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Japan’s Beenos founder Teru Sato and partner Hiro Maeda form new $60M fund

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See the original story in Japanese. The founder of Beenos (TSE: 3328), Teruhide Sato, who has been active in funding startups primarily in Asia recently established a new fund called Beenext. Additionally, on September 7th, it was announced that Beenos will be investing $500,000 $5 million in Beenext. Hiro Maeda, who for a long time has been active in investments with Beenos and acceleration programs with Open Network Lab, will take the position of partner at Beenext. In the future, Beenext will hold talks featuring discussions of investment strategy from the two investment partners who are busily flying all over the world. No limit in choice Generally, within funding there is something called investment territory. Whether by area, industry field, or funding round, however you slice it, the ways that recipients of funding are decided vary greatly depending on the fund. There are several merits to this, two major ones being the ability to leverage the expertise of partners who judge funding, and also that it’s easy for LPs (limited partners) to construct a portfolio. However it can’t be denied that in this case, funds that follow the rules may risk missing out on business opportunities. According to Beenext’s managing…

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From the left: Beenext managing partner Teruhide Sato, partner Hiro Maeda

See the original story in Japanese.

The founder of Beenos (TSE: 3328), Teruhide Sato, who has been active in funding startups primarily in Asia recently established a new fund called Beenext. Additionally, on September 7th, it was announced that Beenos will be investing $500,000 $5 million in Beenext.

Hiro Maeda, who for a long time has been active in investments with Beenos and acceleration programs with Open Network Lab, will take the position of partner at Beenext. In the future, Beenext will hold talks featuring discussions of investment strategy from the two investment partners who are busily flying all over the world.

No limit in choice

Generally, within funding there is something called investment territory. Whether by area, industry field, or funding round, however you slice it, the ways that recipients of funding are decided vary greatly depending on the fund. There are several merits to this, two major ones being the ability to leverage the expertise of partners who judge funding, and also that it’s easy for LPs (limited partners) to construct a portfolio. However it can’t be denied that in this case, funds that follow the rules may risk missing out on business opportunities.

According to Beenext’s managing partner Teruhide Sato, Beenext’s funding target startups are not limited by region, business field, or funding rounds, and it seems as though the source of Beenext’s capital may be the reason for that.

Sato explained:

Beenext’s LPs are American, Indonesian, Filipino, Singaporean, and Japanese private investors. They’re business founders and managers that I’ve gotten to know personally, and I understand that they want to support the next generation of entrepreneurs. Unlike where when you have capital raised from institutional investors, there are no restrictions on what kind of startup we can invest in.

Approaching their first close in July, Beenext’s first fund consisted of an investment plan with about 50% aimed at India, 30% to southeast Asia, and the last 20% for Japan and America. As for management of the fund, Sato will be on location handling India and southeast Asia while Maeda will be in charge of Japan and America. With bringing in many investments from LPs and co-investment funds from around the world, it seems there is no shortage of deal sources. Funding for 12 companies is already being implemented internationally.

Sato continued:

I think it’s good that there are a variety of roles in society, therefore every fund can play a different role. Beenext is a fund by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, and our core concept is about gathering capital from around the world and then spreading it around the world.

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Beenext’s portfolio of startups

India economy to overtake China

A while back, the startup environment in India was virtually nonexistent. In a mono-cultural economy there were nothing but overpowering financial institutions, and the concept of risk money was basically nil. The cause of the complete turnaround from this state of affairs was the effect of Indian people living outside of India, or NRI (non-resident Indians).

Sato added:

I think the situation has really changed a lot compared to 10 years ago and 5 years ago. Before, if you mentioned India, it was thought of as a place for offshore development as Infosys and Tata were represent. 10% of India’s total population are mobile users, which is more than the total population of Japan, so NRIs have started realizing the market potential in their home country and have started going back there to do business.

Sato’s conception is that the people starting and operating startups in India are mostly students or graduates from either the India Institutes of Technology (IIT) or from Ivy league universities. Excellent engineers are many and they can also speak English, creating trends that meet the market’s needs, and growth speed that outpaces China.

He added:

Things that were happening in China are happening now in India. I think there is about a 10 year gap in there, but that gap is slowly but surely narrowing.

At The Bridge, we focus a lot on the southeast Asian market, but we don’t mean the market is saturated with investment opportunities for investors from Japan and Western countries. However with the current situation being that the speed of growth in India is faster than in southeast Asia, Beenext will be focusing roughly half of its funding on Indian startups.

With respect to diversity in the startup scene, it’s good that there are a variety of funding strategies and types. The parts of the market’s needs that aren’t being met get filled in. With Sato in India and Asia, and Maeda in Japan and America engaging in funding activity, we can expect Beenext to be making news around the world.

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Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi(Image credit: IIT Facebook Page)

Translated by Connor Kirk

Japan’s Beenos and Infosys co-founder invest in Buyhatke, India’s price comparison startup

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based internet service company Beenos (TSE:3328) announced today that it has invested in Bangalore-based startup Byhatke, the startup behind Indian price comparison site Buyhatke.com. This was co-invested with Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of India’s leading system integration company Infosys, and is valued at $1 million. Buyhatke was founded in 2013 by Gaurav Dahake and his team while attending Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Buyhatke.com curates profiles of over 3,000 items from more than 300 e-commerce sites, providing users with real-time price information based on data analysis. The platform proposes the best timing to buy a product based on past price trends, alerts when the price hits the bottom, and also offers search engine for discount coupons that can be used at purchase. When Xiaomi and OnePlusPne released their smartphones in India last year, the platform offers consumers accurate analysis of price trends for the products on many e-commerce sites in Asia, which attracted many users and catapulted the service into fame. The company consists of a 15-person team, and many members are from IITs and previously worked at companies like Amazon, Samsung, and India’s leading e-commerce site Flipcart. The company will use the funds to…

buyhatke_feturedimage

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based internet service company Beenos (TSE:3328) announced today that it has invested in Bangalore-based startup Byhatke, the startup behind Indian price comparison site Buyhatke.com. This was co-invested with Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of India’s leading system integration company Infosys, and is valued at $1 million.

