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Yoshiaki Maeda on how Docomo plans to tackle Japan’s smartphone app market

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See the original story in Japanese. This is a part of our coverage of B Dash Camp Fukuoka 2013. You can’t discuss the history of the Japanese mobile business without talking about i-mode. This is the featurephone content platform from NTT Docomo, which many content providers used to achieve significant growth and revenue. Of course in recent years, the market need has shifted to smartphones, especially the iPhone, and not many people have their their eyes on i-mode these days. But many of the ideas developed in i-mode live on. For example, Docomo’s competitor KDDI has had much success with SmartPass, a flat rate app subscription program similar to i-mode in terms of its subscription model. How exactly will Docomo respond to KDDI’s smartphone success so far? At B Dash Camp 2013 in Fukuoka yesterday, Yoshiaki Maeda, the managing director of smart communication services at NTT Docomo, explained a little about the company’s upcoming strategy, revealing a few interesting figures in the process. Docomo’s smartphone content sales generates $180 million a month To date, Docomo has acquired 18 million smartphone users. The figure is expected to reach 40 million by the end of 2014. Their smartphone content sales grew to a…

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See the original story in Japanese.

This is a part of our coverage of B Dash Camp Fukuoka 2013.

You can’t discuss the history of the Japanese mobile business without talking about i-mode. This is the featurephone content platform from NTT Docomo, which many content providers used to achieve significant growth and revenue.

Of course in recent years, the market need has shifted to smartphones, especially the iPhone, and not many people have their their eyes on i-mode these days. But many of the ideas developed in i-mode live on. For example, Docomo’s competitor KDDI has had much success with SmartPass, a flat rate app subscription program similar to i-mode in terms of its subscription model.

How exactly will Docomo respond to KDDI’s smartphone success so far? At B Dash Camp 2013 in Fukuoka yesterday, Yoshiaki Maeda, the managing director of smart communication services at NTT Docomo, explained a little about the company’s upcoming strategy, revealing a few interesting figures in the process.

Docomo’s smartphone content sales generates $180 million a month

To date, Docomo has acquired 18 million smartphone users. The figure is expected to reach 40 million by the end of 2014. Their smartphone content sales grew to a market worth of $180 million, and that’s continuously on the rise each month.

Conversely, the i-mode content market is shrinking.

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The growth of Docomo’s smartphone subscribers
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The growth of revenue from smartphone content sales

On-the-spot purchase needs surpasses that of monthly subscription model

In the era of featurephones, monthly subscription models were very strong but it’s shifted to an ‘on-the-spot’ purchase model as our more subscribers move to smartphone users.

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Monthly subscription sales vs. on-the-spot purchase sales
in the last three years

For us, by bringing the subscription user base from the featurephone market (i-mode) to the smartphone content market, we expect monthly revenue to increase to $300 million.

Partnering with new content providers

Some content providers brought conventional (featurephone optimized) content to the smartphone app marketplace, and that will never attract our subscribers.

We value our providers though, but we further expect to get new providers involved to cultivate the market. We also have our Docomo Innovation Ventures as a touch point for new companies or startups. We’ve exploring ways to work with brand new people.

When will Docomo start ‘Sugotoku’, its monthly flat-rate subscription program for smartphone apps?

We’re preparing for it to be launched very soon. It would be similar to our competitor KDDI’s strategy, but we’re still in talks with partner content providers (and/or app developers). We aspire to make it comfortable enough so that our customers will be happy to use it.

B Dash Camp panel: Trends in the Japanese online ad business

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See the original story in Japanese. This is a part of our coverage of B Dash Camp Fukuoka 2013. Along with the evolution of web services, online advertising platforms have drastically evolved. In the past, we used to place simple banner ads on our websites, and subsequently search advertising emerged. Now we’ve adopted impression-based ads using ad tools like DSP (demand-side platform). But the further ad solutions evolve, the more issues we face. Here’s a quick rundown on the panel discussing issues facing the online advertising space in Japan. The panelists for the session include: Osamu Aranami, Corporate Office, Head of Marketing Solutions Company, Yahoo Japan Kenichi Sugawara, CMO, ScaleOut Koki Sato, President and CEO, Septeni Holdings Moderator: Toru Kawarazuka, Senior Manager, Sales Management Dept., Sony Bank Does social media have much of an impact on the conventional ad business? Aranami: I can’t disclose our figures because we’re heading towards the announcement of our financial statements in the week ahead. In terms of browsing devices, it’s changing. The share of smartphone and tablets is on the rise. Sato: Social media allows users to create a sort of user pool as well as owning their official website. The engagement helps acquire…

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See the original story in Japanese.

