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Meet 4 startups that pitched at Global Brain annual portfolio showcase in Tokyo

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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See the original story in Japanese. Japanese VC firm Global Brain held the its annual event called Global Brain Alliance Forum 2018 last month in Tokyo. In the pitch competition even, 10 participant startups from Japan and the rest of Japan gave excellent pitches in front of a big audience. This article introduces four award-winning teams from among them. The judges for the Pitch Battle were as follows: Yusuke Asakura (Co-founder, Signifiant) Nobuhiro Ariyasu (Entrepreneur / Angel Investor) Kiyo Kobayashi (Cofounder / CEO, Chomp) Masaki Sugiyama (Outside Director, Nikkatsu) Kotaro Chiba (Angel investor / Partner, Drone Fund) Pitch Panel Award winner: MeicalCare Station by Embrace Embrace develops a social network for physicians and nurses, named MedicalCare Station. Regarding medical practice, FAX or other methods had been conventionally used in communication between core hospitals and staffers. MedicalCare Station is a communication platform to digitalize this process where nurses can post clinical updates of each patient they are taking care of as a timeline and share them with other staffers. The platform is available for free for physicians and nurses but it’s not easy to introduce such a new tool to the medical front lines. That’s why the company has been focusing…

See the original story in Japanese.

Japanese VC firm Global Brain held the its annual event called Global Brain Alliance Forum 2018 last month in Tokyo. In the pitch competition even, 10 participant startups from Japan and the rest of Japan gave excellent pitches in front of a big audience. This article introduces four award-winning teams from among them.

The judges for the Pitch Battle were as follows:

  • Yusuke Asakura (Co-founder, Signifiant)
  • Nobuhiro Ariyasu (Entrepreneur / Angel Investor)
  • Kiyo Kobayashi (Cofounder / CEO, Chomp)
  • Masaki Sugiyama (Outside Director, Nikkatsu)
  • Kotaro Chiba (Angel investor / Partner, Drone Fund)

Pitch Panel Award winner: MeicalCare Station by Embrace

Embrace develops a social network for physicians and nurses, named MedicalCare Station. Regarding medical practice, FAX or other methods had been conventionally used in communication between core hospitals and staffers. MedicalCare Station is a communication platform to digitalize this process where nurses can post clinical updates of each patient they are taking care of as a timeline and share them with other staffers.

The platform is available for free for physicians and nurses but it’s not easy to introduce such a new tool to the medical front lines. That’s why the company has been focusing on promoting it through lobbying medical associations across the country for five years since its launch. Their efforts paid off, and 214 medical associations (one in four of all 891 medical associations in Japan) have agreed to introduce the platform for their use. It’s also used at 34,000 nursing facilities in Japan. Based on its user base, the firm has been monetizing their business by offering a SaaS (Software as a Service) for healthcare app development to medical device / pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Audience Award winner: Fermented products utilizing unused resources by Fermenstation

Some of our readers may recall Fermenstation, the fermentation technology-focused startup based out of Japan’s northern city of Iwate, won the Aomori Mayor’s Award at the Demo Day of JR East Startup Program’s 2nd batch. The firm asks local farmers to grow rice in fallow or abandoned rice fields, refines it into rice-derived fermented ethanol, and produces cosmetic products from them. The strained lees obtained in refining process are eventually returned to rice field and thereby the firm realized a sustainable business model.

This story of fermented products utilizing unused resources attracted the Japanese market and the firm has been receiving many OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) offers from major retail dealers. For example, Akomeya Tokyo is manufactured by Fermenstation but sold as one of Sazaby League’s beauty-care product lineups under their brand. The firm also utilizes strained lees of rice in various ways; the firm sells it as distiller as it is, uses it as cattle raising feed and sells the beef from them in crowdfunding, or uses it as poultry feed for chicken and returns their fowl droppings to rice fields as fertilizer. In addition, the firm started inspection tours for consumers after receiving the attention from them, resulting in contributing to the local economy.

GBAF Award winner: Visualization of hygiene factor by Okan

Some of our readers may also recall this startup. Okan provides special refrigerators with vacuum-packaged side dishes stocked to offices and allows employees there to purchase any of them for 100 yen (about $0.91) for each. This service has been introduced in more than 1,300 offices in total, and charges monthly fees from user companies according to the number of employees. For these companies, it works as a company benefit for employees.

The team had paid attention to Herzberg’s Two-factor Theory on job satisfaction caused by motivator factors and hygiene factors, in anticipation of future decline in the labor force population which may cause bankruptcy. Of the two factors, there are few approaches to reduce turnover rates by improving the hygiene factors. The firm plans to launch a beta service that visualizes assessment or problems of hygiene factors.

GBAF Award winner: Computer vision for autonomous driving by StradVision

Korea / the U.S.-based StradVision develops the SVNet computer vision engine for autonomous driving, enabling an accurate environment recognition. SVNet is able to perform effective processing in real-time even on low-specification chipsets and to detect objects using deep learning. Since the engine does not require higher specification for chipsets, users can introduce it into autos which they already own without replacing hardware.

StradVision takes mainly on sales of the product by OEM and has been providing its service in the U.S. and China. The firm had secured funds from HDTP Technology, Hyundai Motor, LGE, and Global Brain. In May of last year, it fundraised about 8 billion won (about $7 million US) from Hyundai Mobis, Korea’s leading auto parts manufacturer.