Buyhatke was founded in 2013 by Gaurav Dahake and his team while attending Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Buyhatke.com curates profiles of over 3,000 items from more than 300 e-commerce sites, providing users with real-time price information based on data analysis. The platform proposes the best timing to buy a product based on past price trends, alerts when the price hits the bottom, and also offers search engine for discount coupons that can be used at purchase. When Xiaomi and OnePlusPne released their smartphones in India last year, the platform offers consumers accurate analysis of price trends for the products on many e-commerce sites in Asia, which attracted many users and catapulted the service into fame.

The company consists of a 15-person team, and many members are from IITs and previously worked at companies like Amazon, Samsung, and India’s leading e-commerce site Flipcart. The company will use the funds to expand the team to 50 by end of the year.

Starting with investment in online marketplace ShopClues in January 2013, Beenos has accelerated its investment efforts in the Indian e-commerce market including the one in payments solution company CitrusPay. While Beenos founder Teruhide Sato stepped down as CEO of Beenos last December, he previously shared his insight that online marketplaces are king, payments solutions companies are queen, as well as affiliate and price comparison sites are princes in the e-commerce industry. He is no longer involved in managing Beenos, but the company’s series of investments in Indian startups definitely follows his perspective. Sato also became an angel investor in an Indian startup.

A recent fund formed by Japan’s Rebright Partners indicates a boom in investments in startups focused on consumer Internet services in India.

Edited by Kurt Hanson

Asia’s mobile flea market app Duriana raises $2.5 million from Beenos, others

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See the original story in Japanese. Duriana Internet, a Malaysia- and the Philippines-based startup that provides mobile flea market app Duriana, has secured $2.5 million from Japanese internet company Beenos (TSE:3328) and existing investors, as well as Austria-/Singapore-based VC firm Alps Ventures. Beenos takes an over 10% stake in Duriana upon this round. In view of Beenos’ investment in this sector, the company invested in Fablic, the Japanese startup behind flea market app Fril, back in August of 2012. Duriana has listed over 600,000 items to date, providing an escrow system called Duriana Safe Payments, which assures safety for peer-to-peer transactions between users. Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

duriana_featuredimage

See the original story in Japanese.

Duriana Internet, a Malaysia- and the Philippines-based startup that provides mobile flea market app Duriana, has secured $2.5 million from Japanese internet company Beenos (TSE:3328) and existing investors, as well as Austria-/Singapore-based VC firm Alps Ventures.

Beenos takes an over 10% stake in Duriana upon this round. In view of Beenos’ investment in this sector, the company invested in Fablic, the Japanese startup behind flea market app Fril, back in August of 2012.

Duriana has listed over 600,000 items to date, providing an escrow system called Duriana Safe Payments, which assures safety for peer-to-peer transactions between users.

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Japan’s Beenos joins $2M investment round in India’s e-commerce enabler KartRocket

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Tokyo-based Beenos (previously Netprice.com) announced today that it has participated in a $2 million investment with India’s Nirvana Venture Advisors and 500 Startups in New Delhi-based Bigfoot Retail Solutions, the company behind India’s e-commerce enabling platform KartRocket. For Beenos, this follows their investments in other companies in the Indian e-commerce industry, such as ShopClues (January 2013) and Citrus Pay (December 2013). Beenos had also invested in Indonesia’s biggest e-commerce platform Tokopedia in its early days in 2012, and the former company unveiled yesterday that it had earned about $4 million in profit by transferring some Tokopedia shares to Softbank and Sequoia Capital. KartRocket provides an e-commerce platform that enables retailers to launch their online storefronts easily in a way that is similar to what Shopify does in the US. The company was serving only about 100 online stores a year ago, but that number has now jumped to 1,900. KartRocket previously fundraised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from 5ideas Startup Superfuel and 500 Startups, with participation from Jatin Aneja, a partner at India’s largest law firm Amarchand Mangaldas, in July 2013.

kartrocket_featuredimage

Tokyo-based Beenos (previously Netprice.com) announced today that it has participated in a $2 million investment with India’s Nirvana Venture Advisors and 500 Startups in New Delhi-based Bigfoot Retail Solutions, the company behind India’s e-commerce enabling platform KartRocket.

For Beenos, this follows their investments in other companies in the Indian e-commerce industry, such as ShopClues (January 2013) and Citrus Pay (December 2013). Beenos had also invested in Indonesia’s biggest e-commerce platform Tokopedia in its early days in 2012, and the former company unveiled yesterday that it had earned about $4 million in profit by transferring some Tokopedia shares to Softbank and Sequoia Capital.

KartRocket provides an e-commerce platform that enables retailers to launch their online storefronts easily in a way that is similar to what Shopify does in the US. The company was serving only about 100 online stores a year ago, but that number has now jumped to 1,900.

KartRocket previously fundraised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from 5ideas Startup Superfuel and 500 Startups, with participation from Jatin Aneja, a partner at India’s largest law firm Amarchand Mangaldas, in July 2013.