This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. It was in 2015 that the city of Gotemba led by young Mayor Yohei Wakabayashi availed climbers scaling Mt. Fuji from the Shizuoka side with sturdy lavatory structures able to double as emergency shelters in the event of natural disasters (now, the sheds could be equipped with alarm-sensors to turn them into better sanctuaries…). But since April this year there has been a major push in Gotemba to harness technology emanating from a Japanese startup ー albeit via major telecommunications carrier KDDI, which has just announced the buyout of said startup. Soracom, established in 2014 by former Amazon Web Services (AWS) evangelist Ken Tamagawa, has been offering Internet of Things (IoT) service over circuits leased from the giant NTT group ー formerly the Japanese phone monopoly. The startup last year decided to help KDDI, which has a mobile telephony service called au, build its own IoT network. It is upon this technology that Mt. Fuji entryway Gotemba decided to collaborate in realizing a system to keep track of climbers using the pathway leading up to the mountaintop. Beginning on August…
This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.
It was in 2015 that the city of Gotemba led by young Mayor Yohei Wakabayashi availed climbers scaling Mt. Fuji from the Shizuoka side with sturdy lavatory structures able to double as emergency shelters in the event of natural disasters (now, the sheds could be equipped with alarm-sensors to turn them into better sanctuaries…). But since April this year there has been a major push in Gotemba to harness technology emanating from a Japanese startup ー albeit via major telecommunications carrier KDDI, which has just announced the buyout of said startup.
Soracom, established in 2014 by former Amazon Web Services (AWS) evangelist Ken Tamagawa, has been offering Internet of Things (IoT) service over circuits leased from the giant NTT group ー formerly the Japanese phone monopoly. The startup last year decided to help KDDI, which has a mobile telephony service called au, build its own IoT network. It is upon this technology that Mt. Fuji entryway Gotemba decided to collaborate in realizing a system to keep track of climbers using the pathway leading up to the mountaintop.
Screenshot of the website
Beginning on August 10, 2017 (a day before the newly-instituted Japanese Mountain Day holiday) an IoT-based tracking experiment is being conducted. IoT sensors have been placed along the hiking route, enabling a more accurate count by the municipal authorities as to those trekking up the Mt. Fuji pathway… search & rescue helicopters in particular being faced with hazards when flying near Japan’s highest mountain.
With technical support from KDDI’s research institute, a Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) network being run on the KDDI LoRa PoC Kit ー underpinned by Soracom tech prowess utilized to develop said kitー will be tried out until the end of this mountain-climbing season.
It is said KDDI had been eyeing a sizable corporate buyout within the information-communication sector after being beat to the punch by SoftBank in the attempt to acquire mobile carrier eAccess some years ago. Interestingly, KDDI until recently has been working with another startup Colopl, which is strong in games but in past few years have pushed drone use, aiming to utilize IoT and VR/AR for promotion of rural communities in Japan. Furthermore, KDDI has been working with another startup, Fukuoka-based SkyDisc, regarding tropical fruit cultivation as well. It remains to be seen how startups will handle their relations with KDDI.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Bizcast, the Japanese startup behind a matchmaking platform for YouTuber marketing called BitStar, announced on Monday that it has fundraised 300 million yen (about $2.7 million) from Japanese investment firm Global Brain. This round succeeds their seed round where they fundraised an undisclosed amount from East Ventures backed in 2014 followed by their series A round where they have raised an estimated amount of several million dollars from Japanese gaming company Colopl (TSE:3668) back in August last year. This is a actual series B round, but the secured amount scale and the investment conditions apparently correspond to a series A round. Due to this funding, Kazuhiko Miyama (Partner of Global Brain) is appointed to Outside Director of Bizcast. Since this round has not closed yet, Bizcast implied the possibility of additional funding within the round from other companies having a potential of business synergies with it. Founded back in July 2014, Bizcast launched the BitStar platform that matches YouTubers with their client companies in September 2015. Currently, the platform has more than 1,500 YouTubers who do not belong to specific MCNs (multi-channel networks) and have more than 80 million followers in all. In…
L to R: Kazuhiko Miyama (Partner of Global Brain), Yasuhiko Yurimoto (CEO of Global Brain), Taku Watanabe (CEO of Bizcast), Nao Harada (COO of Bizcast), and Yuta Yamashita (CTO of Bizcast)
Tokyo-based Bizcast, the Japanese startup behind a matchmaking platform for YouTuber marketing called BitStar, announced on Monday that it has fundraised 300 million yen (about $2.7 million) from Japanese investment firm Global Brain. This round succeeds their seed round where they fundraised an undisclosed amount from East Ventures backed in 2014 followed by their series A round where they have raised an estimated amount of several million dollars from Japanese gaming company Colopl (TSE:3668) back in August last year. This is a actual series B round, but the secured amount scale and the investment conditions apparently correspond to a series A round.
Due to this funding, Kazuhiko Miyama (Partner of Global Brain) is appointed to Outside Director of Bizcast. Since this round has not closed yet, Bizcast implied the possibility of additional funding within the round from other companies having a potential of business synergies with it.
Founded back in July 2014, Bizcast launched the BitStar platform that matches YouTubers with their client companies in September 2015. Currently, the platform has more than 1,500 YouTubers who do not belong to specific MCNs (multi-channel networks) and have more than 80 million followers in all.
In typical MCNs, about 20% of monthly ad incomes from YouTube is charged as the commission fee; however, Bitstar aims acquisition of major YouTubers by allowing registration for free and by offering business matters, as well as accompanying services such as tax returns procedures or exposure support. According to the company, over 1,000 video clips are served via the platform while the repeat ratio of their clients reaches 51%.
Bizcast has developed unique tools on its own to crawl audience reactions on social media regarding YouTubers registered to the platform. By analyzing which YouTuber will have the most powerful effect for each topic, Bizcast brings the best matchmaking to satisfy with both YoutTuber and client companies.
Finding next YouTube stars and overseas expansion
Originally started as a matching platform for YouTube marketing, BitStar wants to enhance the functions of producing high-quality video content and managing its own media channels in order to expand the area of activities of YouTubers, seeking to collaborate with entertainment business companies having lots of artists or performers. The company’s vision can be seen in, for example, the “WEGO YouTube” channel jointly provided by WEGO, a popular Japanese apparel brand among the younger generation, as well as a recent partnership with China’s up-and-coming news app Toutiao which is now entering into the Japanese market.
