See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Adoir, the Japanese startup running online platforms for videographers called Vook, announced on Monday that it has secured 100 million yen (about $875,000) in funding from Mizuho Bank with loans from government-backed Japan Finance Corporation. No details on financial terms have been included. Launched back in February of 2016 as a beta version, the platforms allow users to share their knowledge and experiences about filming and videography, consisting of Vook note for sharing technical information among users and an invitation-only online portfolio showcase called Vook port. In addition to offering the service online, the company holds user meet-ups and bootcamp events across Japan to help the creators form a community. The platform now has tens of thousand people as users, and many of them are involved in on-the-spot filming, animation producion, computer graphics, virtual reality and other video creation jobs. In additon to knowledge sharing in this sector, the platform is also well used for connecting business opportunities among users. Going forward, the platform will aim to serve computer graphics creators, music composers and actors beyond dealing with camera-related topics and video-editing expertise. The company says that the funds will be used to…
The Adoir team: CEO Shuntaro Okamoto sits on the left on the front row.
Tokyo-based Adoir, the Japanese startup running online platforms for videographers called Vook, announced on Monday that it has secured 100 million yen (about $875,000) in funding from Mizuho Bank with loans from government-backed Japan Finance Corporation. No details on financial terms have been included.
Launched back in February of 2016 as a beta version, the platforms allow users to share their knowledge and experiences about filming and videography, consisting of Vook note for sharing technical information among users and an invitation-only online portfolio showcase called Vook port. In addition to offering the service online, the company holds user meet-ups and bootcamp events across Japan to help the creators form a community.
The platform now has tens of thousand people as users, and many of them are involved in on-the-spot filming, animation producion, computer graphics, virtual reality and other video creation jobs. In additon to knowledge sharing in this sector, the platform is also well used for connecting business opportunities among users.
Going forward, the platform will aim to serve computer graphics creators, music composers and actors beyond dealing with camera-related topics and video-editing expertise. The company says that the funds will be used to enhance system development and content production for such efforts.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based startup Agrimedia announced in late October that it has fundraised 250 million yen (about $2.2 million US) from Globis Capital Partners (GCP). Coinciding with this, the company also revealed that Minoru Imano, General Partner and COO at GCP, will join the management board of Agrimedia as an external director. Agrimedia has been offering three different types of business based on the concept of connecting city life with agriculture: giving people the chance to get involved in various agricultural experiences, cultivating human resources for agribusiness and building an agriculture-focused logistics network. The Tokyo startup provides vegetable gardens for rental in 70 suburban locations in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, called Share Batake, where urban gardeners can participate in growing vegetables without bringing their own tools to these gardens. Agri Navi, another service by the company, provides agriculture-related job opportunities to registrants who are mostly aged under 40s. In addition, they are also building a logistics and distribution platform leveraging Michi-no-eki (government-designated rest areas found along roads and highways) and farmer’s direct sales depots across Japan. Using the funds, Agrimedia will further develop web services and knowledge tools towards building a new platform for agribusiness, in…
Agrimedia’s Share Batake, a vegetable garden for rental in a suburb location Image credit: Agrimedia
Tokyo-based startup Agrimedia announced in late October that it has fundraised 250 million yen (about $2.2 million US) from Globis Capital Partners (GCP). Coinciding with this, the company also revealed that Minoru Imano, General Partner and COO at GCP, will join the management board of Agrimedia as an external director.
Agrimedia has been offering three different types of business based on the concept of connecting city life with agriculture: giving people the chance to get involved in various agricultural experiences, cultivating human resources for agribusiness and building an agriculture-focused logistics network.
The Tokyo startup provides vegetable gardens for rental in 70 suburban locations in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, called Share Batake, where urban gardeners can participate in growing vegetables without bringing their own tools to these gardens. Agri Navi, another service by the company, provides agriculture-related job opportunities to registrants who are mostly aged under 40s. In addition, they are also building a logistics and distribution platform leveraging Michi-no-eki (government-designated rest areas found along roads and highways) and farmer’s direct sales depots across Japan.
Using the funds, Agrimedia will further develop web services and knowledge tools towards building a new platform for agribusiness, in addition to focusing on hiring new talents for business development.
