THE BRIDGE

News

This Japanese Facebook app finds you last-minute drinking dates

SHARE:

After a long day at work on a hot summer day, perhaps you feel like grabbing a beer — but it can be hard to get a hold of friends at the last minute. Now there is an app that helps you find drinking buddies of the opposite sex in your neighborhood. It’s called Kanpai Match (Kanpai meaning ‘cheers’ in Japanese). Kanpai Match is presented as a Facebook app where users can enter information such as their initials, location, topics of interest, and profiles. The app then makes a recommendation everyday at 5pm, suggesting a possible drinking buddy in a nearby place. The app only recommends people of the opposite sex, so this may be more of a dating app than a casual drinking app. After seeing their suggested match of the day, users can push the ‘Let’s Drink’ button to confirm the meet. When a match is completed, the app can be used to send each other messages and discuss the details of the outing. The company behind Kanpai Match is SVC, a company that provides a series of networking apps. Its Tomokore app lets you to discover new friends on popular chat applications like Line, Skype, or KakaoTalk….

Kanpai-Match

After a long day at work on a hot summer day, perhaps you feel like grabbing a beer — but it can be hard to get a hold of friends at the last minute. Now there is an app that helps you find drinking buddies of the opposite sex in your neighborhood. It’s called Kanpai Match (Kanpai meaning ‘cheers’ in Japanese).

Kanpai Match is presented as a Facebook app where users can enter information such as their initials, location, topics of interest, and profiles. The app then makes a recommendation everyday at 5pm, suggesting a possible drinking buddy in a nearby place. The app only recommends people of the opposite sex, so this may be more of a dating app than a casual drinking app.

After seeing their suggested match of the day, users can push the ‘Let’s Drink’ button to confirm the meet. When a match is completed, the app can be used to send each other messages and discuss the details of the outing.

The company behind Kanpai Match is SVC, a company that provides a series of networking apps. Its Tomokore app lets you to discover new friends on popular chat applications like Line, Skype, or KakaoTalk. Another one of its apps is Keijiban for Pazudora (‘Pazudora’ is a sort of Japanese portmanteau of Puzzle and Dragons) which is a dedicated bulletin board where users can find partners to assist them in the game.

Japan’s Cybozu to try the US market again, planning global launch of business cloud suite

SHARE:

The Nikkei reported today that Japanese group-ware developer Cybozu is planning to launch an office in California next year, with the goal of globally launching its Kintone cloud service [1]. The service is a corporate communication tool comprising of multiple business applications, helping you share information smoothly with your colleagues. In terms of differentiation from conventional tools, this service lets you use a custom set of applications on the suite or even develop an application for it by yourself. There is also a marketplace where users can buy and add various apps from third-party developers, so you can create a knowledge-sharing environment that fits your business. According to the company’s CEO Yoshihisa Aono, the service has already acquired about 700 corporate users — ranging from big companies to SMEs — since its launch in the fall of 2011. The company was founded back in 1997 by Japanese software entrepreneur Toru Takasuka. It was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange within three years of its launch, which at the time was one of the fastest company in history to IPO. With the company’s product dominating the Japanese group-ware market, it set up a US subsidiary back in San Francisco in 2002…

kintone_logoThe Nikkei reported today that Japanese group-ware developer Cybozu is planning to launch an office in California next year, with the goal of globally launching its Kintone cloud service [1]. The service is a corporate communication tool comprising of multiple business applications, helping you share information smoothly with your colleagues.

In terms of differentiation from conventional tools, this service lets you use a custom set of applications on the suite or even develop an application for it by yourself. There is also a marketplace where users can buy and add various apps from third-party developers, so you can create a knowledge-sharing environment that fits your business.

According to the company’s CEO Yoshihisa Aono, the service has already acquired about 700 corporate users — ranging from big companies to SMEs — since its launch in the fall of 2011.

The company was founded back in 1997 by Japanese software entrepreneur Toru Takasuka. It was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange within three years of its launch, which at the time was one of the fastest company in history to IPO. With the company’s product dominating the Japanese group-ware market, it set up a US subsidiary back in San Francisco in 2002 to intensify its global marketing efforts. But the office was subsequently shut down in 2005 due to somewhat sluggish performance.