Taku Watanabe (CEO of Bizcast) told that it will also focus on accelerating the cycle of finding talents, raising personnel, and monetization:
I think it is a great advantage that we already have a close relationship with clients since we started as an advertisement platform. We know which kind of needs clients have and which type of talents to raise.
Coincidentally with this funding, Bizcast also announced that it has tied up with Japanese travel agency giant JTB. There is a background factor to this tying-up that BitStar was used in the promotion of one of JTB’s travel product series. By enforced marketing efforts using BitStar-suggested YouTubers, the staying time of JTB website increased four-fold and the daily page view increased seven-fold at most; therefore, JTB evaluates BitStar highly for driving a new traffic of young customers.
JTB, also being a LP (limited partner) of the Global Brain’s 6th fund in 20 billion yen ($180 million)-scale, aims to push on business collaborations in attracting foreign visitors and overseas promotion support for the Japanese companies in anticipation of 2020 Tokyo Olympics, for example, the cooperation with Fun Japan Communications, a JTB-affiliated digital marketing company specifically targeting the Asian market.
As seen in cooperation with Toutiao, Bizcast seemingly attempt to advance into the Chinese influencer market as well. There is a possibility that the firm will expand into Taiwan within this year, and may become a competitor of AdAsia Holdings, the leading player in this field. As an aside, AdAsia Holdings announced last week that it appointed a new vice president to enhance the entry into the Taiwanese market.
The following is one of JTB’s video clips that promote travels to Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, made by a BitStar-suggested YouTuber.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Japan’s Recruit Holdings (TSE:6098, hereafter called Recruit) this month held a Demo Day for the 7th batch of its startup accelerator Tech Lab Paak based in Shibuya, Tokyo. 13 teams gave 3-minutes pitches presenting their half-year’s results since joining the program. In addition, 5 teams made 1-minute pitches although they were excluded from the examination, and thereby it became a big pitch event totaling at 18 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. Antti Sonninen (CEO, Slush Tokyo) Nozomi Okuma (TechCrunch Japan) Madoka Sawa (Director, Microsoft Technology Lab., Microsoft Japan) Yoichi Aso (Head of Media Technology Lab., Recruit Holdings) Tech Lab Paak Award: Voicy Supplemental prizes: Amazon gift cards worth 30,000 yen (about $270) and booth exhibition right at Slush Tokyo 2017 Voicy, launched last September, is a content reader mobile app having various voices including professional voice actors/actresses and amateur radio Disc Jockeys. The number of source media increased from 8 upon launch to 25, in addition to the number of channels increasing from 40 to 140….
Japan’s Recruit Holdings (TSE:6098, hereafter called Recruit) this month held a Demo Day for the 7th batch of its startup accelerator Tech Lab Paak based in Shibuya, Tokyo.
13 teams gave 3-minutes pitches presenting their half-year’s results since joining the program. In addition, 5 teams made 1-minute pitches although they were excluded from the examination, and thereby it became a big pitch event totaling at 18 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.
Antti Sonninen (CEO, Slush Tokyo)
Nozomi Okuma (TechCrunch Japan)
Madoka Sawa (Director, Microsoft Technology Lab., Microsoft Japan)
Yoichi Aso (Head of Media Technology Lab., Recruit Holdings)
Tech Lab Paak Award: Voicy
Supplemental prizes: Amazon gift cards worth 30,000 yen (about $270) and booth exhibition right at Slush Tokyo 2017
Voicy, launched last September, is a content reader mobile app having various voices including professional voice actors/actresses and amateur radio Disc Jockeys. The number of source media increased from 8 upon launch to 25, in addition to the number of channels increasing from 40 to 140. Attracting many applicants for the newcomer reader audition, there has been channels full of individuality by amateur to professional readers. The average stay time of the app exceeds 20 minutes in a day, and that may reflect the characteristics of the voice as a unique content.
Regarding the staff composition, Kanta Akiyama who was engaged in the establishment of a startup support project Sankaku at Recruit Career joined the team as COO, and Masayuki Ito who has enough experience of PL (project leader) or PM (project manager) at major IT vendors joined as CIO not to mention the current members at founding / CEO Ogata and CTO Yuji Kubota. This month, the firm announced a renewal of its UI and logo of the app as well as success in angel round-funding from 12 famous individual investors.
Microsoft Award: Fairy 720° by Cuelebre
Supplemental prizes: Pair meal ticket for Kaiseki course dinner, and booth exhibition right at Slush Tokyo 2017
Cuelebre develops a product called Fairy 720° which has the idea of drone plus voice recognition based on a concept of “daily life with a fairy” (fairy referring to the drone). When one uses a voice recognition assistant like Alexa, he / she has to move closer to it or speak as loud as the voice can reach. On the other hand, this device comes close on its own to a place where the user is.
Since the noises generated by drone’s power unit or propeller become an obstacle to the voice recognition process, this device moves silently to the desired location by being suspended from three points on the ceiling with strings and by controlling the tension degree of the string using remote-controlled motors. The team was chosen as a participant in the Program for Dispatching Global Entrepreneurs to the U.S. under the Project for Fostering Global Entrepreneurs run by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and this month exhibited the product at SXSW 2017 held at Austin, Texas.
Slush Tokyo Award: a handwritten-like letter writing service
Supplemental prizes: Sukiyaki set of Matsuzaka beef and booth exhibition right at Slush Tokyo 2017
Hiroshi Sato had hit upon an idea of making a robot write beautiful handwritten-characters and sending them as a letter, and therefore developed this system. At first, it could write Japanese characters only in fixed fonts such as the block style, but Sato succeeded in reproducing a slightly rough style as human handwriting through deforming fonts by its unique character-generation technology. Through results from a questionnaire-type survey, he received some feedbacks requesting a system for handwritten-like sentence styles or illustration, in addition to characters.
Sato’s immediate plans are to patent the character-generation technology and to recruit co-founding members, while securing a seed fund for commercialization. He implied that this service can support many languages other than Japanese if only successful in font customization of his character-generation technology.