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

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Japan Airlines launches $70M fund for business collaboration with startups

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See the orignal story in Japanese. Japan Airlines (JAL) announced on Thursday that it is forming a new fund focused on investing in startups in Japan and the rest of the world, called Japan Airlines Innovation Fund. Aiming to provide value propositions to various life scenes of consumers, JAL wants to create new businesses by offering comprehensive air mobility services as well as new means of transport and their user experiences through the fund. In this scheme, Silicon Valley-based Translink Capital provides deal sourcing, investment execution, and hands-on support for investees. JAL has supported startup conferences by offering complimentary miles to entrepreneurs flying aboard leveraging the airliner’s mileage program. Aiming to collaborate with 100 startups, the company launched a innovation lab facility near their their headquarters in Tokyo last May. In view of JAL’s involvement in the startup community, they have invested in iSpace, the startup behind the Hakuto team which took part in the Google-sponsored Lunar Xprize race, by participating in their series A funding round back in late 2017. In addition, JAL introduced Comuoon hearing assistance device to their customer counter on a trial basis back in 2015. Comuoon won the Morning Pitch yearend edition in 2017. Looking…

Image credit: 123RF

See the orignal story in Japanese.

Japan Airlines (JAL) announced on Thursday that it is forming a new fund focused on investing in startups in Japan and the rest of the world, called Japan Airlines Innovation Fund. Aiming to provide value propositions to various life scenes of consumers, JAL wants to create new businesses by offering comprehensive air mobility services as well as new means of transport and their user experiences through the fund. In this scheme, Silicon Valley-based Translink Capital provides deal sourcing, investment execution, and hands-on support for investees.

JAL has supported startup conferences by offering complimentary miles to entrepreneurs flying aboard leveraging the airliner’s mileage program. Aiming to collaborate with 100 startups, the company launched a innovation lab facility near their their headquarters in Tokyo last May.

In view of JAL’s involvement in the startup community, they have invested in iSpace, the startup behind the Hakuto team which took part in the Google-sponsored Lunar Xprize race, by participating in their series A funding round back in late 2017. In addition, JAL introduced Comuoon hearing assistance device to their customer counter on a trial basis back in 2015. Comuoon won the Morning Pitch yearend edition in 2017.

Looking at how the Japanese aviation industry working with startups, All Nippon Airways (ANA) has launched their own crowdfunding site as well as hosting a global avatar development competition in addition to sponsoring startup conferences. They have participated in the series C round of space debris removal startup Astroscale, and recently announced the participation in α Trackers (Alpha Trackers), the research consortium led by Japanese VC Global Brain for corporate venture capitals.

From a global point of view, Lufthansa Innovation Hub, Lufthansa Cargo, and Star Alliance have respectively partnered with Plug and Play to explore collaboration with startups.

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Japan’s Grooves raises $920K from Halal fund to expand recruiting business in Malaysia

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Grooves, the company best known for its engineer recruiting platform called Forkwell, announced today that it has fundraised $920,000 from Inspire PNB Partners. Inspire PNB is the joint venture between Japanese investment firm Inspire and Malaysia’s state-run firm Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), managing a Sharia-compliant private equity fund called PNB-INSPiRE Ethical Fund 1 (formed in April of 2014, valued around 6 billion yen = $54.8 million US). The fund has invested in Japanese private cloud platform developer Keepdata and deep learning solution startup Abeja. For Grooves, the funding at this time is seen making the amount raised to date total at more than 1 billion yen (about $9 million US). The company has raised from Inspire, the parent company of Inspire PNB, in the 200 million yen funding round back in March of 2017. Grooves established its Malay subsidiary called Grooves Asia Sdn.Bhd. last year when their CEO Hiro Ikemi moved to Kuala Lumpur to more closely working with businesses in Malaysia. It’s their Japanese business entity who secured funding at this time but the local subsidiary will be more focused on business expansion in Malaysia in partnership with PNB Group. Since the…

From the left: Hiro Ikemi (CEO, Grooves), Datin Paduka Kartini (Deputy President, Strategic Investment, Permodalan Nasional Berhad)
Image credit: Grooves

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Grooves, the company best known for its engineer recruiting platform called Forkwell, announced today that it has fundraised $920,000 from Inspire PNB Partners. Inspire PNB is the joint venture between Japanese investment firm Inspire and Malaysia’s state-run firm Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), managing a Sharia-compliant private equity fund called PNB-INSPiRE Ethical Fund 1 (formed in April of 2014, valued around 6 billion yen = $54.8 million US). The fund has invested in Japanese private cloud platform developer Keepdata and deep learning solution startup Abeja.

For Grooves, the funding at this time is seen making the amount raised to date total at more than 1 billion yen (about $9 million US). The company has raised from Inspire, the parent company of Inspire PNB, in the 200 million yen funding round back in March of 2017. Grooves established its Malay subsidiary called Grooves Asia Sdn.Bhd. last year when their CEO Hiro Ikemi moved to Kuala Lumpur to more closely working with businesses in Malaysia. It’s their Japanese business entity who secured funding at this time but the local subsidiary will be more focused on business expansion in Malaysia in partnership with PNB Group.

Grooves’ Malay subsidiary / office is located in WORQ, a co-working space in Kuala Lumpur.
Image credit: Grooves

Since the launch of the Malay subsidiary, Grooves has been focused on international business not only in Malaysia but also in other Asian markets. The firm got approval from Tokyo Labor Bureau to launch a recruiting agency business for so-called “highly-skilled professionals” from Korea and Taiwan. The geographical coverage is expected to expand in the future.

