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From Monozukuri Hub Meetup: DFM and prototype experts meet hardware startups

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This is a guest post by Sabrina Sasaki, a marketing representative of Kyoto-based hardware startup accelerator Makers Boot Camp, together with volunteer Takako Teruyama. The accelerator holds the Monozukuri Hub Meetup event in Kyoto on a monthly basis. Additionally, all photos in this article were taken by professional photographer Kengo Osaka. Makers Boot Camp’s monthly event, “Monozukuri Hub Meet up” had its 7th edition on Wednesday, 16 October at MTRL Kyoto, entitled as “Design For Manufacturing for Startups”. Sabrina Sasaki, Marketing at Makers Boot Camp, got events rolling with a brief introduction on Design For Manufacturing (DFM). She broke down each stage of Manufacturing starting from concept to retail, the final stage startups want to reach, and also mentioned about how conventional ways of manufacturing, a.k.a “Over Wall Manufacturing”, where each expert at different stages are separated, are inefficient and time consuming because one needs to find the right person to move up to every stage, even if coming up with superb ideas for products. Literally there is a wall existing between each stage because there is no direct relationships among the experts. When it comes to startups, obviously they have limited financial and human resources so that these walls…

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Sabrina Sasaki

This is a guest post by Sabrina Sasaki, a marketing representative of Kyoto-based hardware startup accelerator Makers Boot Camp, together with volunteer Takako Teruyama. The accelerator holds the Monozukuri Hub Meetup event in Kyoto on a monthly basis.

Additionally, all photos in this article were taken by professional photographer Kengo Osaka.


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Makers Boot Camp’s monthly event, “Monozukuri Hub Meet up” had its 7th edition on Wednesday, 16 October at MTRL Kyoto, entitled as “Design For Manufacturing for Startups”.

Sabrina Sasaki, Marketing at Makers Boot Camp, got events rolling with a brief introduction on Design For Manufacturing (DFM). She broke down each stage of Manufacturing starting from concept to retail, the final stage startups want to reach, and also mentioned about how conventional ways of manufacturing, a.k.a “Over Wall Manufacturing”, where each expert at different stages are separated, are inefficient and time consuming because one needs to find the right person to move up to every stage, even if coming up with superb ideas for products.

Literally there is a wall existing between each stage because there is no direct relationships among the experts. When it comes to startups, obviously they have limited financial and human resources so that these walls stonewall their way. As startups always have to start from scratch, how are they going to jump over these walls, when they can keep only limited things in handy? Also, how to keep prototyping until getting some results, when they can not afford to? Well, in the bridge Paris-Kyoto, the French team of prototype experts, guest-speakers, can provide some insights for makers.

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Natsuo Akazawa, PLEN projects

First speaker was Natsuo Akazawa, CEO at PLEN projects, where he has developed biped robot “PLEN”. “PLEN2” robot was crowdfunded through Kickstarter as a printable open source, meaning that anyone can build up robots on its own, anywhere in the world, as long as referring to their 3D open source data. In terms of their business model, the company can’t make money out of it because it’s an open source, however, people who used their data and assembled robots share their own robots through SNS, which spreads widely and effectively compared to advertisements.

It does not pay money back but the company lasts as a collaborative platform for humanoids. In the end, Akazawa also introduced their new joint venture “PLENGoer Robotics”, which was first offered by Chinese EMS company, Goertek and launched this year. They are now teamed up and working together to develop new robots that will be first shown next January. Born in a small town factory, now he is involved in this huge international project where the size of manufacturing is bigger than he has ever experienced before.

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Jean-Dominique Francois, La French Tech Tokyo

Second Speaker, Jean-Dominique Francois from La French Tech Tokyo, explained about the special agency launched by the French government. He works to bridge startups between France and Japan. Well, we all love France for its food, wine, fromage and arts but also as a source of very good IoT startups, like the case of the software ones giving Pepper a Latin movement.

With 20 years of International Business Development Experience in Europe and Asia (mostly Japan), Jean-Dominique acquired a comprehensive understanding of start-ups and their ecosystem. For the last years, as member of the French Economic Diplomacy, he is also helping French high-tech start-ups and SMBs to develop in the Japanese market.

See also:

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Akihiko Tanaka, Dassault Systems

Akihiko Tanaka, Director of the Academic Program at Dassault Systemes, spoke about their 3D Experience Lab Incubation startup related to CAD systems and System Management tools required for better Project Management, all in the cloud. Toyota, Honda and many others already use this platform that is also available for startups. Imagine the future using the virtual world, with amazing stories from clients.

Startups incubation project – gathering together startups from all over the world. There are 6 categories that startups can apply to join their City, Life, Lifestyle, IoT, Ideation and FabLabs. The criteria for being selected are being collaborative, disruptive innovation in products and services, and also make a positive impact on the society.

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Benjamin Davoult, crossEffect

After a break, the Design for Manufacturing experts had the chance to introduce their company and their work, before joining the panel discussion.

The first one panelist was from crossEffect, Benjamin Davoult (Product Designer), who introduced himself as a French nerd. He came to Japan after finishing his Master Degree in Industrial Design, when he was hired by crossEffect. His work as a Product Designer also consists as a Silicone Mold Designer for Vacuum Casting and Prototypes/trial models creator.