TechCrunch Japan Award: a social VR service by Cover
Supplemental prizes: three meal tickets at boat-style restaurant (Yakatabune) Funasei and booth exhibition right at Slush Tokyo 2017
What this VR service is aiming to is largely categorized by two themes: the match game service and the UGC service. The team will take on development of a platform as an Internet service provider rather than as a game developer, and shows its stance in providing a free service continuously, not selling pay-for-play games. The team showed its enthusiasm toward expanding its service to social VR fitness services, VR mahjongg shops or VR experiences at sports centers.
Audience Award: Handful by Craful
Supplemental prize: membership right as a Tech Lab Paak Member
Craful offers online media focused on handicraft field Handful and has currently been posting 100 articles a month, attracting accesses from 500,000 unique users. CEO of Craful Takumi Ohno told that he also enjoys leather crafting as a hobby but had difficulties at the beginning in understanding which materials or tools were required. The firm plans monetization by selling starter kits for handicraft beginners or with an advertisement charge; 95% of the viewers are women with the largest segment being 25 to 44 years old.
The firm also runs CGM (Consumer Generated Media)-type media Craful, allowing users to share photo, idea or method of handicrafts, and fundraised a total of 39.6 million yen (about $360,000) from ES Networks, Colopl Next, SunBridge and Daiwa Corporate Investment this February.
Incidentally, Tech Lab Paak announced this day that it renewed the logo and rearranged the facility space. The new logo, co-produced by Justin Sharp and Junko Ikemura, was chosen as the first prize from submissions from the public. The current logo is designed as a pentagon with a motif of the top view of the building, while the new one is designed as a pentagon with isolated lines.
Aso, who is also Director of Tech Lab Paak, said that it appeals the brand image of Tech Lab Paak that keeps changing continuously by altering a part of the design of the new logo whenever opportunity appears. The logo renewal and the space rearrangement is scheduled in late April. Since no large-scale construction work is needed for the rearrangement, any temporary closing is not planned during the construction term.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Dverse, the Japanese startup focused on developing virtual reality (VR) authoring tools, this Tuesday unveiled its VR browser for construction / civil engineering use, named Symmetry Alpha. One can download the browser from the game software distribution platform Steam. The browser was developed based on Unity platform and is currently available for Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. In the future, it will support other platforms such as Oculus Rift, Android Daydream, Samsung Gear or Microsoft HoloLens. It is not easy to express its excellence in words, as with every new VR solution, and yet Symmetry shows an outstanding vision for enabling users to experience a feel of being teleported into the VR world just by importing CAD (computer-aided design) data in SketchUp files. Although there have been other systems that create perspective drawing from CAD data, and in fact design offices or architects have often used them in order to explain design plans to their clients. However, there is a limit for perspective drawing to express 3D data in 2D images, as well as the problem of the blind spots. Symmetry enables users not only to check the outer appearance but also to…
Tokyo-based Dverse, the Japanese startup focused on developing virtual reality (VR) authoring tools, this Tuesday unveiled its VR browser for construction / civil engineering use, named Symmetry Alpha. One can download the browser from the game software distribution platform Steam. The browser was developed based on Unity platform and is currently available for Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. In the future, it will support other platforms such as Oculus Rift, Android Daydream, Samsung Gear or Microsoft HoloLens.
It is not easy to express its excellence in words, as with every new VR solution, and yet Symmetry shows an outstanding vision for enabling users to experience a feel of being teleported into the VR world just by importing CAD (computer-aided design) data in SketchUp files. Although there have been other systems that create perspective drawing from CAD data, and in fact design offices or architects have often used them in order to explain design plans to their clients. However, there is a limit for perspective drawing to express 3D data in 2D images, as well as the problem of the blind spots. Symmetry enables users not only to check the outer appearance but also to virtually be positioned inside the object and to obtain a panoramic view.
Since launched back in October of 2014, Dverse had fundraised an undisclosed amount from BonAngels Venture Partners and Villing Venture Partners in July of 2015, followed by $104 million from 500 Startups Japan, Colopl VR Fund, KLab Venture Partners, Adways (TSE:2489), Willgroup (TSE:6089), and Slogan, in addition to angel investor Shogo Kawada, in June of 2016. According to Dverse CEO Shogo Numakura, the firm had conducted contract-planning and development of VR software for operational training use as commissioned by major enterprises, but have been focusing on development of Symmetry since around last January.
This day’s launch is a St. Valentine’s Day present to the world. The support languages are not especially limited to VR, so that it can become a solution without language barriers.
Numakura comments on the firm’s view:
I considered using the same approach as Adobe did for Acrobat; we first offered users the use of our browser for free and let them recognize the usefulness of VR in business. We plan to launch an editor (authoring) tool as a premium service during the third quarter. I expect that VR for business use will go into full swing within a few years.
Numakura also said that it is not easy for VR startups to raise funds or to seek new markets domestically only and that he considers overseas development of Dverse as a solution to these problems. The firm plans to establish local offices in Silicon Beach LA (tech startup community based on from Santa Monica to Venice Beach) in the U.S. and in Shoreditch (the up-north area of London’s Tech City) in the UK within the year, as well as one in China, which is showing great performance by VR startups with an eye to the future.
Although the firm does not plan an exhibition at SXSW (South by Southwest), Numakura told us that his company intends to introduce the browser through participation in various startup events or VR-related conferences which will be held within and outside Japan from this Spring.
How can Dverse change the global construction and civil engineering fields? It behooves a close look at their activities.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo’s Shibuya, aka Bit Valley, has long been the home of Japanese startups, with FinTech stationed in Otemachi, hardware in Akihabara, bioscience in Nihonbashi, and so on, but it appears startup hubs are popping up all over the place. So, I wondered where hot topic sectors like virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality related startups are gathering, thus the topic for this article was born. A number of VR arcades have appeared in Seoul and Shanghai and they play a role in introducing VR to general (not VR-savvy or VR-enthusiast) consumers. According to experts, in the US it seems that VR startups are starting to gather around Silicon Beach LA, from Santa Clara which is very near Hollywood (the mecca of the video and entertainment industry) to Venice Beach. In London they are appearing in Shoreditch, an area of Tech City. Is this where Tokyo’s VR startup hubs will gather? I walked around the city over the New Year while mulling this over. Future Tech Hub, an incubation facility specializing in VR, newly opened in December Future Tech Hub is Japan’s first incubation facility specialized in VR, as well as a coworking space…
Tokyo’s Shibuya, aka Bit Valley, has long been the home of Japanese startups, with FinTech stationed in Otemachi, hardware in Akihabara, bioscience in Nihonbashi, and so on, but it appears startup hubs are popping up all over the place. So, I wondered where hot topic sectors like virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality related startups are gathering, thus the topic for this article was born.