In Islamic countries, since Sharia (Islamic law) prohibits acceptance of specific interest or fees for loaning money, hedge funds or other financing schemes common in Western countries are unlikely to be accepted. Meanwhile, Malaysia has now become an Islamic finance hub offering Sharia-compliant financing schemes. Startups receiving funds from such schemes can expand their services into Islamic markets more smoothly, just as Halal-approved restaurants can.

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Japan’s Morning Pitch reveals 7 outstanding teams from presentations throughout 2018

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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See the original story in Japanese. Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support and Nomura Securities conducted the first special event of the year for their Morning Pitch series (held every Thursday) earlier this month in Tokyo. Previously, this event was often held at the end of the year in a rented movie theater or other venues, but this year it was moved to an event hall and held at the beginning of the year to summarize the previous year. For this event, seven companies that were evaluated to have superior technology on the world stage in 2018 pitched and competed for first prize. WAmazing, which provides information services for inbound tourists to Japan with free SIM cards and a mobile app, was the winner by judge’s choice. Musca, which creates fodder and fertilizer using houseflies, came away with the Audience Award through a vote. The following is a list of the pitch competition judges: Soichi Kariyazono – Managing Partner, Globis Capital Partners / Chairman, Japan Venture Capital Association Yasuhiko Yurimoto – President & CEO, Global Brain Shinichiro Nakaishi – CEO, Universal Sound Design CEO / Researcher, Hiroshima University Space Regenerative Medical Center (First place at Morning Pitch 2017’s year-end wrap-up) Genichi Tamatsuka…

See the original story in Japanese.

Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support and Nomura Securities conducted the first special event of the year for their Morning Pitch series (held every Thursday) earlier this month in Tokyo. Previously, this event was often held at the end of the year in a rented movie theater or other venues, but this year it was moved to an event hall and held at the beginning of the year to summarize the previous year.

For this event, seven companies that were evaluated to have superior technology on the world stage in 2018 pitched and competed for first prize. WAmazing, which provides information services for inbound tourists to Japan with free SIM cards and a mobile app, was the winner by judge’s choice. Musca, which creates fodder and fertilizer using houseflies, came away with the Audience Award through a vote.

The following is a list of the pitch competition judges:

  • Soichi Kariyazono – Managing Partner, Globis Capital Partners / Chairman, Japan Venture Capital Association
  • Yasuhiko Yurimoto – President & CEO, Global Brain
  • Shinichiro Nakaishi – CEO, Universal Sound Design CEO / Researcher, Hiroshima University Space Regenerative Medical Center (First place at Morning Pitch 2017’s year-end wrap-up)
  • Genichi Tamatsuka – President & CEO, Digital Hearts Holdings
  • Hiro Yoshida – Deputy Editor, TechCrunch Japan
  • Atsuhiko Nakata – Comedian, Businessman, Author of “Bokutachi Ha Dou Tsutaeru Ka (How do we communicate?)”

First Prize winner: WAmazing by WAmazing (Selected from the Cool Japan Sector)

WAmazing distributes free SIM cards to foreigners visiting Japan and provides tourism information via a mobile app. Foreign tourists register their personal information on the WAmazing website before embarking on their trip and then can pick up the SIM card upon arrival at 20 international airports in Japan (covering 90% of overseas tourist inflow routes). WAmazing directs tourists to activity providers and in doing so takes a 10%-15% sales commission.

In the year and a half since the service started the app has been installed 210,000 times, mainly in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Users are also expanding in China and Southeast Asia. WAmazing Snow, which specializes in winter activities, offers 800 tourism options at 200 ski areas nationwide. The company was the winner of B Dash Camp 2017 Spring in Fukuoka, and took the Tokyu Prize (equivalent of First Prize) at the Demo Day for the 3rd batch of Tokyu Corporation’s accelerator.

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Audience Award winner: Musca by Musca (Selected from the AgriTech Sector)

Musca uses houseflies which have been selectively bred over 11,100 generations for 45 years to produce feed and fertilizer from garbage and manure. The housefly eggs are added to garbage and manure where they become larvae and larvae excrement in about one week. As the larvae move around, they grow while decomposing the organic matter around them. The larvae can be used as feed and the larvae excrement can be used as fertilizer. Unlike biodegradation, with this method fermentation does not occur, which makes it easier to avoid foul odors and does not produce gas that causes global warming.

Muska aims to secure profit by setting up large plants capable of producing 100 tons of feed and fertilizer per unit in more than 3,000 locations throughout Japan, and selling the products to feed and fertilizer companies. The company’s proof-of-concept is scheduled to begin in the spring of this year. AgriProtein, Protix, Enterra Feed, etc., are examples of competitors in this field; however, Muska is set apart in that it uses houseflies that can cope with any organic matter. The strength of the company lies in the capacity of waste treatment and the efficiency of feed production which occurs in one week after receiving the garbage and manure. Muska won the pitch competition at TechCrunch Tokyo 2018.

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P3 Finder by RF Locus (Selected from the Logistics Sector)

RF Locus’ P3 Finder is a high-accuracy precision locating system that uses RFID tags. In general use cases RFID, as opposed to barcodes, does not require unpacking the boxes containing the product which makes it easier to take stock, etc. However, since the accuracy of RFID in showing locations is not good, it is difficult to determine exactly where the product is.