He explained the process for rapid prototyping: receiving a 3D data from a client, upon a new project request, so they can check the design details and make sure it’s ready to build the physical part- that’s when they use a 3D printer, a huge laser machine called stereolithograph, where a laser soft with metal plates sink inside the liquid resin, and then the laser fits again and become a new layer of the part. This process is done during the night (it takes around 8-10h), so the team can start building the model on the next day. Sometimes the physical model is provided by the client, but either way, they still have to finish the master model. The next part is to frame, with the silicone inside, and then, after one day, the master model is ready for vacuum casting machine, where they fill in the model with resin. Then they open the machine to finalise the details, in the painting room, so the prototype will look very similar to the industrial mass-manufactured product: if you have both side by side, you can’t say which one is the prototype.

The company where he works also started a new branch focused on Industrial Design, so the main idea is to start from concept to 3D modelling, 3D printing and vacuum casting.

They can start any project just by concept (an idea), from hand drawing, from hardware with a PCB (a circuit board). Within one week, his team is able to come with many proposals, as speed is their main focus. They can also offer multiple services like, but of course the price can vary a lot, depending on the specialty.

He showed some recent IoT products by crossEffect for brands like Panasonic, Rohm, Sanyo and Omron.

Ben likes to make things, especially useful new inventions, spending most of his spare time creating devices and machines of all kinds, with his own 3D printer at home.

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Emery Delmotte, Saijo Inx

Emery Delmotte, Sales Specialist at Saijo Inx, a Japanese company founded in 1950, was also born in France. He is now in charge of International sales at Saijo Inx, where he’s been supporting the company to expand its business overseas. Currently, their main customers are Japanese large corporations, as Kyocera, Omron, Murata, Fujitsu, Denso and NIDEC. Saijo Inx main business is to make prototypes from thin sheet metal working and plastic resins, press stamps, folding and cutting and die-sets making.

Their production speed is focused on small pieces for high precision 0.03mm margins, for prototypes with less than 2mm² and sheet metal thickness until 0.05 mm. The lead time is about 7 days: prototype corresponds to 46% of Sales, while Mass production is around 45% – the other small fractions are molding and thins. Over 400 projects are handled a month from medical products, motors, in-vehicle relays and connectors, industrial equipment, communication modules, electronic components, switches, batteries & fuel cells to heat fins.

Together with Kyoto Shisaku Net, Saijo Inx provides a complete support: from development, prototyping, mass production, fast realisation, smooth transition to mass production, early market introduction, implement incrementations.

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Antoine Andrieu, Hilltop

Antoine Andrieu works for the Development Department at Hilltop.

The French Engineer introduced his company, showing a photo with not many workers in the factory ground, and they’re starting an automatization process to control machines with new customized software – Antoine is the Project Leader of the Smart Factory Project, in charge of the factory’s automation, using IoT and Industry 4.0 concepts and technology to bring the company to the new era of fast prototyping.

His team work is focused on automation and right now there is a new trend in the company with IoT devices and consumer products. He showed some cases of B2B solutions created internally by his development team, from idea to the next steps of development for customers, such as testing devices, bicycle safety lights, aroma diffusers, transporting robots, etc.

Hilltop can provide Prototype, Mechanical Design, Assembly and even mass production support for IoT.

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The final session with the experts was moderated by Sushi Suzuki | Kyoto Institute of Technology, Kyoto Design Lab Associate professor. Sushi’s link to Paris comes from when he co-founded Paris Est d.school, teaching design innovation at École des Ponts ParisTech.

The panel discussion spoke about maker’s issues and how Kyoto Shisaku members can support hardware startups as a group, part of Makers Boot Camp main activities.

Click here if you would like to check the presentation deck from all speakers, with detailed information about each one.

Startups showcase their wares at CEATEC 2016 in Japan

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This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Earlier this month, CEATEC 2016 was held in Chiba at the Makuhari Messe convention center. Many startups were gathered this year at the waterfront venue to the south of Narita International Airport, with Japanese firms joining forces with older companies while overseas startups entering Japan such as those from the U.S. and France gained support from their governments. One conspicuous corner was Kyoto-based startup Techmac which with electronics manufacturer Rohm (TSE:6963), also a Kyoto denizen, exhibited a joint application currently under development which is being called Pulse Launcher Unit (PLU). The enhanced IoT focus of the former Consumer Electronics/Telecom event from this year matched the exhibit items. The gun-shaped “launcher” is replete with sensors, obviously provided by Rohm, that enable users to participate in a “game” being developed, dubbed Z.O.N.E.(β). This game evaluates a person’s concentration ability as well as other traits. It may be used for example to check both physical and mental health status in the future for workers, students and other people whose performance needs to be monitored. Regarding sensors Rohm also has a subsidiary, Lapis Semiconductor…

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


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Image credit: CEATEC JAPAN Organizing Committee

Earlier this month, CEATEC 2016 was held in Chiba at the Makuhari Messe convention center. Many startups were gathered this year at the waterfront venue to the south of Narita International Airport, with Japanese firms joining forces with older companies while overseas startups entering Japan such as those from the U.S. and France gained support from their governments.

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Pulse Launcher Unit
Image credit: Techmac, Rohm

One conspicuous corner was Kyoto-based startup Techmac which with electronics manufacturer Rohm (TSE:6963), also a Kyoto denizen, exhibited a joint application currently under development which is being called Pulse Launcher Unit (PLU). The enhanced IoT focus of the former Consumer Electronics/Telecom event from this year matched the exhibit items.

The gun-shaped “launcher” is replete with sensors, obviously provided by Rohm, that enable users to participate in a “game” being developed, dubbed Z.O.N.E.(β). This game evaluates a person’s concentration ability as well as other traits. It may be used for example to check both physical and mental health status in the future for workers, students and other people whose performance needs to be monitored.