See the original story in Japanese. Seoul-based Zoyi Corporation, the Korean startup providing the Walk Insights offline customer analysis service and the Channel.io online sales support service for customers, announced last week that it has fundraised 450 million yen (about $4 million US) from KDDI Open Innovation Fund (KOIF), which is jointly operated by Japanese VC firm Global Brain and Japanese leading telco KDDI, as well as Colopl Next, among others. Established in 2014, Zoyi raised about 300 million won (around $270,000 US) from Bon Angels and Fast Track Asia in 2014, and in its Series A round succeeded in fundraising a total of 2 billion won (about $1.8 million US) from Korea Investment Partners and Aju IB Investment. Global Brain has previously invested in Korean startups like TeamBlind, iDecca, 5Rocks (later acquired by Tapjoy), and Fluently, but this was only the second investment in a Korean startup by KOIF, with an investment in ESM Lab last August. Walk Insights can be described as an offline version of Google Analytics, and based on the WiFi and Bluetooth signal strengths of customer’s smartphones it can tell whether a customer is inside or outside of a store. If the customer is inside, it…
Seoul-based Zoyi Corporation, the Korean startup providing the Walk Insights offline customer analysis service and the Channel.io online sales support service for customers, announced last week that it has fundraised 450 million yen (about $4 million US) from KDDI Open Innovation Fund (KOIF), which is jointly operated by Japanese VC firm Global Brain and Japanese leading telco KDDI, as well as Colopl Next, among others.
Established in 2014, Zoyi raised about 300 million won (around $270,000 US) from Bon Angels and Fast Track Asia in 2014, and in its Series A round succeeded in fundraising a total of 2 billion won (about $1.8 million US) from Korea Investment Partners and Aju IB Investment.
Global Brain has previously invested in Korean startups like TeamBlind, iDecca, 5Rocks (later acquired by Tapjoy), and Fluently, but this was only the second investment in a Korean startup by KOIF, with an investment in ESM Lab last August.
Walk Insights can be described as an offline version of Google Analytics, and based on the WiFi and Bluetooth signal strengths of customer’s smartphones it can tell whether a customer is inside or outside of a store. If the customer is inside, it shows where in the store they are and how long they spend there, and through cooperation with POS (point-of-sales) it can track the conversion (purchases). Up to now more than 2,000 stores, including eyeglasses retailer Amore Pacific and Samsung Electronics, have employed it, and recently, there has been a wide range of users’ business fields such as local governments interested in the trends of inbound tourists and railroad companies looking into how many people have visited sports facilities owned by their company in a given group of train passengers. Zoyi develops these businesses in the Japanese market together with Walk Insights, the joint venture company of Zoyi and Tokyo-based YSC International.
Channel.io functions as an online concierge service developed for e-commerce business operators. The operator can understand customer trends using the dashboard, call out to the website visitor, and easily add a function that accepts questions from visitors to the operator’s site. Since inquiries and exchanges can be done in real time, the company maintains that visitors are more likely to get immediate answers from online stores than through e-mails and the likelihood of conversion increases. If the visitor is logged in they can be identified, but even if they are not logged in, by asking for the name and telephone number it is possible to continue an exchange via SMS (short message service) even after the visitor leaves the e-commerce site.
According to Zoyi, as long as the website itself is trustworthy, about 80% of visitors are inputting names and telephone numbers without resistance. Currently, 90% of Channel.io users are Korean companies, but Zoyi will secure new Japanese sales representatives to strengthen sales development in Japan using the funds raised this time.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based startup incubator Open Network Lab earlier this month held Demo Day for its Seed Accelerator Program 15th batch. From among 89 teams both inside and outside of Japan which entered this batch, six teams were chosen to receive mentoring and various support over a three-month period. Of the six teams, two teams were not shown then and four teams gave pitches at the Demo Day. They were examined through voting by major mentors and audiences. The judges for the pitch were as follows: Kaoru Hayashi (CEO / Group CEO, Digital Garage) Shonosuke Hata (CEO, Kakaku.com) Atsuhiro Murakami (Director, Kakaku.com) Adam Lindemann (CEO, Mind Fund) Naofumi Tsuchiya (CEO, Goodpatch) Top Award: Famione by Famione Famione is a platform to support married couples trying to get pregnant. Assisted by staffers of the University of Tokyo and St.Luke’s International University, this service analyzes users’ lifestyle using its own algorithm which received high evaluation by learned societies, in addition to providing a chat-based communication support between husband and wife such as schedule arrangement for having sex. Famione has been running services focusing on the trying-to-conceive support including the community website Flipp or the owned media Famit, and…
Tokyo-based startup incubator Open Network Lab earlier this month held Demo Day for its Seed Accelerator Program 15th batch. From among 89 teams both inside and outside of Japan which entered this batch, six teams were chosen to receive mentoring and various support over a three-month period.