Through the dual use of smartphone acceleration sensors and software for “the time-series analysis of radiowave phase”, P3 Finder can determine an accurate position and content of a product even when it has not been unpacked. The company’s pitch revealed a system that combines logistics robots and drones. Toyota Motor, major airlines, and major apparel companies have introduced the system. P3 Finder took fourth place at Infinity Ventures Summit 2017 Winter’s Launchpad.

Tyffonuum by Tyffon (Selected from the AR/VR Sector)

Artist and engineer Ken Fukazawa (current CEO) established Tyfonn as an XR (extended reality) startup. The company was developing AR apps, and in 2014 was chosen for the Disney Accelerator. The company’s AR app Show Your Disney Side reached 8th place overall in the app rankings in the US. From then on it pivoted to become an AR startup. To date, it has developed two VR attractions, Corridor and Fluctus, and is also expanding to provide the facilities to experience these attractions.

The AR facilities are currently located in Odaiba and Shibuya, Tokyo with the third to be opened at Santa Monica’s Third Promenade. The company plans to release a new attraction this year called Taro VR, and is also preparing to collaborate with a big Hollywood IP. The company’s value propositions include technology to capture “the actual look of your own hand” in real-time in AR called Magic Realty, as well as the ability to create dynamic attractions in small spaces.

DeepX by DeepX (Selected from the AI Sector)

DeepX led by Kaoru Nasuno who is from the University of Tokyo’s Matsuo Laboratory, which is famous for producing AI talent in Japan. Through the use of deep learning, the company is able to automate movement in any machine that until now could not move automatically. In the past most movements made by machines and robots were repetitive, but with the introduction of deep learning and image recognition they have become flexible and can adapt by learning movements through trial and error.

Additionally, it is necessary to develop hardware as well as software for complete automation, and Nasuno remarked that Japan has the advantage in this. From now the company will promote machine automation across industries, including manufacturing, transportation, and construction, etc., as well as promote the production of common parts in modules. In terms of the future, the company would also like to apply this to marginal fields like newly opened and radiation facilities, and so on. Currently, the startup is working with each company on its Proof-of-Concept, and is aiming for a launch next year or the year after.

Sekai Hotel by Kujira (Selected from Inbound Tourism)

Kujira operates Sekai Hotel, which provides local experiences for foreign tourists in Japan. When a user checks in at the front desk of a local Sekai Hotel they receive a card and can stay in a room at a renovated house in the area. With the same card they can also bathe in a public bath, enjoy food and drinks at a coffee shop, etc. The focus is on providing opportunities in each town that resemble what life is actually like for the locals.

The company currently operates two Sekai Hotels in Osaka Prefecture, and as the rooms are owned by general investors (which Sekai Hotel then leases), even if the company expands the impact to its balance sheet can be kept to a minimum. The fact that the company does not need large plots for developing, and that it does not need to develop in expensive urban centers means less competitors and advantages for business development. The company has also seen cases where coffee shops in shopping areas were considering closing, but due to an increase in the number of inbound customers thanks to Sekai Hotel have been able to remain open.

Sukedachi by Sukedachi (Selected from the Construction Sector)

Sukedachi is a mobile app that connects construction sites with constrcution workers. CEO Yoichi Wagatsuma, who as been involved in the construction industry for 15 years, is keenly aware of the information asymmetry between construction sites that need to people to work and the workers seeking such work. Workers recruit their peers and together they can seek work at construction sites. The company does not only introduce construction work, but also provides Sukedachi Pay for workers, which allows workers to receive their pay through a Seven Eleven ATM, and the monthly use balance exceeds 10 million yen (about $91K US).

Today, January 11th, the company has partnered with Credit Saison and Mitsui Sumitomo Aioi Life Insurance to launch its own branded prepaid card “Sukedachi Card”, which can be used for construction charges and is also accompanied by accident insurance. Its value proposition lies in the fact that construction workers are often also individual business owners, information regarding jobs can be divided into 74 categories, and that the company can provide not only job introduction but also means for payment and insurance in a complete package. The company is also planning to sell tools via the app. After trying to spread to the 5 million construction workers within Japan itself, the company also plans to expand into Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and other countries.

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Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

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Back pain management app Pocket Therapist wins Health 2.0 Asia-Japan pitch competition

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based MedPeer, the Japanese company behind an online community for medics under the same name, held the Health 2.0 Asia – Japan conference back in December. A pitch competition took place during the conference and six Japanese teams participated in it. The judges for the pitch competition were as follows: Akihisa Harada (CEO, Pfizer Japan / M.D.) Yoshimasa Kato (General Manager of Tokyu Acceleration program, Tokyu) Kenji Kobayashi (Copartner, Signifiant) Georgia Mitsi (Senior Director, Head of Digital Health Care Initiatives, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals) Takuya Miyata (Founder, General Partner, Scrum Ventures) Yasuko Terao (Head of Development Planning Department, Clinical Science Management, R&D Department, Janssen Pharmaceutical / Phar.D.) Tatsuo Tsutsumi (General Partner, Gree Ventures) Takaaki Umezawa (President, A.T. Kearney Japan) Hiroyuki Watanabe (Managing Director, Digital Business Representative, Nikkei) Matthew Holt (Co-Chairman, Health 2.0 LLC) Yo Iwami (CEO, MedPeer / M.D.) See also: Medical simulator robot Mikoto wins Health 2.0 Asia-Japan 2017 pitch competition “Health, Wealth and Fame”… Nevertheless, You Need Health to Begin with! Health 2.0 Asia showcases five most prominent healthcare startups from Japan Top Prize winner: Pocket Therapist by Backtech Supplemental prizes: 1 million yen (about $9,200) and complimentary inivitation to the 13th Health 2.0…

Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based MedPeer, the Japanese company behind an online community for medics under the same name, held the Health 2.0 Asia – Japan conference back in December. A pitch competition took place during the conference and six Japanese teams participated in it. The judges for the pitch competition were as follows:

  • Akihisa Harada (CEO, Pfizer Japan / M.D.)
  • Yoshimasa Kato (General Manager of Tokyu Acceleration program, Tokyu)
  • Kenji Kobayashi (Copartner, Signifiant)
  • Georgia Mitsi (Senior Director, Head of Digital Health Care Initiatives, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals)
  • Takuya Miyata (Founder, General Partner, Scrum Ventures)
  • Yasuko Terao (Head of Development Planning Department, Clinical Science Management, R&D Department, Janssen Pharmaceutical / Phar.D.)
  • Tatsuo Tsutsumi (General Partner, Gree Ventures)
  • Takaaki Umezawa (President, A.T. Kearney Japan)
  • Hiroyuki Watanabe (Managing Director, Digital Business Representative, Nikkei)
  • Matthew Holt (Co-Chairman, Health 2.0 LLC)
  • Yo Iwami (CEO, MedPeer / M.D.)

See also:

Top Prize winner: Pocket Therapist by Backtech

Supplemental prizes: 1 million yen (about $9,200) and complimentary inivitation to the 13th Health 2.0 Annual Conference (Silicon Valley, September 2019) for two people

Backtech develops a mobile app for managing back-pain named Pocket Therapist, which suggests optimal exercises or introduces medical facilities according to the user’s back-pain type determined by a proprietary algorithm from Kyoto University.

The app judges users’ current back-pain condition and treatment needs based on their self-assessment and matches them with optimal medical facilities. In addition, it allows them to consult doctors via Skype when needed. The firm has gradually been establishing a B2E (Business-to-enterprise) model through providing two types of services: one is Assessment Plan which supports enterprises to assess the effectiveness of their health promotion measures and the other is Solution Plan which supports productivity improvement through reduction of employees’ back-pain.

Backtech was founded in April of 2016 and then born out of the Kyoto University’s entrepreneur training program Global Technology Entrepreneurship Program. The firm raised an undisclosed amount from Cyberagent Ventures in September 2016 as well as an undisclosed amount from Nippon Venture Capital and JR East Startup in May last year.

AI-powered medical inquiries system for pateints by Ubie

Ubie was founded in May by Yoshinori Abe (medical doctor of the University of Tokyo Hospital) and Kota Kubo (engineer from the medical information service major M3.com). Supervised by medical specialists, the Ubie platform automatically creates a clinical record using the data a patient enters in advance. The firm fundraised around 300 million yen (about $2.8 million) from Kanden Venture Management, the investment arm of Kansai Electric Power in Osaka in its series A round.

Office Natural Frozen Fruits HENOHENO by Day Break

The food-tech firm Day Break focuses on special freezing technologies including quick-freezing and has been providing top-quality frozen fruits under its own brand HENOHENO. With the technology, the HENOHENO fruits are richer in nutrients than raw fruits and are easy to eat due to small ice crystals without damaging scent and taste.

Remote ICU support system T-ICU by T-ICU

T-ICU has developed a 24-hour remote ICU (intensive care unit) system under the same name, which lightens the burden of doctor or nurse in medical sites by giving advices of intensive care from other medical specialists in remote location. With this system, intensive care specialists are able to consider therapeutic strategies by referring clinical records and vital information even in remote location. For medical organizations, it allows them to provide professional supports at much cheaper cost than hiring a new intensive care specialist.

The firm secured funding from Japanese biotech-centric startup accelerator/VC firm Beyond Next Ventures back in June (the amount and the round is not disclosed). This platform was chosen for the Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Accelerator 2018 and won the award for excellence in the program.

Remote monitoring of IBD patients by GCare

GCare focuses on the remote monitoring system for IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) patients. Since the IBD symptom easily changes, it is effective to grasp patients’ state by mobile app and to provide timely treatment. The firm was chosen for Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Accelerator 2018 and is currently developing an mobile app for Ulcerative Colitis patients.

Therapy AI for adult ADHD by HoloAsh

HoloAsh takes on therapeutic solution for ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) patients in ‘motivation interviewing’ or ‘therapeutic communication’ approaches that help ADHD patients to improve their self-esteem through talking with holographic characters. This year, the firm fundraised an undisclosed amount from INDEE Japan, Takeshi Soga (SGcapital), Takashi Shibayama (BLANQ) and Osamu Ogasawara (ABBALab).

