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Japanese restaurant finder app Retty raises $8.2 million for global expansion

Takeshi Hirano Takeshi Hirano
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This is the abridged version from our original article in Japanese Tokyo-based Retty, a Japanese startup behind the restaurant finder app under the same name, announced today that it has fundraised 1 billion yen (or about $8.24 million) from Fidelity Growth Partners Japan and the startup’s existing investors. This follows their previous funding in a series B round securing 330 million yen ($3.2 million) back in 2013. See also: How Japan’s online social restaurant guide Retty doubled its monthly visitors Japanese social restaurant finder app Retty teams up with major portals on booking deal Retty’s monthly active users hit the 7 million milestone in February, increasing a million from January. According to the company’s CEO Kazuya Takeda, this was made possible without any paid promotion but they want to let the growth increase up to 15 to 20 million users on a monthly basis by leveraging the funds. Retty plans to use the funds to strengthen their global expansion to North American and Asian countries, especially in cities where local people have a habit of dining out every day. Along with this announcement, Retty also rolled out a new design to the iPhone app, simplifying an interface so that article viewers can better see an…

retty_featuredimage

This is the abridged version from our original article in Japanese

Tokyo-based Retty, a Japanese startup behind the restaurant finder app under the same name, announced today that it has fundraised 1 billion yen (or about $8.24 million) from Fidelity Growth Partners Japan and the startup’s existing investors. This follows their previous funding in a series B round securing 330 million yen ($3.2 million) back in 2013.

See also:

Retty’s monthly active users hit the 7 million milestone in February, increasing a million from January. According to the company’s CEO Kazuya Takeda, this was made possible without any paid promotion but they want to let the growth increase up to 15 to 20 million users on a monthly basis by leveraging the funds.

Retty plans to use the funds to strengthen their global expansion to North American and Asian countries, especially in cities where local people have a habit of dining out every day. Along with this announcement, Retty also rolled out a new design to the iPhone app, simplifying an interface so that article viewers can better see an author’s face of every article and find restaurants which they may like.

retty_screenshots
Renewed interface of Retty’s iOS app

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

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Japanese online ticketing service Peatix secures $3M in series A funding

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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NYC-based Japanese startup and online ticketing service provider Peatix announced today it has secured series A funding worth $3 million from Fidelity Growth Partners Japan, the VC and private equity arm of Fidelity Worldwide Investment. Fidelity’s Japan representative David Milstein will join the management board. The other investors include 500 Startups, Draper Nexus Venture Partners, DG Incubation, Itochu Technology Ventures, Sunbridge Global Ventures, and Zenshin Capital [1]. Peatix was co-founded back in 2009 by four Amazon.com/Amazon Japan alumni: Naofumi Iwai, Taku Harada, Emi Takemura Miller, and Yuji Fujita. To date, it has been providing an online ticketing service, facilitating over 10,000 meet-ups, conferences and events. As part of its business strategy, the startup focuses on optimizing its interface for smartphone devices, and now more than 60% of user traffic is coming from mobile. With these new funds, the startup’s CEO Taku Harada explains that the company will intensify system development, improve user experience, and push for global business expansions. The startup has moved its headquarters to NYC early this year, and recently established a subsidiary, Peatix Asia, in Singapore. DG Incubation is the investment arm of Tokyo-based startup incubator Digital Garage. Zenshin Capital is an investment fund which was founded by Silicon…

peatix-team-at-echelon2013
Peatix Team at Echelon 2013, Singapore
(Naofumi Iwai on the left, and Emi Takemura Miller on the right)

NYC-based Japanese startup and online ticketing service provider Peatix announced today it has secured series A funding worth $3 million from Fidelity Growth Partners Japan, the VC and private equity arm of Fidelity Worldwide Investment. Fidelity’s Japan representative David Milstein will join the management board.

The other investors include 500 Startups, Draper Nexus Venture Partners, DG Incubation, Itochu Technology Ventures, Sunbridge Global Ventures, and Zenshin Capital [1].

Peatix was co-founded back in 2009 by four Amazon.com/Amazon Japan alumni: Naofumi Iwai, Taku Harada, Emi Takemura Miller, and Yuji Fujita. To date, it has been providing an online ticketing service, facilitating over 10,000 meet-ups, conferences and events.

As part of its business strategy, the startup focuses on optimizing its interface for smartphone devices, and now more than 60% of user traffic is coming from mobile. With these new funds, the startup’s CEO Taku Harada explains that the company will intensify system development, improve user experience, and push for global business expansions.

The startup has moved its headquarters to NYC early this year, and recently established a subsidiary, Peatix Asia, in Singapore.

The growth of events using Peatix for their attendee management
The growth of events using Peatix for their ticketing
  1. DG Incubation is the investment arm of Tokyo-based startup incubator Digital Garage. Zenshin Capital is an investment fund which was founded by Silicon Valley-based Japanese entrepreneur Takeshi Mori. ↩

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Monetizing Android ads for Asia (and soon the world) Metaps raises $11M in series B

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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Read the Japanese version of this report Japanese app monetization platform Metaps has announced today that it has raised 1 billion yen (or about $11 million) in series B funding from Fidelity Growth Partners. The company plans to use these funds to continue its expansion in Asia, and then beyond later this year. Metaps claims to be the largest such mobile ad network in Asia, and has the lofty goal of becoming the largest Android monetization platform in the world by the end of this year. Metaps originally launched in 2011, and since then Android apps using its platform have achieved a total of 62 million downloads by focusing on mature Asian markets like Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The company will continue to focus on Asia until this summer, after that looking to North America, followed by the European market in the fall. Interestingly, Fidelity Growth Partners has much experience in China, and a Metaps representative tells us that this is one reason why they will partner with them. Metaps is also in talks with some local Chinese firms as well. We’re told that Metaps’ success thus far is largely due to strong results for Android games, which…

metaps

Read the Japanese version of this report

Japanese app monetization platform Metaps has announced today that it has raised 1 billion yen (or about $11 million) in series B funding from Fidelity Growth Partners.

The company plans to use these funds to continue its expansion in Asia, and then beyond later this year. Metaps claims to be the largest such mobile ad network in Asia, and has the lofty goal of becoming the largest Android monetization platform in the world by the end of this year.

Metaps originally launched in 2011, and since then Android apps using its platform have achieved a total of 62 million downloads by focusing on mature Asian markets like Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The company will continue to focus on Asia until this summer, after that looking to North America, followed by the European market in the fall.

Interestingly, Fidelity Growth Partners has much experience in China, and a Metaps representative tells us that this is one reason why they will partner with them. Metaps is also in talks with some local Chinese firms as well.

We’re told that Metaps’ success thus far is largely due to strong results for Android games, which comprises about 70% of the company’s revenue. But that share is gradually decreasing as other non-gaming apps are beginning to monetize better.

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