A number of VR arcades have appeared in Seoul and Shanghai and they play a role in introducing VR to general (not VR-savvy or VR-enthusiast) consumers. According to experts, in the US it seems that VR startups are starting to gather around Silicon Beach LA, from Santa Clara which is very near Hollywood (the mecca of the video and entertainment industry) to Venice Beach. In London they are appearing in Shoreditch, an area of Tech City.
Is this where Tokyo’s VR startup hubs will gather? I walked around the city over the New Year while mulling this over.
Future Tech Hub, an incubation facility specializing in VR, newly opened in December
VR startups working hard at Future Tech Hub Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Future Tech Hub is Japan’s first incubation facility specialized in VR, as well as a coworking space and opened December 14. It is 5 minutes walking from Kayabacho station. In addition to investing in The Venture Reality Fund, they are operated jointly by Gumi (TSE: 3903) and Breakpoint. Gumi is managed by Tokyo VR Startups, an incubator specializing in VR. Breakpoint has been developing incubation facilities in Tokyo since 2004.
Tokyo VR Startups regularly develop incubation batches, with the Future Tech Hub raising VR startups until they can participate in these batches, the goal being to produce graduates capable of renting their own offices, creating a mutually beneficial relationship. According to Yasuchika Wakayama, CEO of Breakpoint, leading Japanese VR startups Yomuneco (led by journalist Kiyoshi Shin who has written numerous books related to the gaming industry) and Ouka-Ichimon (offering content production and consulting service specializing in the Oculus VR head-mounted display) have set up operations bases there.
Breakpoint CEO Yasuchika Wakayama (right) and Tokyo VR Startups’ Tatsuya Kurohama (left) Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
The theme of incubation is how to raise the business value of a startup in its early stage. Information about what kinds of hardware and software are up and coming filters down to us through our networks and we believe this could be helpful for startups.
Wakayama remarked.
On top of that, one the biggest advantages Silicon Valley has is the close proximity of startups and the market. For example, when an entrepreneur needs to meet with someone from Google to inspect their product, they can do it immediately. And they’ll know who to talk with at Pixar. We want to be able to provide this kind of information and create a similar environment.
He continued.
(In the context of open innovation) We are also getting inquiries from major Japanese companies. We are gathering information on what big companies are looking for in startups so, in turn, startups will be able to launch the products that the market wants more efficiently.
High-spec machines and an area to perform test and demonstrations are necessary when developing VR. At Future Tech Hub they have Galleria gaming computers produced by Thirdwave, HTC Vive from HTC, and cloud services from Amazon Web Services. Tenant startups can use these resources free of charge. Since the studio space for chroma key can be shared by several companies it is also economical.
Among the VR related materials placed by the entrance, there are also documents written by tenants. Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
From Future Tech Hub it is a five minute walk along the Nihonbashi River to the Tokyo VR Startups base of operations, and it is expected that the two will share more than just close proximity. They have the power to function as a coworking space, but they have set the conditions for becoming a tenant high in seeking those that will contribute greatly to the VR startup community. Currently there are four corporations and one individual in fixed seats, with three more corporations in free seats and they want to increase this to 30 teams by the end of the year.
Gumi, which is jointly managing Future Tech Lab indirectly, is also jointly developing an incubation program in Korea called Seoul VR Startups. One foreseeable outcome is that VR startups from Korea in Japan using Future Tech Lab as their base.
While our event space / live streaming studio The Bridge X is situated in Shibuya 2-chome, near Aoyama Gakuin University, at nearly the same time we moved our base there, the VR experience space VR Space opened in the same area. It is produced by serial entrepreneur Akihito Ninomiya, who previously operated the Talentio recruitment service (the hatch that operated Talentio was acquired by Ximera in September 2015).
VR Space offers 6 booths, each with various VR gaming experiences using HTC Vive. (Currently, they are not licensed to use Oculus Rift, which is not available for direct sales to consumers; only HTC Vive is available.) They are in a favorable location facing Aoyama Street, with couples stopping in on dates, and groups of company employees dropping by for a little recreation. Foreign users have also increased, and recently it seems they had to prepare Chinese manuals and customer guides in a rush.
A portion of the VR titles installed on the machine Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
For Ninomiya, VR Space is not only an arcade, but can also be used as a marketing base for developers of VR content, with the expectation that they could create a scale based on the consulting revenue from the B2B business.
Tech Lab Paak, The Roots, and VR Park Tokyo
Outside of VR Park Tokyo Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Recruit Holdings (TSE: 6098) opened its Acceleration Course specializing in VR from the 6th batch of last year’s Tech Lab Paak startup accelerator in Shibuya. Readers may recall that a number of VR startups were introduced during the demo day for the 6th batch.
Additionally, Colopl Next, which is a fund specializing in VR, has developed an incubation space called The Roots in Shibuya. Although The Roots is especially for student entrepreneurship support and is not necessarily a facility for VR startups, some kind of synergy may be expected between the fund specializing in VR and the VR startups they invest in.