Back in 2010, the company set up a subsidiary focused on accelerating startups, and more than a few web services have been born out of that initiative.


  1. Note that the Nikkei article is paywalled.  ↩

Supercell credits two key partners in bringing Clash of Clans to Japanese audiences

SHARE:

We previously told you about how Finnish game developer Supercell teamed up with Japanese game developer GungHo Entertainment for cross promotion of their most popular mobile games, Clash of Clans and Puzzle and Dragons. The collaboration has been especially effective for Supercell’s Clash of Clans, as promotion in Japan’s most popular mobile game , Puzzle & Dragons, has helped it reach the top of Japan’s free iOS app rankings [1]. Just this past week it rose to as high as third on the top grossing app charts as well, which is no small feat, especially in a market as lucrative as Japan. A representative at Supercell explained to us that their team is delighted with the results so far, describing the collaboration as a tremendous one so far. “We have the deepest respect for GungHo” he added. Supercell also worked closely with Japanese media site AppBank to promote its game (see video below), describing that partnership as follows: We have been similarly impressed with their success. They have provided an invaluable service to our Japanese players with detailed tutorials and support. They are simply amazing. It is still early and we have a lot to learn, but both GungHo and…

clash-of-clans-puzzle-dragons-2
Clash of Clans characters featured in Puzzle & Dragons

We previously told you about how Finnish game developer Supercell teamed up with Japanese game developer GungHo Entertainment for cross promotion of their most popular mobile games, Clash of Clans and Puzzle and Dragons. The collaboration has been especially effective for Supercell’s Clash of Clans, as promotion in Japan’s most popular mobile game , Puzzle & Dragons, has helped it reach the top of Japan’s free iOS app rankings [1]. Just this past week it rose to as high as third on the top grossing app charts as well, which is no small feat, especially in a market as lucrative as Japan.

A representative at Supercell explained to us that their team is delighted with the results so far, describing the collaboration as a tremendous one so far. “We have the deepest respect for GungHo” he added.

Supercell also worked closely with Japanese media site AppBank to promote its game (see video below), describing that partnership as follows:

We have been similarly impressed with their success. They have provided an invaluable service to our Japanese players with detailed tutorials and support. They are simply amazing. It is still early and we have a lot to learn, but both GungHo and AppBank are helping us to better understand the market in Japan.

Both partnerships are somewhat unconventional for a Western game developer looking to break into the Japanese market. But it will be interesting to see if more companies take a similar approach moving forward. From GungHo’s point of view, the power to promote a Western game inside P&D represents a pretty big bargaining chip as it looks to expand into Western markets itself.

And indeed P&D has benefited from promotion in Supercell’s Clash of Clans and Hey Day too, briefly breaking into the US top 20 apps overall for a few days in June, and peaking at sixth spot on the top grossing charts on July 14th.


  1. It held the top position in Japan from June 24 to June 26th.  ↩

Mixi’s Nohana photobook service now available on Android

SHARE:

Over the past year Japan’s Mixi has offered up a few interesting services coming from its innovation team, including its mobile photobook printing service Nohana. I’ve used the service a few times, and the books always turn out well [1]. And now the service, which initially launched on iOS back in February, is available for Android. Nohana lets you upload photos from your smartphone, creating a photobook which is then printed and sent to your doorstep. Or if you prefer, it could be sent another family member far away, like a grandparent for example. Users get to print one booklet (of 20 pictures) each month for free, paying a minimal shipping fee of 90 yen (almost a dollar). Subsequent orders cost 500 yen. According to Gamebiz.jp, over 40,000 users have uploaded more than 1.3 million photos to date, publishing 46,000 photobooks. And reportedly 12,000 people pre-registered for the Android app, which is certainly promising. The Android app went online quietly late last week, and is gradually climbing the photo app charts. It will be interesting to see if Nohana can afford to keep offering one free book per month if it becomes more popular later. But for now, I think…

nohana_photobook

Over the past year Japan’s Mixi has offered up a few interesting services coming from its innovation team, including its mobile photobook printing service Nohana. I’ve used the service a few times, and the books always turn out well [1]. And now the service, which initially launched on iOS back in February, is available for Android.