Regarding sensors Rohm also has a subsidiary, Lapis Semiconductor (located in Shin-Yokohama), which is readying sensors that fathom environmental conditions of soil. It is thought that such sensors, which monitor non-soil mechanics properties like temperature and humidity, could be applied to fields ranging from agriculture to zoology.

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Tokimeki Sensor
Image credit: Rohm

Reverting to applications for human beings, in the past Techmac and Rohm had produced jointly also a game entitled Tokimeki Sensor, of course using a sensor as the name implies. In Japanese the word Tokimeki means “the throbbing heart brought on by infatuation”; actually what is sensed by the system that was exhibited at CEATEC last year is in fact heart palpitation.

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Image credit: Kabuku

Another Japanese endeavor was that of Kabuku, a design startup, who joined forces with Honda (TSE:7267) the automobile maker to produce an automobile whose body is made with parts printed using a three-dimensional printer. The Kabuku system is called Rinkak, a mass customization solution for cars and other vehicles; Rinkak in Japanese means “profile.”

See also:

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L to R: Tsubasa Koseki (Styler), Jumpei Notomi (Tohmatsu Venture Support)
Image credit: Styler

The thrust of CEATEC being changed toward IoT was underscored as well by a day-long session of seminars centered on IoT and fashion, which brought together such startups in this industry like Styler – as represented by CEO Tsubasa Koseki – taking part in discussions emceed by Jumpei Notomi of Tomatsu Venture Support.

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Lyon mayor Gerard Collomb speaks at CEATEC 2016
Image credit: Jerry Suppan, Visionworks Productions

French startups were highlighted by an event held in Tokyo in addition to the Chiba CEATEC site with the French government presence including a delegation from the startup capital Lyon. Headed by the Socialist mayor, Gerard Collomb, this city announced a tie-up with DMM.make in Akihabara.

See also:

As for the U.S., the American corner of CEATEC supported by the Embassy had Darktrace, a startup involved in cybersecurity, appealing its services. In Japan it has its own local subsidiary based in Shibuya at Cerulean Tower, while working together with a Japanese firm known as PSI.

Wassha, power supplier for off-grid Africa, secures $3M from Japan aid agency

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Tokyo-based Digital Grid, developing a prepaid solar power delivery service to off-grid areas in rural Africa by networking kiosk vendors (or rather, perhaps better referred to as “jacks-of-all-trade”) named Wassha, last week announced that it has raised 300 million yen (about $2.89 million) in its series B series A extension round from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Before that, the firm closed its A round of 800 million yen (about $7.71 million) with the participation of The University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC), Development Bank of Japan (DBJ), Innovative Venture Fund (jointly run by NEC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. group) and J-Power, and has secured 400 million yen (about $3.86 million) in its series B series A extension round while adding the funding this time, totaling at 1.2 billion yen (about $11.6 million) as a cumulative amount since its launch. Updated on Nov. 8, 2019: Wassha told The Bridge that they positioned this as an series A extension round instead of a series B round. Some words were modified accordingly. Started in 2013, Digital Grid spun off from a research on the power network innovation (digital grid) suggested by Professor Rikiya Abe at The University of Tokyo. It installs…

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L to R: Atsufumi Konishi (Deputy Manager of Public-Private Partnership Department, JICA), Masato Tahara (Director of Environment / CSR Department, DBJ), Satoshi Akita (CEO, Digital Grid), Kenichi Tomiyoshi (Administration Officer, JICA), Tomotaka Gouji (CEO, UTEC), and Yuichiro Sano (Chief Assistant of Public-Private Partnership Department, JICA)
From the signing ceremony at JICA’s Tokyo headquarters (photo courtesy: Shinichi Kuno / JICA)

Tokyo-based Digital Grid, developing a prepaid solar power delivery service to off-grid areas in rural Africa by networking kiosk vendors (or rather, perhaps better referred to as “jacks-of-all-trade”) named Wassha, last week announced that it has raised 300 million yen (about $2.89 million) in its series B series A extension round from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Before that, the firm closed its A round of 800 million yen (about $7.71 million) with the participation of The University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC), Development Bank of Japan (DBJ), Innovative Venture Fund (jointly run by NEC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. group) and J-Power, and has secured 400 million yen (about $3.86 million) in its series B series A extension round while adding the funding this time, totaling at 1.2 billion yen (about $11.6 million) as a cumulative amount since its launch.

Updated on Nov. 8, 2019: Wassha told The Bridge that they positioned this as an series A extension round instead of a series B round. Some words were modified accordingly.

Started in 2013, Digital Grid spun off from a research on the power network innovation (digital grid) suggested by Professor Rikiya Abe at The University of Tokyo. It installs solar panels or battery chargers, then provides 30 LED lanterns, radios, tablets to kiosk operators; the kiosks rent these out to villagers and collect fees from them for charging power at the kiosks. The owners settle the electricity bills from smartphones and power charging boxes for the appliances, not to mention earning at each kiosk by charging money for use of mobile phones.

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For JICA, leading Japan’s international cooperation efforts including Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV), it is the first attempt to invest in projects targeting Sub-Sahara Africa (the region in Africa south of the Sahara) although it has invested in development funds in some cases for the Middle East or North Africa. The raised money was made from JICA’s Base of the Pyramid – Feasibility Study (BOP FS) scheme, and it is also the first investment case for the scheme in any business project (which is not limited to surveys).

According to Yuichiro Sano who is Chief Assistant of Public-Private Partnership Department of JICA and in charge of this investment, although JICA has to collect the fund in the end because it is not a grant but is funded by tax money, JICA decided to invest in Wassha as a growth capital because “provision of development efficacy” can be expected through business expansion in addition to its supports possibly reaching areas where yen loans / grants / conventional ODA cannot cover.