Gree (TSE: 3632), a major internet service provider, along with Adores (TSE: 4712), a big name game center operator, opened the VR arcade VR Park Tokyo in Shibuya in December of last year to showcase attractions developed jointly by both companies. In November of 2015, Gree opened Gree VR Studio as a department specializing in the development of VR content, and it appears that the new titles created there can be experienced in Shibuya first. As we could not arrange an interview in time for this article, the interview released by the Japan Times has been posted below.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Lifestyle Design, running the LaFabric online store focused on made-to-measure shirts and custom business suits, based on pre-obtained user measurements stored on the cloud, announced last week that it has completed a 400 million yen (about $3.5 million) funding as the sum of investment and bank borrowings from its current investors: Nissay Capital, IMJ Investment Partners Japan, Chibagin Capital, Future Venture Capital (TSE:8462) and individual investors. The individual investors include Kotaro Chiba, who is founder of Colopl and currently an angel investor, and Shingo Iwata, who is CEO of Gifu-based manufacturer Mitsu-boshi Textile Group. The money secured this time will be used for enhancement of the firm’s organization, expansion of the customized-apparel business and development of a production platform. A newcomer utilizing online takes the next step. To fathom what LaFabric is aiming for, it may be helpful to understand the keyword D2C (Direct to Consumer). It is a kind of direct sales style, but seeks a business model different from just optimization with disintermediation by owning highly-detailed personal data including physical information and preferences. Other than LaFabric, Japan’s apparel brand Factelier or online glasses marketplace Oh My Glasses are known as domestic…
Tokyo-based Lifestyle Design, running the LaFabric online store focused on made-to-measure shirts and custom business suits, based on pre-obtained user measurements stored on the cloud, announced last week that it has completed a 400 million yen (about $3.5 million) funding as the sum of investment and bank borrowings from its current investors: Nissay Capital, IMJ Investment Partners Japan, Chibagin Capital, Future Venture Capital (TSE:8462) and individual investors.
The individual investors include Kotaro Chiba, who is founder of Colopl and currently an angel investor, and Shingo Iwata, who is CEO of Gifu-based manufacturer Mitsu-boshi Textile Group. The money secured this time will be used for enhancement of the firm’s organization, expansion of the customized-apparel business and development of a production platform.
A newcomer utilizing online takes the next step.
To fathom what LaFabric is aiming for, it may be helpful to understand the keyword D2C (Direct to Consumer). It is a kind of direct sales style, but seeks a business model different from just optimization with disintermediation by owning highly-detailed personal data including physical information and preferences. Other than LaFabric, Japan’s apparel brand Factelier or online glasses marketplace Oh My Glasses are known as domestic players in this field.
As social media has developed, the stage finally seems set for emerging players like them. Lifestyle Design aims to keep abreast with this trend. According to CEO Yuichiro Mori, the number of repeat customers are steadily increasing as three years have passed since the service launch.
He said:
90% of users who had purchased tailored clothing at stores purchased our products repeatedly online. Shirts had been much popular before, but recently the sales weight is shifting to suits and the sales amounts of the two have become reversed. The average price of suits are about 40,000 yen (about $350).
When the service was started, “the first measurement problem” was concerned; I also doubted if the service will become common due to the extraordinarily high hurdle for the first measurement. However, this problem was slightly solved through sales promotion at real retailers or pop-up stores. There was no easy way but steady business activities have eventually worked effectively.
In addition, sales promotion as a strong brand is required for D2C business as a matter of course. Although once the firm had regarded customer trends as one category of a periodically purchasing, the quality of the products is rarely ignored just because it is easy to order having pre-measured data in such an expensive apparel business. Mori has a strong preference as to this point.
He continued:
We do not only stock products directly from sewing factories, but also undertake joint development of clothing materials. For example, see washable suits of THE TECH series. We aimed at what you put into washing machines and can wear on the next day. THE SOCIAL series dyed with natural blueberry are popular among IT people due to its denim-like feel.
Besides this, THE ROOTS series, using a fabric manufactured at factories in Gifu Prefecture, are produced by a streamline method from filature to dyeing, making the clothing have a story as an addition value. Mori says that “experience” like the story will be an important point required for D2C in the future, in addition to production areas, factories and the accumulation of all sorts of user data. By the way, Lifestyle Design have been partnered with more than 100 filature / garment factories.
Mori said that the firm will develop a platform based on the ecosystem which it has gradually constructed.
He added:
After the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, more and more people discovered or re-acknowledged the merit of the Japanese manufacturing. I also found a lot of great products all over Japan while going the rounds of factories or production areas. However, the manufactures have been losing the power to spread their products. Indeed the first measurement of our service may be troublesome, but once you registered, we can improve the convenience or the excellence in experiences from the next time. Three or five years later, I expect that most people become to transfer their physical data to online.
Once a factory receives the clothing data ordered by a user with smartphones, a product tailored in the unique partner factory will be delivered. Mori notes that craftsmanship is still necessary upon cutting or detailed works. This topic showed us that the backside of an emerging brand is established by a combination of human and technologies.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Correction: In the first paragraph, there was an error in the number of digits of the funding amount in the original currency. (Updated on February 2nd at 2pm JST) Tokyo-based Xtreme Design, the Japanese startup cloud-based virtual supercomputing on-demand service called Xtreme DNA, announced on Tuesday that it has fundraised 70 million yen (about $620,000) in its pre-series A round. This round is led by Freebit Investment and includes individual investors, namely Kotaro Chiba (former Vice President of Japanese mobile game developer Colopl) and Yasumasa Manabe (CEO of Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railway). This funding is subsequent to the one of 30 million yen (about $260,000) conducted last January and March from its founders and angel investors. Xtreme Design started in February of 2015. On November of the following year, it demonstrated Xtreme DNA at the global supercomputer conference SuperComputing 2016, providing an unmanned service of operations monitoring / dynamic change of the configuration for effective system utilization of supercomputers by deploying virtual supercomputers on the cloud. According to CEO Naoki Shibata, functions of Xtreme DNA have been attracting a lot of attention as IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) from enterprise users, showing “so good sales.”…
Correction: In the first paragraph, there was an error in the number of digits of the funding amount in the original currency. (Updated on February 2nd at 2pm JST)
Tokyo-based Xtreme Design, the Japanese startup cloud-based virtual supercomputing on-demand service called Xtreme DNA, announced on Tuesday that it has fundraised 70 million yen (about $620,000) in its pre-series A round. This round is led by Freebit Investment and includes individual investors, namely Kotaro Chiba (former Vice President of Japanese mobile game developer Colopl) and Yasumasa Manabe (CEO of Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railway). This funding is subsequent to the one of 30 million yen (about $260,000) conducted last January and March from its founders and angel investors.
Xtreme Design started in February of 2015. On November of the following year, it demonstrated Xtreme DNA at the global supercomputer conference SuperComputing 2016, providing an unmanned service of operations monitoring / dynamic change of the configuration for effective system utilization of supercomputers by deploying virtual supercomputers on the cloud.