Nohana lets you upload photos from your smartphone, creating a photobook which is then printed and sent to your doorstep. Or if you prefer, it could be sent another family member far away, like a grandparent for example. Users get to print one booklet (of 20 pictures) each month for free, paying a minimal shipping fee of 90 yen (almost a dollar). Subsequent orders cost 500 yen.

According to Gamebiz.jp, over 40,000 users have uploaded more than 1.3 million photos to date, publishing 46,000 photobooks. And reportedly 12,000 people pre-registered for the Android app, which is certainly promising.

The Android app went online quietly late last week, and is gradually climbing the photo app charts. It will be interesting to see if Nohana can afford to keep offering one free book per month if it becomes more popular later. But for now, I think it’s still under the radar, so if you’re in Japan and you take lots of smartphone photos, it’s a pretty sweet deal and I recommend trying it out.

For now it appears as if the company is trying to grow a very targeted user base, even reaching out to local kindergarden schools back in May to promote its services, donating some Nohana credit to selected schools who can then use it to order books.


  1. As long as your photos are of a decent quality, your books will be about as good.  ↩

Japanese lifehack sharing site Nanapi raises $2.7 million

SHARE:

Nanapi is a popular Japanese site where users can share their favorite lifehacks. The company announced today it has raised 270 million yen (approximately $2.7 million) from KDDI’s Open Innovation Fund [1]. and Globis Capital Partners. This follows a previous round of funding worth 330 million yen from Globis Capital Partners. The startup was founded back in 2007 by former Recruit staffer Kensuke Furukawa and former Rakuten engineer Shuichi Wada. The pair and their colleagues launched the lifehack sharing site back in 2009, and have acquired more than 12 million users to date. Users exchange practical how-tos and daily tips, such as how to better cut vegetables, how to better clean up toilets, or how to wash your neckties in the washing machine. A partnership with Japan’s leading web portal Yahoo Japan came in 2012, and subsequently startup has pulled lots traffic from there, accounting for 10% to 20% of its 60 million monthly page views. With these new funds, the startup plans to intensify development, especially for smartphone users. KDDI Open Innovation Fund is jointly managed by Japan’s second largest telco KDDI and VC firm Global Brain. ↩

nanapi_logoNanapi is a popular Japanese site where users can share their favorite lifehacks. The company announced today it has raised 270 million yen (approximately $2.7 million) from KDDI’s Open Innovation Fund [1]. and Globis Capital Partners. This follows a previous round of funding worth 330 million yen from Globis Capital Partners.

The startup was founded back in 2007 by former Recruit staffer Kensuke Furukawa and former Rakuten engineer Shuichi Wada. The pair and their colleagues launched the lifehack sharing site back in 2009, and have acquired more than 12 million users to date. Users exchange practical how-tos and daily tips, such as how to better cut vegetables, how to better clean up toilets, or how to wash your neckties in the washing machine. A partnership with Japan’s leading web portal Yahoo Japan came in 2012, and subsequently startup has pulled lots traffic from there, accounting for 10% to 20% of its 60 million monthly page views.

With these new funds, the startup plans to intensify development, especially for smartphone users.

nanapi_screenshot


  1. KDDI Open Innovation Fund is jointly managed by Japan’s second largest telco KDDI and VC firm Global Brain. ↩

Line News aims to be Japan’s top mobile news destination

SHARE:

Today Line Corporation further expanded its mobile repertoire by announcing a Line News mobile app for its home market of Japan, available on both iOS and Android. The company hopes to leverage its experience from running Livedoor News and Naver Matome, with the goal of being the top mobile news destination in Japan. Line has a news editorial department which will pick topics to present in a number of categories: Entertainment, Trends, Sports, and Current Events. They will then write short 60 to 70 character summaries for each (reportedly Line has approval from those outlets), as well as a pictures and a couple of related articles. If you want more details than that, you can tap on the source link. The service will also note the sorts of articles you read, and service you with more like them in the future. In terms of mobile news alternatives in Japan, I think there are lots of better alternatives out there, such as more personalized services like Gunosy or Cakes [1]. But I think what this does for Line is incrementally them one step closer to being the dominant place where Japanese users live, a smartphone web portal that serves every need….

line_news

Today Line Corporation further expanded its mobile repertoire by announcing a Line News mobile app for its home market of Japan, available on both iOS and Android. The company hopes to leverage its experience from running Livedoor News and Naver Matome, with the goal of being the top mobile news destination in Japan.