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L to R: Satoshi Akita (CEO, Digital Grid) and Atsushi Shito (CFO, Digital Grid)
(photo courtesy: Shinichi Kuno / JICA)

JICA has local offices in almost all of the 54 African countries and has been dispatching JOCV or senior overseas volunteer staffs there. Since it grasps the demand of local residents’ daily life, as well as building a strong network of governments and relevant ministries in the African countries, Digital Grid will be able to realize a smoother business scale by leveraging said network.

During the previous interview in June, Wassha was provided to 650 partner kiosks mainly in two cities including the largest city of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam; thereafter the number of partner kiosks increased to 820 as of late October. Currently Digital Grid develops the service in ten regions in Tanzania and covers three cities as bases for dispatching of technical staffs or the repairing item. Besides the power provision services, the firm plans to work with other startups in sales of their service or test marketing utilizing its partner kiosk network in the future.

JICA has an investment scheme targeting three sectors; infrastructure, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; development goals specified by United Nations), and climate change, so that it continues to consider active investments in social startups focusing on these growth-stage markets.

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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Lamps and battery boxes for smartphone charging provided with Wassha
(photo courtesy: Shinichi Kuno / JICA)

UK-Japanese startup Kudan ties up with Hakuhodo to bring augmented reality to advertising

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See the original story in Japanese. Bristol-/Tokyo-based Kudan, the startup developing an AR (Augmented Reality) engine, last week announced a business alliance with Japanese ad agency Hakuhodo and its group company Hakuhodo Product’s (hereinafter, Hakuhodo). Due to this cooperation, Hakuhodo established a factory specializing in VR (Virtual Reality)/AR named Hakuhodo-VRAR and has started proposing ads utilizing VR/AR to both companies’ clients. Since its launch back in 2011, Kudan has developed a proprietary positioning technology called SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping). Generally for AR, markers are used in AR apps in order to recognize the positional relations in images captured by the camera. Even if not, multiple viewpoints are needed to measure relations as to distance or position between objects since the structure of human eyes or 3D camera enables such viewpoints. Kudan’s SLAM enables positional relations to be fathomed even with single-lens cameras by mapping multiple points on images, so that various AR apps can be availed for devices equipped with single cameras being found on one side, such as smartphones or tablets. Kudan had secured totaling 203 million yen (about $1.96 million) from investors in Hong Kong or Singapore (including Japanese investors living there) this July. Currently no VC…

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See the original story in Japanese.

Bristol-/Tokyo-based Kudan, the startup developing an AR (Augmented Reality) engine, last week announced a business alliance with Japanese ad agency Hakuhodo and its group company Hakuhodo Product’s (hereinafter, Hakuhodo). Due to this cooperation, Hakuhodo established a factory specializing in VR (Virtual Reality)/AR named Hakuhodo-VRAR and has started proposing ads utilizing VR/AR to both companies’ clients.

Since its launch back in 2011, Kudan has developed a proprietary positioning technology called SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping). Generally for AR, markers are used in AR apps in order to recognize the positional relations in images captured by the camera. Even if not, multiple viewpoints are needed to measure relations as to distance or position between objects since the structure of human eyes or 3D camera enables such viewpoints. Kudan’s SLAM enables positional relations to be fathomed even with single-lens cameras by mapping multiple points on images, so that various AR apps can be availed for devices equipped with single cameras being found on one side, such as smartphones or tablets.

Kudan had secured totaling 203 million yen (about $1.96 million) from investors in Hong Kong or Singapore (including Japanese investors living there) this July. Currently no VC firms are included on the Kudan’s shareholders list because of the firm’s aim to promote technological developments over the medium to long term.

The two firms did not establish any financial tie in this business alliance, but constructed a scheme where Kudan provides its technologies while Hakuhodo performs planning and promotion for advertisement applications utilizing them. Kudan regards the game or education industry as a main potential market for its AR technologies or SLAM engine, looking to enhance its public awareness both inside and outside of Japan through the tie-up with Hakuhodo in the advertisement sector.

Kudan CFO Ken Iizuka commented on this:

Our potential clients do not know how to use our technologies yet. It is important to visually show how they can be used.

Yet, how can they be used? I met Iizuka at the Tokyo office and saw some demonstration of the apps employing the SLAM. A video of the demo follows.

In AdTech International held at Sophia University in Tokyo this August, the company’s founder / CEO Tomohiro Ohno took part in a panel discussion under the theme of the globalization of startups. There he said that Japan is not always the best place to start up, and the reason for choosing Bristol in UK as a place for research and development promotion.

Although the firm has an office in Tokyo as a basement of back office works and sales promotion, their targeted market is not only Japan, but also North America, Europe and Southeast Asia. With the advantages of having dispensed with markers and making AR available with single-lens cameras, the firm expects utilization in the automotive industry which has especially large demands and where it is easy to differentiate with other rival technologies.

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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Kudan founder / CEO Tomohiro Ohno (photographed at AdTech International held at Sophia University)

Switle, invented waterjet cleaner head from Japan, kicks off crowdfunding campaign

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See the original story in Japanese. Rugs, carpets, mattresses, beds, sofas, and so on–surprisingly there are many items consumers want to wash but cannot. An innovative answer that allows them to wash such items with just a vacuum cleaner kicked off a crowdfunding campaign in Japan on Monday. Switle is a cleaner head attachment for vacuums that uses uses jets of water and then sucks the dirt away. Switle’s cleaner head attaches to the inlet of canister vacuum cleaners and does not have its own power source. Instead, it uses the sucking power of the vacuum to simultaneously inject water while sucking up the dirty water. This is made possible by the patented reverse injection turbo fan unit of the nozzle and tank, and the hose which is equipped with a safety device so there is no need to worry about the water entering into the body of the vacuum cleaner. This project was organized Sirius, a Tokyo-based consumer electronics wholesaler founded by a former Sanyo Electric employee, along with Yuuki Group which currently carries out parts manufacturing for Panasonic vacuum cleaners and automobiles and was previously an associate company of Sanyo Electric’s rotary machine division. The mechanism to complete…

switle_featuredimage

See the original story in Japanese.

