news

Japan’s Global Brain invests in ring-shaped wearable device developer 16Lab

Masaru Ikeda 2014.11.27

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based startup-focused investment firm Global Brain announced yesterday that it has invested an undisclosed sum in Japanese startup 16Lab, the hardware developer behind ring-shaped wearable device Ozon. Ozon is a gesture control device that fits on a user’s finger and allows the control of devices or appliances such as smartphones, tablets, cameras, TVs, and lighting fixtures. Top developers not only from Japan but also from other countries including Estonia and Spain are participating in the development project. 16Lab has partnered with Alps Electric (TSE:6770) and other established manufacturers in the fields of semiconductors, batteries, and chemicals to develop the device in a way of open innovation. The device’s interface was created under the direction of noted designer Manabu Tago of MTDO. 16Lab plans to start shipping the first generation of the product next summer in eight countries. Prototypes of the Ozon device was exhibited at showcase events like CEATEC 2014 and Any Tokyo recently, and drew great interest from industry watchers and consumers. To assure the best quality in order to provide the best user experience, all sensors and electronic parts in the device are made in Japan. For hardware startups, a big issue will…

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based startup-focused investment firm Global Brain announced yesterday that it has invested an undisclosed sum in Japanese startup 16Lab, the hardware developer behind ring-shaped wearable device Ozon.

Ozon is a gesture control device that fits on a user’s finger and allows the control of devices or appliances such as smartphones, tablets, cameras, TVs, and lighting fixtures. Top developers not only from Japan but also from other countries including Estonia and Spain are participating in the development project. 16Lab has partnered with Alps Electric (TSE:6770) and other established manufacturers in the fields of semiconductors, batteries, and chemicals to develop the device in a way of open innovation.

The device’s interface was created under the direction of noted designer Manabu Tago of MTDO. 16Lab plans to start shipping the first generation of the product next summer in eight countries.

Prototypes of the Ozon device was exhibited at showcase events like CEATEC 2014 and Any Tokyo recently, and drew great interest from industry watchers and consumers. To assure the best quality in order to provide the best user experience, all sensors and electronic parts in the device are made in Japan. For hardware startups, a big issue will be to gain the reliability of their products with few resources because the repeated process of endurance tests and improvements require continuous operations, so partnering with big companies in this sector is key.

Logbar’s Ring may be a competitor for Ozon. THE BRIDGE may test these devices in the future and report on which one offers the best user experience.

news

Japanese women’s fashion media site 4meee raises $500,000

Takeshi Hirano 2014.08.11

See the original article in Japanese. 4meee! (pronounced “for me”) is an e-commerce and curated fashion site for young women. Tokyo-based Rocket Venture, the company behind the service, announced today that it has raised 50 million yen ($500,000) from Japanese investment firm Global Brain as well as Future Investment, the investment arm of Japanese system integrator Future Architect. The team was featured at a recent demo day event of Tokyo-based startup incubator Movida Japan. Since its April launch they have published more than 1,000 articles and surpassed 1 million monthly page views. See also: In conversation with co-founders of Japan’s curated fashion site for young women Their website is optimized for smartphones, where every article is comprised of easy-to-read texts and four images. Articles are written by about 80 curators and published based on the editor’s choice. The articles drive user traffic to other e-commerce sites, where they generate a 15% conversion rate and $1.5 million in two weeks through advertorials.

See the original article in Japanese.

4meee! (pronounced “for me”) is an e-commerce and curated fashion site for young women. Tokyo-based Rocket Venture, the company behind the service, announced today that it has raised 50 million yen ($500,000) from Japanese investment firm Global Brain as well as Future Investment, the investment arm of Japanese system integrator Future Architect.

The team was featured at a recent demo day event of Tokyo-based startup incubator Movida Japan. Since its April launch they have published more than 1,000 articles and surpassed 1 million monthly page views.

See also:

In conversation with co-founders of Japan’s curated fashion site for young women

Their website is optimized for smartphones, where every article is comprised of easy-to-read texts and four images. Articles are written by about 80 curators and published based on the editor’s choice. The articles drive user traffic to other e-commerce sites, where they generate a 15% conversion rate and $1.5 million in two weeks through advertorials.