Of the six teams, two teams were not shown then and four teams gave pitches at the Demo Day. They were examined through voting by major mentors and audiences. The judges for the pitch were as follows:
Kaoru Hayashi (CEO / Group CEO, Digital Garage)
Shonosuke Hata (CEO, Kakaku.com)
Atsuhiro Murakami (Director, Kakaku.com)
Adam Lindemann (CEO, Mind Fund)
Naofumi Tsuchiya (CEO, Goodpatch)
Top Award: Famione by Famione
Famione is a platform to support married couples trying to get pregnant. Assisted by staffers of the University of Tokyo and St.Luke’s International University, this service analyzes users’ lifestyle using its own algorithm which received high evaluation by learned societies, in addition to providing a chat-based communication support between husband and wife such as schedule arrangement for having sex.
Famione has been running services focusing on the trying-to-conceive support including the community website Flipp or the owned media Famit, and holds 1,860 users related to these services. The team aims to monetize through charged program for trying-to-conceive, data sales for drug development and user transfer to medical organizations.
Audience Award: Logi-kura by NewRevo
The Logi-kura warehouse management platform tackles excessive stock problems at small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which is supposedly 5.4 trillion yen in scale (approximation) in Japan. Many persons in charge of ordering at SMEs order merchandise depending on their experiences and feelings, and that causes excessive stock. Logi-kura provides a data-driven ordering environment through forecasting demand for merchandise based on economic trends, weather, competitor information or breakage rate.
Since there is no similar service covering from warehouse management to demand forecast in succession within Japan yet, Logi-kura is ensured of its superiority in that point. The team provides this service at 600,000 yen (about $5,200) annually at the lowest according to the scale, aiming at a 30% reduction of domestic excessive stock and the beta version of the service has already been introduced in 11 companies. In the future, the team plans to construct a marketplace function allowing trade of excessive stock / stock shortage between users.
Hideout Club by Hideout Club
Hideout Club is a community app for whisky lovers, where 12,000 users has already been attracted. The app was launched one year before by two whisky experts who formerly worked at Rakuten, aiming to bridge a gap between bars and users.
Users can gain a free drink on a day designated, from registered 80 bars in Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ginza, by paying 1,500 yen (about $13) monthly. For bar users, user retargeting becomes possible by registering new customers to the ledger, and bar information is displayed in users’ search results by registering whisky brands they can serve.
Most of its promotion activities to bars depend on introduction from other bar owners and the rate of successful acquisition of new bar users reaches 50%. Targeting 6.5 million whisky lovers in Japan, the team is going to expand the service coverage range to all parts of Japan, like inbound customers or high-grade resorts, aiming to acquire one million users by 2021.
Better Engage by BtoA
Better Engage supports preventing employees’ turnover by a data-driven approach. Linking with various cloud services and APIs, it acquires employees’ data about attendance, years of service, performance and survey results. Based on these acquired data, the service evaluates each employee’s engagement by five indices: relationship with superiors, relationship with co-workers, degree of satisfaction with work, degree of satisfaction with offices, and growth feels.
Among the five indices, relationship with superiors / co-workers are evaluated not only by surveillance but also communication log on in-house tools. Since its launch back three months before, this service has been introduced into 12 companies as trial and 25% of them indicate their intention to use the paid service. The monthly charge is 800 yen (about $7) per employee.
According to Masahiko Sarukawa, Director of DG Incubation organizing Open Network Lab, the accelerator has produced 85 startups in total with the completion of this 15th batch. The rate of successful fundraising by startups being produced through 14 batches reached 56.7%.
