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DANX wants to roll out ‘pop-up’ and on-demand diners across Japan using food trucks

Masaru Ikeda 2018.07.29

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Ignition Point announced earlier this month that it has founded a subsidiary called DANX providing an on-demand eating and drinking service using food trucks. Satoshi Ota who had been managing Food-tech Business at Ignition Point is appointed to CEO of DANX while Ignition Point CEO Kazuhiro Aoyagi is appointed to Director of DANX. Ignition Point sets a target to create two internet services every year. Their achievement includes Secual (home security with IoT), an e-commerce service between Japan and other Asian countries based on the meGrid photobook service, Point Edge (community-based creator studio) and LEARNie (online English conversation learning for schoolchildren). Ignition Point has recently founded Pontely dealing with a pets’ lifecycle business using DNA information and DANX is the sixth case in independent company form. DANX is acronym for ‘Day and Night Box’ and aims to make an innovation in the eating and drinking industry corresponding to the change of lifestyle such as diversification of work environment, increase in singles-led households or need for regional revitalization. Conventionally, eating and drinking establishments had expanded its business based on restaurant having fixed geographic locations. For restaurants that serve unique menu, their geographical locations can…

From left: Kazuhiro Aoyagi (Managing Director, DANX), Satoshi Ota (CEO, Danx)

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Ignition Point announced earlier this month that it has founded a subsidiary called DANX providing an on-demand eating and drinking service using food trucks. Satoshi Ota who had been managing Food-tech Business at Ignition Point is appointed to CEO of DANX while Ignition Point CEO Kazuhiro Aoyagi is appointed to Director of DANX.

Ignition Point sets a target to create two internet services every year. Their achievement includes Secual (home security with IoT), an e-commerce service between Japan and other Asian countries based on the meGrid photobook service, Point Edge (community-based creator studio) and LEARNie (online English conversation learning for schoolchildren). Ignition Point has recently founded Pontely dealing with a pets’ lifecycle business using DNA information and DANX is the sixth case in independent company form.

DANX
Image credit: DANX

DANX is acronym for ‘Day and Night Box’ and aims to make an innovation in the eating and drinking industry corresponding to the change of lifestyle such as diversification of work environment, increase in singles-led households or need for regional revitalization. Conventionally, eating and drinking establishments had expanded its business based on restaurant having fixed geographic locations. For restaurants that serve unique menu, their geographical locations can become established but will not grow further without a key potential customer layer. It is said that 90% of the key to success in the eating and drinking business is influenced by location, but the rent of properties in conventional urban locations remains at a high level due to supply shortage.

Ignition Point developed and organized several dozens of food trucks / kitchen cars. Each truck is dispatched to event sites or dead spaces in town as a pop-up restaurant serving a variety of menus. It can meet demands for lunch in office areas with few restaurants or can hold events like pop-up gourmet festivals by gathering multiple food trucks. DANX aims for a stable supply of high-quality food regardless of the cooks’ skill by utilizing a central kitchen function and efficient channels for procurement of foodstuff.

Siam ERAWAN exhibits at Thai Festival
Image credit: DANX

While Ignition Point has been taking on consulting business as its core business, the firm purchased a Thai restaurant Siam ERAWAN in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo or a casual French restaurant Bistro Epices in Kichijoji, Tokyo, preparing to enter into the food-tech industry steadily as led by Ota. Chefs of these restaurants are expected to cooperate with DANX projects in recipe development.

DANX had exhibited its food truck restaurant at Thai Festival held in Yoyogi Park or a beach house at Katase-nishihama beach in the Shonan area before the full-scale operation. The beach house was not exhibited as food truck style due to the geographical restriction of beach, but it provided the firm’s future eating and drinking service virtually. Leveraging the experience obtained from beach house management, DANX focuses on establishment of operation model of the food truck business. Soon we may see food trucks with DANX logo throughout Japan.

Beach house in Katasenishihama beach, opened by Ignition Point
Image credit: DANX

No competitor providing very similar service to DANX exist in Japan as far as the author knows, but DANX might be inspired from some conventional services. TLUNCH, provided by Tokyo-based Mellow, achieved success as a matching platform between 370 food truck owners and real estate owners with 70 vacant spaces.

