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Tokyo Government launches center of exchange between entrepreneurs, ecosystem builders

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On Monday, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government held a kick-off event to celebrate the opening of Tokyo Innovation Base or TiB for short, a center of exchange between entrepreneurs and other stakeholders in the startup landscape. Based on its startup strategy titled Global Innovation with Startups, the government uses the venue for activities in aim to help increase 10 folds in the number of unicorns, that of founding new businesses, and that of collaborative projects between the government and startups. It will serve as a base for activities to realize all these goals. The venue will host a variety of activities based on four keywords: Global, Growth, Collaboration, and Connect. In Global, the government will collaborate with Plug and Play, Startup Island Taiwan and other foreign initatives while in Growth, it will collaborate with the UTokyo Innovation Platform (UTokyo IPC) which has vast network with universities across the country through its 1st Round program. In Collaboration, the government works with Sony Innovation Fund and other corporate venture capital units to support open innovation while in Connect, it teams up with startup support organizations to hold one to three events a week at the venue. Most recently, Startup Genome and Dealroom are…

Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

On Monday, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government held a kick-off event to celebrate the opening of Tokyo Innovation Base or TiB for short, a center of exchange between entrepreneurs and other stakeholders in the startup landscape.

Based on its startup strategy titled Global Innovation with Startups, the government uses the venue for activities in aim to help increase 10 folds in the number of unicorns, that of founding new businesses, and that of collaborative projects between the government and startups. It will serve as a base for activities to realize all these goals.

Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

The venue will host a variety of activities based on four keywords: Global, Growth, Collaboration, and Connect. In Global, the government will collaborate with Plug and Play, Startup Island Taiwan and other foreign initatives while in Growth, it will collaborate with the UTokyo Innovation Platform (UTokyo IPC) which has vast network with universities across the country through its 1st Round program.

In Collaboration, the government works with Sony Innovation Fund and other corporate venture capital units to support open innovation while in Connect, it teams up with startup support organizations to hold one to three events a week at the venue. Most recently, Startup Genome and Dealroom are scheduled to hold an event this coming Thursday.

Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

The government has conducted various initiatives to encourage entrepreneurship including a startup cafe for potential entrepreneurs near Tokyo Station, the Tokyo Startup Gateway program, and the Aoyama Startup Acceleration Center (ASAC), APT for Women, the initiative to especially encourage female entrepreneurs as well as the global conference.

Compared to these past initiatives encouraging entrepreneurs in their early phase, the new venue seems to be intended to further support those who have already started their own businesses and to further promote startup activities. Other examples of venues for entrepreneurs run by local governments include Fukuoka City’s Fukuoka Growth Next (FGN) and Aichi Prefecture’s STATION Ai (scheduled to open next year).

Image credit: Masaru Ikeda

Tokyo Otaku Mode acquired by Japanese major publisher Shogakukan

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Tokyo Otaku Mode announced on Tuesday that it has been acquired by Japanese major publishing company Shogakukan. The terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed. We haven’t confirmed that the company secured funding from VC firms and other sources after January of 2018. To date, the total amount of funds secured through the Series A and Series B rounds apparently surpasses 1.8 billion yen. Buffett Code estimated the company’s was valued at 3 billion yen as of August of 2022. The company was founded in March of 2011 by Naomitsu Kodaka, a former Merrill Lynch employee and former CFO of Gaiax, and then established a U.S. subsidiary in April of 2012 with global expansion in mind. Serving its global audience with updates on Japanese anime and manga in English, it has earned over 20 million followers on its Facebook fan page. After the acquisition, CEO Odaka and Vice Hajime Ataka will continue playing their role respectively. Shogakukan’s President Nobuhiro Oga and other directors join the board of Tokyo Otaku Mode as Chairman and directors respectively. Tokyo Otaku Mode kicked off its business with a media outlet offering Japanese anime and manga updates to the world, and now offers…

Image credit: Tokyo Otaku Mode

Tokyo Otaku Mode announced on Tuesday that it has been acquired by Japanese major publishing company Shogakukan. The terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed. We haven’t confirmed that the company secured funding from VC firms and other sources after January of 2018. To date, the total amount of funds secured through the Series A and Series B rounds apparently surpasses 1.8 billion yen. Buffett Code estimated the company’s was valued at 3 billion yen as of August of 2022.