Coinciding with the holding of this 15th Demo Day, Open Network Lab hasstarted accepting applications to the 16th batch. It will provide 10 million yen (about $92,000) maximum as activity funding for this batch over three months. Also it plans to provide the right to use three bases (in Daikanyama of Tokyo and Kamakura, plus San Francisco) gratis for a year, and mentoring by managers of startups that came out of the past Seed Accelerator Program. The application deadline for the 16th batch is noon on November 27th.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Japan’s Recruit Holdings (TSE:6098, hereafter called Recruit) last month held a Demo Day for the 9th batch of its startup accelerator Tech Lab Paak based in Shibuya, Tokyo. 14 teams gave 3-minute pitches presenting their six-months’ results since joining the program. In addition, 10 teams made 1-minute pitches although they were excluded from the examination, and thereby it became a big pitch event totaling at 24 teams. Below, I introduced what kind of services were or are going to be born out from Tech Lab Paak, with a focus on prizewinners. The following are judges for the pitch competition. Ken Nishimura (Editor-in-Chief, TechCrunch Japan) Madoka Sawa (Director, Microsoft Technology Lab., Microsoft Japan) Yohei Sawayama (Managing Partner, 500 Startups Japan) Yoichi Aso (Head of Media Technology Lab., Recruit Holdings) Tech Lab Paak Award: JobRainbow / ichoose by JobRainbow Supplemental prizes: The winner’s choice from Matsuzaka beef or Kobe beef JobRainbow and a job-offer website ichoose target LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender), comprising one of every 13 persons. JobRainbow provides job-offer information about LGBT-friendly companies as well as interviews for recruitment staffs, benefits considering LGBT, or posts from LGBT workers such as “I got accepted…
Japan’s Recruit Holdings (TSE:6098, hereafter called Recruit) last month held a Demo Day for the 9th batch of its startup accelerator Tech Lab Paak based in Shibuya, Tokyo.
14 teams gave 3-minute pitches presenting their six-months’ results since joining the program. In addition, 10 teams made 1-minute pitches although they were excluded from the examination, and thereby it became a big pitch event totaling at 24 teams.
Below, I introduced what kind of services were or are going to be born out from Tech Lab Paak, with a focus on prizewinners. The following are judges for the pitch competition.
Ken Nishimura (Editor-in-Chief, TechCrunch Japan)
Madoka Sawa (Director, Microsoft Technology Lab., Microsoft Japan)
Yoichi Aso (Head of Media Technology Lab., Recruit Holdings)
Tech Lab Paak Award: JobRainbow / ichoose by JobRainbow
Supplemental prizes: The winner’s choice from Matsuzaka beef or Kobe beef
JobRainbow and a job-offer website ichoose target LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender), comprising one of every 13 persons. JobRainbow provides job-offer information about LGBT-friendly companies as well as interviews for recruitment staffs, benefits considering LGBT, or posts from LGBT workers such as “I got accepted by coworkers after coming out” in each company.
On JobRainbow, about 300 companies have currently been providing job-offer information and the number of users is about 10,000. The firm also launched ichoose especially focusing on job-offer function for LGBT two months before, and it has been adopted by 20% of the proposed companies. In addition, the firm runs an offline event to connect job seekers and LGBT-friendly companies named Real Job Rainbow, forming a community for information exchange not only about jobs but also work styles among users.
Microsoft Award: Folly by Artrigger
Supplemental prize: special crab meat set
Vincent Van Gogh is known for that his work had not been admired well in his lifetime but came to be traded after his death. Artrigger takes on preventing present artists from Gogh-like cases by providing an environment where they or persons concerned can grasp market value of the artists in real-time. The firm aims to realize visualization of market value in real-time based on product /author / copyright management information, targeting three markets: video, game, and book / paper / image / text from among many kinds of content industries.
Along with that, Artrigger developed a school management / portfolio tool named Folly for art educational institution of arts, in order to assist teachers to develop students’ talent without wasting time for clerical work. With trust bank, the firm had agreed to cooperate in demonstration tests for the market value visualization technology and asset planning / inheritance, donation, trust of intellectual property rights, leveraging each one’s field of expertise.
TechCrunch Japan Award: Gitai by MacroSpace
Supplemental prize: AppleStore giftcards worth 30,000 yen
MacroSpace develops a system of the tele-existence named Gitai. Putting sensors on controller’s body, this system sends motion data via internet to a robot in remote place and makes it to do the same motion with the controller.