Rugs, carpets, mattresses, beds, sofas, and so on–surprisingly there are many items consumers want to wash but cannot. An innovative answer that allows them to wash such items with just a vacuum cleaner kicked off a crowdfunding campaign in Japan on Monday. Switle is a cleaner head attachment for vacuums that uses uses jets of water and then sucks the dirt away.

Switle’s cleaner head attaches to the inlet of canister vacuum cleaners and does not have its own power source. Instead, it uses the sucking power of the vacuum to simultaneously inject water while sucking up the dirty water. This is made possible by the patented reverse injection turbo fan unit of the nozzle and tank, and the hose which is equipped with a safety device so there is no need to worry about the water entering into the body of the vacuum cleaner.

switle_gif02

This project was organized Sirius, a Tokyo-based consumer electronics wholesaler founded by a former Sanyo Electric employee, along with Yuuki Group which currently carries out parts manufacturing for Panasonic vacuum cleaners and automobiles and was previously an associate company of Sanyo Electric’s rotary machine division. The mechanism to complete the separation of air and wastewater for the special fan uses the “Aqua Cyclone” technology patented by Hiroshima-based inventor Eiichi Kawamoto. Tetsuya Konishi, Chief Creative Officer of Tokyo-based electric prosthetic hand startup Exiii, worked on the product design, and it was orchestrated by Visiongraph, a project group responsible for the concept designs of a variety of new products.

With open innovation, we often visualize the collaboration of large companies and startups, so it is also possible to imagine how differences in the sense of speed and internal processes may lead to difficulties. In contrast, the fact that small and medium sized businesses advance on a case-to-case basis makes them more similar to what is considered a benefit of startups. In the future, it is expected that technology and patents hidden away in these small and medium sized enterprises may, with the help of startups (which tend to excel in design sense) see the light of day again.

The price of a Switle is about 21,000 yen (around $210 US), but in their crowdfunding campaign they are accepting pre-orders at up to 30% off. The campaign continues until the end of December, and they aim to begin shipping the product out next spring. Visiongraph’s content strategist Maiko Miyagawa related the expectation that Switle will become synonymous with new cleaning concepts worldwide in the same way Dyson and Raycop have.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

Boasting over 2.5M users worldwide, Japan’s social music app Nana unveils premium service

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Nana Music, the Japanese startup offering the freemium social music collaboration app Nana, announced last week that they have begun offering the paid subscription service “Nana premium” for iOS users. For 580 yen a month (about $5.80 US) users will have access to added functions such as searching based on how much ‘applause’ (similar to ‘likes’ on Facebook) a song has, new effects, and the ability to pin favorite sounds at the top of their “My Page” feed. The company plans to offer additional new features to paying subscribers in the future. Nana is a social network that allows users to combine accompaniment tracks, voice tracks, etc. to form entirely new music content. See also: Japan’s social music app Nana releases Android version This Japanese startup changes how people relate to music Nana app gets anime theme songs, available globally without location restriction As of August this year, according to CEO Akinori Fumihara, since the launch in November of 2012 31 million songs have been posted, with over 1.1 billion views, and registered users totaling more than 2.5 million. If they continue to grow at this rate, by January of next year it…

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Nana Music CEO Akinori Fumihara

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Nana Music, the Japanese startup offering the freemium social music collaboration app Nana, announced last week that they have begun offering the paid subscription service “Nana premium” for iOS users. For 580 yen a month (about $5.80 US) users will have access to added functions such as searching based on how much ‘applause’ (similar to ‘likes’ on Facebook) a song has, new effects, and the ability to pin favorite sounds at the top of their “My Page” feed. The company plans to offer additional new features to paying subscribers in the future.

Nana is a social network that allows users to combine accompaniment tracks, voice tracks, etc. to form entirely new music content.

See also:

As of August this year, according to CEO Akinori Fumihara, since the launch in November of 2012 31 million songs have been posted, with over 1.1 billion views, and registered users totaling more than 2.5 million. If they continue to grow at this rate, by January of next year it is likely the number of users will reach 3 million.

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Nana’s user growth
Image credit: Nana Music

He said:

Our users sing and then post it; then that gets shared and brings in followers, this cycle is what’s powering our growth. But there is a hurdle we’re really trying to overcome. As a result of not getting any information at registration, without really understanding (how the app works), some users are suddenly being cast out of Nana’s community and end up withdrawing entirely.

The company understands their user base is young, that the contents tends to be centered around Vocaloid and anime songs, and that people who feel intimidated do not assimilate, so they have come up with features such as categorizing groups, and the ability to personalize based on individual information.

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Some of Nana Premium’s additional functions
Image credit: Nana Music

So, how far will they grow from here?

Fumihara noted that no matter how hard you try 30 million users within Japan is the upper limit, so overseas expansion becomes necessary.

Currently around 70% of our users are domestic, but we’d like to reverse that. Now, we have a lot of users in Thailand and North America, and soon this momentum should lead to nearly 40% of Spanish speaking countries (using Nana). It’s the result of using APO (app search optimization) and focusing on Android.