Te Xtreme Design team at SuperComputing 2016. Image credit: Xtreme Design
According to CEO Naoki Shibata, functions of Xtreme DNA have been attracting a lot of attention as IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) from enterprise users, showing “so good sales.” It is available for Microsoft Azure supporting InfiniBand (a high-speed bus architecture between servers and clusters), and is also used on AWS (Amazon Web Service) by purchasing spot instances in some cases due to costs and convenience (on AWS, it is implemented in an environment interconnected via 10Gbps Ethernet on behalf of InfiniBand).
The firm has a neutral standpoint on cloud sevices which XTREME DNA supports. The know-how to yield the best performance on the cloud shows the true worth of Shibata and his team who had been involved in development and operation of supercomputers for many years.
CEO Naoki Shibata appeared at a pitch competition held at Tech in Asia Tokyo 2016 in September of 2016. Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Although Xtreme Design has been focused on back-end technologies, it appears to be switching gears for the next stage, as can be called “Xtreme DNA 2.0.” Shibata explains the attempt to supplement the visualization with well-designed UI/UX (user interface / user experience) to Xtreme DNA.
Shibata said:
We plan to develop our service to be used not only in genome or simulation analysis but also in various fields such as IoT (Internet of Things), image analysis or stock price prediction in FinTech. The purpose of UI/UX implementation is to make it easier to be used by a wide range of users.
Although a few startups exist in the US seemingly providing competitive services, Shibata expects that Xtreme Design can win out if a good product with UI/UX can be offered. With a view of dominating the global market, the brand-new Xtreme DNA is scheduled to be exhibited at the SXSW Trade Show which will be held in Austin, Texas from March 10th.
Regarding the funding this time, we can easily imagine a business synergy between Xtreme Design and Freebit (TSE:3843), which is the parent company of lead investor Freebit Investment providing IaaS as its business. The participation of Chiba and Manabe was due to both wishing to be involved in its business development. Since Chiba had invested in startups dealing with Big Data, the synergy in this field can be expected as well.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy, Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Japan’s Recruit Holdings (TSE:6098) held last month a Demo Day for the 6th batch of its startup accelerator Tech Lab Paak in Shibuya, Tokyo. Six teams in the regular course and six teams in the VR (virtual reality) course made three-minute pitches presenting their half year results since joining the program. In addition, other nine teams made one-minute pitches which can be voted for the Audience Award although they were excluded from examination by judges, and thereby it became a big pitch event having 21 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 in the event. Shintaro Yamagami (CEO, Colopl Next) Shinichiro Isago (Director, Business Strategy, LINE) Hiroshi Hata (Startup Business Development Manager, Amazon Web Services Japan) Yohei Sawayama (Managing Partner, 500 Startups Japan) Yoichi Aso (Head of Media Technology Lab., Recruit Holdings) Tech Lab Paak Award: HoloEyes Supplemental prize: pair meal ticket for a hotel dinner HoloEyes aims to make an information revolution in the medical field using VR. The firm was founded by engineer Naoji Taniguchi and…
Japan’s Recruit Holdings (TSE:6098) held last month a Demo Day for the 6th batch of its startup accelerator Tech Lab Paak in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Six teams in the regular course and six teams in the VR (virtual reality) course made three-minute pitches presenting their half year results since joining the program. In addition, other nine teams made one-minute pitches which can be voted for the Audience Award although they were excluded from examination by judges, and thereby it became a big pitch event having 21 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 in the event.
Shintaro Yamagami (CEO, Colopl Next)
Shinichiro Isago (Director, Business Strategy, LINE)
Hiroshi Hata (Startup Business Development Manager, Amazon Web Services Japan)
Yoichi Aso (Head of Media Technology Lab., Recruit Holdings)
Tech Lab Paak Award: HoloEyes
Supplemental prize: pair meal ticket for a hotel dinner
HoloEyes aims to make an information revolution in the medical field using VR. The firm was founded by engineer Naoji Taniguchi and surgeon Maki Sugimoto (Associate Professor, International University of Health and Welfare Graduate School). The technology will be helpful for the medical world by sharing information of human bodies as 3DVR form.
The medical VR database will be constructed through collection of CT scan data and forming 3D human body models, while accumulating thereof. If searching a term “male, 60s, prostate cancer,” 3D images of matched cases will be output. Doctors can utilize them for diagnosis references of similar cases or training upon surgical operations.
The firm expects a business model providing VR viewers for hospitals and selling collected data after obtaining patients’ consent to medical colleges or pharmaceutical companies.
500 Startups Award: MacroSpace
Supplemental prizes: meal tickets worth 30,000 yen
MacroSpace develops a system for the tele-existence. With this system, users wearing sensors attached to the bodies can control remote robots with the users’ same motion via Internet. The existence of avatars in different places may realize “transportation”; tele-diagnosis or tele-education will become possible technically by setting avatars in depopulated areas lack of doctors or teachers. Since the size of robots is independent of the human body, larger robots can be controlled by users so that it can be also utilized for disaster rescues, for example.
The developer Sho Nakanose likened the possibility of tel-existence robots: “everyone can become ironman or cyborg”. The MacroSpace team aims to participate and win the tel-existence-focused global competition ANA Avatar XPRIZE which will be held in the US in 2020 with a total amount of prize money of $21 million. The firm had fundraised 15 million yen (about $130,000) in its seed round from Skyland Ventures and others.
Supplemental prize: Apple Store gift cards worth 30,000 yen
Sometimes it is difficult to subtle nuances or contexts accurately in communication with videos or voices such as Skype, as compared to face-to-face communication. Paneo supplements the insufficient parts of the online communication and provides an environment where you do not always have to meet and talk directly.
Although Microsoft has been developing a real-time rendering system using plural Kinect for 3D capturing of human bodies, it is not easy method due to requiring complicated preparation or environment as well as specialized studios. Facebook has been making similar efforts using Oculus also, but it is poor in expressing presences or takes time to create 3D models.
Paneo develops Embody Me which enables an easy creation of 3D models from face photos and allows a group chat system with them. It creates 3D motion pictures based on user’s movement captured by camera, and transfers them to the opposite party in real-time. The team plans to launch its flagship app for HTC Vive or Oculus Rift in early 2017.