DANX plans to launch an advance order / payment app resembling O:der to solve alleviate queuing in front of food trucks when busy. Additionally, one of the app’s function notifies users when favorite food trucks open nearby. Based on users’ GPS information of smartphones, it is similar to the freelance support platform Summon.

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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Japan Foodie raises $9.2M to help foreign visitors connect with more local attractions

Japan Foodie

Masaru Ikeda 2018.07.24

See the original story in Japanese. Japan Foodie, the Tokyo startup offering a mobile app for international visitors to Japan, announced on Monday that it has secured a total of 1.01 billion yen (almost $9.2 million US) in the latest round led by Norinchukin Bank, the Japanese state-run cooperative bank for developing agriculture and forestry businesses. This follows the company’s pre-series A round back in June when they fundraised 130 million yen (about $1.2 million US) from several investors including Ikuo Nishioka (President of Innovation Research Laboratory, formerly Chairman of Intel Japan), Xiaohang Yuan (Partner at MS Capital), Kotaro Chiba (renowned angel investor), Naoki Shimada (CEO of P&E Directions), Yusuke Tanaka (Executive Officer at Yahoo Japan, Chairman of Cross C), as well as Legend Partners. The latest funding is estimated as a series A round, and it appears that multiple existing angel investors also participated in this round. In a nutshell, Japan Foodie provides the following three functions for international visitors through a mobile app under the same name. Media: Introducing carefully selected eating and drinking establishments in Japan Reservation: Allowing users to make reservations and advance payments in 4 languages Mobile payments: Supporting 15 different QR code-based and NFC-based…

See the original story in Japanese.

Japan Foodie, the Tokyo startup offering a mobile app for international visitors to Japan, announced on Monday that it has secured a total of 1.01 billion yen (almost $9.2 million US) in the latest round led by Norinchukin Bank, the Japanese state-run cooperative bank for developing agriculture and forestry businesses.

This follows the company’s pre-series A round back in June when they fundraised 130 million yen (about $1.2 million US) from several investors including Ikuo Nishioka (President of Innovation Research Laboratory, formerly Chairman of Intel Japan), Xiaohang Yuan (Partner at MS Capital), Kotaro Chiba (renowned angel investor), Naoki Shimada (CEO of P&E Directions), Yusuke Tanaka (Executive Officer at Yahoo Japan, Chairman of Cross C), as well as Legend Partners. The latest funding is estimated as a series A round, and it appears that multiple existing angel investors also participated in this round.

In a nutshell, Japan Foodie provides the following three functions for international visitors through a mobile app under the same name.

Media: Introducing carefully selected eating and drinking establishments in Japan
Reservation: Allowing users to make reservations and advance payments in 4 languages
Mobile payments: Supporting 15 different QR code-based and NFC-based mobile payments

In addition to attracting customers, it has the ability to prevent no-shows, as well as collect consumer behavior data from users along with location data and construct a database that effectively guides customers to establishments and realizes successful promotional campaigns for restaurants.

Pitching at the Tokyo Star Bank’s Foreign Entrepreneur Business Contest’s Demo Day earlier this month
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

The company recently participated in Tokyo Star Bank’s Foreign Entrepreneur Business Contest’s Demo Day where it revealed that in addition to serving restaurants, it will expand the business into other areas such as transportation, accommodation, shopping, and activities resulting in the one stop service for the entire inbound tourism industry. In the future, with the rise in inbound tourism and the prospective visitors to the 2020 Olympics, the company can expect to see an even larger increase in users.

Japan Foodie was selected to participate in the acceleration course of the JR East Railway Company’s Acceleration Program last year. Additionally, it was adopted into the Tokyo Metro Accelerator 2017 run by Creww, during its field trial the company succeeded in attracting inbound tourists from subway stations to restaurants, followed by winning the Alliance Award at Keikyu Accelerator 2018 run by 01Booster.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

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Australia, NZ Chamber of Commerce in Japan holds startup confab at new office