See also:

Transkated by Taijiro Takeda

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Japanese crowdsourced translation startup Gengo acquired by Lionbridge

SCORE 1,544 The Bridge The Bridge
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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based crowdsourced translation startup Gengo announced on Thursday that it has been acquired by Lionbridge Technologies. Financial terms on the deal have not been disclosed. Gengo was founded back in 2009 by Robert Laing and Matthew Romaine. Laing served the company as CEO in their early days while the position was handed over to Romaine in 2015. They have raised more than $26 million from Atomico, Intel Capital, 500 Startups and other investors. Since its launch back in 1996, Lionbridge has been globally offering translation and localization services, now in 27 countries. They were listed on NASDAQ back in 1997 but then delisted when they were acquired by private equity firm H.I.G. Capital for $360 million. The acquisition at this time is the first for Lionbridge following H.I.G. Capital’s purchase of them in May 2017. Lionbridge says Romaine and the rest of the Gengo team will join Lionbridge post transaction and assume key leadership roles in the company. It appears that Lionbridge will send someone to the board of Gengo’s directors. In 2018, Gengo launched GengoAI, a learning data platform for natural data processing-focused AI development, which has been fully leveraged by their existing…

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based crowdsourced translation startup Gengo announced on Thursday that it has been acquired by Lionbridge Technologies. Financial terms on the deal have not been disclosed.

Gengo was founded back in 2009 by Robert Laing and Matthew Romaine. Laing served the company as CEO in their early days while the position was handed over to Romaine in 2015. They have raised more than $26 million from Atomico, Intel Capital, 500 Startups and other investors.

Since its launch back in 1996, Lionbridge has been globally offering translation and localization services, now in 27 countries. They were listed on NASDAQ back in 1997 but then delisted when they were acquired by private equity firm H.I.G. Capital for $360 million. The acquisition at this time is the first for Lionbridge following H.I.G. Capital’s purchase of them in May 2017.

Lionbridge says Romaine and the rest of the Gengo team will join Lionbridge post transaction and assume key leadership roles in the company. It appears that Lionbridge will send someone to the board of Gengo’s directors.

In 2018, Gengo launched GengoAI, a learning data platform for natural data processing-focused AI development, which has been fully leveraged by their existing translation services. The platform is expected to strengthen Lionbridge’s position in the machine learning and content relevance markets.

Tokyo-based Conyac, another Japanese translation startup launched around the same time with Gengo, was acquired for $14 million by Japanese translation service giant Rosetta back in August of 2018. Our readers may also recall that Korean translation tech startup Flitto has raised funding from Colopl Next for market expansion into the Japanese market.

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via PR TIMES
via Lionbridge Technologies

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American Express buys Japanese restaurant reservation startup Pocket Concierge

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Pocket Concierge, the Japanese startup offering an online restaurant reservation platform under the same name, has been fully acquired by American Express (Amex). Financial terms regarding the deal has not been disclosed. The platform was founded in March of 2013 by Kei Tokado who was has experience in the restaurant business, including time as a restaurant chef (the company’s name was Pocket Menu at the time). Based on the quality of menu and service as well as concept and their chef’s thought, more than 800 restaurants have been carefully selected according to the platform’s proprietary standards. With the acquisition by Amex, Pocket Concierge will be more focused on providing their card holders with access to Japanese premium restaurants. However, even after the acquisition, the platform is expected to continue offering their existing services to anyone regardless of whether or not he/she is an Amex member. It’s not clear about how much money the company has fundraised to date. Their investors partcipating in past rounds include Adways, Allied Architects, 500 Startup Japan, Monex Ventures, iMercury Capital, Line, Nippon Venture Capital, Fuji Startup Ventures, and Isetan Mitsukoshi Innovations. See also: Japan’s Pocket Concierge starts accepting…

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Pocket Concierge, the Japanese startup offering an online restaurant reservation platform under the same name, has been fully acquired by American Express (Amex). Financial terms regarding the deal has not been disclosed.

The platform was founded in March of 2013 by Kei Tokado who was has experience in the restaurant business, including time as a restaurant chef (the company’s name was Pocket Menu at the time). Based on the quality of menu and service as well as concept and their chef’s thought, more than 800 restaurants have been carefully selected according to the platform’s proprietary standards.

With the acquisition by Amex, Pocket Concierge will be more focused on providing their card holders with access to Japanese premium restaurants. However, even after the acquisition, the platform is expected to continue offering their existing services to anyone regardless of whether or not he/she is an Amex member.

It’s not clear about how much money the company has fundraised to date. Their investors partcipating in past rounds include Adways, Allied Architects, 500 Startup Japan, Monex Ventures, iMercury Capital, Line, Nippon Venture Capital, Fuji Startup Ventures, and Isetan Mitsukoshi Innovations.

See also:

Translated by Masaru Ikeda

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Japanese investment firm aSTART launches $46M space tech fund

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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See the original story in Japanese. Japanese investment firm aSTART announced on Monday it has formed the Space aSTART new fund specializing in space tech startups. The scale of the fund has not been finalized because the fundraising has not been closed yet, but it is said to be on a scale of 5 billion yen (about $46.2M USD). Their ticket size could be in the tens of billions of yen, and as a result it is expected that the startups on the receiving end will be limited to just a handful. aSTART will be focused on investing in space startups which are almost certain to become unicorns. Last November Singapore- / Tokyo-based Astroscale, the startup cleaning up space debris, announced that it secured $50 million US dollars in a series D round. aSTART participated and the funds provided for this round are from this new fund (aSTART also invested in a series C round from its No. 1 fund). aSTART was established in 2015 by Kazumasa Watanabe who has helped companies like internet cafe chain Next Japan and food delivery giant Ride On Expresss get public through IPO as their CFO respectively. Because of his experince as a business…

Image credit: tsuneo / 123RF

See the original story in Japanese.