From the left: Tomomi Kuwayama (CTO), Arisa Sakanashi (director), and Yoshimi Kuwayama (CMO)

news

KDDI and Global Brain form $50M second fund, strengthening investments in US startups

Masaru Ikeda 2014.07.18

Japanese telco KDDI and investment firm Global Brain announced earlier this week that they have jointly formed KDDI Open Innovation Fund II, valued at 5 billion yen ($49.4 million). This follows their previous investment initiative KDDI Open Innovation Fund I which was valued at the same amount and formed back in February 2012. Our readers may recall the telecom company announced that it had partnered with 13 top Japanese companies in their incubation program to strengthen their support in nourishing tech startups and entrepreneurs. We understand that they will use the new fund to invest in prominent startups born out of the program. In addition, the both companies also announced that they have invested 800 million yen ($7.9 million) in four tech companies in the US: Edmondo (social network platform for the educational industry), Issuu (digital publishing and sharing service), Pogoseat (seat upgrade service for live events), and VentureBeat (tech news media). Global Brain recently set up an office in San Francisco and is now closely working with US-based incubators to strengthen their efforts in exploring high-profile startups that they can invest in.

Japanese telco KDDI and investment firm Global Brain announced earlier this week that they have jointly formed KDDI Open Innovation Fund II, valued at 5 billion yen ($49.4 million). This follows their previous investment initiative KDDI Open Innovation Fund I which was valued at the same amount and formed back in February 2012.

Our readers may recall the telecom company announced that it had partnered with 13 top Japanese companies in their incubation program to strengthen their support in nourishing tech startups and entrepreneurs. We understand that they will use the new fund to invest in prominent startups born out of the program.

In addition, the both companies also announced that they have invested 800 million yen ($7.9 million) in four tech companies in the US: Edmondo (social network platform for the educational industry), Issuu (digital publishing and sharing service), Pogoseat (seat upgrade service for live events), and VentureBeat (tech news media). Global Brain recently set up an office in San Francisco and is now closely working with US-based incubators to strengthen their efforts in exploring high-profile startups that they can invest in.

news

Japan’s Global Brain invests in Korea’s illustration crowsourcing platform Rainbow.dot

Masaru Ikeda 2014.07.08

Tokyo-based VC firm Global Brain announced today it has invested in South Korea’s Mbite, the Seoul-based startup behind illustration task crowdsourcing platform Rainbow.dot. Details of the investment have not been disclosed. Rainbow.dot allows game developers to improve the efficiency of their production systems by crowdsourcing their illustration tasks to more than 300 remote workers in Korea. To help foreign game developers order their work from Korean crowdsourced workers using the platform, the company has installed a multilingual translation system to eliminate language barriers. Since it launch in 2011, the company has been providing a content distribution platform for amateur cartoonists in Korea called Indiket. They subsequently launched a new platform called Inkoo last year to give Korean cartoonists more opportunities to work with Japanese companies. Mbite will use the funds raised to expand their business in the Chinese and English-speaking markets. For Global Brain, this is their third investment in Korean startups following 5Rocks and VCNC. In this space, we’ve seen several Japanese startups like Mugenup doing a similar business.

From the left: Yasuhiko Yurimoto (Global Brain CEO), Nobutake Suzuki (Global Brain Partner), Jung Yong Kim (Mbite CEO)

Tokyo-based VC firm Global Brain announced today it has invested in South Korea’s Mbite, the Seoul-based startup behind illustration task crowdsourcing platform Rainbow.dot. Details of the investment have not been disclosed.

Rainbow.dot allows game developers to improve the efficiency of their production systems by crowdsourcing their illustration tasks to more than 300 remote workers in Korea. To help foreign game developers order their work from Korean crowdsourced workers using the platform, the company has installed a multilingual translation system to eliminate language barriers.

Since it launch in 2011, the company has been providing a content distribution platform for amateur cartoonists in Korea called Indiket. They subsequently launched a new platform called Inkoo last year to give Korean cartoonists more opportunities to work with Japanese companies.