ANZCCJ

The Bridge 2018.07.21

This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. The Australia-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ANZCCJ) on Tuesday evening held, with support from Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and Japan Australia Business Co-operation Committee, a Tech Startup confab at its new headquarters inside WeWork Shimbashi, in Tokyo. The panel comprised Australian Paul Chapman of fintech firm Moneytree, New Zealand-raised Yuta Iguchi of Million Steps Partner now doing Israel-focused business in Japan, Japan manager Shota J. Adam of mattress provider Koala.com and Kiwi-Aussie serial entrepreneur Terrie Lloyd (Japan Travel CEO), moderated by Jared Campion of Carter Search. See also: Moneytree, Japanese personal finance app, raises $9M to better serve corporate users Japanese personal finance app Moneytree raises $1.5 million Moneytree gives Japanese consumers smarter access to their finances Japan-based MetroWorks raises funds from Sunbridge Global Ventures Part of the Small/Medium-sized Enterprises Support Programme, it brought an audience ranging from ANZ Bank and HRExperts to Rio Tinto and Vega Global, illustrating the keen interest by foreign affiliates as to communication and human resource aspects of tech startups in Japan. In addition to SME, ANZCCJ has a program supporting Youth…

This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.

The Australia-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ANZCCJ) on Tuesday evening held, with support from Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and Japan Australia Business Co-operation Committee, a Tech Startup confab at its new headquarters inside WeWork Shimbashi, in Tokyo.

The panel comprised Australian Paul Chapman of fintech firm Moneytree, New Zealand-raised Yuta Iguchi of Million Steps Partner now doing Israel-focused business in Japan, Japan manager Shota J. Adam of mattress provider Koala.com and Kiwi-Aussie serial entrepreneur Terrie Lloyd (Japan Travel CEO), moderated by Jared Campion of Carter Search.

See also:

Part of the Small/Medium-sized Enterprises Support Programme, it brought an audience ranging from ANZ Bank and HRExperts to Rio Tinto and Vega Global, illustrating the keen interest by foreign affiliates as to communication and human resource aspects of tech startups in Japan. In addition to SME, ANZCCJ has a program supporting Youth Jobs too.

Moneytree’s Chapman in particular noted how opportunities open up, referring to how the banking sectors in Japan and Australia both are conservative, yet once a trend begins, the momentum will be maintained on a long-term basis. For fintech, Open Banking — meaning accessibility via cyberspace to bank accounts — is a prominent example of this.

Hiring, training and retaining personnel were points stressed by intercultural expert Shota Adam of Internet-dependent Koala.com while the need to familiarize/educate clients and customers was emphasized by Messrs. Iguchi and Lloyd alike, though the latter apparently has an eye on philanthropic endeavors like disaster prevention activities as well.

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Japan’s Pontely gives free DNA test for pet shop dogs, prevents future abandons, culls

Masaru Ikeda 2018.07.16

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Ignition Point announced last month that it had founded a subsidiary named Pontely which deals with pet distribution / lifecycle business based on DNA information of pets. Partnering with pet retailers across Japan, it provides information about potential risk of various diseases based on genetic information to customers considering the purchase of pets, aiming to reduce negligence or euthanization. Initially, the firm plans to provide a business targeting canines exclusively. Earlier last month, The Bridge reported that Kazuhiro Aoyagi retired from CEO of Secual, returning to Ignition Point to work on new business creation (he mentioned that Ignition Point aims to create two businesses every year). Pontely is the fifth case in this context. Toshiki Tamura and Dai Shinohara, the two being from the financial IT major Simplex, were appointed to CEO and COO respectively. Shinohara joined the team recently and Tamura had been mulling the possibilities of new businesses while being engaged in consulting works at Ignition Point. Bringing Aoyagi onboard as CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), they will focus on business development at Pontely. Pontely cooperates with pet retailers to conduct DNA examination on unpurchased pets and returns the information to retailers…

L to R: Kazuhiro Aoyagi (CSO of Pontely), Toshiki Tamura (CEO), Dai Shinohara (COO)

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Ignition Point announced last month that it had founded a subsidiary named Pontely which deals with pet distribution / lifecycle business based on DNA information of pets. Partnering with pet retailers across Japan, it provides information about potential risk of various diseases based on genetic information to customers considering the purchase of pets, aiming to reduce negligence or euthanization. Initially, the firm plans to provide a business targeting canines exclusively.

Earlier last month, The Bridge reported that Kazuhiro Aoyagi retired from CEO of Secual, returning to Ignition Point to work on new business creation (he mentioned that Ignition Point aims to create two businesses every year). Pontely is the fifth case in this context.