Japanese investment firm aSTART announced on Monday it has formed the Space aSTART new fund specializing in space tech startups. The scale of the fund has not been finalized because the fundraising has not been closed yet, but it is said to be on a scale of 5 billion yen (about $46.2M USD). Their ticket size could be in the tens of billions of yen, and as a result it is expected that the startups on the receiving end will be limited to just a handful. aSTART will be focused on investing in space startups which are almost certain to become unicorns.

Last November Singapore- / Tokyo-based Astroscale, the startup cleaning up space debris, announced that it secured $50 million US dollars in a series D round. aSTART participated and the funds provided for this round are from this new fund (aSTART also invested in a series C round from its No. 1 fund).

aSTART was established in 2015 by Kazumasa Watanabe who has helped companies like internet cafe chain Next Japan and food delivery giant Ride On Expresss get public through IPO as their CFO respectively. Because of his experince as a business owner to exit companies succesfully while he’s now serving the VC industry, many fellow investors and entrepreneurs often request him to participate in their funding rounds with the expectation of his hands-on effort. The firm’s No.1 and No.2 funds, which have grown to billions of yen in size, is uniquely active in terms of focusing on investing in tech-oriented startups such as Sora (offering AI-powered dynamic pricing solution) and Connected Robotics (creating cooking robots for restaurants).

aSTART CEO Kazumasa Watanabe

Watanabe says the reason to launch a space tech-focused fund is that there are certain conditions that only exist for space startups. Contrary to the fact that many startups in Japan typically start with focusing on the domestic market before trying their luck overseas, the fate of space tech startups lies in competing in the world market from their inception. And after giving it some thought, it is true, I have never heard of a space business targeted only for domestic demand, and it is more difficult for such businesses to proceed without being conscious of the world outside of Japan, including finding human resources and a place to launch their rockets or satellites.

Additionally, to become successful as a space tech startup requires significant investment. Traditionally, large enterprises such as Nissan, IHI (then Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, under the direction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) were going head to head over the Japanese Space Industry, but startups determined to survive in this field are also appearing. Rocket and satellite development require large amounts of funds, but the supply of risk money to this sector in Japan is far less than in the US and Europe.

Watanabe wants to attract risk money to this vertical through the formation of and investment from this fund. Given that space tech startups require much more money than other verticals, it is reasonable to say one approach could be an early listing on the TSE Mothers, whose terms are not as severe as other exchanges around the world. Obtaining funds widely from the market through an IPO makes sense especially for them.

aSTART will close its funding in spring this year, and in addition to the aforementioned Astroscale, it is expected to invest in several promising space startups in Japan within the year.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

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Kamereo raises $500K to help restaurants in Vietnam manage suppliers, food orders

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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See the original story in Japanese. Ho Chi Minh City-based Kamereo, the startup behind a B2B food marketplace for restaurants in Vietnam under the same name, announced today that it has raised $500,000 from Genesia Ventures in Tokyo and Velocity Ventures Vietnam (VVV). VVV is not well known in the startup scene but appears to be a Hanoi-headquartered $30 million investment fund focused on early stage startups. Kamereo was founded back in June of 2018 by HCMC-based Japanese entrepreneur Taku Tanaka. Prior to launching the startup, he previously worked at Credit Suisse followed by joining Pizza 4Ps, one of the most popular pizza chains in Vietnam, as the Chief Operating Officer. According to Tanaka, most of restaurants in Vietnam are heavily dependent on phone calls or the Zalo chat app when placing an order of food ingredients to suppliers. Kamereo addresses this insufficiency to streamline by digitalizing interactions between restaurants and suppliers. See also: Fancy a four flowers or ginger fried pork pizza? (BBC) Zalo Hits 2 Million Users and Plans for 5 Million Soon [INFOGRAPHIC] (Tech in Asia) Vietnam’s Messaging App Battle Just Got Hotter: Zalo Reaches 1 Million Users  (Tech in Asia) Food waste may occur at some…

The Kamereo team
Image credit: Kamereo

See the original story in Japanese.

Ho Chi Minh City-based Kamereo, the startup behind a B2B food marketplace for restaurants in Vietnam under the same name, announced today that it has raised $500,000 from Genesia Ventures in Tokyo and Velocity Ventures Vietnam (VVV). VVV is not well known in the startup scene but appears to be a Hanoi-headquartered $30 million investment fund focused on early stage startups.

Kamereo was founded back in June of 2018 by HCMC-based Japanese entrepreneur Taku Tanaka. Prior to launching the startup, he previously worked at Credit Suisse followed by joining Pizza 4Ps, one of the most popular pizza chains in Vietnam, as the Chief Operating Officer. According to Tanaka, most of restaurants in Vietnam are heavily dependent on phone calls or the Zalo chat app when placing an order of food ingredients to suppliers. Kamereo addresses this insufficiency to streamline by digitalizing interactions between restaurants and suppliers.

See also:

Kamereo’s web-based dashboard (click to enlarge)
Image credit: Kamereo

Food waste may occur at some restaurants due to an unclear order from their staffers but others may have experienced their staffers intentionally order food ingredients too much to bring the surplus back home. Meanwhile, suppliers or farmers have few chances to cultivate sales channels to restaurants. Kamereo allows restaurants owners to tackle tiresome tasks, such as finding better suppliers or managing orders, and put them all on the web.