Mbite will use the funds raised to expand their business in the Chinese and English-speaking markets. For Global Brain, this is their third investment in Korean startups following 5Rocks and VCNC. In this space, we’ve seen several Japanese startups like Mugenup doing a similar business.

news

Japan’s social media recruitment consultancy fundraises from Global Brain

Masaru Ikeda 2014.06.11

Tokyo-based Social Recruiting, the startup that provides consultation about recruitment using social media services, announced today that it has fundraised from Japanese investment firm Global Brain. Details of the investment were not disclosed but it’s likely worth around several million US dollars. The company was launched back in 2011 and subsequently secured a seed funding from Tokyo-based seed startup incubator Samurai Incubate. They have been serving about 400 companies and helping their recruitment activities. In terms of the size of their user base, the company has acquired more than 200,000 annual users which accounts for about one-third of all new graduates looking for jobs in Japan. The company’s CEO Hirofumi Kasuga explained that they plan to use the funds raised this time for their global business expansion, especially focused on the Southeast Asian region. via TechCrunch Japan

Tokyo-based Social Recruiting, the startup that provides consultation about recruitment using social media services, announced today that it has fundraised from Japanese investment firm Global Brain. Details of the investment were not disclosed but it’s likely worth around several million US dollars.

The company was launched back in 2011 and subsequently secured a seed funding from Tokyo-based seed startup incubator Samurai Incubate. They have been serving about 400 companies and helping their recruitment activities. In terms of the size of their user base, the company has acquired more than 200,000 annual users which accounts for about one-third of all new graduates looking for jobs in Japan.

The company’s CEO Hirofumi Kasuga explained that they plan to use the funds raised this time for their global business expansion, especially focused on the Southeast Asian region.

via TechCrunch Japan

news

Japanese e-commerce platform Base raises $3M from Global Brain

Takeshi Hirano 2014.05.15

See the original story in Japanese. Base, the Japanese startup behind the e-commerce platform of the same name, announced today that it has fundraised 300 million yen (or about $3 million) from Japanese investment firm Global Brain. Coinciding with this announcement, Global Brain’s Kazuhiko Fukayama has joined the company’s board and East Ventures‘ Takanori Oshiba was appointed as an auditor for the e-commerce company. In addition, the company also announced that former GMO Pepapo executive Hiroto Shin will also join the board as COO. Shin is perhaps best known for launching the e-commerce business Color Me Shop at his previous company. According to Base CEO Yuta Tsuruoka, this funding was planned prior to their previous $2 million funding from CyberAgent. So they’ve succeeded in raising around $5 million as initially planned. Tsuruoka tells us that they have acquired more than 80,000 merchants to date. That’s an impressive total, up from 50,000 merchants when we previously spoke with him back in October. We asked him whether or not his startup can keep growing at a good pace, to which he replied: There are 1.6 million retailers nationwide in Japan. If you consider the number of stores dealing with daily use items,…

base-tsuruoka_featuredimage — Base CEO Yuta Tsuruoka

See the original story in Japanese.

Base, the Japanese startup behind the e-commerce platform of the same name, announced today that it has fundraised 300 million yen (or about $3 million) from Japanese investment firm Global Brain. Coinciding with this announcement, Global Brain’s Kazuhiko Fukayama has joined the company’s board and East Ventures‘ Takanori Oshiba was appointed as an auditor for the e-commerce company. In addition, the company also announced that former GMO Pepapo executive Hiroto Shin will also join the board as COO. Shin is perhaps best known for launching the e-commerce business Color Me Shop at his previous company.

According to Base CEO Yuta Tsuruoka, this funding was planned prior to their previous $2 million funding from CyberAgent. So they’ve succeeded in raising around $5 million as initially planned.

Tsuruoka tells us that they have acquired more than 80,000 merchants to date. That’s an impressive total, up from 50,000 merchants when we previously spoke with him back in October.

We asked him whether or not his startup can keep growing at a good pace, to which he replied:

There are 1.6 million retailers nationwide in Japan. If you consider the number of stores dealing with daily use items, I think we can target around 300,000 or 400,000 merchants on our platform. But if we consider independent creators as potential merchants, I think there’s no limit to our future growth.

Their t-shirt printing service on the platform got pretty good popularity among users. If they can acquire independent creators providing such services, then there’s a huge potential out there. From that perspective, their market may be overlap with other C2C focused companies in Japan like Mercari and Fril. The more their user base grows, then a variety of potential business model open up.

tsuruoka-at-new-office — At Base’s new office

news

Korea’s VCNC raises funds from 500 Startups and Global Brain

Masaru Ikeda 2014.05.12

Korea-based VCNC, the startup that operates the couples app Between, announced today it has raised series C funding from 500 Startups and Japanese VC firm Global Brain. Details were not disclosed but the funding looks to be worth several millions of dollars according to TechCrunch Japan. Prior to this funding, the company also raised funds from Japanese internet company DeNA back in February, following rapid user growth fueled by a new version of their app. The company recently hired a local employee in Taiwan in an effort to reach out to more users in South East Asian regions. Using these new funds, the company will intensify marketing in Japan with an eye to expanding to the US market as well. via TechCrunch Japan

Korea-based VCNC, the startup that operates the couples app Between, announced today it has raised series C funding from 500 Startups and Japanese VC firm Global Brain. Details were not disclosed but the funding looks to be worth several millions of dollars according to TechCrunch Japan.

Prior to this funding, the company also raised funds from Japanese internet company DeNA back in February, following rapid user growth fueled by a new version of their app.

The company recently hired a local employee in Taiwan in an effort to reach out to more users in South East Asian regions. Using these new funds, the company will intensify marketing in Japan with an eye to expanding to the US market as well.

via TechCrunch Japan

news

Japanese apartment search portal raises $1M

Takeshi Hirano 2014.04.22

This is the abridged version from our original article in Japanese. Tokyo-based Chintai Joho Co., the startup behind apartment search portal Cashback Chintai, announced today that it has fundraised 100 million yen (about $975,300) from Japanese investment firm Global Brain. Their portal allows property agents to list apartments on a pay-per-performance basis, which doesn’t require them to pay any adverting fee until a contract is made with a tenant. If you agree on a contract for an apartment via the website, some ‘housewarming’ reward money will be given to you. At this time, the property company can be notified that a deal was been made via the website, because they are billed at this time. Since its beta launch back in November of last year, they have been rapidly growing, with over 1.2 million apartments listed during the busy relocation season last month. They plan to use the new funds to step up system development and marketing, as well as enrich the content on their website. The smartphone-optimized interface for the site will be launched early next month. Shifting an industry Some of our readers may aware that entrepreneur Shoji Endo is on the company’s board of directors. He launched…

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

Tokyo-based Chintai Joho Co., the startup behind apartment search portal Cashback Chintai, announced today that it has fundraised 100 million yen (about $975,300) from Japanese investment firm Global Brain.

Their portal allows property agents to list apartments on a pay-per-performance basis, which doesn’t require them to pay any adverting fee until a contract is made with a tenant. If you agree on a contract for an apartment via the website, some ‘housewarming’ reward money will be given to you. At this time, the property company can be notified that a deal was been made via the website, because they are billed at this time.

Since its beta launch back in November of last year, they have been rapidly growing, with over 1.2 million apartments listed during the busy relocation season last month. They plan to use the new funds to step up system development and marketing, as well as enrich the content on their website. The smartphone-optimized interface for the site will be launched early next month.

Shifting an industry

Some of our readers may aware that entrepreneur Shoji Endo is on the company’s board of directors. He launched his first business while attending university, and subsequently joined Japanese job search company Livesense (TSE:6054) as director in its early stages. You may recall we reported last year about the acquisition of his previous startup DreamPass.

At Livesense, he deployed the concept giving users congratulatory money when they were hired through the company’s job search portal. It subsequently helped Livesense defeat many other job sites. Now he is bringing this idea to the property business.

Unique apartment portal model?

A performance-based revenue model using the concept giving users congratulatory money is not new. So why has no one tried it in the property business industry? According to the company’s CEO Isshin Kaneuji, it’s likely just how the industry works. Considering things from an accounting perspective, typical property agents have specific figures for how much they pay for each apartment search sites, regardless of whether that effort results in contracts. He explained:

Some estate agent franchisers buy and book ad spaces for affiliated stores. In some cases, this cost is included in a franchise fee that the stores will pay every month. Conversion-based billing is cost-effective for agents when listing their apartment ads, but it may be difficult for small stores to request their affiliating franchiser to change the fee scheme.

It will be interesting to see how their website evolves this space where other two big players (Recruit’s Suumo and Homes) still dominate.

news

Japanese news app developer Shiroyagi Corporation raises $490K from Global Brain

Takeshi Hirano 2014.03.03

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Shiroyagi Corporation [1] recently launched a new curation app called Kamelio. And now just last week the startup announced that it has raised about 50 million yen ($490,000) from Japanese investment firm Global Brain. The money comes from a $150-million fund managed by Global Brain but primarily invested by the country’s state-run investment company, Innovation Network Corporation of Japan. Shiroyagi’s co-representative director Yoshi Watanabe elaborated how his team will be improving on app: We’re currently a eight-person team. In order to build up a solid user base, we’ll keep focusing on improving the interface of our app for the time being, improvising the algorithm on our ‘follow’ engine and speeding up back-end data processing. Kamelio has adopted a new concept that differs slightly from conventional news curation apps. While many apps present selected articles based on what articles are trending on social media or which media you subscribe to, Kamelio picks up articles based on topics you are likely to be interested in, using their unique algorithm to go even beyond the keywords you’ve entered in your preference. As the team is comprised of technology experts, they expect to attract potential co-workers by…

