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Japan’s parking lot sharing platform Akippa raises $7.4M, unveils IoT gate control system

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See the original story in Japanese. Akippa, which provides a peer-to-peer sharing and reservation service for car parking, announced that it has successfully raised funds and entered into new business alliances. Japan Post Holdings, JR East Startup Program, Nippon Rent-a-car, Fukuoka Financial Group Venture Business Partners, Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting, and Chishima Real Estate joined existing investor Sumitomo Corporation bringing the total to seven participating companies. The total amount raised this time was 810 million yen (about $7.4M US) and it brought the cumulative amount raised to $2.4 billion yen (nearly $22M US). In addition to improving the service, Akippa aims to use the funds raised to build a new mobility platform. Prior to this release, the company had also announced Share Gate, a control system for parking lots using IoT gates, in collaboration with electronic key developer/supplier Art. The system can be installed at the entrance/exit of gated parking lots. Until now, parking lots that could use Akippa were limited to those without gates due to the problem of arranging entering and exiting. By using the system, Akippa users can book a parking space, connect to the system via Bluetooth, enter the access code generated by the app, and successfully open…

Akippa CEO Genki Kanaya

See the original story in Japanese.

Akippa, which provides a peer-to-peer sharing and reservation service for car parking, announced that it has successfully raised funds and entered into new business alliances. Japan Post Holdings, JR East Startup Program, Nippon Rent-a-car, Fukuoka Financial Group Venture Business Partners, Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting, and Chishima Real Estate joined existing investor Sumitomo Corporation bringing the total to seven participating companies. The total amount raised this time was 810 million yen (about $7.4M US) and it brought the cumulative amount raised to $2.4 billion yen (nearly $22M US).

In addition to improving the service, Akippa aims to use the funds raised to build a new mobility platform.

Prior to this release, the company had also announced Share Gate, a control system for parking lots using IoT gates, in collaboration with electronic key developer/supplier Art.

The system can be installed at the entrance/exit of gated parking lots. Until now, parking lots that could use Akippa were limited to those without gates due to the problem of arranging entering and exiting. By using the system, Akippa users can book a parking space, connect to the system via Bluetooth, enter the access code generated by the app, and successfully open and close the gates. As a result, even in unmanned parking lots the company can provide advance booking and smart settlement.

With the development of Share Gate, parking lot operators can also use Akippa to rent out parking lots during times of low occupancy. The initial cost of the device is 200,000 yen (about $1,800 US), and installation is an additional 50,000 yen ($457 US). Monthly maintenance is free and the contract period is for two years. However, if a company signs a contract within 2018 all of these costs will be born by Akippa, effectively making it free. Art provides the terminal maintenance. At the time of the release, Daiwa House Parking, Daiwa Lease, and  Izumi Parking had all introduced it.

Akippa aims for MaaS–The Future of an “Akippa ID” Platform

Akippa announced a large funding. It is the first news released in nearly one and a half years, the last being December 2016 with the announcement of its alliance with Toyota. Currently Akippa has 700,000 users and the number of available parking spaces has grown to 20,000. By contrast, the competition among parking sharing is getting more intense. One symbolic example is Softbank’s entry in April of this year.

How does the leader in user numbers, Akippa, dodge the advancement of large companies? CEO Genki Kanaya said the answer lies in the expanded use of Akippa ID.

Kanaya says:

In terms of our business plan, we’ve seen (a growth curve). Our sales prediction includes roughly 1/5th of the coin parking market.

According to Kanaya, the company will continue to push the current Akippa service, and with the acquired user IDs it plans to provide other services. One example he put forward was peer-to-peer car sharing, or other experiences centered around “movement”. While still in the concept stage, the strategy is to construct a mobility platform and involve many external companies.

For example, along with Nippon Rent-a-car, which they aligned with this time, it will take steps to promote sharing the vacant spaces of car rental lots, and through sharing IDs, encourage mutual use among current users.

In the future, the company will expand the parking spots to 100,000 by 2020 and advance the construction of a conceptual mobility platform.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

Japan’s parking lot sharing platform Akippa secures additional funding from DeNA

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See the original story in Japanese. Galaxy Agency, a Japanese startup behind peer-to-peer parking lot sharing platform Akippa, announced on Monday that it has fundraised an undisclosed sum from Japanese Internet giant DeNA. Details about this round have not been disclosed, but the company has fundraised a total of 300 million yen ($3 million) since their launch, including 65 million yen ($650,000) from Jafco in September 2012, as well as an undisclosed sum from DeNA, Enigmo co-CEO Shokei Suda and other angel investors in 2014. See also: Japan’s Airbnb for parking spaces ‘Akippa’ fundraises from DeNA and angel investors Japan’s Akippa and Uber teamed up, proposing park-and-ride option for car owners Galaxy Agency will use the funds to strengthen marketing by increasing product listing ads and media exposure. Since its launch in April, they have acquired many parking lot owners. CEO Genki Kanaya said that the number of parking lots available on the platform as of September has tripled since August. We are focused on acquiring parking lots in areas where user demand is high, such as city centers and near sports stadiums. For instance, there were only three parking complexes available within 1.8 kilometers of Nagai Stadium, but via…

akippa_featuredimage

See the original story in Japanese.

Galaxy Agency, a Japanese startup behind peer-to-peer parking lot sharing platform Akippa, announced on Monday that it has fundraised an undisclosed sum from Japanese Internet giant DeNA. Details about this round have not been disclosed, but the company has fundraised a total of 300 million yen ($3 million) since their launch, including 65 million yen ($650,000) from Jafco in September 2012, as well as an undisclosed sum from DeNA, Enigmo co-CEO Shokei Suda and other angel investors in 2014.

