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Japan’s Crowd Cast secures series B funding to enhance expense balancing platform

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Crowd Cast, a startup offering expense balancing apps such as BizNote for Yayoi Online and Staple, announced earlier this month that they have secured series B round funding from Saison Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Japanese leading credit card company Credit Saison (TSE:8253), and IMJ Investment Partners (henceforth IMJ-IP). While the particulars of this investment have yet to be made clear, funding is thought to reach into the tens of millions of yen (hundreds of thousands of dollars). As the series B round has not yet closed, Crowd Cast will continue inviting further investment from other companies, eventually looking to raise funding in the ballpark of about 1 million yen ($830,000). Crowd Cast also secured an undisclosed amount of series A round funding from IMJ-IP in 2014. As for their investments from business firms thus far, this round’s investment from Saison Ventures comes after a $210,000 seed round contribution in May of 2013 from major Japanese accounting software developer Yayoi. Crowd Cast began providing their expense balancing app for startups and mid-sized companies, Staple, in September of last year, but with this financial partnering with Saison Ventures, they are focusing on…

crowdcast_screenshot

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Crowd Cast, a startup offering expense balancing apps such as BizNote for Yayoi Online and Staple, announced earlier this month that they have secured series B round funding from Saison Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Japanese leading credit card company Credit Saison (TSE:8253), and IMJ Investment Partners (henceforth IMJ-IP). While the particulars of this investment have yet to be made clear, funding is thought to reach into the tens of millions of yen (hundreds of thousands of dollars). As the series B round has not yet closed, Crowd Cast will continue inviting further investment from other companies, eventually looking to raise funding in the ballpark of about 1 million yen ($830,000).

Crowd Cast also secured an undisclosed amount of series A round funding from IMJ-IP in 2014. As for their investments from business firms thus far, this round’s investment from Saison Ventures comes after a $210,000 seed round contribution in May of 2013 from major Japanese accounting software developer Yayoi.

Crowd Cast began providing their expense balancing app for startups and mid-sized companies, Staple, in September of last year, but with this financial partnering with Saison Ventures, they are focusing on expanding Staple’s features and increasing users in cooperation with Credit Saison and their 35 million registered credit card user base. Concretely speaking, the methods of inputting expenses into Staple have been either manual input from receipts and invoices, etc., or by importing IC card use history data. In the future, however, it is expected that we will see functionality for connecting to online credit card use history data for Saison credit card users.

crowdcast-saisoncard-partnership

Crowd Cast CEO Takashi Hoshikawa spoke to The Bridge about this recent investment:

Takashi Hoshikawa
CEO Takashi Hoshikawa

This year we did IC smart card use history reading through NFC (near field communication), so next we want to implement an OCR (optical character recognition) feature for importing receipts. We’ll be expanding our features in the direction of the Electronic Books Maintenance Act of Japan. Also we’re looking to strengthen our back-end infrastructure as well as integration with credit card systems.

He continued:

With our corporate-aimed Staple Team, we’ve come to see the types of industries where our service will be made particularly necessary: advertising firms, real estate companies, and other industries with large numbers of employees. Especially in companies with many locations and large numbers of staff who aren’t supplied with computers for work, (expenses can be balanced using smartphones so) Staple Team is going to be an invaluable tool.

According to Hoshikawa, Crowd Cast has currently placed Staple Team in the research phase while they gather more information about the users’ needs, after which they will be proceeding with monetization. Moving into 2016, as many accounting type services will be boasting support for Japan’s new “my number” system, Crowd Cast says they aren’t particularly concerned with “my number” support. One reason for that might be that, rather than aiming to be a total accounting service, Crowd Cast are concentrating the focus of their solutions on expense balancing. In addition, they are currently considering the possibility of integrating their services with third party payroll management platforms.

Crowd Cast’s app designed for private-use, Staple, is free to use, but their commercial version built for team-based management, Staple Team, starts at 600 yen (about $5) a month. They have, however, began offering a “startup program” which makes Staple Team available to use for free for companies that are less than five years old, student entrepreneurs, as well as NPOs, so for startups in the early stages who don’t yet have a dedicated staff member handling accounting, this might be a good opportunity to try Staple Team.