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Shiroyagi Corporation [1] recently launched a new curation app called Kamelio. And now just last week the startup announced that it has raised about 50 million yen ($490,000) from Japanese investment firm Global Brain. The money comes from a $150-million fund managed by Global Brain but primarily invested by the country’s state-run investment company, Innovation Network Corporation of Japan.

Shiroyagi’s co-representative director Yoshi Watanabe elaborated how his team will be improving on app:

We’re currently a eight-person team. In order to build up a solid user base, we’ll keep focusing on improving the interface of our app for the time being, improvising the algorithm on our ‘follow’ engine and speeding up back-end data processing.

Kamelio has adopted a new concept that differs slightly from conventional news curation apps. While many apps present selected articles based on what articles are trending on social media or which media you subscribe to, Kamelio picks up articles based on topics you are likely to be interested in, using their unique algorithm to go even beyond the keywords you’ve entered in your preference.

As the team is comprised of technology experts, they expect to attract potential co-workers by opening their growth hack knowledge to the public.

The company name ‘Shiroyagi’ is means ‘white goat’ in Japanese, encourages their team members to climb higher and higher. ↩

news

Japanese online printing startup Raksul fundraises $14.3 million

Masaru Ikeda 2014.02.06

Raksul, a Tokyo-based startup providing online printing services, announced today that it has raised 1.45 billion yen (approximately $14.3 million) from WiL (World Innovation Lab), Global Brain, Itochu Technology Ventures, Plus (an office stationary company), GMO Venture Partners, and Mixi. Raksul is a fabless company that provides printing services in partnership with more than 1,600 printing facilities across Japan (as of November of 2013). Users can place printing orders at affordable rates because the company takes advantage of downtime at participating printers to complete those orders. According to Nikkei Business, Raksul will use the funds raised this time to prepare for global service operations, and to launch a new service that allows merchants to distribute their flyers via newspapers to consumers for affordable rates. By making the most of the internet and removing middleman costs, their flyer distribution service gives local merchants a better chance to promote their services for less than 10% of the price usually seen in this sector. Raksul was founded in 2009 and raised a total of 230 million yen ($2.4 million) during the last year from Nissay Capital, Yahoo Japan, and Anri.

Raksul, a Tokyo-based startup providing online printing services, announced today that it has raised 1.45 billion yen (approximately $14.3 million) from WiL (World Innovation Lab), Global Brain, Itochu Technology Ventures, Plus (an office stationary company), GMO Venture Partners, and Mixi.

Raksul is a fabless company that provides printing services in partnership with more than 1,600 printing facilities across Japan (as of November of 2013). Users can place printing orders at affordable rates because the company takes advantage of downtime at participating printers to complete those orders.

According to Nikkei Business, Raksul will use the funds raised this time to prepare for global service operations, and to launch a new service that allows merchants to distribute their flyers via newspapers to consumers for affordable rates. By making the most of the internet and removing middleman costs, their flyer distribution service gives local merchants a better chance to promote their services for less than 10% of the price usually seen in this sector.

Raksul was founded in 2009 and raised a total of 230 million yen ($2.4 million) during the last year from Nissay Capital, Yahoo Japan, and Anri.

Global Brain

Japan’s Global Brain invests in ring-shaped wearable device developer 16Lab

Japanese women’s fashion media site 4meee raises $500,000

KDDI and Global Brain form $50M second fund, strengthening investments in US startups

Japan’s Global Brain invests in Korea’s illustration crowsourcing platform Rainbow.dot

Japanese e-commerce platform Base raises $3M from Global Brain

Korea’s VCNC raises funds from 500 Startups and Global Brain

Japanese apartment search portal raises $1M

Shifting an industry

Unique apartment portal model?

Japanese news app developer Shiroyagi Corporation raises $490K from Global Brain

Japanese online printing startup Raksul fundraises $14.3 million

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