Additionally, the firm developed a visual system allowing users with head-mounted display to experience 360-degree pictures photographed by camera mounted on robot in real-time. The data transmission for real-time 360-degree images requires broadband and sometimes transmission delay may occur. To improve this, the firm developed UDP-based P2P (peer-to-peer) streaming protocol and Linux-based Gitai OS, and succeeded in reduction of the band needed down to below 4Mbps from 330Mbps and of transmission delay time down to 0.08 seconds.
MacroSpace was chosen for Global Solutions Program 2017 operated by Singularity University. Through the program, the firm realized a cooperation with US-based startup SpaveVR providing VR environment with cameras on the circum-terrestrial orbit. The camera devices of SpaceVR are going to be launched with Space X rocket soon and the day you can experience live video of the earth from SpaceVR by using Gitai is probably not far. Macrosplace was also chosen for SU Venture, the acceleration program organized by Singularity University.
500 Startups Award: WIM (Worn Influencer of Movement)
Supplemental prize: AppleStore giftcards worth 30,000 yen
WIM develops cheap and small-driver artificial muscle from the perspective of availability for performance. According to Jun Kamei, the designer of WIM, the mainstream of artificial muscle has been shifting to the one made of alloy from the one with rubber pneumatic device, but the material alloy is still very expensive although the Japanese market is leading this field. WIM develops electric-driven artificial muscle made of polymer (Electroactive Polymer Artificial Muscle; EPAM), attempting to reduce cost down to 1/100 (about $5 from $500 by material-based cost).
Although there may be some companies or research institutions developing EPAM ahead of WIM, the firm is distinguished by adopting this technology to performer’s costume and design and is expecting to enlarge the possibility of performance expression. In the beginning of the pitch, an example video at V&A (Victoria and Albert Hall) in UK which Kakei participated was shown.
Audience Award: Sharetr by Sharetr
Supplemental prize: Extensive membership of TECH LAB PAAK Project Member
Many of amateur football (soccer) coaches lecturing children in Japan have to handle hard tasks that they build a practice schedule and conduct it themselves as volunteers, although they have no official coach experiences. To solve such problem, Sharetr provides a platform under the same name allowing amateur coaches to share their practice schedules. The founder of the firm belongs to School of Health and Physical Education of University of Tsukuba, so that it also provides special menus to learn specialized knowledge supported by professors of the university.
After joined TECH LAB PAAK, this service grew to a big website attracting 200,000 monthly user views, 2,200 memberships, and 30,000 visitors of sports instructors. SEO, column publication via media, and Youtuber specialized in sports practice seems to be contributing to the increase of access. The firm cooperated with Japan Football Coaches’ Association (JFCA) in recognition of the firm’s value, and has been receiving JFCA practice schedules or selling items jointly.
While platforms of user experience in IT industry have shifted from video to smartphone, and to VR, the sports field still depends on DVD attached to magazines. Sharetr is going to expand its service enabling the watching of practice videos by smartphone easily, and aims to enter the sports-related field other than football to create equal opportunity of sports education with its new service under development, enabling to receive sports instruction at any place.
Audience Award: Photo Be-s by Quicpigeon
Supplemental prize: membership of Tech Lab Paak Project Member
Photo Be-s is, so to speak, a Pokémon Go-like app in photographing experience. When user with the app visits to a predetermined location, he / she acquires right to be shot by preset camera optimized for photogenic angle in advance and can get the photo by remote shuttering. It enables photographing from various angles which cannot be realized by selfie, such as through water tank, though window, or from drone.
Photo Be-s matches those who have beautiful space, own dead camera asset, or want selfie at an outstanding photographic spot. The firm has already completed a prototype, and tried test shooting at the Shibuya scramble crossing or held photography events inviting test users.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Progate, offering an online code learning service under the same name, announced on Monday that it has launched an English version of the service as beta for global expansion. Launched back in September of 2014, it has been offering a service that allows budding programmers to learn to code. Based on their proprietary learning method using slide deck-based learning materials and actual coding practices, their users can receive training online without setting up a coding environment. The company has acquired 200,000 users in three years since the launch. Regarding the global expansion plan, Progate intends to kick it off with a focus on India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and other Asian markets. Going forward, they will aim for further global reach including expansion into the US and European markets while looking at potential future funding. See also: Japan’s online coding school startup Progate nabs $880K for Asian expansion Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
Tokyo-based Progate, offering an online code learning service under the same name, announced on Monday that it has launched an English version of the service as beta for global expansion.
Launched back in September of 2014, it has been offering a service that allows budding programmers to learn to code. Based on their proprietary learning method using slide deck-based learning materials and actual coding practices, their users can receive training online without setting up a coding environment. The company has acquired 200,000 users in three years since the launch.
Regarding the global expansion plan, Progate intends to kick it off with a focus on India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and other Asian markets. Going forward, they will aim for further global reach including expansion into the US and European markets while looking at potential future funding.
See the original story in Japanese. According to the press release published by Intel Capital on Friday, Tokyo-based LeapMind, the Japanese startup developing and offering deep learning solutions for enterprises, has secured about 1.15 billion yen (about $10 million US) in a series B round. This round was led by Intel Capital with participation from GMO Venture Partners, NTT Data (TSE:9613), Innovative Venture (run by NEC Capital Solution and SMBC Venture Capital), Itochu Technology Ventures, Visionnaire Ventures (whose chairman is Taizo Son) and Archetype Ventures. For LeapMind, this follows their series A round raised $3.4 million back in August of last year. For Itochu Technology Ventures and Visionnaire Ventures, as well as Archetype Ventures, this is the second investment in LeapMind following their participation in the series A round. Since its launch back in December of 2012 under the previous name of AddQuality, LeapMind has been developing deep learning solutions for embedded systems called Juiz, which is practically essential for edge computing. The company recently released Blackstar SDK (software developer kit), a deep learning development environment for edge computing back in August. Prior to the rebranding, the company was qualified as participants in the KDDI Mugen Labo accelerator’s 7th…
CEO Soichi Matsuda (left) stands in front of their booth at Intel FPGA Technology Day earlier this month. Image credit: LeapMind
According to the press release published by Intel Capital on Friday, Tokyo-based LeapMind, the Japanese startup developing and offering deep learning solutions for enterprises, has secured about 1.15 billion yen (about $10 million US) in a series B round. This round was led by Intel Capital with participation from GMO Venture Partners, NTT Data (TSE:9613), Innovative Venture (run by NEC Capital Solution and SMBC Venture Capital), Itochu Technology Ventures, Visionnaire Ventures (whose chairman is Taizo Son) and Archetype Ventures.
For LeapMind, this follows their series A round raised $3.4 million back in August of last year. For Itochu Technology Ventures and Visionnaire Ventures, as well as Archetype Ventures, this is the second investment in LeapMind following their participation in the series A round.
LeapMind’s proprietary software- and hardware-based solutions (click to enlarge) Image credit: LeapMind
Since its launch back in December of 2012 under the previous name of AddQuality, LeapMind has been developing deep learning solutions for embedded systems called Juiz, which is practically essential for edge computing. The company recently released Blackstar SDK (software developer kit), a deep learning development environment for edge computing back in August.
LeapMind says it will use the funds to enhance research and development of software- and hardware-based solutions, then hire more talents from around the world while strengthening business development and sales forces in Japan and the rest of the world.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based startup Vasily, which runs online fashion coordination service iQON, announced on Thursday that it has been acquired by Start Today (TSE:3092), the company behind Japan’s leading fashion commerce site Zozotown. Details on financial terms have not been disclosed. See also: Japan’s fashion coordination app iQon unveils native advertising service Japanese fashion coordination site iQON surpasses 1 million users Japanese fashion site iQon lands partnership with Italian online mall Yoox.com Japanese fashion coordination site iQON raises $3.2M, will boost marketing efforts Vasily was founded back in 2008 and subsequently launched fashion coordination service iQON back in April of 2018. Using the mobile app or desktop, the service allows one to combine clothing and accessories online while sharing fashion coordination ideas with other users. Each item has a direct link to fashion e-commerce sites where purchases are made, and the startup will generate revenue from partner sites using an affiliate model. Their mobile app is highly evaluated and has been selected as the best apps several times on the Apple iTunes Appstore and Google Play. Meanwhile, Start Today, the company behind Zozotown, launched a fashion coordination app called Wear back in 2013, having since acquired…
Tokyo-based startup Vasily, which runs online fashion coordination service iQON, announced on Thursday that it has been acquired by Start Today (TSE:3092), the company behind Japan’s leading fashion commerce site Zozotown. Details on financial terms have not been disclosed.
