This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Cycle Mode International, held at the Makuhari Messe convention center, presented many startups with a niche market where they could gain business traction. In addition to Growtac (see earlier story about Tokyo International Industry Exhibition 2016), other startups took part at this annual show which attracts those involved in this field, but in particular athletes ranging from health-focused hobbyists and novice cyclists to professional riders and Olympic triathlon athletes. Cerevo made its first appearance at this show that brought over a thousand other booths by exhibiting its Smart Cycle device. This location tracking sensor pack makes use of WiFi, Global Positioning System (GPS) and ANT+ as a “cycle computer” for managing a “road trip” ride which even professionals can utilize. The startup had in fact added a former competition cyclist on its staff with an eye to expanding its market for the 9-axis product developed by Tokyo-based “networked consumer electronics” manufacturer. See also: Japan’s hardware startup Cerevo unveils smart sports gear for snowboarding As regards use of the radio waves, a trading company named JRS – also based in Tokyo and specializing in scooters, pedal bikes and the like – had…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
Cycle Mode International, held at the Makuhari Messe convention center, presented many startups with a niche market where they could gain business traction. In addition to Growtac (see earlier story about Tokyo International Industry Exhibition 2016), other startups took part at this annual show which attracts those involved in this field, but in particular athletes ranging from health-focused hobbyists and novice cyclists to professional riders and Olympic triathlon athletes.
Cerevo’s booth Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
Cerevo made its first appearance at this show that brought over a thousand other booths by exhibiting its Smart Cycle device. This location tracking sensor pack makes use of WiFi, Global Positioning System (GPS) and ANT+ as a “cycle computer” for managing a “road trip” ride which even professionals can utilize.
The startup had in fact added a former competition cyclist on its staff with an eye to expanding its market for the 9-axis product developed by Tokyo-based “networked consumer electronics” manufacturer.
As regards use of the radio waves, a trading company named JRS – also based in Tokyo and specializing in scooters, pedal bikes and the like – had at its booth a sports-use communication system developed by a Shizuoka startup, On’s Company.
JRS’s booth Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
The Bluetooth intercom dubbed Bb Talkin’ was originally geared toward the winter as well as water sports aficionados; but recently, it was adopted for use by motorcycle riders and hang-gliders who are now being joined by (casual) cyclists.
An interesting exhibitor which apparently expanded its booth from its initial year of participation in 2015 was the Korean outfit WIAWIS, highlighting the “nano carbon bicycle”… what made it of note is that fact that it is being made by a bow manufacturer, the bow being for use by archers.
Due to the fact that Olympics-use bows are nowadays mostly made using carbon materials, the company a while back decided to enter the bicycle production arena since bicycles are used by several Olympics categories, unlike archery.
On’s Company’s booth Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy
Of note this time around was the holding at the adjacent convention hall of the annual meeting of the Japanese Society of Clinical Sports Medicine (JSCSM); this underscored the fact that not only new technology from info-tech to materials are being scrutinized but also sports science/medicine as 2020 looms on the horizon. It is foreseen that more startups will enter this sector through innovative applications of such prowess.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s business plan contest Tokyo Startup Gateway 2016 held its finale earlier this week. It’s a contest style event for globally-minded entrepreneurs from various genres, such as technology, social business, regional problem solving, etc., who are looking to begin in Tokyo. ETIC, a Tokyo based-NPO, was in charge of the administration and organization. Business plans for this event (the third time it has been held) were accepted from April of 2016. 1,000 business plans total were collected. Among them, 10 were selected as finalists and gave presentations. See also: Tokyo Metro Government setting up 3rd incubation batch for budding entrepreneurs The judges for the contest are as follows: Chiaki Hayashi, CEO of Loftwork Tomy Kamada, CEO and Founder of TomyK Mifuyu Ando, Author / CEO of Spree Allen Miner, CEO of Sunbridge Global Ventures Kazutaka Muraguchi, CEO of Nippon Technology Venture Partners (chairperson of judges) Grand Prize: Feeding farmed fish using crickets by Seiya Ashikari Supplemental award: A trophy and 1 million yen (around $10,000 US) In the aquaculture industry nearly 70% of expenses are said to go towards the cost of feed. What is more, in recent years the cost…
Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s business plan contest Tokyo Startup Gateway 2016 held its finale earlier this week.
