Point will soon begin collaborating with Dentsu Japan Network, the Japanese business operating company of the ad conglomerate, strengthening its business in the areas of business transformation (BX) and digital transformation (DX).

Ignition Point was established in 2014 by Kazuhiro Aoyagi, a former Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting employee. After the acquisition, Aoyagi stepped down as president while Takafumi Suemune, former executive vice president and COO, became the new president.

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double jump.tokyo raises $23M to accelerate blockchain game development

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based double jump.tokyo, the Japanese startup developing blockchain games and NFT business, announced on Thursday that it has secured approximately 3 billion yen (about $23.1 million) to develop blockchain games and to strengthen human resources to develop games leveraging intellectual properties (IP). Investors participating in this round include: Access Ventures Amber Group Arriba Studio Circle Ventures Com2uS Group Dentsu Ventures Fenbushi Capital Infinity Ventures Crypto JAFCO Jump Crypto Next Web capital PKO Investments Polygon Ventures Protocol Labs Wemade Venture Capital Z Venture Capital The company is well known for its global smash-hit blockchain game title My Crypto Heroes. Since its launch back in April of 2018, the company has been promoting blockchain game development support programs, cross-sector projects with various domestic and international NFT-related businesses as well as leading discussions with regulatory authorities in Japan. In March, the company announced its investment in and business partnership with ForN, the company behind YGG Japan, the Japanese entity of the NFT (non-fungible token)-based global game guild DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) Yield Guild Games (YGG). Our readers may recall that the company successfully sold two street NFTs from Japanese comic title Eren the Southpaw for as much…

Hironobu Ueno, CEO of double.jump.tokyo

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based double jump.tokyo, the Japanese startup developing blockchain games and NFT business, announced on Thursday that it has secured approximately 3 billion yen (about $23.1 million) to develop blockchain games and to strengthen human resources to develop games leveraging intellectual properties (IP).

Investors participating in this round include:

  • Access Ventures
  • Amber Group
  • Arriba Studio
  • Circle Ventures
  • Com2uS Group
  • Dentsu Ventures
  • Fenbushi Capital
  • Infinity Ventures Crypto
  • JAFCO
  • Jump Crypto
  • Next Web capital
  • PKO Investments
  • Polygon Ventures
  • Protocol Labs
  • Wemade Venture Capital
  • Z Venture Capital

The company is well known for its global smash-hit blockchain game title My Crypto Heroes. Since its launch back in April of 2018, the company has been promoting blockchain game development support programs, cross-sector projects with various domestic and international NFT-related businesses as well as leading discussions with regulatory authorities in Japan.

In March, the company announced its investment in and business partnership with ForN, the company behind YGG Japan, the Japanese entity of the NFT (non-fungible token)-based global game guild DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) Yield Guild Games (YGG). Our readers may recall that the company successfully sold two street NFTs from Japanese comic title Eren the Southpaw for as much as 332,300 ASTR (approximately $64,000) last week.

Regarding the latest funding, their CEO Hironobu Ueno says in his company’s statement,

This funding is a manifestation of our investors’ appreciation and expectation for our steady accumulation of the large-scale achievement in blockchain games and IP-based NFT content since the dawn of time in this space.

To promote the joint development of IP-based blockchain games with major game companies, the funds will be used to invest in products, partners, and DAO projects, which help strengthen and grow our group in the upcoming mass adoption phase of the blockchain game market.

Moi, Japanese startup behind mobile streaming app TwitCasting, files for IPO

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See the original story in Japanese. Moi Corporation, the company behind Japanese mobile live streaming app TwitCasting, announced last week that its IPO application to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange had been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on April 27 with plans to offer 1,041,800 shares for public subscription and to sell 354,200 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 1,320,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by SBI Securities while Moi’s ticker code will be 5031. Its share price range will be released on April 19 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on April 12 and pricing on April 18. According to the consolidated statement as of January 2021, they posted revenue of 4.939 billion yen ($39.5 million) with an ordinary profit of 195 million yen ($1.6 million). Based on the estimated issue price of 470 yen (about $3.8), the company will be valued at 6.2 billion yen ($49.5 million). The TwitCating app was originally launched as a side project of Akamatsu’s previous startup Sidefeed. In 2012, the project was split off as a new company called Moi from Sidefeed in 2012. The service has attracted more than 10 million users by…

Image credit: Moi Corporation

See the original story in Japanese.

Moi Corporation, the company behind Japanese mobile live streaming app TwitCasting, announced last week that its IPO application to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange had been approved. The company will be listed on the TSE Growth Market on April 27 with plans to offer 1,041,800 shares for public subscription and to sell 354,200 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 1,320,000 shares. The underwriting will be led by SBI Securities while Moi’s ticker code will be 5031.

Its share price range will be released on April 19 with bookbuilding scheduled to start on April 12 and pricing on April 18. According to the consolidated statement as of January 2021, they posted revenue of 4.939 billion yen ($39.5 million) with an ordinary profit of 195 million yen ($1.6 million). Based on the estimated issue price of 470 yen (about $3.8), the company will be valued at 6.2 billion yen ($49.5 million).

The TwitCating app was originally launched as a side project of Akamatsu’s previous startup Sidefeed. In 2012, the project was split off as a new company called Moi from Sidefeed in 2012. The service has attracted more than 10 million users by 2015, and then the cumulative number of its registered users hit 33.6 million in the end of July of 2021. The app allows users to livestream their performances and shows as well as monetize them.

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Moi says that 60% of the app’s users are 24 years old or younger while more than half of them are female (62%). The company is making money through selling points which users purchase and redeem for items to liven up their shows or extend the time limit of livestreaming. The sales of the points account for 96% of the company’s total revenue, having seen a steady growth – 1.224 billion yen ($9.8 million) in 2019, 2.319 billion yen ($18.5 million) in 2020, and 5.28 billion yen($42.2 million)i n 2021.

Led by Yosuke Akamatsu (59.7%), the company’s major shareholders include East Ventures (17.15%), Mandela Capital Limited (4.61%), Global Brain (4.14%), and SBI AI & Blockchain Fund (4.14%).