Toshiki Tamura and Dai Shinohara, the two being from the financial IT major Simplex, were appointed to CEO and COO respectively. Shinohara joined the team recently and Tamura had been mulling the possibilities of new businesses while being engaged in consulting works at Ignition Point. Bringing Aoyagi onboard as CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), they will focus on business development at Pontely.

Pontely cooperates with pet retailers to conduct DNA examination on unpurchased pets and returns the information to retailers free of charge, in principle. The retailers provide the information to customers and pays a certain amount of remuneration to Pontely after a pet is sold. Pontely issues certification to pet retailers that participate in this program. Aoyagi explains Pontely’s business model:

This model is similar to the internet provider Yahoo BB that increased its customers by free distribution of routers and collected provider charges afterward. We provide free DNA examination and aim to increase the number of pet retailers participating in our platform.

Pet retailers can automatically obtain high reliability without additional cost. Aoyagi had a similar idea at Secual but gave up on this Yahoo BB style due to high manufacturing costs as to IoT (Internet of Things) sensors.

Every pet-related business including pet insurance or pet food begins at pet retailers in most cases. There are 5,000 pet retailers in Japan but no super-major chain except mid-sized ones like Kojima. The pet market is one of the promising industries so Pontely could capture a large market share if they can cover this virtual mesh.

See also:

Japan’s Zpeer launches pet merchandise review portal Vet’s Eye

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomerory

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Japan’s Paidy secures $55M series C round to foray beyond cardless online payments

Itochu
Paidy

Masaru Ikeda 2018.07.13

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based cardless payments service provider Paidy announced on Thursday that it raised a total of $55 million dollars in a series C round. This round was led by Itochu Corporation with participating from Pocket Card, Goldman Sachs and one unnamed company. Itochu revealed that it has invested $42 million dollars (about 76%) in the startup at this time. This follows Paidy’s (formerly Exchange Corporation or ExCo) series A round ($3.3 million US raised) conducted in July 2014, the follow-on of the series A round in May 2015 ($5 million dollars raised), the series B round ($15 million dollars raised) conducted in August 2016 and a capital and business alliance with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (now Mitsubishi UFJ Bank) in July 2017. The total amount raised so far is $80.83 million dollars. Paidy was founded in 2008 by Russell Cummer, whose previous work experience includes Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs. It started with a P2P finance or social lending service called Aqush followed by the launch of Paidy back in 2014. Subsequently the management of Paidy shifted from ExCo to the operating company Paidy. As of the end of June 2018, the number of accounts…

Russell Cummer pitching at RISE 2018 in Hong Kong on July 12
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based cardless payments service provider Paidy announced on Thursday that it raised a total of $55 million dollars in a series C round. This round was led by Itochu Corporation with participating from Pocket Card, Goldman Sachs and one unnamed company. Itochu revealed that it has invested $42 million dollars (about 76%) in the startup at this time.

This follows Paidy’s (formerly Exchange Corporation or ExCo) series A round ($3.3 million US raised) conducted in July 2014, the follow-on of the series A round in May 2015 ($5 million dollars raised), the series B round ($15 million dollars raised) conducted in August 2016 and a capital and business alliance with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (now Mitsubishi UFJ Bank) in July 2017. The total amount raised so far is $80.83 million dollars.

Paidy was founded in 2008 by Russell Cummer, whose previous work experience includes Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs. It started with a P2P finance or social lending service called Aqush followed by the launch of Paidy back in 2014. Subsequently the management of Paidy shifted from ExCo to the operating company Paidy. As of the end of June 2018, the number of accounts exceeds 1.4 million.

Even without a credit card, Paidy users can certify their identity using SMS (short message service) or IVR (interactive voice response), and then shop online and pay later at convenience stores or via bank transfers. For online businesses, it is possible to incorporate consumers who do not hold credit cards as customers, and in fact money transfers are confirmed by payment from Paidy at the time the order is made, so no accounts receivable risks arise. For customers, there is a level of comfort with e-commerce in that the payment can be made after the goods arrive.