The company was founded in March of 2011 by Naomitsu Kodaka, a former Merrill Lynch employee and former CFO of Gaiax, and then established a U.S. subsidiary in April of 2012 with global expansion in mind. Serving its global audience with updates on Japanese anime and manga in English, it has earned over 20 million followers on its Facebook fan page. After the acquisition, CEO Odaka and Vice Hajime Ataka will continue playing their role respectively. Shogakukan’s President Nobuhiro Oga and other directors join the board of Tokyo Otaku Mode as Chairman and directors respectively.

Tokyo Otaku Mode kicked off its business with a media outlet offering Japanese anime and manga updates to the world, and now offers character goods, e-commerce, and a logistics outsourcing service that can deliver products from e-commerce and crowdfunding sites to all over the world. In September of 2014, the company became the first investee from Japan’s state-backed Cool Japan Fund. Through the acquisition, Shogakukan is expected to strengthen the overseas expansion of its intellectual property businesses.

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via Shogakukan

LA startup Cashi Cake secures $3.7M to promote seaweed-based functional sweets, beverages

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Los Angeles-based Cashi Cake, the Japanese startup behind the Misaky Tokyo seaweed confectionery brand and the OoMee seaweed beverage brand, announced on Tuesday that it has secured $3.7 million US in the 1st close of its Series A round. Participating investors include Mitsubishi Foods (TSE: 7451), Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Capital, SMBC Venture Capital, and undisclosed venture capital firm(s) as well as angel investors including Masaki Yamamoto (CEO, Chatwork), Shinichi Takama, Kazutaka Mori (international attorney, One Aisa Lawyers), Yu Kaneko (qualified institutional investor), and Hiroyuki Miyake (CEO, Synergy Plus). For the company, this follows their two angel rounds (securing approximately 60 million yen in total) and the 1st close of its seed round back in 2022 (since the seed round’s 2nd close has not been announced, so in effect this appears to be the final close of the seed round). The latest round brought the startup funding sum up to date to $5.6 million US. Our readers may recall the company secured a seed round from Chiba Dojo Fund, Coconala Skill Partners (CSP), and Headline Asia as well as two angel investors: Hiromi Okuda, and Shin Murakami. The company revealed at this time that Japanese microalgae developer Euglena (TSE: 2931) also…

Misaky.Tokyo and OoMee
Image credit: Cashi Cake

Los Angeles-based Cashi Cake, the Japanese startup behind the Misaky Tokyo seaweed confectionery brand and the OoMee seaweed beverage brand, announced on Tuesday that it has secured $3.7 million US in the 1st close of its Series A round. Participating investors include Mitsubishi Foods (TSE: 7451), Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Capital, SMBC Venture Capital, and undisclosed venture capital firm(s) as well as angel investors including Masaki Yamamoto (CEO, Chatwork), Shinichi Takama, Kazutaka Mori (international attorney, One Aisa Lawyers), Yu Kaneko (qualified institutional investor), and Hiroyuki Miyake (CEO, Synergy Plus).

For the company, this follows their two angel rounds (securing approximately 60 million yen in total) and the 1st close of its seed round back in 2022 (since the seed round’s 2nd close has not been announced, so in effect this appears to be the final close of the seed round). The latest round brought the startup funding sum up to date to $5.6 million US. Our readers may recall the company secured a seed round from Chiba Dojo Fund, Coconala Skill Partners (CSP), and Headline Asia as well as two angel investors: Hiromi Okuda, and Shin Murakami. The company revealed at this time that Japanese microalgae developer Euglena (TSE: 2931) also participated in the previous seed round.

Cashi Cake founder & CEO Alissa Miky

Founded in Los Angeles in September of 2019 by Alissa Miky, Cashi Cake uses technology to process seaweed agar to develop its high-end Japanese confectionery products. In addition to serving their products to the Academy Awards and Emmy Awards eve, the company collaborated with Kim Kardashian’s fragrance brand KKW and was featured in the Bon Appétit food magazine. The company has earned over 1.4 million followers on its Tiktok brand account (Misaky.Tokyo). They will use the funds to hire talents and administrative expenses for brand expansion, as well as product and patent development for selling functional seaweed powder to businesses.