Translated by Connor Kirk
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

Japan’s Crowd Cast fundraises from IMJ, looking to conquer expense management market with new app

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Crowd Cast, a startup developing cloud services and apps for expense management, launched a new iOS app called Staple today. Coinciding with this, the company also announced today that it has fundraised an undisclosed sum from IMJ Investment Partners to strengthen service expansions in Japan and Asia. Crowd Cast released late last year an expense processing app called BizNote Expense. This app allows users to input company expense records via smartphone, which then transmits the data to a company’s accounting system. But Crowd Cast learned from experience that users only need an expense record input app since most companies have legacy workflow systems for expense reimbursements. That is why they split the workflow feature off from BizNote Expense and developed Staple, which is specifically focused on inputting expense records. Input records can be downloaded in CSV format on the web, enabling user records arrangement to conform with existing expense reimbursement systems. The company’s CEO Takashi Hoshikawa explained: We provide the personal edition of the Staple app for free, and its team edition, which we’re still working on, will be a paying app. By Launching the personal edition first, it helps users learn how…

staple_featuredimage

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Crowd Cast, a startup developing cloud services and apps for expense management, launched a new iOS app called Staple today. Coinciding with this, the company also announced today that it has fundraised an undisclosed sum from IMJ Investment Partners to strengthen service expansions in Japan and Asia.

Crowd Cast released late last year an expense processing app called BizNote Expense. This app allows users to input company expense records via smartphone, which then transmits the data to a company’s accounting system. But Crowd Cast learned from experience that users only need an expense record input app since most companies have legacy workflow systems for expense reimbursements.

That is why they split the workflow feature off from BizNote Expense and developed Staple, which is specifically focused on inputting expense records. Input records can be downloaded in CSV format on the web, enabling user records arrangement to conform with existing expense reimbursement systems.

The company’s CEO Takashi Hoshikawa explained:

We provide the personal edition of the Staple app for free, and its team edition, which we’re still working on, will be a paying app. By Launching the personal edition first, it helps users learn how to use the app and will lower the barriers for them to start using the Staple team edition when it’s live.

The Crowd Cast team developed the Staple app from scratch to prepare for the chance when possible heavy traffic is put on their cloud platform while more people start using the app on an individual basis rather than for their company. Moreover, the architecture restructuring may also help Crowd Cast add more functions to the app in the future.

Crowd Cast aims to launch the app’s desktop version for personal use, an Android version for personal use, and the team edition for all different platforms.

Worth mentioning is that the Android version will allow the import of transit riding records from contactless smart cards such as Suica or Pasmo, just by placing the smart card behind a handset of an NFC (near field communication)-enabled Android phone. For the Mobile Suica app, riding records will be automatically transferred to the Staple app, so that a user will not have to manually import records. The Suica and Pasmo platform’s smart-card system has a maximum capacity of 20 riding records, so a notification function will be added to the Android version so that users will not forget to import records from their smart cards.

Meanwhile, they have no plan to support the riding data importing function for the iOS version because iPhones do not have NFC chips. The new iPhone 6 has an NFC chip but is limited to Apple Pay.

US-based expense solution vendor Concur recently integrated with Uber and AirBnB, and allows users to import expense records from these “sharing economy” services, which will be followed by other companies like Expensify. In contrast with these trends, Crowd Cast is targeting Japanese/Asian city-dwellers with their solution, in particular with a public transit focus, to discourage standards-based formation of barriers against new market entries.

In this space, Japan and Singapore-based Klavis launched an app called Streamed, which also aims to support importing data from public transit smart cards.

Japan’s Crowd Cast partners with UK-based global expense firm SpendVision

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Tokyo-based Crowd Cast is the developer a mobile app that helps business people complete expense reimbursement at their companies. In an effort to expand its business, the startup announced earlier this week that it has partnered with UK expense firm SpendVision. The company plans to integrate its solution with SpendVision’s platform that matches expense history with credit card billing and submits it to accounting for approval. Crowd Cast will also co-develop solutions with SpendVision and start global marketing expansion focused on Europe and Asia. Crowd Cast’s founder and CEO Takashi Hoshikawa explained: By tying up with a global company like SpendVision, we can even beat Concur, the leading company in this space. I believe financial technology is a space where Japanese startups can defeat US companies. Crowd Cast launched an expense reimbursement iOS app called BizNote Expense late last year, introducing an Android version last month. They are planning to establish an office in London later this year, primarily for the purpose of hiring talented people and learning about cutting edge trends from the global financial hub.

crowdcast-spendvision_logos

Tokyo-based Crowd Cast is the developer a mobile app that helps business people complete expense reimbursement at their companies. In an effort to expand its business, the startup announced earlier this week that it has partnered with UK expense firm SpendVision.

The company plans to integrate its solution with SpendVision’s platform that matches expense history with credit card billing and submits it to accounting for approval. Crowd Cast will also co-develop solutions with SpendVision and start global marketing expansion focused on Europe and Asia.

Crowd Cast’s founder and CEO Takashi Hoshikawa explained:

By tying up with a global company like SpendVision, we can even beat Concur, the leading company in this space. I believe financial technology is a space where Japanese startups can defeat US companies.

Crowd Cast launched an expense reimbursement iOS app called BizNote Expense late last year, introducing an Android version last month. They are planning to establish an office in London later this year, primarily for the purpose of hiring talented people and learning about cutting edge trends from the global financial hub.

Japanese accounting startup Crowd Cast introduces its expense reimbursement app on Android

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Our readers may recall back in December when we mentioned that Japanese startup Crowd Cast was planning to release a mobile app for expenses, intended to help office workers save time in corporate expense reimbursements. Following the launch of its on iOS back in January, the company introduced an Android version last week. If an administrator at your company sets up a corporate account on the service, you and your colleagues can access it through the mobile app. The application also lets you attach photos of receipts for expenses paid, making it easier to submit proof of payment to administrators. There are three monthly fee options depending on the size of your company: $4 (390 yen) for up to three users, $7 (690 yen) for up to ten users, and $10 (980 yen) for up to 20 users. Interestingly they provide all features for free to non-profit organizations and entrepreneurs attending or doing business with a university or a business school. via TechCrunch Japan

biznote-expense_screenshots

Our readers may recall back in December when we mentioned that Japanese startup Crowd Cast was planning to release a mobile app for expenses, intended to help office workers save time in corporate expense reimbursements. Following the launch of its on iOS back in January, the company introduced an Android version last week.

If an administrator at your company sets up a corporate account on the service, you and your colleagues can access it through the mobile app. The application also lets you attach photos of receipts for expenses paid, making it easier to submit proof of payment to administrators.

There are three monthly fee options depending on the size of your company: $4 (390 yen) for up to three users, $7 (690 yen) for up to ten users, and $10 (980 yen) for up to 20 users. Interestingly they provide all features for free to non-profit organizations and entrepreneurs attending or doing business with a university or a business school.

via TechCrunch Japan

Crowd Cast launches BizNote Expense, an app to help startups process expenses

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See the original article in Japanese Early this year, we reported on 14 Japanese startups that provide accounting or financial services. Many of them have launched new services or raised funds this year. The recent news that Hottolink, the company behind Hottoscope, went public on the TSE Mothers market shows that this field is rapidly growing. One of the startups we mentioned in that article, Crowd Cast, was founded in 2011 to develops financial solutions for small businesses, including its cloud-based accounting app, BizNote (iOS/Android). The company recently announced a new app for startups called BizNote Expense, which is to be released next month. If you follow the Japan startup scene, you might wonder how the app is different from alternatives like Freee or Money Forward. This field is no longer a Blue Ocean market, so how can Crowd Cast differentiate from competitors? We spoke with Takashi Hoshikawa, the company’s CEO and founder, about their future strategy. After Hoshikawa worked at Microsoft and Digital Equipment Corporation as a project manager, he enrolled in business school to acquire an MBA in 2009. Since then, he had been considering the idea of starting an accounting service. In the fall of 2011, he…

crowdcast_screenshot

See the original article in Japanese

Early this year, we reported on 14 Japanese startups that provide accounting or financial services. Many of them have launched new services or raised funds this year. The recent news that Hottolink, the company behind Hottoscope, went public on the TSE Mothers market shows that this field is rapidly growing. One of the startups we mentioned in that article, Crowd Cast, was founded in 2011 to develops financial solutions for small businesses, including its cloud-based accounting app, BizNote (iOSAndroid). The company recently announced a new app for startups called BizNote Expense, which is to be released next month.

If you follow the Japan startup scene, you might wonder how the app is different from alternatives like Freee or Money Forward. This field is no longer a Blue Ocean market, so how can Crowd Cast differentiate from competitors? We spoke with Takashi Hoshikawa, the company’s CEO and founder, about their future strategy.

Takashi Hoshikawa
CEO Takashi Hoshikawa

After Hoshikawa worked at Microsoft and Digital Equipment Corporation as a project manager, he enrolled in business school to acquire an MBA in 2009. Since then, he had been considering the idea of starting an accounting service. In the fall of 2011, he won first prize at the Yayoi App Contest, operated by Yoyoi, Japan’s largest accounting software company. He succeeded in raising 25 million yen ($250,000) from Yayoi in May of 2013.

In addition to raising funds from Yayoi, Crowd Cast has a business partnership with the company. While Yayoi has 74% market share of accounting software in Japan, Crowd Cast focuses on streamlining the process of entering expenses during the accounting process. Hoshikawa explained:

We developed a smartphone app, BizNote Expense, whose feature is focused on entering expenses. By letting employees enter expenses on their smartphones, BizNote Expense reduces work for those in charge of accounting. In small businesses, this is often the CEO himself. Utilizing the network I built while I was at Microsoft, the app was developed in Europe and has a sophisticated design. Development is almost finished. After minor adjustment of the UI/UX, we plan to release the product in January.

The data entered on the app can be viewed on the BizNote dashboard, used in Yayoi’s package software or on its online cloud-based platform for tax returns. Yayoi and Crowd Cast each have different strengths, and they can both enhance their core competencies.

The unknown market for expenses processing

According to Hoshikawa, in the area of expense processing, there are a number of key players:

  • For large companies with more than 1000 employees, Concur is the biggest competitor. Initial fee: 2.5 million yen ($25,000), Monthly fee: around 500,000 yen ($5000).
  • For middle-size companies with 200 to 1000 employees, there are about 10 software companies offering services, including Rakurakuseisan. Average initial fee: 30,000 yen ($300), monthly fee: around 10,000 ($100).
  • For small companies with less than 200 employees, there are several companies like Expensify and Shoeboxed. Monthly fee: 1000 – 10,000 yen

(Note that the listed fees here are just for a reference. They could differ depending on the conditions.)

Crowd Cast aims to expand its client base among small companies with less than 200 employees. Hoshikawa adds:

For these kinds of companies, few of them have an independent department for accounting. In many cases, the management or workers in the general affairs department take care of accounting. With BizNote Expense, companies can automate everything from processing expenses to collecting to accounting, and as a result, they can save time to focus on more important matters.

The fee for BizNote Expense starts from 390 yen ($4) per month. The smartphone app is intentionally minimal in order to provide a reasonable price for small companies, and to make it easy for workers to use.

1月にリリースされる、BizNote Expense。

I had one simple question as I spoke with Hoshikawa. If the expense processing platform is tied up with Yayoi, why doesn’t Yayoi develop such a platform on its own? Could not such a big company form a project team with experienced engineers, and develop a platform quicker and better?

But developing a smartphone app or establishing a cloud service business model is not really what Yayoi is typically good at. Major companies in this kind of situation can find an advantage to tie up with startups. That is open innovation.

Accounting systems differ drastically across regions because of different accounting standards and tax systems. Yayoi used to be under Intuit, but later broke away in 2003 in a management buyout, and was subsequently acquired by livedoor. One of the reasons that Intuit and Yayoi couldn’t find synergies was the difference of accounting systems between countries.

But expense processing doesn’t differ much by country, so that means BizNote Expense could expand globally with minimum localization efforts. The Crowd Cast website already has both Japanese and English versions.

While Crowd Cast has tied up with Yoyoi in Japan, it could be possible for them to partner with Intuit in the future. As more and more startups operate across borders, this solution by Crowd Cast could help make business much more convenient.

The iOS version of BizNote Expense will be available for download in January, and the Android version is to be released in the first quarter of 2014.