As a result of this funidng, Paidy will become an equity-method affiliate of Itochu. Itochu has many retail chain businesses, including convenience stores and cafe chains under its umbrella, and it is thought that Paidy will develop systems of credit and face-to-face settlement that do not depend on credit cards at these stores. According to knowledgeable sources, it seems that the company is also looking for partnerships with a tablet-based payments platform for retail stores.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

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Japan’s Makuake ties up with Korea’s Wadiz for more cross-border crowdfunding deals

Masaru Ikeda 2018.07.12

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Makuake, the Japanese company behind crowdfunding platform under the same name, announced on Thursday that it has partnered with Wadiz, the Seoul-based company running the same business in Korea. This partnership is intended to help their crowdfunding campaign owners in Japan and Korea better promote in their counterpart market, and there are no capital ties between the two companies. Established in May 2012, Wadiz was officially approved by the Korea Financial Services Committee in January 2016 as an equity-type crowdfunding platform and currently offers two types of crowdfunding services: equity and reward. The company has supported so far about 2,500 crowdfunidng projects and help them fundraise more than 30 billion won (about $26.5 million US). Past famous projects include a complete meal replacement called Lab Nosh, a portable air purifier called Clair, and a handmade car manufacturing service called Mohenic Garages. In the future, the company plans to expand into Singapore, Malaysia, and other markets. There have been cases until now on both the Makuake and Wadiz platforms where project owners in Japan and Korea have taken it upon themselves to launch crowdfunding campaigns on each of their counterpart platforms. Both companies received…

From left: Makuake CEO Ryotaro Nakayama, Wadiz Co-founder and CBO Dong Choi

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Makuake, the Japanese company behind crowdfunding platform under the same name, announced on Thursday that it has partnered with Wadiz, the Seoul-based company running the same business in Korea. This partnership is intended to help their crowdfunding campaign owners in Japan and Korea better promote in their counterpart market, and there are no capital ties between the two companies.

Established in May 2012, Wadiz was officially approved by the Korea Financial Services Committee in January 2016 as an equity-type crowdfunding platform and currently offers two types of crowdfunding services: equity and reward. The company has supported so far about 2,500 crowdfunidng projects and help them fundraise more than 30 billion won (about $26.5 million US). Past famous projects include a complete meal replacement called Lab Nosh, a portable air purifier called Clair, and a handmade car manufacturing service called Mohenic Garages. In the future, the company plans to expand into Singapore, Malaysia, and other markets.

There have been cases until now on both the Makuake and Wadiz platforms where project owners in Japan and Korea have taken it upon themselves to launch crowdfunding campaigns on each of their counterpart platforms. Both companies received encouragement from KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency), which ultimately led to this business partnership. In cooperation with related companies, Makuake and Wadiz will support project owners by developing campaigns from Japan to Korea and vice versa, translating explanations and backer interactions, providing local logistics, settlement means and so on.

Up to now, examples of projects introduced by Makuake to Wadiz include Tidy ( Makuake / Wadiz ), a wallet that is easy to organize, and Soladey Rhythm ( Makuake / Wadiz ), a toothbrush that removes plaque with negative electrons and sound vibration. Additionally, with Japan as the theme, we’ve seen projects like creating a Korean version of “Miracles of the Namiya General Store” Japanese movie as well as Saeki’s hand-made glove products on Wadiz.

When The Bridge reached out to Makuake CEO Ryotaro Nakayama he suggested that one way to support the distribution of projects originating in Japan to the world is to strengthen and expand their relationships especially around Asia. Nakayama related that, as Makuake’s beta version in English is insufficient for localization, the company wants to be flexible in thinking about how to tie-up with potential partners and business alliances in each country, and is looking to increase business partnerships similar to the one with Wadiz.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

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Japanese video recipe media Kurashiru acquired by Yahoo Japan for $84M

Masaru Ikeda 2018.07.11

Tokyo-based Dely, the Japanese video-centric culinary media startup offering recipe discovery portal Kurashiru, announced today that it has been acquired by Yahoo Japan. YJ Capital, the investment arm of Yahoo Japan, acquired a 15.9% stake of the media startup with their first investment back in 2016. By additionally injecting 9.3 billion yen ($83.8 million US) at this time, Yahoo Japan has agreed to acquire a 45.6% stake of the startup. Dely was established in April of 2014. In September of the same year they received funding from Anri and began a food delivery business as their inaugural service. However, after judging the outlook for such services difficult, they pivoted to video curation media last year, their current business model. Since its launch back in February of 2016, Kurashiru has published 18,000 recipe movies, attracting 2.9 million users via social network channels, and has acquired 12 million mobile app downloads, mainly by attracting female consumers in their 20s to 40s. Tokyo-based Every, the Japanese startup behind online recipe media Delish Kitchen which is considered to be one of Kurashiru’s closer competitor services, has raised a total of 5.43 billion yen (about $48.2 million) to date. See also: Japanese video recipe app…