In conjunction with the funding, the company also announced that it will apply for a joint patent with the Tottori Institute of Industrial Technology. The company will apply the institute’s technology for wrapping soy sauce in a membrane created from seaweed to wrapping highly concentrated alcohol, thereby providing a plastic substitute that can be used with any material. Until now, it has been difficult to encapsulate highly concentrated alcohol with the dietary fiber contained in seaweed, but the new technology will make it possible to encapsulate high-alcohol (tequila, gin, whiskey, sake, etc.) and low pH liquids (orange juice, etc.) in any shape or size. It is expected to realize a new texture with a film that pops when chewed in the mouth, and to develop edible containers.

via PR TImes

Fukuoka City helps shorten visa screening process for foreign IT engineers

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On Monday, Fukuoka City began operating the Engineer Visa program utilizing the National Strategic Special Zone. In 2019, the city requested the central government to approve a system to shorten and clarify the examination period for foreign IT engineers’ status of residence. Whereas the normal examination period for residency status for foreign nationals takes about one to three months, the special legislation can make it shorter to about one month with the city taking part of the examination process. This will lower the hurdle for Japanese startups based in the city to hire foreign engineers and for foreign startups to establish their base there. The first company to take advantage of the system is expected to be the Japanese subsidiary of VMO Holdings, an offshore development company in Vietnam. Fukuoka City has long been active in attracting overseas startups and encouraging local startups to expand overseas: in 2016, the city began collaborating with the French city of Bordeaux to support drone startups, and in 2017, it signed a memorandum of understanding with Taiwan’s Taipei city to support Fukuoka startups expand overseas and vice versa. In 2017, Fukuoka City established the Fukuoka Global Startup Center to strengthen mutual startup support between…

Photo by Syuichi Shiina via Unsplash

On Monday, Fukuoka City began operating the Engineer Visa program utilizing the National Strategic Special Zone. In 2019, the city requested the central government to approve a system to shorten and clarify the examination period for foreign IT engineers’ status of residence. Whereas the normal examination period for residency status for foreign nationals takes about one to three months, the special legislation can make it shorter to about one month with the city taking part of the examination process.

This will lower the hurdle for Japanese startups based in the city to hire foreign engineers and for foreign startups to establish their base there. The first company to take advantage of the system is expected to be the Japanese subsidiary of VMO Holdings, an offshore development company in Vietnam.

Fukuoka City has long been active in attracting overseas startups and encouraging local startups to expand overseas: in 2016, the city began collaborating with the French city of Bordeaux to support drone startups, and in 2017, it signed a memorandum of understanding with Taiwan’s Taipei city to support Fukuoka startups expand overseas and vice versa. In 2017, Fukuoka City established the Fukuoka Global Startup Center to strengthen mutual startup support between the city and other countries.

In 2012, the city declared “Startup City” and then established a startup support facility called  FUKUOKA Growth Next on the site of the former Daimyo Elementary School. This year, the Fukuoka Daimyo Garden City building was completed adjacent to the facility, and Fukuoka Financial Group (TSE: 8354) opened its open innovation center called GROWTH I in the terrace annex of the building.

Japanese Government opens entrepreneurs’ base in SF Bay Area

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The Japanese Government is establishing a center for entrepreneurs in Palo Alto called Japan Innovation Campus. Its arm METI, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, held a reception party to celebrate the launch of it on Sunday, inviting Yasutoshi Nishimura, the Japanese Economic Minister. Other guests included Palo Alto Mayor Lydia Kou, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and the head of Geodesic Capital John Ruus as well as local Japanese investors and entrepreneurs. The venue is conveniently located just three blocks from University Avenue, a major thoroughfare in the city, and close to Stanford University, which is known for producing many startups. It is managed by Mori Building and Accenture under contract from METI. About five companies will be selected as office members that can use private offices, and 50 companies will be selected as co-working members that can use shared space (up to three people per company) while applications have been already closed. The venue was established as part of the Japanese government’s “Five-Year Startup Development Plan,” and has been designated as one of the venues for J-StarX, a program promoted by the Ministry to send Japanese entrepreneurs to startup hubs in the overseas. By linking Japanese entrepreneurs,…

Japan Innovation Campus
Image credit: METI

The Japanese Government is establishing a center for entrepreneurs in Palo Alto called Japan Innovation Campus. Its arm METI, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, held a reception party to celebrate the launch of it on Sunday, inviting Yasutoshi Nishimura, the Japanese Economic Minister. Other guests included Palo Alto Mayor Lydia Kou, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and the head of Geodesic Capital John Ruus as well as local Japanese investors and entrepreneurs.