LINE Award: Orario
Supplemental prize: a set of uncut boiled snow crab
Hiroki Yoshimoto who is a student of Ritsumeikan University had felt dissatisfaction with that information services provided by the university were scattered and not even be optimized for smartphones, so he started development of Orario. By registering log-in information for the university’s portal website, it gathers information by web scraping and displays information such as canceled classes or supplementary classes on the mobile app for each student.
35,000 students are enrolled in Ritsumeikan University, and the number of monthly active user of the app from the university reaches 18,000. The app is currently available for 8 universities and the team plans to cover 70% of student information for Japan’s top universities by next March. The app has a notebook / resume sharing function among students in the same classes, and the team aims to monetize by setting up a marketplace for trading these class materials in January or implementing a direct recruiting function targeting companies in the future.
Additionally, the team announced that it had raised 20 million yen (about $170,000) from a Japanese consulting firm Vector (TSE:6058) in December, seemingly in its seed round.
AWS Award: OTON GLASS
Supplemental prizes: Amazon gift cards worth 30,000 yen and a lunch ticket for Amazon cafeteria
The founder of OTON GLASS had started development of the device under the same name because his father suffered from dyslexia, and subsequently the firm completed its 9th prototype with support from people with dyslexia and amblyopia. OTON GLASS recognizes what the user is looking at as visual information and reads them out with a voice through character recognition in order to help the weak-eyed people’ understanding. The firm also develops a translated reader function for non-Japanese users and another glass device named JINRIKI GLASS which forwards images to remote people to have the characters read out.
Supplemental prize: a visit right for Microsoft Japan’s Technology Center led by its Director Madoka Sawa
Psychic VR Lab develops a VR shopping platform focusing on fashion named Styly which conveys the appeal inherent in fashion items or fashion brands’ views online. Currently, about 30 brands have been took part in its test, and a virtual shopping demonstration with Styly at the Isetan department store in Shinjuku last year.
Although the service had been assumed to be used only in an environment well-equipped VR devices due to the popularization of VR, as it has become much easier for consumer users to prepare VR environment, the firm will intend to create services allowing VR experiences even with general PCs.
In this event, Psychic VR Lab revealed that it had fundraised an undisclosed amount from Colopl VR Fund and others in its seed round.
See the original story in Japanese. A former student entrepreneur has returned to the startup scene in order to challenge global issues. In 1995 Takeshi TED Homma was a student entrepreneur working with the early internet doing web design and development. He followed this by playing active roles at Sony and Rakuten, and recently talked with The Bridge about a new startup he is working on. HOMMA, the startup, tackles issues related to “the home.” As is written on their website “Redefining our standard of living,” it is an ambitious project to create a new vision of the future with regards to the necessities of life. Homma had never contemplated a return to entrepreneurship, but a single opportunity presented him with the chance to get back to the startup world. He said: I was thinking of buying a house, but it would take few years to complete. That’s a few years. In Japan it would only take a matter of months. And what’s more, it would be very expensive. I tried to find a solution, thinking there must be one. But no. That’s what got me thinking. But it would take Homma nearly 2 years to reacclimate himself back into…
A former student entrepreneur has returned to the startup scene in order to challenge global issues.
In 1995 Takeshi TED Homma was a student entrepreneur working with the early internet doing web design and development. He followed this by playing active roles at Sony and Rakuten, and recently talked with The Bridge about a new startup he is working on.
HOMMA, the startup, tackles issues related to “the home.” As is written on their website “Redefining our standard of living,” it is an ambitious project to create a new vision of the future with regards to the necessities of life. Homma had never contemplated a return to entrepreneurship, but a single opportunity presented him with the chance to get back to the startup world.
He said:
I was thinking of buying a house, but it would take few years to complete. That’s a few years. In Japan it would only take a matter of months. And what’s more, it would be very expensive. I tried to find a solution, thinking there must be one. But no. That’s what got me thinking.
But it would take Homma nearly 2 years to reacclimate himself back into the entrepreneurial world.
He continued:
Is this really necessary? Is there no solution? Since there was no need to rush I focused intensely on preparing. At the same time, I never went so far as to say this about the entrepreneurial pursuits of my 20s, but somewhere I think maybe there was a part of me doing it for self-actualization too. But this time I had a clear vision and that’s how the decision came to me to spend what’s left of my life doing something for society. So that’s why I’m doing this.
The vision of a new lifestyle, especially the innovation of daily living, is what convinced the self-questioning Homma.
He added:
It took 100 years for the telephone to become the iPhone. 100 years later and Ford cars have evolved into Tesla. But what about homes? Have they changed in 100 years?
Homma used the phrase “a housing version of Tesla” so that even I could easily understand his meaning, but with just 5 words the view of the world that he is trying to achieve spawned endless possibilities. He originally began due to the fact that houses are expensive and take years to finish, but solving these problems will result in “homes becoming more fun”.
Their task is to make houses smart. If their goal is to summit the mountain, they are still at the foot, perhaps having approached the first station.
Regarding funding, Mistletoe, B Dash Ventures, Genuine Startups, 500 Startups Japan, East Ventures, Draper Nexus, and architectural firm KMDW participated in the seed round. The prominent lineup of individual investors starts with Hiroshi Mikitani (co-founder and CEO of Rakuten), and includes Tomohito Ebine (founder of Opt), Shintaro Yamada (CEO of Mercari), Hirokazu Mashita (founder and director of m&s partners), Hiroaki Yasutake (former managing executive director of Rakuten), Kotaro Chiba (co-founder of Colopl), Hollywood-based film producer Masi Oka.
The company raised $4.1 million in capital. This is an extraordinary amount to raise at the seed stage for a Japanese startup, but is appropriate when you consider them trying their hand on the world playing field. Furthermore, he is gathering members that sympathize with his vision who joined from companies such as Apple, Tesla, Amazon and Disney. Their current team of 7 members is working full time to prepare their product at their headquarters in Silicon Valley.
So, what image of the future are they trying to paint? What is their current situation?
As they are in stealth mode, and also currently still verifying whether the product lives up to Homma’s vision of the “new home,” a precise answer to these questions will take a little more time. However, he was able to talk about challenges with current devices for so-called “smart homes.”