Tokyo-based Dely, the Japanese video-centric culinary media startup offering recipe discovery portal Kurashiru, announced today that it has been acquired by Yahoo Japan. YJ Capital, the investment arm of Yahoo Japan, acquired a 15.9% stake of the media startup with their first investment back in 2016. By additionally injecting 9.3 billion yen ($83.8 million US) at this time, Yahoo Japan has agreed to acquire a 45.6% stake of the startup.

Dely was established in April of 2014. In September of the same year they received funding from Anri and began a food delivery business as their inaugural service. However, after judging the outlook for such services difficult, they pivoted to video curation media last year, their current business model.

Since its launch back in February of 2016, Kurashiru has published 18,000 recipe movies, attracting 2.9 million users via social network channels, and has acquired 12 million mobile app downloads, mainly by attracting female consumers in their 20s to 40s. Tokyo-based Every, the Japanese startup behind online recipe media Delish Kitchen which is considered to be one of Kurashiru’s closer competitor services, has raised a total of 5.43 billion yen (about $48.2 million) to date.

See also:

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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Japan’s Monstar Lab ties up with aid agency, empowers refugees with IT in Jordan, Gaza

Masaru Ikeda 2018.07.03

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-headquartered Monstar Lab, the Japanese company sourcing app developments around the world, announced on Monday that it has agreed with JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) regarding on-site survey of business potential based on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). JICA announced five companies including Monstar Lab as being selected for the program in July of last year. This survey is aimed at creating employment opportunities for refugees in Jordan affected by the Syrian Civil War that began in 2011. In order to help their economic independence, Monstar Lab will explore hiring software developers from among the Syrian refugees in Jordan as well as young people from the Palestinian autonomous territory of Gaza to connect them to digital product development work for Japan and the Middle East region. From the SDGs perspective, Monstar Lab says their proposed project is categorized in No. 8: Decent Work and Ecoonmic Growth as well as No. 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure while JICA is aiming to contribute through this survey especially to No. 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure as well as No. 10: Reduced Inequalities. Monstar Lab has opened multiple overseas bases, including in Bangladesh, and has the knowledge and experience…

From the left: Eiji Kubo (Director of the Private Sector Partnership Division, Private Sector Partnership and Finance Department, JICA), Hiroki Inagawa (CEO of Monstar Lab), Eyad Al-hindi (Councilor, the Permanent General Mission of Palestine in Japan), Rami Alkharabsheh (Second Secretary, the Embassy of Jordan in Japan)

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-headquartered Monstar Lab, the Japanese company sourcing app developments around the world, announced on Monday that it has agreed with JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) regarding on-site survey of business potential based on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). JICA announced five companies including Monstar Lab as being selected for the program in July of last year.

This survey is aimed at creating employment opportunities for refugees in Jordan affected by the Syrian Civil War that began in 2011. In order to help their economic independence, Monstar Lab will explore hiring software developers from among the Syrian refugees in Jordan as well as young people from the Palestinian autonomous territory of Gaza to connect them to digital product development work for Japan and the Middle East region.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations (click to enlarge)

From the SDGs perspective, Monstar Lab says their proposed project is categorized in No. 8: Decent Work and Ecoonmic Growth as well as No. 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure while JICA is aiming to contribute through this survey especially to No. 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure as well as No. 10: Reduced Inequalities.

Monstar Lab has opened multiple overseas bases, including in Bangladesh, and has the knowledge and experience of maintaining local employment and expanding business in developing countries. Based on these points and the high demand for the creation of employment opportunities due to high unemployment in the Jordan/State of Palestine regions, Monstar Labs will make the refugee problems known to Japanese companies and provide opportunities to use them as CSR (corporate social responsibility) through this project, while keeping the acquisition of the Middle East market in mind.