The venue is conveniently located just three blocks from University Avenue, a major thoroughfare in the city, and close to Stanford University, which is known for producing many startups. It is managed by Mori Building and Accenture under contract from METI. About five companies will be selected as office members that can use private offices, and 50 companies will be selected as co-working members that can use shared space (up to three people per company) while applications have been already closed.

The venue was established as part of the Japanese government’s “Five-Year Startup Development Plan,” and has been designated as one of the venues for J-StarX, a program promoted by the Ministry to send Japanese entrepreneurs to startup hubs in the overseas.

By linking Japanese entrepreneurs, students, and others with local accelerators, VCs, universities, JETRO and other government agencies, the program aims to support the global expansion of Japanese startups and the development of the ecosystem. Through organizing events, it also aims to encourage open innovation between the two sides of the Pacific.

Sagri partners with Thai conglomerate to roll out satellite data-based farm soil analysis

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Sagri, the Japanese startup behind a satellite-based agricultural analytics platform under the same name, announced on Monday that it has agreed to conduct a proof-of-concept(PoC) project with Thailand’s largest conglomerate CP Group (Chalung Pokaphan Group). The startup will conduct tests of satellite data-based soil analysis with CP Group’s BKP (Bangkok Produce Merchandising). The tests will be conducted on corn farmland in the northeastern part of Thailand to confirm that Sagri’s soil analysis method can be performed more quickly and inexpensively than conventional ways. In the future, based on the the analysis result, the startup envisions a project to generate carbon credit derived from farmland by optimizing fertilizer application. This partnership was revealed during the 5th batch Demo Day of Rock Thailand, an open innovation-focused pitch event run by the Embassy of Japan in Thailand and CP Group since 2019. The event is part of the

Image credit: Sagri

Sagri, the Japanese startup behind a satellite-based agricultural analytics platform under the same name, announced on Monday that it has agreed to conduct a proof-of-concept(PoC) project with Thailand’s largest conglomerate CP Group (Chalung Pokaphan Group). The startup will conduct tests of satellite data-based soil analysis with CP Group’s BKP (Bangkok Produce Merchandising).

The tests will be conducted on corn farmland in the northeastern part of Thailand to confirm that Sagri’s soil analysis method can be performed more quickly and inexpensively than conventional ways. In the future, based on the the analysis result, the startup envisions a project to generate carbon credit derived from farmland by optimizing fertilizer application.

This partnership was revealed during the 5th batch Demo Day of Rock Thailand, an open innovation-focused pitch event run by the Embassy of Japan in Thailand and CP Group since 2019. The event is part of the 2nd batch of Rock Thailand in 2019. Starting with this opportunity, Sagri has begun researching its entry into the Thai market, established a Singapore subsidiary in January, and has been in ongoing discussions with CP Group.

Following securing 100 million yen ($1.4 million US in the exchange rate at the time) in a seed round in June of 2021, Sagri formed a capital and business alliance with Softbank’s SB Technology in 2022, and was subsequently selected for the 4th batch of the accelerator program run by Japan Agricultural Co-operatives for business collaboration.

Japan’s Stockmark launches open-source LLM with 13 billion parameters, less hallucinations

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Tokyo-based Stockmark, the Japanese startup developing and offering sentence analysis AI solutions for businesses, launched a proprietary large language model (LLM) with 13 billion parameters called Stockmark-13b on Friday. This is the largest scale of any single Japanese language LLM and has been developed with assistance by the AWS LLM Development Support Program. Leveraging disclosed company information and patent updates the company has been collecting, the model is able to return more accurate answers to business questions compared other LLMs by suppressing so-called hallucinations. In addition, the new model can generate text about four times faster than ChatGPT. In August, Stockmark also introduced gpt-neox-japanese-1.4b, a Japanese LLM with 1.4 billion parameters based on the GPT-NeoX LLM learning library. Subsequently, the company was qualified by Amazon Web Services Japan for its LLM Development Support Program in September where they have been developing an LLM that can answer questions on business with higher accuracy and speed using the cloud platform’s proprietary AI accelerator Trainium. The company intends to build LLM that can be used in practice in specific business use cases, such as new business development, application exploration, and technology development Stockmark was founded in April of 2016 by four engineers, including…

Image credit: Stockmark

Tokyo-based Stockmark, the Japanese startup developing and offering sentence analysis AI solutions for businesses, launched a proprietary large language model (LLM) with 13 billion parameters called Stockmark-13b on Friday. This is the largest scale of any single Japanese language LLM and has been developed with assistance by the AWS LLM Development Support Program. Leveraging disclosed company information and patent updates the company has been collecting, the model is able to return more accurate answers to business questions compared other LLMs by suppressing so-called hallucinations. In addition, the new model can generate text about four times faster than ChatGPT.