It’s a contest style event for globally-minded entrepreneurs from various genres, such as technology, social business, regional problem solving, etc., who are looking to begin in Tokyo. ETIC, a Tokyo based-NPO, was in charge of the administration and organization. Business plans for this event (the third time it has been held) were accepted from April of 2016. 1,000 business plans total were collected. Among them, 10 were selected as finalists and gave presentations.
Kazutaka Muraguchi, CEO of Nippon Technology Venture Partners (chairperson of judges)
Grand Prize: Feeding farmed fish using crickets by Seiya Ashikari
Supplemental award: A trophy and 1 million yen (around $10,000 US)
In the aquaculture industry nearly 70% of expenses are said to go towards the cost of feed. What is more, in recent years the cost of the fish meal used as feed has risen so high that it is putting pressure on cultivators. Ashikari suggests using crickets as feed for farmed fish. He plans to offer pellets made from the powder of crushed crickets. The effectiveness of this approach has already been proven through tests with the cooperation of an aquaculture company.
Runner-up: Job training for disabled children provided by medical therapists by Natsumi Okano
Supplemental award: A trophy and 500,000 yen (about $5,000 US)
As people with disabilities are often assisted by the people around them, they experience less failure compared to people without disabilities, do not have the opportunity to work part-time jobs, and as a result have overwhelmingly less social experience. The number of companies providing opportunities for people with disabilities are increasing, however a gap remains between these companies and the people they seek to employ. With Okano’s plan the skills of persons with disabilities would be appropriately and quantitatively evaluated, they could then be trained by setting goals, with facilitation of employment with business partners, and finally encouraging follow-up within the company.
Runner-up: A proactive, intuitive robot that exceeds the limits of existing information terminals by Fuma Higashide
Supplemental award: A trophy and 500,000 yen (about $5,000 US)
Current information terminals have a decisive problem. That problem lies in not doing the operations you intended and thus not having the necessary work done for you, as well as relying too much on the output of information from a screen. Higashide developed “Hako” a robot equipped with Raspberry Pi, that has various sensors to read human movement. By simply switching on the power, it is possible to enjoy a variety of applications. The price is about 30,000 yen (about $300 US). He plans to carry out a crowdfunding campaign in the future.
Audience Prize: “Feeding farmed fish using crickets” by Seiya Ashikari
Supplemental award: Trophy
See the above Grand Prize for content details.
The following is a list of finalists that did not receive prizes.
“Build a matching platform for connecting users with craftsmen to enjoy emotional crafting experiences” by Tomohiro Akiyama
“Build a platform for helping our society better understand Vegetarians” by Haruko Kawano
“A Next-Generation medical service combining wearables and artificial intelligence” by Kosuke Shimizu
“Make economic relationships just like families with people around the world” by Junichi Sugiura
“Deliver sanitary and comfortable toilet spaces to developing countries with ToiTech”by Naoki Tashiro
“Make a textbook for the next generation of football goal keepers” by Daichi Mizozaki
“Build global online discussion media” by Yuta Moriyama
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Monstar Lab, the company providing crowdsourced offshore app development service Sekai Lab, announced on Friday that it has secured 250 million yen (about $2.5 million) from Gogin Capital (investment arm of San-in Gogo Bank headquartered in Japan’s Shimane Prefecture) and Resona Capital in addition to existing shareholders. This follows their previous $3.3 million funding from Pasonatech and DG Incubation. We have not confirmed which funding round this is. Monstar Lab now offers app development in 17 countries worldwide including China, Bangladesh and Vietnam but still busies themselves in further expanding markets. The company’s CEO Hiroki Inagawa visited Jordan in October, which hints at the possibility of expansion into the Middle East from Asia where they now have multiple development locations. The funds raised this time will be used for such market expansion efforts. Getting Gogin Capital onboard as a shareholder may have something to do with the fact that Monstar Lab has a development location in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture. While offering existing offshore app development services as well, the company plans to invite more engineers from overseas to these locations within Japan, looking to help improve the situation in and around Shimane where…
Sekai Lab Bangladesh Team (Image credit: Sekai Lab)
Tokyo-based Monstar Lab, the company providing crowdsourced offshore app development service Sekai Lab, announced on Friday that it has secured 250 million yen (about $2.5 million) from Gogin Capital (investment arm of San-in Gogo Bank headquartered in Japan’s Shimane Prefecture) and Resona Capital in addition to existing shareholders. This follows their previous $3.3 million funding from Pasonatech and DG Incubation. We have not confirmed which funding round this is.