Line has a news editorial department which will pick topics to present in a number of categories: Entertainment, Trends, Sports, and Current Events. They will then write short 60 to 70 character summaries for each (reportedly Line has approval from those outlets), as well as a pictures and a couple of related articles. If you want more details than that, you can tap on the source link. The service will also note the sorts of articles you read, and service you with more like them in the future.

In terms of mobile news alternatives in Japan, I think there are lots of better alternatives out there, such as more personalized services like Gunosy or Cakes [1]. But I think what this does for Line is incrementally them one step closer to being the dominant place where Japanese users live, a smartphone web portal that serves every need.

Readers may recall that Line previously launched a Manga service back in April, its other notable venture into the content space in Japan.

Line has its ‘Hello, Friends in Tokyo’ event coming up August, and if that event proves to be anything like last year, we can expect more fun additions from the company at that time.

For more information on the growth of Line and its vast repertoire of apps, including Line News, please check out our interactive Line Timeline which chronicles its growth from its launch back in 2011 up until the present day.

line-news-2 line-news-2


  1. I use Gunosy regularly, but I should point out I’ve only looked at Cakes a little bit – but it looks very, very sharp. We’re hoping to have a feature on the latter service coming soon.  ↩

Japanese e-commerce startup Monoco raises funds from KDDI and Global Brain

SHARE:

Tokyo-based startup Monoco announced today it has raised funds from Japan’s second largest telco KDDI and Japanese VC firm Global Brain. The specific amount was not disclosed but it’s thought to be several million US dollars. Monoco is a flash sales e-commerce site focused on selling fashion items of a limited quantity selected by curators and buyers worldwide. Since the company’s launch back in April of 2012, it has acquired more than 80,000 users, partnering with more than 900 fashion designers worldwide. As part of its business strategy, the company plans to add more designers to improve the variety of available items, which would likely result in more revenue. They expect to bring on 2,100 designers more by the end of this year. Coinciding with this funding, the startup will establish a navigation page on the web menu of KDDI’s smartphone subscribers, where it will introduce trending items and drive traffic to its e-commerce site. Furthermore it will also set up a physical store in Tokyo’s Omotesando district, in order to promote its brand offline as well. Monoco was previously known as Flutterscape, originally founded back in 2010 as an incubation project at Netprice.com. It had been running an e-commerce…

monoco_logoTokyo-based startup Monoco announced today it has raised funds from Japan’s second largest telco KDDI and Japanese VC firm Global Brain. The specific amount was not disclosed but it’s thought to be several million US dollars.

Monoco is a flash sales e-commerce site focused on selling fashion items of a limited quantity selected by curators and buyers worldwide. Since the company’s launch back in April of 2012, it has acquired more than 80,000 users, partnering with more than 900 fashion designers worldwide.

As part of its business strategy, the company plans to add more designers to improve the variety of available items, which would likely result in more revenue. They expect to bring on 2,100 designers more by the end of this year.

Coinciding with this funding, the startup will establish a navigation page on the web menu of KDDI’s smartphone subscribers, where it will introduce trending items and drive traffic to its e-commerce site. Furthermore it will also set up a physical store in Tokyo’s Omotesando district, in order to promote its brand offline as well.

Monoco was previously known as Flutterscape, originally founded back in 2010 as an incubation project at Netprice.com. It had been running an e-commerce site selling Japanese products to the overseas markets but subsequently changed to its current business back in 2012. Prior to the funding, it received seed investment from CyberAgent, and investment worth 60 million yen ($600,000) from Nippon Venture Capital, United (ngi group at that time), and Innovation Engine in 2011.