In Japan, users who play instruments have begun collaborating on songs, adding in the voices of people who want to sing, leading to an increase in contents. The company believes that if they try a similar approach, “because singing is non-verbal” a direct deployment in foreign countries is possible.

In regards to charging for services, initially they considered a tipping model, but in the midst of a variety of advice, they chose the current model.

He added:

There was a conflict over monetization. On the business side, we are doing advertising campaigns aimed at corporations, and while there are a variety of directions we could take, I had the thought that I couldn’t support a community along with these zealous people. In order to make an even more convenient, enjoyable world for music lovers I feel like maybe the best way is to do it together with them.

I came away with the impression that, having looked after the Nnana community for a number of years now, this business model suits him.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

Former exec of Rakuten, Sony, gets $4.1M seed funding for “housing version of Tesla”

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See the original story in Japanese. A former student entrepreneur has returned to the startup scene in order to challenge global issues. In 1995 Takeshi TED Homma was a student entrepreneur working with the early internet doing web design and development. He followed this by playing active roles at Sony and Rakuten, and recently talked with The Bridge about a new startup he is working on. HOMMA, the startup, tackles issues related to “the home.” As is written on their website “Redefining our standard of living,” it is an ambitious project to create a new vision of the future with regards to the necessities of life. Homma had never contemplated a return to entrepreneurship, but a single opportunity presented him with the chance to get back to the startup world. He said: I was thinking of buying a house, but it would take few years to complete. That’s a few years. In Japan it would only take a matter of months. And what’s more, it would be very expensive. I tried to find a solution, thinking there must be one. But no. That’s what got me thinking. But it would take Homma nearly 2 years to reacclimate himself back into…

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Takeshi TED Homma

See the original story in Japanese.

A former student entrepreneur has returned to the startup scene in order to challenge global issues.

In 1995 Takeshi TED Homma was a student entrepreneur working with the early internet doing web design and development. He followed this by playing active roles at Sony and Rakuten, and recently talked with The Bridge about a new startup he is working on.

HOMMA, the startup, tackles issues related to “the home.” As is written on their website “Redefining our standard of living,” it is an ambitious project to create a new vision of the future with regards to the necessities of life. Homma had never contemplated a return to entrepreneurship, but a single opportunity presented him with the chance to get back to the startup world.

He said:

I was thinking of buying a house, but it would take few years to complete. That’s a few years. In Japan it would only take a matter of months. And what’s more, it would be very expensive. I tried to find a solution, thinking there must be one. But no. That’s what got me thinking.

But it would take Homma nearly 2 years to reacclimate himself back into the entrepreneurial world.

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He continued:

Is this really necessary? Is there no solution? Since there was no need to rush I focused intensely on preparing. At the same time, I never went so far as to say this about the entrepreneurial pursuits of my 20s, but somewhere I think maybe there was a part of me doing it for self-actualization too. But this time I had a clear vision and that’s how the decision came to me to spend what’s left of my life doing something for society. So that’s why I’m doing this.

The vision of a new lifestyle, especially the innovation of daily living, is what convinced the self-questioning Homma.

He added:

It took 100 years for the telephone to become the iPhone. 100 years later and Ford cars have evolved into Tesla. But what about homes? Have they changed in 100 years?

Homma used the phrase “a housing version of Tesla” so that even I could easily understand his meaning, but with just 5 words the view of the world that he is trying to achieve spawned endless possibilities. He originally began due to the fact that houses are expensive and take years to finish, but solving these problems will result in “homes becoming more fun”.

Their task is to make houses smart. If their goal is to summit the mountain, they are still at the foot, perhaps having approached the first station.

Regarding funding, Mistletoe, B Dash Ventures, Genuine Startups, 500 Startups Japan, East Ventures, Draper Nexus, and architectural firm KMDW participated in the seed round. The prominent lineup of individual investors starts with Hiroshi Mikitani (co-founder and CEO of Rakuten), and includes Tomohito Ebine (founder of Opt), Shintaro Yamada (CEO of Mercari), Hirokazu Mashita (founder and director of m&s partners), Hiroaki Yasutake (former managing executive director of Rakuten), Kotaro Chiba (co-founder of Colopl), Hollywood-based film producer Masi Oka.

The company raised $4.1 million in capital. This is an extraordinary amount to raise at the seed stage for a Japanese startup, but is appropriate when you consider them trying their hand on the world playing field. Furthermore, he is gathering members that sympathize with his vision who joined from companies such as Apple, Tesla, Amazon and Disney. Their current team of 7 members is working full time to prepare their product at their headquarters in Silicon Valley.

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So, what image of the future are they trying to paint? What is their current situation?

As they are in stealth mode, and also currently still verifying whether the product lives up to Homma’s vision of the “new home,” a precise answer to these questions will take a little more time. However, he was able to talk about challenges with current devices for so-called “smart homes.”

He said:

The so-called ‘smart home’ market is a power struggle between big players like Google, Apple, and Samsung. As a result there are lots of apps and plenty of devices too. I’ve tried them out, but after taking out my smartphone and opening an app that shows battery level, the login screen comes up. (And I think) ‘So, when is the battery going to run out?’

If you ask Homma, at the moment the solutions are not at all useful, and there are three big problems to consider with the current smart home market.

He continued:

First, with smart homes you always have the issue of controls. But this is merely a discussion of on/off and adjustments. Not interesting at all. Next, the level of integration is low. For example, you add a thermostat, but the cooperation with the house is low. As a result we’re not able to do much. Finally, the third problem is communication. If you have 100 smart light bulbs and replace the router, you have to reset everything from scratch. If you use all-purpose Wifi and BLE problems in stability will arise.