In the Vietnamese food distribution industry, there’s no intermediary wholesaler bundling multiple small-scale suppliers like that of Japan. That’s why restaurants in Vietnam are forced to interact with many small suppliers, causing the high complexity in dealing with delivery notes, invoices, and payments. In addition to helping restaurants improve their efficiency, Kamereo considers to offer payment functions so that restaurants can streamline their payments and accounting operations. Furthermore, the company also has a plan to expand into Singapore where few restaurants can afford to keep additional personnel for stock management because of high labor cost. As a benchmark they are seeing Informart (TSE:2492), the Japanese listed company operating a B2B food ordering platform which Tanaka was keeping his eyes on during his days at Credit Suisse.

In addition to the platform’s currently available functions like supplier introduction and order management functions, the Kamereo team wants to provide enterprise resource planning (ERP) for restaurants in the future. When Kamereo has been infiltrated into suppliers well, they can expect the network effects that these suppliers can introduce their client restaurants to the platform. Using the funds, the company will expand their team from 3 to 8 people, aiming to accelerate system development and gain customer success effort.

See also:

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CyberAgent rebrands investment arm, looks at synergies between core biz and portfolio

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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See the original story in Japanese. CyberAgent (CA) announced today that CyberAgent Ventures (CAV), a consolidated subsidiary of the company to develop its VC business, has been rebranded into CyberAgent Capital (CAC). Hirofumi Kondo, who served as the Japan Lead for CAV, is being appointed as CEO of CAC. Established as CyberAgent Investment (CAI) back in 2006, the company subsequently rebranded itself CAV in 2010. This marks the 2nd rebranding for the company. Growth in the company and the fund are behind these changes. Additionally, as the saying “CAV mafia” goes, the company has produced many venture capitalists, who then went on to join other VCs or establish new, independent VCs. With the birth of CAC, the company appears to be organizing the roles of new team members and increasing its presence. In 2010 when CAI was rebranded CAV, they only had about 100 portfolio startups (including 20 overseas), but now the number has increased to about 350 startups across 8 countries (the cumulative number, including those that have exited). Including the headquarters in Tokyo, CAC has offices in 10 locations in 8 countries mainly in Asia. Along with the establishment of CAC, the company announced that 3rd generation Japanese…

cyberagent-capital-group-photo
The CAC team. Front row, center: CEO Hirofumi Kondo; To his right: Riho Hayama managing the Fujita Fund. 2nd row, center: new team member Mauricio Omura.
Image credit: CyberAgent Capital

See the original story in Japanese.

CyberAgent (CA) announced today that CyberAgent Ventures (CAV), a consolidated subsidiary of the company to develop its VC business, has been rebranded into CyberAgent Capital (CAC). Hirofumi Kondo, who served as the Japan Lead for CAV, is being appointed as CEO of CAC.

Established as CyberAgent Investment (CAI) back in 2006, the company subsequently rebranded itself CAV in 2010. This marks the 2nd rebranding for the company. Growth in the company and the fund are behind these changes. Additionally, as the saying “CAV mafia” goes, the company has produced many venture capitalists, who then went on to join other VCs or establish new, independent VCs.

With the birth of CAC, the company appears to be organizing the roles of new team members and increasing its presence. In 2010 when CAI was rebranded CAV, they only had about 100 portfolio startups (including 20 overseas), but now the number has increased to about 350 startups across 8 countries (the cumulative number, including those that have exited). Including the headquarters in Tokyo, CAC has offices in 10 locations in 8 countries mainly in Asia. Along with the establishment of CAC, the company announced that 3rd generation Japanese Brazilian Mauricio Omura will join the team.

fujita-at-monthly-pitch
CyberAgent CEO Susumu Fujita commenting at Monthly Pitch
Image credit: CyberAgent

On top of this, the company is also restarting investment activity from so-called Fujita Fund, which was established in 2013 but has remained less active in recent years. Fujita Fund is an investment initiative for seed/early-startups by CA CEO Susumu Fujita in order to support young executives. For the sake of convenience, the term fund is used, but there are no limited partners and the investment comes straight from CA’s main accounts.

Fujita Fund has successfully invested in numerous Japanese startups that reached IPO including Wantedly, CrowdWorks, and Base, but all investment activities were frozen after the fall of 2014 due to the startup bubble. The first company to receive funds after the resumption of activities is Taimee, which launched a work share app of the same name in August of last year. Last year Taimee raised a total of 56 million yen (about $501K US) from Genesia Ventures, CAV (at the time), and Gaiax.

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The new Fujita Fund collaborates with CAC in making an investment. CyberAgent CEO Office’s Investment Planning Headquarters manages Fujita Fund, but CAC’s CEO Kondo will also be in charge of this Headquarters, while Riho Hayama, who previously worked as a producer at CyberAgent’s entertainment livestreaming service Abema TV, will manage the Fujita Fund full time. Fujita Fund’s ticket size is around 100 million yen (about $895K US) to several hundred million yen and if the startup is internet related the vertical does not matter. So far, the company has decided to invest in four projects including Taimee (the remaining three are unpublished) while CAC has already invested in two of them including Taimee.

CA and CAC are planning to progressively manage Monthly Pitch, a monthly meet-up focused on helping startups get funds, from here on out. With the redevelopment of Shibuya, CA and CAC are planning transfer to a new building, which could mean that events to encourage startups and entrepreneurs will be held more frequently than last year. The number of companies participating in Monthly Pitch has exceeded 160 and it appears the company may be considering global development of the event (in the same manner as the Rising Expo conference).

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

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