Monstar Lab now offers app development in 17 countries worldwide including China, Bangladesh and Vietnam but still busies themselves in further expanding markets. The company’s CEO Hiroki Inagawa visited Jordan in October, which hints at the possibility of expansion into the Middle East from Asia where they now have multiple development locations. The funds raised this time will be used for such market expansion efforts.
Getting Gogin Capital onboard as a shareholder may have something to do with the fact that Monstar Lab has a development location in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture. While offering existing offshore app development services as well, the company plans to invite more engineers from overseas to these locations within Japan, looking to help improve the situation in and around Shimane where companies still struggle with lack of system engineers.
See the original story in Japanese. For a Japanese person in his 20s, it is not an exaggeration to say that Yusuke Obinata, a.k.a. Obi, is one of the most well-known players on the Asian startup scene. His history includes time as a student at Waseda University, working as an intern for startups, and until the beginning of this year he served as the international director for East Ventures. Over the last year he has toured local startup hubs around Southeast Asia looking for areas with a potential for vertical growth, with no one surpassing his ability to network and power to act. Finally his relentless efforts have begun to take shape. On Tuesday, Obinata and his team launched Upstay, a high-end vacation rentals service for Southeast Asia. Initially, they will be serving accommodations in three locations: Bangkok (including Pattaya), Phuket, and Bali. The service is available in Japanese and English, with plans to encourage broad use throughout Southeast Asia by supporting the languages of the various Asian countries in the near future. With the rise of Airbnb, HomeAway, and so on, vacation rentals have become a vibrant market over the past several years. On the other hand, as a…
Yusuke Obinata a.k.a. Obi, co-founder and CEO of Upstay
For a Japanese person in his 20s, it is not an exaggeration to say that Yusuke Obinata, a.k.a. Obi, is one of the most well-known players on the Asian startup scene. His history includes time as a student at Waseda University, working as an intern for startups, and until the beginning of this year he served as the international director for East Ventures. Over the last year he has toured local startup hubs around Southeast Asia looking for areas with a potential for vertical growth, with no one surpassing his ability to network and power to act. Finally his relentless efforts have begun to take shape.
On Tuesday, Obinata and his team launched Upstay, a high-end vacation rentals service for Southeast Asia. Initially, they will be serving accommodations in three locations: Bangkok (including Pattaya), Phuket, and Bali. The service is available in Japanese and English, with plans to encourage broad use throughout Southeast Asia by supporting the languages of the various Asian countries in the near future.
With the rise of Airbnb, HomeAway, and so on, vacation rentals have become a vibrant market over the past several years. On the other hand, as a new trend among travelers, rather than staying in nice hotels at their destination, an increasing number of millennials are choosing to stay in luxury serviced accomodations with pools and gyms for the same price. However, Obinata’s diagnosis is that, in the past, with demand for accommodations less than the available supply on the marketplace for vacation rentals, high-end, good quality properties often got buried in the search results.
He says:
In the beginning EC (e-commerce sites) was like eBay, connecting sellers and buyers in a pure C2C model. Now, sites with a bunch of useful, accompanying services have become mainstream. I thought, for the vacation rental world, something that introduces high-end properties in the same way should enter the picture.
Upstay
Upstay has agreements with suppliers who manage serviced accommodations in Bangkok, Phuket, and Bali, specializes in high-end properties, and in focusing on high-quality related services, aims to incorporate the middle-upper stratum of travelers as opposed to backpackers and the like. To ensure the quality of services, Upstay has limited the suppliers who provide listings to those that have cleared certain criteria and are property management companies. As for individual suppliers, they have narrowed it down to professionals skilled in providing accomodations only.
He added:
Since Asian people traditionally do not have the custom of staying in other people’s homes, (vacation rentals, from high-end to low-end) could be difficult to get the mass to use. (The original concept of a vacation rental) is alternative accommodation, without renting a large room at a hotel, the idea that you can stay in a cheap room and use the space freely is revolutionary.
Obinata will make Southeast Asia the stage for this new business. Incorporated in Singapore, Upstay plans to have their operating base in Bangkok. In all of Japan the inbound tourists total 20 million, and since in Bangkok alone (just one city in Thailand) they see as many as 21 million inbound travelers in just one year, it is an easy environment to connect with suppliers of serviced accommodations, making it easier for Upstay to do business there. A quick look at Upstay’s employee lineup reveals Takuya Teshima, who had a hand in the development of a variety of platforms for Line and is now serving as Upstay’s CTO.
In Asia, a new form of hotel services has appeared with NIDA Rooms,Zenrooms, RedDoorz, AiryRooms, Oyorooms, etc., but there is no such service in Japan. Although the social system has matured, a side effect of which being low volatility, and even from such a standpoint, if the aim is to change the world with startups, there may be a great deal of importance in spreading roots throughout Asia.
In an angel round Upstay received funds from East Ventures and several unnamed individual investors from Japan and Singapore. In the vertical of high-end vacation rentals, OneFineStay, OwnersDirect, and HouseTrip under jurisdiction from TripAdvisor focus on Europe and the US, but there is no possible competitor in Asia so far.
See the original story in Japanese. As per some media reports, Tokyo-based Base, the Japanese startup behind an instant e-commerce platform, recently announced it has fundraised a total of 1.5 billion yen (about $14.4 million) from SBI Investment, SMBC Venture Capital and Suneight Investment. The details of the plan concerning the investment ratio or the payment date were not disclosed. The secured money will be spent upon hiring additional personnel in order to expand business for the e-commerce platform Base and the payment platform PAY.JP. See also: Japanese e-commerce platform Base raises $3M from Global Brain Japanese e-commerce platform provider Base raises $2M from CyberAgent Japanese e-commerce platform provider Base introduces new iPhone app Base: The Japanese freemium e-commerce platform that’s following Shopify’s lead Currently 300,000 online stores is open on Base and the number of PAY ID which works as customer ID reached 200,000. Therefore, the annual transaction amount now totals at tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) according to Base CEO Yuta Tsuruoka. There has been plenty of topics in this arena, such as one of the rival companies STORES.jp unveiling its new development to become a private-held company again; overseas competitor The Stripe’s…
As per some media reports, Tokyo-based Base, the Japanese startup behind an instant e-commerce platform, recently announced it has fundraised a total of 1.5 billion yen (about $14.4 million) from SBI Investment, SMBC Venture Capital and Suneight Investment. The details of the plan concerning the investment ratio or the payment date were not disclosed. The secured money will be spent upon hiring additional personnel in order to expand business for the e-commerce platform Base and the payment platform PAY.JP.
Currently 300,000 online stores is open on Base and the number of PAY ID which works as customer ID reached 200,000. Therefore, the annual transaction amount now totals at tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) according to Base CEO Yuta Tsuruoka.
There has been plenty of topics in this arena, such as one of the rival companies STORES.jp unveiling its new development to become a private-held company again; overseas competitor The Stripe’s entering the Japan market in the financial sector including payment, investment and remittance; Coiney’s expansion into online business from its offline field; or, the appearance of AnyPay led by a serial entrepreneur Shinji Kimura.
The Bridge interviewed Tsuruoka about how Base which has succeeded in large-scale fundraising will compete in this era in a “warring nations.”
The Bridge: First of all, I would like to ask you about Base’s development plan. I am wondering if the pace of growth will become modest soon and whether you have any ideas such as strengthening sales promotion which targets enterprise merchants?
I assume you mean to ask if we are going to make something like a Rakuten (TSE:4755) or not. This is the same situation I think for STORES.jp. Regarding this point, we came to a crossroads about a year ago.
Sales promotion is a must-do in acquiring stores with hundreds of millions of yen sales, but it is more efficient to automatically acquire small stores with sales of less than millions of yen. I think that style befits the situation. Since the stores acquired through sales promotion could be stolen away by sales promotion, I do not want to compete in such a field.
From the perspective of being a technology company, I would like to take on the creation of a good product in order to form an ecosystem semi-automatically and make people happy through the power of technology.
The Bridge: What was the purpose of launching a mall app?
It was to challenge selling products as Base. The way we were going, we could estimate where we would end up businesswise, so we decided to enhance the budget and human resources at that point in time. It is not still clear if that answer is the mall or the media but we will continue to strengthen those parts too.