Homma disclosed that if he had to choose one way of advocating smart home platforms, as opposed to the direction of horizontal development that Samsung chose in acquiring SmartThings for $200 million, he envisions a model similar to Apple’s or Tesla’s where everything from devices to software are vertically integrated. However, he intercedes that in everything there are a series of stages to go through to achieve goals.

He explained:

Time is the problem. For example, to build a house from ground up takes a long time. We have to think about it together with a scalable deployment. Take the iPod as an example; first, you make the software and the rest comes along after that, or Tesla that started by developing batteries.

But while listening to him speak I couldn’t help but imagine a lifestyle like those portrayed in 2001: A Space Odyssey or works by Osamu Tezuka. With childlike excitement that I couldn’t contain, I felt that I want to experience it as quickly as possible, and now Homma and his team are preparing to make it real.

It takes a little more, for Homma as well, to imagine the collection of big data, that is mass data taken from sensors, from these houses. But, with this as a basis, houses using artificial intelligence for home controls are something he is conscious of. In the past, this field has seen challengers in the area of communication robots here and there, with voice recognition controls by major home appliance makers and more recently in Vinclu’s Gatebox.

In other words, you arrive home and when you announce, “I’m home,” a robot turns on the lights while scanning your face for user recognition, and then uses your social data to recommend your favorite TV show–this is a glimpse of the world view. On top of allowing this to more fully develop, they will more intimately integrate with “the home itself.”

Maybe an autonomous driving house. — To borrow Homma’s words, perhaps in the future we may come into contact with such a product.

The reasons for focusing on Silicon Valley while facing the world playing field are its continued growth in population, high talent level of the population, and Homma remarked whoever is left standing here can become the “world standard.”

Nearly 20 years have passed since his days as a student entrepreneur.

Actually, I really thought someone would appear and solve this problem. But no one showed up so I’m going to do it.

Homma said this with a gleam in his eye, like someone ready and even eager to tackle all future obstacles.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

Japanese-led Kibow gets UK regulator’s approval for mobile sports betting

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See the original story in Japanese. Kibow, a Singapore-incorporated startup with headquarters in Tokyo developing a mobile sports betting app, announced this week that they have acquired a betting license from the British government’s Gambling Commission. The company had previously acquired a betting license in the Philippines, but from here on out in acquiring a license from the UK (considered the home of betting) they will be able to dive headfirst into preparations for their service launch. The exhilarated Kibow CEO Fumitada Naoe said, Piggybacking off of Nike (NYSE:NKE), we want to see ourselves in such a position within 10 years of inception. In reference to the acquisition of a betting license in the UK he remarked, unable to hide his joy, “It doesn’t get much better for us. In terms of soccer, it’s like we were granted access to the Premier League.” In order to eliminate anti-social elements, through certification by the Gambling Commission based on a thorough check of the integrity of the company, Kibow is now able to begin their overseas operations, starting with the UK, by triumphantly entering into the fantasy sports and sports betting worlds. The review of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics boat and canoe…

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See the original story in Japanese.

Kibow, a Singapore-incorporated startup with headquarters in Tokyo developing a mobile sports betting app, announced this week that they have acquired a betting license from the British government’s Gambling Commission. The company had previously acquired a betting license in the Philippines, but from here on out in acquiring a license from the UK (considered the home of betting) they will be able to dive headfirst into preparations for their service launch.

The exhilarated Kibow CEO Fumitada Naoe said,

Piggybacking off of Nike (NYSE:NKE), we want to see ourselves in such a position within 10 years of inception.

In reference to the acquisition of a betting license in the UK he remarked, unable to hide his joy, “It doesn’t get much better for us. In terms of soccer, it’s like we were granted access to the Premier League.” In order to eliminate anti-social elements, through certification by the Gambling Commission based on a thorough check of the integrity of the company, Kibow is now able to begin their overseas operations, starting with the UK, by triumphantly entering into the fantasy sports and sports betting worlds.

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Kibow CEO Fumitada Naoe

The review of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics boat and canoe venue has been in the news recently being hailed a controversy, beginning with problems emerging from behind the scenes, and ending in the reality that the proposed venue is too costly. In the world of professional sports, the media attracts the attention of sports viewers and the general public, and when worldwide competitions are held money is collected through broadcasted rights, sponsorship fees, and ticket sales. It is then made into a fund in the form of guarantee and prize money, finally being returned to players and athletes. So to speak, it is like a sports ecosystem. However, there are drawbacks to this system. Only those involved in major sports events are rewarded, and the current situation stands that even Olympic gold medalists are not guaranteed support after retirement.

Kibow is proposing, through mobile sports betting, they can form a now sports business ecosystem by changing the way money flows from the general public to players and athletes and giving those involved in minor sports and extreme sports a chance in the spotlight. The Nippon Foundation, one of the key role players in social impact investments in Japan, held the country’s largest ever Social Innovation event. Given that they use a portion of proceeds raised from boat racing throughout Japan to finance social entrepreneurs, it may be easy for our readers to imagine the relationship between sport betting, sport business building, and developing athletes. In the future, Kibow plans to provide betting opportunities for Japan’s unique minor sports and extreme sports and, starting in the UK, hopes to attract foreign betting participants.

In this same field, in 2013 Softbank acquired 23% of shares from the UK’s leading online bookmaker Betfair for 355 million pounds (about $540 million at the exchange rate then). In the US earlier this year sports betting startups DraftKing and FanDuel launched their services.