In August, Stockmark also introduced gpt-neox-japanese-1.4b, a Japanese LLM with 1.4 billion parameters based on the GPT-NeoX LLM learning library. Subsequently, the company was qualified by Amazon Web Services Japan for its LLM Development Support Program in September where they have been developing an LLM that can answer questions on business with higher accuracy and speed using the cloud platform’s proprietary AI accelerator Trainium. The company intends to build LLM that can be used in practice in specific business use cases, such as new business development, application exploration, and technology development

Stockmark was founded in April of 2016 by four engineers, including CEO Tatsu Hayashi, who had worked for a major Japanese trading company. Having developed various services by recommending and structuring disclosed news updates from websites, the company is currently offering a news clipping service for businesses called Anews as well as a tool visualizing market trends and competitors’ movements through structured analysis of business news updates called Astrategy. The company claims that about 25% of the companies nominated for the Nikkei 225 index use any of Stockmark’s products.

via PR Times

Japan’s AAIC announces second close of Africa-focused second healthcare fund

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Updated on Nov.1 at 11am: Correction Line section was removed. AAIC Investment announced on Thursday that the amount raised by the Africa Innovation & Healthcare Fund (AHF) II, which was announced its first close in April, has reached $40 million US at its 2nd close phase. The company has set the final fund size at US$150 million and expects to continue raising funds in the future. Combined with AHF I ($47 million), which was launched in 2017, the firm’s AUM (assets under management) has reached $87 million so far. AHF II has apparently been funded by Asahi Intec (TSE: 7747), Eisai (TSE: 4523), Ohara Pharmaceutical Industry, Marubeni (TSE: 8002), Development Bank of Japan, QR Investment by Hokkoku Financial Holdings Group (TSE: 7381), and TOPPAN Holdings (TSE: 7911) and among others. Of these, Marubeni follows their previous investment in AHF I. AHF I has competed its mission by investing in 30 companies while AHF II has so far invested in 15 companies including Aumet (pharmaceutical B2B marketplace connecting pharmacies and suppliers in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia), The Baobab Network (startup accelerator based in Nairobi, Kenya), CredAble (digital banking service for sub-Saharan Africa), and Yodawy (pharmacy benefit management service in…

Image credit: AAIC

Updated on Nov.1 at 11am: Correction Line section was removed.

AAIC Investment announced on Thursday that the amount raised by the Africa Innovation & Healthcare Fund (AHF) II, which was announced its first close in April, has reached $40 million US at its 2nd close phase. The company has set the final fund size at US$150 million and expects to continue raising funds in the future. Combined with AHF I ($47 million), which was launched in 2017, the firm’s AUM (assets under management) has reached $87 million so far.

AHF II has apparently been funded by Asahi Intec (TSE: 7747), Eisai (TSE: 4523), Ohara Pharmaceutical Industry, Marubeni (TSE: 8002), Development Bank of Japan, QR Investment by Hokkoku Financial Holdings Group (TSE: 7381), and TOPPAN Holdings (TSE: 7911) and among others. Of these, Marubeni follows their previous investment in AHF I.

AHF I has competed its mission by investing in 30 companies while AHF II has so far invested in 15 companies including Aumet (pharmaceutical B2B marketplace connecting pharmacies and suppliers in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia), The Baobab Network (startup accelerator based in Nairobi, Kenya), CredAble (digital banking service for sub-Saharan Africa), and Yodawy (pharmacy benefit management service in Egypt).

Porfolio of AHF I
Image credit: AAIC

via PR Times

xGoogler founders-led startup Tonari launches new model of life-size video conferencing system

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Tokyo-based Tonari, the Japanese startup developing and offering a next-gen communication service that connects remote locations under the same name, introduced on Wednesday a new product called ‘tonari lite’, along with the ‘tonari pro’ existing model. The lite version is also available on a subscription-based rental basis. Their products have been installed in many organizations and facilities over the past three years, but the company felt it needed to reduce costs and simplify installation for further expansion. The company improved the manufacturing process and redesigned the product to achieve versatile size and price optimization. This simplified the installation process and made it easier to fit into international deployments and smaller teams. The lite version maintains the functionality of the previous model while saving space, and is optimized for small-group communication, making it easy to use in small offices, medical facilities, educational institutions, and other locations where space is limited. In addition, the revised design significantly reduces installation work. The company expects the lite version to contribute to reducing the frequency of overseas business trips while maintaining smooth cross-border communication. Tonari was founded in 2018 by Taj Campbell, a former product manager at Google, and Ryo Kawaguchi, a former engineer at…

Image credit: Tonari

Tokyo-based Tonari, the Japanese startup developing and offering a next-gen communication service that connects remote locations under the same name, introduced on Wednesday a new product called ‘tonari lite’, along with the ‘tonari pro’ existing model. The lite version is also available on a subscription-based rental basis.

Their products have been installed in many organizations and facilities over the past three years, but the company felt it needed to reduce costs and simplify installation for further expansion. The company improved the manufacturing process and redesigned the product to achieve versatile size and price optimization. This simplified the installation process and made it easier to fit into international deployments and smaller teams.

The lite version maintains the functionality of the previous model while saving space, and is optimized for small-group communication, making it easy to use in small offices, medical facilities, educational institutions, and other locations where space is limited. In addition, the revised design significantly reduces installation work. The company expects the lite version to contribute to reducing the frequency of overseas business trips while maintaining smooth cross-border communication.

Tonari was founded in 2018 by Taj Campbell, a former product manager at Google, and Ryo Kawaguchi, a former engineer at Google (the product name was Continuum while the company name was WorkAnywhere at that time). The company has developed a life-size video system that seamlessly connects two remote locations, creating a smooth and realistic space with a natural eye contact mechanism, clear audio, and low latency.

The company secured 340 million yen (about $3.2 million US in the exchange rate at the timing) in a seed round (led by One Capital, with participation from Mistletoe Japan, Leave a Nest Capital, ABBALab, and several angel investors) in November of 2020, and subsequently 450 million yen (about $3.3 million US in the exchange rate at the timing) in a pre-series A round (from Real Tech Fund and One Capital) in June of 2022.

via PR Times

Japan’s Hakki secures $10M+ funding to empower Kenyan cab drivers with own vehicles

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Tokyo-based Hakki Africa, the Japanese startup offering micro-finance services for cab drivers in Kenya, announced on Tuesday that it has secured 1.58 billion yen (about $10.6 million) in the 1st close of its series B round. This round is led by SBI Investment with participation from QR Investment (by Hokkoku Financial Holdings), Deepcore, Hakobune, Music Securities in addition to debt from an undisclosed Japanese megabank and Hokkoku Bank. For the company, this follows their seed round in December of 2020 (secured 30 million yen) and Series A round in March of 2022 (secured 220 million yen including debt). The latest round brought their funding sum up to date to more than 1.83 billion yen (about $12.3 million). In Africa, it is very difficult to borrow unsecured loans due to the underdevelopment of financial services. The company offers a micro-finance service focused on used cars in the continent, especially in Kenya. It offers a loan screening based on a cab driver’s credit rating, with points deducted for multiple debts based on the history of the M-PESA mobile money usage, and points added for stability of cab sales on a weekly basis, offering the opportunity to purchase a car. In this particular…

The Hakki Africa team
Image credit: Hakki Africa

Tokyo-based Hakki Africa, the Japanese startup offering micro-finance services for cab drivers in Kenya, announced on Tuesday that it has secured 1.58 billion yen (about $10.6 million) in the 1st close of its series B round. This round is led by SBI Investment with participation from QR Investment (by Hokkoku Financial Holdings), Deepcore, Hakobune, Music Securities in addition to debt from an undisclosed Japanese megabank and Hokkoku Bank.

For the company, this follows their seed round in December of 2020 (secured 30 million yen) and Series A round in March of 2022 (secured 220 million yen including debt). The latest round brought their funding sum up to date to more than 1.83 billion yen (about $12.3 million).

In Africa, it is very difficult to borrow unsecured loans due to the underdevelopment of financial services. The company offers a micro-finance service focused on used cars in the continent, especially in Kenya. It offers a loan screening based on a cab driver’s credit rating, with points deducted for multiple debts based on the history of the M-PESA mobile money usage, and points added for stability of cab sales on a weekly basis, offering the opportunity to purchase a car.

In this particular area, some of our readers may recall a startup called Moove, offering vehicle financing to private business owners in several African countries. Backed by Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Innovation Partners, the company recently secured $10 million in debt in August this year.

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via PR Times