(CNet Japan)

monoco_screenshot

Japan’s leading stock photo site shoots for the Asia market

SHARE:

Japanese stock photography company Pixta has announced that it will be expanding its services via a new English website, pixtastock.com, to focus on serving the surrounding Asia market. The company claims to be Japan’s largest stock photography site, with over 5 million images to choose from, as well as 120,000 contributors, and 120,000 customers to date too. It’s pricing is relatively affordable, offering photos and illustrations starting at about $5, and video footage starting at about $20. I asked a company representative a little more about this new English service. She explained that while the service is targeting mostly business users, that they are hoping for smaller customers as well, including SMEs and individual creatives or designers. I’m told that the company also intends to work with promising photographers and creators around the Asia region: It is necessary for our business to make strong relationships with contributors, and the mission of our company to give the opportunities to people with talent – no matter where they are – by using the internet. Pixta originally started out way back in 2006 as a creative platform, and has been growing well ever since. Check out the chart below showing Pixta’s increases in…

pixtastock

Japanese stock photography company Pixta has announced that it will be expanding its services via a new English website, pixtastock.com, to focus on serving the surrounding Asia market.

The company claims to be Japan’s largest stock photography site, with over 5 million images to choose from, as well as 120,000 contributors, and 120,000 customers to date too. It’s pricing is relatively affordable, offering photos and illustrations starting at about $5, and video footage starting at about $20.

I asked a company representative a little more about this new English service. She explained that while the service is targeting mostly business users, that they are hoping for smaller customers as well, including SMEs and individual creatives or designers. I’m told that the company also intends to work with promising photographers and creators around the Asia region:

It is necessary for our business to make strong relationships with contributors, and the mission of our company to give the opportunities to people with talent – no matter where they are – by using the internet.

Pixta originally started out way back in 2006 as a creative platform, and has been growing well ever since. Check out the chart below showing Pixta’s increases in items sold/downloaded over the years to get a good idea of the company’s trajectory. It will be interesting to see if this growth can continue as they expand beyond Japan. Their positioning looks strong, since similar services like Getty Images might not feature as much localized photos and video for Asian countries as businesses in the region require. Pixta could fill that void.

pixta sales growth, items sold

Japan’s livestreaming app TwitCasting to soon hit 3M users, is now winning fans overseas

SHARE:

See the original story in Japanese. TwitCasting is a mobile livestreaming app developed by Tokyo-based startup Moi Corp. The company’s founding CEO Yoski Akamatsu has unveiled that the service recently surpassed 2.7 millions users and is expected to hit the 3 million milestone by the middle of next month. The company seems to be surprised by its rapid user growth. They ran a promotional campaign giving away special cushions to users. The campaign was intended to continue for a week, but the rewards were running out in about six hours. This was totally unexpected, as Akamatsu explains: We spent almost one month preparing the rewards. It feels like we spent three days to cook a stew, but someone came and ate it in just 10 minutes. ¶ The service’s main user base is teenagers, a group that was just on summer vacation which resulted in lots of activity. In addition, Japan is currently in the middle of the lower-house election campaign, and people are using the app for to livestream soapbox speeches by law-maker candidates. For users, it’s easy to find such speeches using the app. Interestingly, TwitCasting is picking up many users in overseas markets too. When Brazilian protesters…

d032235d9e2a3f3087cb22288bc0b69d
50,000 Brazilians viewed the protest using the app.

See the original story in Japanese.

TwitCasting is a mobile livestreaming app developed by Tokyo-based startup Moi Corp. The company’s founding CEO Yoski Akamatsu has unveiled that the service recently surpassed 2.7 millions users and is expected to hit the 3 million milestone by the middle of next month.

The company seems to be surprised by its rapid user growth. They ran a promotional campaign giving away special cushions to users. The campaign was intended to continue for a week, but the rewards were running out in about six hours. This was totally unexpected, as Akamatsu explains:

We spent almost one month preparing the rewards. It feels like we spent three days to cook a stew, but someone came and ate it in just 10 minutes.

The service’s main user base is teenagers, a group that was just on summer vacation which resulted in lots of activity. In addition, Japan is currently in the middle of the lower-house election campaign, and people are using the app for to livestream soapbox speeches by law-maker candidates. For users, it’s easy to find such speeches using the app.