The Bridge: Is it a method to attract a lot of customers?
It aims to gain customers who purchase products on the web once a month but could purchase them twice or thrice in a month because we cannot become a Rakuten or an Amazon. Rather, we provide a system of helping stores instead of us gathering people easily. Although the mall has an image as proactively gathering customers in general, I look upon our mall as a method of supporting management of stores after gathering customers.
The Bridge: I understand it is the policy to increase LTV (Life Time Value) under the current growth situation. On the other hand, Mercari — which invested in your company — has succeeded with the style of expanding its body size anyhow. It there any possibility of doing like that?
I think that it is a good idea to expand the body size eagerly as a challenge. Since it has become quite common recently for a customer who purchased a product to purchase it again at other stores, I think that is worth trying.
L to R: Kazuma Ieiri (Co-founder of Base), Shintaro Yamada (CEO of Mercari), Yuta Tsuruoka (CEO of Base), Fumiaki Koizumi (CFO of Mercari)
The Bridge: What did Shintaro Yamada of Mercari advise you?
He told me to be on the offensive (laughing).
Based on the fact that Base is growing modestly and that there are only a few platforms grasping merchants as much as we do, he told us to take on as much challenges as possible. I received a lot of advice through information exchange using Mercari’s data that could be disclosed.
The Bridge: What was the advice especially helpful to you?
About organization. We had fully changed our company’s organization. Since initially any organization did not exist, we started reforming from this spring and have become a company capable of having a report line or more staffers.
My work content has also changed drastically. Although I had been in the very middle of the creation process until last year, I have moved to a more “upper” (executive-like) position now. I am not working as a communication hub by leaving responsible persons with the power of discretion to some extent. But I still cannot act like Shintaro who keeps staying in US for a long time (laugh).
The Bridge: What is the priority for your company?
Although the priority of recruitment was lower until last year, it has become a top priority now. With Mercari’s style spreading to us, we intend to form a new employee-friendly work environment. I had not been aware of the importance of recruitment well because I had been involved in our business since university. Mercari was the first external company for me, so that it was easy to absorb the culture.
The Bridge: How have you been with co-founder Kazuma Ieiri?
We meet three or four times a week even now, but he mainly tends to discuss his current project CAMFIRE rather than Base (laugh).
Base CEO Yuta Tsuruoka
Competing in the financial vertical
The Bridge: What is the most valuable number for you now?
Of course we make much of the total transaction amount which is growing to the hundreds of million dollars in scale annually, so we aim the next digit.
The Bridge: In the stage of the next digit, Mercari stands as a Goliath. Do you have any ideas about expanding business into the C2C field as a management person?
The business characteristics between us and them are completely different; the culture is different from the player in the SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) arena, and the customers differ too. There are some elements in their products which can be a useful reference for us. However, originally we started our business with a theme how much we can optimize the exchange of value. Of course, it is no doubt that a drastic increase in the transaction amount is better, but it is highly doubtful whether it would lead to our company’s mission directly.
Some people say the C2C market has a higher potential growth than the SME one, but I do not agree with that. Look at Rakuten. It is huge enough.
The Bridge: As for payment business, the service directions are gradually being clarified, such as short-term loans, payments and remittances. What is PAY.JP especially focusing on?
Maybe I would start from payment service first. PAY ID is available for 300,000 stores and is linked to 200,000 users now. This is the situation I was looking forward to and I think it is a good timing as a whole.
The Bridge: Is there any rival company to watch out for?
Thankfully, we are faced with many rival companies in all time-periods (laugh).
The Bridge: I feel Mr. Kimura (of AnyPay) has a philosophy which seems close to ours. I suppose their direction is to replace trading with money to that using the Internet, so that could lead into the remittance and financial areas in the future.
We had focused on how much we can increase the number of merchants over the past three years. Now the team has separated into Base team for gathering stores and PAY.JP team for gathering consumers, and I think we have entered a new phase focused on increasing the number of consumers.
The Bridge: Thank you for your time today.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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…
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 Bseries 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 Bseries 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.
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.
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.
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…
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
Kudan founder / CEO Tomohiro Ohno (photographed at AdTech International held at Sophia University)
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…
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 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
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…
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.
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.
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.
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
The Bridge
Masaru Ikeda
Takeshi Hirano