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Galaxy Agency will use the funds to strengthen marketing by increasing product listing ads and media exposure. Since its launch in April, they have acquired many parking lot owners. CEO Genki Kanaya said that the number of parking lots available on the platform as of September has tripled since August.

We are focused on acquiring parking lots in areas where user demand is high, such as city centers and near sports stadiums. For instance, there were only three parking complexes available within 1.8 kilometers of Nagai Stadium, but via our platform this number has increased fivefold to 15 parking complexes.

In addition to Akippa, Galaxy Company has been providing several online services such as part-time job board Rebaito, so they have an excellent reputation for strong sales. The company had been allocating almost 50% of their sales team to Akippa, but has raised this to 80% since August in order to boost marketing.

They plan to use the additional funding to launch a new C2C-based service in November to solve parking problems by leveraging the spare time of individuals, Kanaya said.

Finding a parking space is an issue everywhere in the world. It will be interesting to see how the Galaxy Agency team markets their solution to car owners not only in Japan but also the rest of the world.

Japan’s Akippa and Uber teamed up, proposing park-and-ride option for car owners

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This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese. Japan’s peer-to-peer parking lot sharing platform Akippa announced on Friday that it has launched a joint promotion campaign with Uber so that Akippa users can receive a complimentary first ride worth 4,000 yen (about $38) with Uber hired cabs. See also: Japan’s Airbnb for parking spaces ‘Akippa’ fundraises from DeNA and angel investors This campaign aims to give users more options to transport in central Tokyo areas. When you are going to a big event or conference in these areas by car, you may not always easily find an avaiable parking lot near the venue. However, if you alternatively park a car a bit far from the venue, you will need to take time to move from the parking lot to the venue. With the campaign, Uber wants to propose a new user experience where you can park a car at a parking lot using Akippa and then use Uber get to the final destination. As many city dwellers in Japan know, parking a car in the central urban areas may cost as high as more than $10 per hour, which is difficult to use to park over several…

uber-akippa_featuredimage

This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese.

Japan’s peer-to-peer parking lot sharing platform Akippa announced on Friday that it has launched a joint promotion campaign with Uber so that Akippa users can receive a complimentary first ride worth 4,000 yen (about $38) with Uber hired cabs.

See also:

This campaign aims to give users more options to transport in central Tokyo areas. When you are going to a big event or conference in these areas by car, you may not always easily find an avaiable parking lot near the venue. However, if you alternatively park a car a bit far from the venue, you will need to take time to move from the parking lot to the venue. With the campaign, Uber wants to propose a new user experience where you can park a car at a parking lot using Akippa and then use Uber get to the final destination.

As many city dwellers in Japan know, parking a car in the central urban areas may cost as high as more than $10 per hour, which is difficult to use to park over several hours. Akippa wants to address parking issues for car owners in the urban areas, so both companies have agreed to launch this promotion campaign together. The campaign is effective until the end of October.

Japan’s Airbnb for parking spaces ‘Akippa’ fundraises from DeNA and angel investors

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This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese. Osaka-based Galaxy Agency, the startup that operates online peer-to-peer parking lot sharing platform Akippa and several online job sites, announced today it has fundraised from DeNA (TSE:2432) and several angel investors including Shokei Suda, co-founder of Japanese internet service company Enigmo (TSE:3665). Details of the investment have not yet been disclosed but it’s likely be several hundred thousand US dollars. This follows their previous funding of 65 million yen (about $650,000) from Japanese investment firm Jafco back in September 2012. Akippa helps customers find an available parking space online. When you book a time slot for it using your desktop or smartphone, you will be allowed to park your car there by paying up to 500 yen ($5) a day. It also allows parking lot owners to easily manage their venues via the platform as well. At the time of its launch back in April, Akippa started offering over 30,000 available parking lots nationwide. Using the funds raised at this time, the company plans to intensify efforts to acquire new users, such as by offering discount codes to their existing users when their friends sign up for the service….

akippa_featuredimage

This is the abridged version of our original article in Japanese.

Osaka-based Galaxy Agency, the startup that operates online peer-to-peer parking lot sharing platform Akippa and several online job sites, announced today it has fundraised from DeNA (TSE:2432) and several angel investors including Shokei Suda, co-founder of Japanese internet service company Enigmo (TSE:3665). Details of the investment have not yet been disclosed but it’s likely be several hundred thousand US dollars. This follows their previous funding of 65 million yen (about $650,000) from Japanese investment firm Jafco back in September 2012.

Akippa helps customers find an available parking space online. When you book a time slot for it using your desktop or smartphone, you will be allowed to park your car there by paying up to 500 yen ($5) a day. It also allows parking lot owners to easily manage their venues via the platform as well.

At the time of its launch back in April, Akippa started offering over 30,000 available parking lots nationwide. Using the funds raised at this time, the company plans to intensify efforts to acquire new users, such as by offering discount codes to their existing users when their friends sign up for the service.

Galaxy Agency CEO Genki Kanaya explained how they will proceed with the business:

We’ll be focused on providing more parking lots in areas in high demand as well as user acquisition. […] Our platform is a web app for now, but we’re planning to hire several engineers to develop native apps for mobile. We’ll introduce an iOS app early next month, and an Android version will also follow soon.

The company is planning to partner with car-rental and car-sharing companies because their typical users have no parking space at home but frequently use rental or sharing services for short outings. It will be interesting to see how they will fare in the shared-economy industry.

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