He said:
The so-called ‘smart home’ market is a power struggle between big players like Google, Apple, and Samsung. As a result there are lots of apps and plenty of devices too. I’ve tried them out, but after taking out my smartphone and opening an app that shows battery level, the login screen comes up. (And I think) ‘So, when is the battery going to run out?’
If you ask Homma, at the moment the solutions are not at all useful, and there are three big problems to consider with the current smart home market.
He continued:
First, with smart homes you always have the issue of controls. But this is merely a discussion of on/off and adjustments. Not interesting at all. Next, the level of integration is low. For example, you add a thermostat, but the cooperation with the house is low. As a result we’re not able to do much. Finally, the third problem is communication. If you have 100 smart light bulbs and replace the router, you have to reset everything from scratch. If you use all-purpose Wifi and BLE problems in stability will arise.
Homma disclosed that if he had to choose one way of advocating smart home platforms, as opposed to the direction of horizontal development that Samsung chose in acquiring SmartThings for $200 million, he envisions a model similar to Apple’s or Tesla’s where everything from devices to software are vertically integrated. However, he intercedes that in everything there are a series of stages to go through to achieve goals.
He explained:
Time is the problem. For example, to build a house from ground up takes a long time. We have to think about it together with a scalable deployment. Take the iPod as an example; first, you make the software and the rest comes along after that, or Tesla that started by developing batteries.
But while listening to him speak I couldn’t help but imagine a lifestyle like those portrayed in 2001: A Space Odyssey or works by Osamu Tezuka. With childlike excitement that I couldn’t contain, I felt that I want to experience it as quickly as possible, and now Homma and his team are preparing to make it real.
It takes a little more, for Homma as well, to imagine the collection of big data, that is mass data taken from sensors, from these houses. But, with this as a basis, houses using artificial intelligence for home controls are something he is conscious of. In the past, this field has seen challengers in the area of communication robots here and there, with voice recognition controls by major home appliance makers and more recently in Vinclu’s Gatebox.
In other words, you arrive home and when you announce, “I’m home,” a robot turns on the lights while scanning your face for user recognition, and then uses your social data to recommend your favorite TV show–this is a glimpse of the world view. On top of allowing this to more fully develop, they will more intimately integrate with “the home itself.”
Maybe an autonomous driving house. — To borrow Homma’s words, perhaps in the future we may come into contact with such a product.
The reasons for focusing on Silicon Valley while facing the world playing field are its continued growth in population, high talent level of the population, and Homma remarked whoever is left standing here can become the “world standard.”
Nearly 20 years have passed since his days as a student entrepreneur.
Actually, I really thought someone would appear and solve this problem. But no one showed up so I’m going to do it.
Homma said this with a gleam in his eye, like someone ready and even eager to tackle all future obstacles.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based InstaVR, providing a VR (virtual reality) authoring tool capable of creation / distribution / analysis of 360-degree view content under the same name, this week announced that it has secured about 200 million yen (about $2 million) in the latest round. This round was led by Gree Ventures with participating from Colopl VR Fund, the investment arm of Japanese mobile gaming developer Colopl (TSE:3668) but details of the allotment ratio of shares or payment date have been undisclosed. The firm had been born from the first batch of Tokyo VR Startups, an acceleration program led by Japanese gaming developer Gumi (TSE:3903) and focused on nourishing VR / AR (augmented reality) startups. InstaVR is a web-based creation tool for 360-degree content. For example, it is available for virtual preliminary inspection of apartment rooms to be constructed, by combining image videos or 360-degree image materials. It enables setting of various call-to-action buttons to play YouTube videos when clicked or to link them to next scenes / places as if ‘warping’ and thereby allows more interactive materials to be created. The completed contents are outputted as apps playable on a unique player and are available for…
Tokyo-based InstaVR, providing a VR (virtual reality) authoring tool capable of creation / distribution / analysis of 360-degree view content under the same name, this week announced that it has secured about 200 million yen (about $2 million) in the latest round.
This round was led by Gree Ventures with participating from Colopl VR Fund, the investment arm of Japanese mobile gaming developer Colopl (TSE:3668) but details of the allotment ratio of shares or payment date have been undisclosed. The firm had been born from the first batch of Tokyo VR Startups, an acceleration program led by Japanese gaming developer Gumi (TSE:3903) and focused on nourishing VR / AR (augmented reality) startups.
InstaVR is a web-based creation tool for 360-degree content. For example, it is available for virtual preliminary inspection of apartment rooms to be constructed, by combining image videos or 360-degree image materials. It enables setting of various call-to-action buttons to play YouTube videos when clicked or to link them to next scenes / places as if ‘warping’ and thereby allows more interactive materials to be created.
The completed contents are outputted as apps playable on a unique player and are available for iOS, Android or GearVR. Also the contents can be embedded into webpages as in the following image (it can shift right and left by clicking).
As one of the InstaVR’s characteristic functions, it supports heat map analysis enabling optimization of click-link buttons arrangement or investigation for the next content through analysis of points ‘where users looked,’ which may be determined only with VR experience.
Until now, InstaVR has been used by 1,800 companies in 100 countries around the world since its launch in January of 2016, and been implemented in a wide range of business fields such as tourism industry including Smithsonian Museum, construction industry, content creation companies for marketing and advertising agencies.
The firm was established by CEO Hiroyuki Haga in 2015 December. The InstaVR tool is originated in a ‘free tool’ developed by him in 2014; he had formerly played important roles as an engineer at 3D authoring tool developer Autodesk and Gree (TSE:3632).
Haga commented:
As the free tool is downloaded, sometime I have been asked from users to help with creation of VR content due to its difficulty. The tool was for creating VR content just by using Excel, and I incorporated all of these know-how into InstaVR.
Authoring tool is one of the major fields in the VR / AR industry landscape.
There are various creation platforms, like high-end type providing high-performance camera / stitching (joining 360-degree contents together) / distribution as vertical integration service such as Jaunt or NextVR, or a type available for lots of 3D objects similar to Marxent, but there are no tools that equal InstaVR in enabling creation / distribution of lighter content on the web.
The monthly charge for the premium version of InstaVR is $199. The firm will continue with development using the secured funds and aims at implementation in 10,000 companies within this year.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
colopl 
The Bridge
Masaru Ikeda
Takeshi Hirano