Kibow does not only function as a bookmaker, but while advocating for a position as a sport brand and a lifestyle brand, they are aiming to begin their mobile sports betting service in the UK domestic market by February of next year. The company raised around 100 million yen (nearly $840,000 at the exchange rate then) in funds from Cyber Agent Ventures and individual investors in April of 2015.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

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A concept image for Kibow’s mobile betting app
Image credit: Kibow

Drone Japan unveils drone-based field data analysis service for improved rice farming

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This guest post is authored by Sakahito Sado of Wata-ame in Tokyo. Wata-ame offers user growth consulting service for game and web service developers. See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Drone Japan last week unveiled the concept of DJ Agri-service which enables efficient and low-cost rice farming that utilizes drones. By conjoining efforts of experts in different fields ranging from hardware and software to data analysis and agriculture, this service was formed to realize “Precision Farming” which supports agrochemical-free farming techniques while significantly lowering production costs through use of image analysis and visualization of crop-growing conditions by applying drone-based remote sensing. Automatically acquiring agricultural core data such as crop-growing conditions, it provides reporting service for farmers using analysis from experts. One of the service’s strengths is the accuracy of these agricultural data utilizing specialized sensors, spectral cameras and autonomous flight technologies, which could not be acquired through conventional methods. The experts involved in this project include Yutaka Kaidu (Associate Professor, Laboratory of Biological and Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo) and Guo Wei (Master’s program, same as above) in charge of data processing, Randy Mackay (Japan Drones; supporting software development using open source code for drone hardware developers) in charge of operating drones, and Noriyuki Ichikawa (Ichikawa Farm in Asahikawa, Hokkaido). The…

This guest post is authored by Sakahito Sado of Wata-ame in Tokyo. Wata-ame offers user growth consulting service for game and web service developers.


Image credit: Drone Japan
Image credit: Drone Japan

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Drone Japan last week unveiled the concept of DJ Agri-service which enables efficient and low-cost rice farming that utilizes drones. By conjoining efforts of experts in different fields ranging from hardware and software to data analysis and agriculture, this service was formed to realize “Precision Farming” which supports agrochemical-free farming techniques while significantly lowering production costs through use of image analysis and visualization of crop-growing conditions by applying drone-based remote sensing.

Automatically acquiring agricultural core data such as crop-growing conditions, it provides reporting service for farmers using analysis from experts. One of the service’s strengths is the accuracy of these agricultural data utilizing specialized sensors, spectral cameras and autonomous flight technologies, which could not be acquired through conventional methods.

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Kiichiro Katsumata, CEO of Drone Japan

The experts involved in this project include Yutaka Kaidu (Associate Professor, Laboratory of Biological and Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo) and Guo Wei (Master’s program, same as above) in charge of data processing, Randy Mackay (Japan Drones; supporting software development using open source code for drone hardware developers) in charge of operating drones, and Noriyuki Ichikawa (Ichikawa Farm in Asahikawa, Hokkaido).

The service usage fee is 4,500 yen (about $43) minimum per hectare for each use during the cultivation period, inclusive of drone and camera rental, data sensing and data analysis. The firm plans to commence service from April of 2017.

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Analyzing images photographed by drone

The market size for the drone industry is expected to grow to 100 billion yen (about $960 million) by 2020, and agriculture is estimated to account for half of this figure.

In the press briefing, CEO of Drone Japan Kiichiro Katsumata revealed the launch of the service, as well as the start of sales as to value-added rice utilizing drones, in addition to provision of data to agricultural app developers; the company aims to attain sales of 3 billion yen (about $29 million) by 2020.

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Drone Rice

Kotaro Chiba, known for the establishment of the Research Consortium for Co-Creation of Drone Collaborative Society, was also involved in this service as an angel investor and commented as follows:

I feel that technology like those used in drones is going to solve problems for the primary industries.

By focusing on rice cultivation from among the wide-ranging agricultural industry, Drone Japan aims to solve problems related to domestic rice farming by leveraging technologies, not to mention promoting development of Japanese drone agriculture on a global scale.

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Japan’s VRize, 360-degree VR ad network, secures six-digit funding from B Dash, Speee

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This is the abridged version from our original article in Japanese. Tokyo-based VRize, the company developing ad network business in the virtual reality (VR) space, announced today that it has secured funding from Japanese investment firm B Dash Ventures and Japanese web marketing company Speee in a seed round. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed but it seems to have raised six-digit sums in US dollars. Upon this funding, the company has introduced a new service called VRize Video to date. VRize Video is a content management system for VR (CMS for VR) that allows companies or studios to develop VR apps including in-app video clips for several VR platforms such as Oculus, PlayStationVR, HTC Vive, GearVR and Daydream. In addition to distributing VR apps including 360-degree and 2D video clips, the company plans to add to the system several other features such as livestreaming and in-app analysis. See also: Japan’s VRize launches 360-degree VR ad network in closed beta Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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

Tokyo-based VRize, the company developing ad network business in the virtual reality (VR) space, announced today that it has secured funding from Japanese investment firm B Dash Ventures and Japanese web marketing company Speee in a seed round. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed but it seems to have raised six-digit sums in US dollars. Upon this funding, the company has introduced a new service called VRize Video to date.

VRize Video is a content management system for VR (CMS for VR) that allows companies or studios to develop VR apps including in-app video clips for several VR platforms such as Oculus, PlayStationVR, HTC Vive, GearVR and Daydream. In addition to distributing VR apps including 360-degree and 2D video clips, the company plans to add to the system several other features such as livestreaming and in-app analysis.

See also:

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VRize CEO Hideyuki Shoda

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy