news

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

news
report

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.

news

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

news

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

news

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

news

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

news

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

news

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

news

Japan’s Abeja, Google Analytics for retail stores, secures $38M series C round

Abeja

The Bridge 2018.06.29

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Abeja, the company offering solutions for retail stores to improve customer path or traffic based on image analysis and machine learning technologies, announced today that it has raised 4.25 billion yen (about $38.4 million) in a series C round. Participating investors are SBI Investment, Daikin Industries, TBS Innovation Partners, Topcon, Japan Post Capital and Musashi Seimitsu Industry, in addition to existing investors including PNB-Inspire Ethical Fund, Nvidia and Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ). The company uses the funds to set up AI (artificial intelligence) management locations in ASEAN countries and the US for their flagship cloud Abeja Platform, enhance their vertical-focused SaaS (Software as a Service) platform Abeja Insight, strengthen R&D efforts and improve intellectual property management, plus hire talented staffers in the deep learning space. Founded in September of 2012, followed by graduation from the 1st batch of the Orange Fab Asia acceleration program, Abeja has raised an undisclosed sum in an angel and a seed round. Subsequently, the company has raised six figures in US dollars from Salesforce in a series A round back in 2014, followed by securing 700 million yen (about $7 million at the exchange rate then)…

Abeja CEO/CTO Yosuke Okada explains about Abeja Platform Partner Ecosystem
(Photographed at Docomo Innovation Village in November of 2016)
Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Abeja, the company offering solutions for retail stores to improve customer path or traffic based on image analysis and machine learning technologies, announced today that it has raised 4.25 billion yen (about $38.4 million) in a series C round. Participating investors are SBI Investment, Daikin Industries, TBS Innovation Partners, Topcon, Japan Post Capital and Musashi Seimitsu Industry, in addition to existing investors including PNB-Inspire Ethical Fund, Nvidia and Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ).

The company uses the funds to set up AI (artificial intelligence) management locations in ASEAN countries and the US for their flagship cloud Abeja Platform, enhance their vertical-focused SaaS (Software as a Service) platform Abeja Insight, strengthen R&D efforts and improve intellectual property management, plus hire talented staffers in the deep learning space.

Founded in September of 2012, followed by graduation from the 1st batch of the Orange Fab Asia acceleration program, Abeja has raised an undisclosed sum in an angel and a seed round. Subsequently, the company has raised six figures in US dollars from Salesforce in a series A round back in 2014, followed by securing 700 million yen (about $7 million at the exchange rate then) in a series B round from INCJ, Archetype, Inspire-PNB Partners. The funding at this time is seen making the amount raised to date total at 5 billion yen (about $45 million).

See also:

Science fiction becomes reality? Abeja unveils futuristic ad at Tokyo’s busiest station

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

news

JustInCase gets approval from regulator for P2P insurance, raises $1.4M pre-series A

JustInCase

Masaru Ikeda 2018.06.29

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based insuretech startup JustInCase has been officially registered as a small-amount / short-term insurer by the Tokyo Finance Bureau. In response to this, the company will officially launch an insurance business and new mobile app called JustInCase on the app store as of July 1st. Unlike an old app they were offering on a testing basis, the new app will start by offering an insurance service to cover repair costs in the event of a malfunction for smartphone users but add new service features later on. In conjunction with the launch announcement, the company revealed that it had raised 150 million yen (about $1.4 million US) in a pre-series A round from 500 Startups Japan, Globis Capital Partners, Line Ventures and others. They have raised a total of 195 million yen (about $1.8 million) to date including the funds in a seed round. The new app will score users on a daily basis about how they carefully use their smartphone so that premium rebate will be given to them at renewal of insurance according to the safety score measured in the last three months. If one has no claim which has been filed during…

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based insuretech startup JustInCase has been officially registered as a small-amount / short-term insurer by the Tokyo Finance Bureau. In response to this, the company will officially launch an insurance business and new mobile app called JustInCase on the app store as of July 1st. Unlike an old app they were offering on a testing basis, the new app will start by offering an insurance service to cover repair costs in the event of a malfunction for smartphone users but add new service features later on.

In conjunction with the launch announcement, the company revealed that it had raised 150 million yen (about $1.4 million US) in a pre-series A round from 500 Startups Japan, Globis Capital Partners, Line Ventures and others. They have raised a total of 195 million yen (about $1.8 million) to date including the funds in a seed round.

The new app will score users on a daily basis about how they carefully use their smartphone so that premium rebate will be given to them at renewal of insurance according to the safety score measured in the last three months. If one has no claim which has been filed during the latest insurance period or has a high score indicating a lower risk, one gets a 30% discount on average for payment.

A Screenshot of the new app.
Image credit: JustInCase

JustInCase tried to deal with P2P (peer-to-peer) insurance though the fact of the matter is that they virtually adopted it due to regulatory limitations.

Generally speaking, P2P applies the concept of a sharing economy to insurance, i.e. friends and groups of users (pools) who are interested in insurance against the same risk pay the insurance premiums, and a system is adopted whereby insurance money is paid out from this pool. P2P insurance has various merits including the risk being easier to calculate compared with conventional insurance, insurance products that were impossible in the past can be easily developed, insurance money fraud and moral hazard problems are less likely to occur, and ex-post facto premiums can be kept cheap (through cashback, etc.).

Meanwhile, JustInCase took a while to get approval from the regulator because it was the first attempt to launch a (virtual) P2P insurance in Japan where users can complete all application steps in the app and require no interaction with any insurance representative. The company says that it actually needed 467 days to complete the registration as an insurer on June 25th while its application process started back in March of 2017.

In this space, we’ve seen emerging P2P insurance startups such as Sure (having raised $10.6M US so far), Lemonade (recently raised $120M US from Softbank, GV or Google Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Allianz last year-end) or Berlin-based Friendsurance (raised more than $15M US from Horizon Ventures, the investment firm of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing).

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Startups

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Japan’s Abeja, Google Analytics for retail stores, secures $38M series C round

JustInCase gets approval from regulator for P2P insurance, raises $1.4M pre-series A

Recent Articles

Trends

Startups

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Related news

Recent Articles

Trends