Interestingly, TwitCasting is picking up many users in overseas markets too. When Brazilian protesters recently clashed after the Confederations Cup final, 50,000 users tuned in to the stream, hitting about 20,000 viewings at its peak. Some local news media such as Tarde or Info introduced the app as they reported the story. Akamatsu added:

A total of 900,000 Brazilians used our app during the Confederations Cup. Brazilians typically prefer Twitter to Facebook, but for us, about 80% of our users were using Facebook login. Perhaps people are using Facebook for more political activities? The protests are now over and Brazil has calmed down. But we’ll be thinking further about intensifying our global expansions.

Moi Corp. previously fundraised $634,000 from East Ventures and other investors back in May. Let’s keep an eye on the young company to see how they evolve.

Next-gen Japanese wheelchair startup raises $1M from 500 Startups and other investors

SHARE:

See the original story in Japanese. Whill is a Japanese startup that is developing ‘Personal Mobility’, a next-generation wheelchair. The startup announced today it has raised $1 million from Itochu Technology Ventures (ITV), 500 Startups, Sunbridge Global Ventures, Wingle, and individual angel investors. The individual investors include 500 Startups’ Dave McClure and Facebook engineer Eric Kwan. With these funds, the startup plans to start mass-production of its first model and start marketing it as well. The first lot of 50 machines will be exported to the US market using a direct sales channel, with shipping scheduled to start in early 2014. The startup was co-founded by young engineers who previously worked with top Japanese manufacturing companies like Nissan Motors, Sony, and Olympus. To date, there has been no shortage of buzz surrounding this young company and its brand new machine. Many of our Japanese readers may have learned about them on Campfire, a Japanese crowdfunding site. Their prototype was unveiled back in 2011, and was subsequently chosen by 500 Startups for their incubation program, and now raising a large sum of money this time around. According to the startup’s CEO Satoshi Sugie, the wheelchair industry has seen no remarkable evolution…

IMGP7822

See the original story in Japanese.

Whill is a Japanese startup that is developing ‘Personal Mobility’, a next-generation wheelchair. The startup announced today it has raised $1 million from Itochu Technology Ventures (ITV), 500 Startups, Sunbridge Global Ventures, Wingle, and individual angel investors. The individual investors include 500 Startups’ Dave McClure and Facebook engineer Eric Kwan.

With these funds, the startup plans to start mass-production of its first model and start marketing it as well. The first lot of 50 machines will be exported to the US market using a direct sales channel, with shipping scheduled to start in early 2014.

The startup was co-founded by young engineers who previously worked with top Japanese manufacturing companies like Nissan Motors, Sony, and Olympus. To date, there has been no shortage of buzz surrounding this young company and its brand new machine.

Many of our Japanese readers may have learned about them on Campfire, a Japanese crowdfunding site. Their prototype was unveiled back in 2011, and was subsequently chosen by 500 Startups for their incubation program, and now raising a large sum of money this time around.

According to the startup’s CEO Satoshi Sugie, the wheelchair industry has seen no remarkable evolution since 1932 when the device was invented in Los Angeles. Shinji Asada, the director at ITV, pointed out that the target market for the company’s prototype has great potential:

We actually received other investment proposals from hardware startups. But Whill was different. They built a prototype and showed it to us when asking us to invest. This had a significant impact on our decision.

Regarding the market potential, it’s probably around 20 billion yen ($200 million) in Japan. Prior to using the device, we need to remove impediments in buildings. However, our interview conducted in the US indicated that there is a great need for this in the market. That’s why we decided to get involved.

IMGP7816

According to the Whill team, the development of hardware prototypes is much easier than what it used to be.

The prototype for the first model cost about 5 million yen ($50,000). But if a big company does the same thing, it will probably cost 10 times more. Behind this cost reduction there are many factors, such as a high rise of open source software and parts manufacturing using 3D printers. Some tech shops in the US can rent manufacturing machines in shared spaces. These changes made us possible to procure parts faster and cheaper.

The startup is based in Tokyo and San Francisco, but their factory is located in the Tokyo’s suburb of Machida. It took me a while to get to the location from the nearest train station, but the factory looked super fun — almost like a sort of secret base for children. It will be interesting to see how the company can evolve the world mobility market from this corner of the capital.

IMGP7813