Vasily was founded back in 2008 and subsequently launched fashion coordination service iQON back in April of 2018. Using the mobile app or desktop, the service allows one to combine clothing and accessories online while sharing fashion coordination ideas with other users. Each item has a direct link to fashion e-commerce sites where purchases are made, and the startup will generate revenue from partner sites using an affiliate model. Their mobile app is highly evaluated and has been selected as the best apps several times on the Apple iTunes Appstore and Google Play.
Meanwhile, Start Today, the company behind Zozotown, launched a fashion coordination app called Wear back in 2013, having since acquired 9 million downloads and 6 million coordination pattern posts. According to the financial report of Start Today, the company has annually transacted 212 billion yen (about $1.9 billion US) as of March this year on the Zozotown marketplace.
The content of the partnership between the two companies has not been disclosed. However, it is expected that Start Today and Vasily will jointly conduct a measure to encourage sales leveraging items and user preference data collected by both companies respectively.
Yuki Kanayama, CEO and founder of Vasily, declined our request to disclose the details but he says,
We can’t yet disclose the details about for how much we have been acquired or what we will jointly work with Start Today on. However, all I can sa is that the key will be data. We believe that we can do more business than ever by combining existing and future data held by Start Today and our own Vasily technology.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Truss, providing a building material comparison web service under the same name, earlier this month announced that it had raised 100 million yen (about $890,000) in its latest funding round. The investors of this round include DBJ Capital, Innovation and Future Creation, GMO Venture Partners, SMBC Venture Capital, Minoru Moriya (former Vice President of Japanese fabless printing startup Raksul), Hidetoshi Takano (CEO of Key Players) and Hideto Fujino (CEO of Rheos Capital Works). In addition to the participation for the investment, Moriya joined the management advisory board. Truss was founded by Shuji Kubota, Tetsuya Okimura and Kouki Hirakawa in February of 2014. Since the three are all graduates of Tokyo Institute of Technology (TokyoTech), the firm had acquired designation as a TokyoTech-originated venture. The firm had been managed in bootstrapping mode, securing money by loan or grant of Japan Finance Corporation, so that it is the first equity financing from external organizations for the firm. The Truss platform covers information related to building material products handled by various manufacturers. Generally, information about building materials is provided to builders in the form of heavy catalogues via trading companies, but it is not easy to…
L to R: Founders of Truss – Tetsuya Okimura, Shuji Kubota, Koki Hirakawa
Tokyo-based Truss, providing a building material comparison web service under the same name, earlier this month announced that it had raised 100 million yen (about $890,000) in its latest funding round. The investors of this round include DBJ Capital, Innovation and Future Creation, GMO Venture Partners, SMBC Venture Capital, Minoru Moriya (former Vice President of Japanese fabless printing startup Raksul), Hidetoshi Takano (CEO of Key Players) and Hideto Fujino (CEO of Rheos Capital Works). In addition to the participation for the investment, Moriya joined the management advisory board.
Truss was founded by Shuji Kubota, Tetsuya Okimura and Kouki Hirakawa in February of 2014. Since the three are all graduates of Tokyo Institute of Technology (TokyoTech), the firm had acquired designation as a TokyoTech-originated venture. The firm had been managed in bootstrapping mode, securing money by loan or grant of Japan Finance Corporation, so that it is the first equity financing from external organizations for the firm.
The Truss platform covers information related to building material products handled by various manufacturers. Generally, information about building materials is provided to builders in the form of heavy catalogues via trading companies, but it is not easy to compare these information across different manufacturers because the content is not unified with a single standard. Thereby, building materials are often chosen based on builders’ experience or custom, and the choice tends to depend on a supply chain of a specific manufacturer.
Truss makes all these information about building materials into a database and provides it as a web service. Currently, it mainly covers building exterior, and will add information about facilities, external structure and interior in the future. These information is shown alongside basic information such as fire-resistance capacity in line with government regulations or wholesale price as reference information.
Interestingly, information about building materials cannot be managed as database not only by trading companies but also by manufacturers, and all of it depends on paper catalogue. Truss acquires catalogue-based information from manufacturers and takes on database construction almost manually. The web service is initially positioned as a portal for manufacturers to promote their products to constructors but is desired to be used even by manufacturers or trading companies, yet they are the information source due to usability convenience upon handling product information as a database.
By the way, looking at the history of the Internet, most of the product comparison websites tend to gradually change into marketplaces where a certain amount of profit can be expected. So I asked Kubota about this possibility and he answered that it will be far into the future for Truss to become a marketplace due to several problems.
In the building industry, all payment related to materials is done when transferring the building to the owner after completion. Between material manufacturers and constructors, trading companies mediate and approve deferred payment from the constructors. If the firm aims to establish a marketplace, new business practice is needed to make manufacturers accept deferred payment or constructors, advance payment.
Furthermore, unlike MonotaRO (TSE:3064) which is ahead of other competitors as a market dealing materials or parts or Misumi Group (TSE:9962) which is said to handle 80 sextillion parts (one billion times 80 trillion), logistics capable of delivering comparatively big products to construction sites according to schedule are needed. Currently, only trading companies have the ability to achieve this operation.
The digital transformation of building industry seems to take a long time due to its conservative nature, but Kubota told us that the horizontal service permeation will be possible if it is understood by a portion of the manufacturers, because the Japanese building industry shows more concentration and is in an oligopolistic state compared to those in Western countries. The firm is going to use the acquired money to secure corporate sales staffers who have experience in building design or can enter the building material manufacturing industry.
According to Kubota, Moriya who participated as an angel investor and also became Management Adviser of Truss had once hit upon an idea of marketplace for the materials industry. He gave it up then because he did not know how to do that, so he may entrust his past dream to the firm through his participation.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Neurospace, the Japanese startup developing a program to improve sleep quality for large companies, revealed that it has raised 100 million yen (about $890,000 ) from Real Tech Fund, the investment fund by Euglena, SMBC Nikko, and Leave a Nest Capital. For Neurospace, it follows funds raised from Slogan Coent and individual investors in July 2015 and from Glocalink in December 2016 (both the funding rounds and amounts are undisclosed). In addition to this funding, Neurospace also revealed that it was adopted as a R&D venture support project of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). Since its launch back in in December of 2013, the company has developed a sleep improvement program called Sommnie for corporate health management. Currently the company focuses on what is called a “Sleep Analysis Platform” utilizing AI (artificial intelligence) and IoT (Internet of Things) technology, and the beta version launched October 11th. With this platform, the company will measure individual sleep data with high precision, provide individualized sleep analysis results, and then offer the optimum solution and improvement data derived from independent analytical technology using AI. The platform makes it possible for companies that intend…
Tokyo-based Neurospace, the Japanese startup developing a program to improve sleep quality for large companies, revealed that it has raised 100 million yen (about $890,000 ) from Real Tech Fund, the investment fund by Euglena, SMBC Nikko, and Leave a Nest Capital. For Neurospace, it follows funds raised from Slogan Coent and individual investors in July 2015 and from Glocalink in December 2016 (both the funding rounds and amounts are undisclosed). In addition to this funding, Neurospace also revealed that it was adopted as a R&D venture support project of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).
Since its launch back in in December of 2013, the company has developed a sleep improvement program called Sommnie for corporate health management. Currently the company focuses on what is called a “Sleep Analysis Platform” utilizing AI (artificial intelligence) and IoT (Internet of Things) technology, and the beta version launched October 11th.
With this platform, the company will measure individual sleep data with high precision, provide individualized sleep analysis results, and then offer the optimum solution and improvement data derived from independent analytical technology using AI. The platform makes it possible for companies that intend to promote the health and productivity of employees and companies that are considering entering into the sleep business to incorporate into the improvement of management with the company services and IoT products through API (application programming interface).
As a PoC (proof of concept) test of the “Sleep Analysis Platform”, the company distributed a device to measure sleep and an app that presents a sleeping solution from the measured data to shift workers at Yoshinoya, a major Japanese beef bowl restaurant chain. It plans to demonstrate and brush up the effectiveness of the platform after conducting one month of sleep measurements and recommending measure for improvement and shift adjustment.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
The Bridge
Masaru Ikeda
Takeshi Hirano