Eiji Kubo, Director of the Private Sector Partnership Division, Private Sector Partnership and Finance Department, JICA, gave his comment in a statement:

The IT industry has the advantage of being able to do business with the outside world without having to move people and goods. As Monstar Lab seeks to make use of this feature and create employment for the local youth including Syrian and Palestinian refugees and aims for their economic independence, we would like to cooperate with the company and its business plan through this survey.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

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Nikkei presents AG/SUM 2018 in Central Tokyo with an eye to next year, 2020

AG/SUM

The Bridge 2018.07.03

This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. AG/SUM (Agritech Summit) 2018 was presented by Nikkei from June 11 in Tokyo’s Nihombashi area, which from the Edo era has been home to Shinto shrines dedicated to medicinal plants. The district, under redevelopment by Mitsui Fudosan which was a major event sponsor, also has a concentration of pharmaceuticals firms ranging the gamut from Daiichi-Sankyo (with its Kusuri [Medicine] Museum) to Takeda Pharmaceutical’s newly-opened global headquarters building. The three-day event is part of the newly-launched “summit” series run by Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the flagship daily newspaper of the NIKKEI news concern; originally focused on finance and regulation, it is now aiming at such fields as life sciences and transportation, with an eye to the expansion of business activities in reflection of the Rugby World Cup next year in Japan as well as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics/Paralympics. The agriculture-centered event comprised a Symposium, an Exhibition and a Start-up Pitch Run plus a Reverse Pitch, in addition to a Marche where stalls lined the underground passageway leading from the main venues of Nihombashi Life Science Building and Nihombashi Mitsui Hall to the…

This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.

AG/SUM Pitch Run finalists
Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy

AG/SUM (Agritech Summit) 2018 was presented by Nikkei from June 11 in Tokyo’s Nihombashi area, which from the Edo era has been home to Shinto shrines dedicated to medicinal plants. The district, under redevelopment by Mitsui Fudosan which was a major event sponsor, also has a concentration of pharmaceuticals firms ranging the gamut from Daiichi-Sankyo (with its Kusuri [Medicine] Museum) to Takeda Pharmaceutical’s newly-opened global headquarters building.

The three-day event is part of the newly-launched “summit” series run by Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the flagship daily newspaper of the NIKKEI news concern; originally focused on finance and regulation, it is now aiming at such fields as life sciences and transportation, with an eye to the expansion of business activities in reflection of the Rugby World Cup next year in Japan as well as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics/Paralympics.

The agriculture-centered event comprised a Symposium, an Exhibition and a Start-up Pitch Run plus a Reverse Pitch, in addition to a Marche where stalls lined the underground passageway leading from the main venues of Nihombashi Life Science Building and Nihombashi Mitsui Hall to the nearest railway stations, namely Mitsukoshimae subway station for Ginza and Hanzomon Metro lines as well as the JR Shin-Nihombashi station, nearby Nihombashi Information Center.

AG/SUM Reverse Pitch
Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy

The Pitch Run was held with 26 participants, in two parts (a.m. and p.m.) on June 12, with the Reverse Pitch being gathered in the early evening of the same day. The competitors vied for the main Nikkei Award while the Mizuho Award (namesake after Mizuho Bank, Mizuho standing for the Japanese phrase meaning plentiful harvest, roughly equivalent to “cornucopia”) was subsidiary. The Reverse Pitch was more of a participant feedback and follow-up session for pitch participants.

The a.m. session judges were Plug and Play Tech Center’s Seena Amidi, World Innovation Lab’s Namiko Kajiwara, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings’ Uraki Fumiko and Nihon Keizai Shimbun’s Keiichi Murayama while the p.m. judges were Bits x Bites’ Matilda Ho, RocketSpace’s Shaina Silva, Mistletoe’s Eriko Suzuki and euglena’s Akihito Nagata; Mizuho Bank’s Naoto Oohitsu was a judge for both sessions.

Musca CEO Mitsutaka Kushima
Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy

The joint winners of the Mizuho Award turned out to be three companies, all from Japan – graft biotech outfit Gra & Green, plant factory maker PlantX and insect-tech Musca [“musca” meaning fly in Latin]. The Nikkei award went to the international quartet of U. California Berkeley-affiliated Sugarlogix, Stanford-related Agribody Technologies, vineyard support tech provider Biome Makers and non-fermentation winemaker AVA Winery.

Speaking of wine, along with visitors from Israel (though only contaminant detector manufacturer Inspecto showed up this year, MBR-supported hydroponics firm FreightFarms opting out this year, depriving me of a chance to ask about Kosher foodstuff) and elsewhere in the Middle East (Turkish agro-finance service Tarfin and sensor data processor Tarsens [with NVIDIA backing], where Halal is a huge market), afficianados of the beverage like myself found AVA tech intriguing for such diets.

It is hoped that next year the event can be expanded and brings more general visitors to the Marche and other public outreach aspects – as for example the Turkish start-ups in fact stayed on through Monday after in order to gain more information and further exchange. In addition perhaps more start-up involvement from South American and even Africa, not to mention elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, could be possible.

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Japan’s Ookami behind sports-centric social network app Player! raises series B round

Masaru Ikeda 2018.06.30

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Ookami, the Japanese startup behind sports entertainment app “Player!”, earlier this month announced that it has raised an undisclosed amount from NTT Docomo Ventures, Mizuho Capital, Asahi Media Lab Ventures and Asics Ventures in its series B round. The raised amount is estimated to be several millions of US dollars as surmised from information emanating from various quarters. It is the fundraising subsequent to the one with 30 million yen (about $270,000) in total from investors including Dai Tamesue (athlete), Uzabase, Yusuke Umeda (CEO of Uzabase), Tomohito Ebine (founder of Opt) and Toshiaki Komtasu (co-founder of Photo Create) in its angel round (in June of 2014 and March of 2015), the one with an undicslosed amount from Gree Ventures in a seed round (in April of 2016), and the one with an undisclosed amount from IMJ Investment Partners (now Spiral Ventures Japan), Gree Ventures and The Asahi Shimbun in a series A round (March of 2017). With this secured money, Ookami is going to strengthen human resource recruitment / development in designer, finance / management and marketing sector. Ookami was founded in April of 2014. In the following year, the team launched the…

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Ookami, the Japanese startup behind sports entertainment app “Player!”, earlier this month announced that it has raised an undisclosed amount from NTT Docomo Ventures, Mizuho Capital, Asahi Media Lab Ventures and Asics Ventures in its series B round. The raised amount is estimated to be several millions of US dollars as surmised from information emanating from various quarters.

It is the fundraising subsequent to the one with 30 million yen (about $270,000) in total from investors including Dai Tamesue (athlete), Uzabase, Yusuke Umeda (CEO of Uzabase), Tomohito Ebine (founder of Opt) and Toshiaki Komtasu (co-founder of Photo Create) in its angel round (in June of 2014 and March of 2015), the one with an undicslosed amount from Gree Ventures in a seed round (in April of 2016), and the one with an undisclosed amount from IMJ Investment Partners (now Spiral Ventures Japan), Gree Ventures and The Asahi Shimbun in a series A round (March of 2017).

With this secured money, Ookami is going to strengthen human resource recruitment / development in designer, finance / management and marketing sector.

Team members of Ookami
Image credit: Ookami

Ookami was founded in April of 2014. In the following year, the team launched the mobile app Player! for iOS, pivoting its concept from sports news platform to sports SNS which distributes progress or results of games and allows users to share the excitement in real time with other users watching the same game. The app was winner of both App Store Best of 2015 and Good Design Award in 2016. Player! for Apple Watch was launched in September of 2016 and that for Android will be likewise, soon. Coincidentally with this fundraising, Ookami announced that it has added the following three functions to Player!.

Reminder function about favorite teams
Launch of Player! for web
Enhancement of content coverage as to college / amateur sports

Ookami participated in Tokyu Accelerate Program 3rd batch last year and won NewWork Award on its demo day. As a demonstration in the program, the team tested a real-time distribution of process of Japan vs. North Korea of E-1 Football Championship last December 9th, using the outdoor large-display Q’s Eye in Shibuya.

Now that FIFA World Cup is being held in Russia, Player! has been distributing proceedings of the games over a two-week period beginning June 18th at digital signage at major railway stations in Tokyo and Osaka.

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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