This is a part of our coverage of B Dash Camp Fukuoka 2013.

Along with the evolution of web services, online advertising platforms have drastically evolved. In the past, we used to place simple banner ads on our websites, and subsequently search advertising emerged. Now we’ve adopted impression-based ads using ad tools like DSP (demand-side platform).

But the further ad solutions evolve, the more issues we face. Here’s a quick rundown on the panel discussing issues facing the online advertising space in Japan. The panelists for the session include:

  • Osamu Aranami, Corporate Office, Head of Marketing Solutions Company, Yahoo Japan
  • Kenichi Sugawara, CMO, ScaleOut
  • Koki Sato, President and CEO, Septeni Holdings
  • Moderator: Toru Kawarazuka, Senior Manager, Sales Management Dept., Sony Bank

Does social media have much of an impact on the conventional ad business?

Aranami: I can’t disclose our figures because we’re heading towards the announcement of our financial statements in the week ahead. In terms of browsing devices, it’s changing. The share of smartphone and tablets is on the rise.

Sato: Social media allows users to create a sort of user pool as well as owning their official website. The engagement helps acquire high-profile users, and may work well for global business expansions. But it’s still in the stage of trial and error.

Using personal profiles for advertising

Sugawara: DSPs allow you a specific ad space on an impression-basis. In terms of placing ads using this platform, you can specify a target audience segment or ad spaces. The audience segments requires personal profiles. For example, when you visit a motor comparison site (overseas), they will use your profile and propose target vehicles for you.

Aranami: Yahoo Japan has users’ purchase histories on our shopping site and auction site. We’re considering to use that data for our ad delivery. But at the same time, we have to be careful on how we should handle such data.

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Septeni Holdings CEO Koki Sato speaking on the panel

What’s ahead for rich media ads?

Aranami: To help with promotional activities for the Olympic bid in Tokyo, we’ve created an ad where athletes move when you mouse over them. It generated a lot of buzz, but we’re still preparing for movie ads.

Sato: At my company, the demands of rich media ads account for a lesser share of our business, especially compared to English-speaking countries. There are two key points here: How much can premium (rich media) ads bring value compared to conventional TV ads? And how many users are shifting from desktop browsing to smartphone devices.

Sugawara: There are rights management issues as well. Some TV ads cannot be reproduced for online advertising because of rights issues.

Aranami: Yahoo Japan is working on finding out how we can create a safe and secure ad networks for our clients, as well as deploy further extensive developments on YDN, our Yahoo Display-ad Network. We can take minor requests from our clients, such as which domain they would like to place ads on. We proudly think ourselves as Japan’s largest DSP operator.

Meet Japan’s seed accelerators and VC firms [MAP]

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In our coverage of the startup space, we frequently mention Japanese seed accelerators and venture capital firms. We thought it might be useful for you the reader if we presented them all here as one handy reference. We’ll continue to update this page when necessary, so please bookmark it or tell your friends about it if you think it’s useful. In addition to the list below, we’ve also mapped most of them above. Accelerators are marked red, and VCs are appropriately green! If you’d like to further explore prominent Japanese tech companies and startups, feel free to check out our database as well. We encourage you to add your own company and service profiles too. Japanese Seed Accelerators Open Network Lab Open Network Lab is a seed acceleration program based in Tokyo, similar to Y Combinator and TechStars, established by Netprice.com, Digital Garage, and Kakaku.com. [More info] MOVIDA JAPAN A seed accelerator by Taizo Son, the younger brother of Masayoshi Son of Softbank. Their ultimate goal is to build an eco-system in Japan and Asia that allows startups to grow. [More info] Samurai Incubate Samurai Incubate Inc was founded in 2008 to support early-stage startups in the areas of management,…

In our coverage of the startup space, we frequently mention Japanese seed accelerators and venture capital firms. We thought it might be useful for you the reader if we presented them all here as one handy reference. We’ll continue to update this page when necessary, so please bookmark it or tell your friends about it if you think it’s useful. In addition to the list below, we’ve also mapped most of them above. Accelerators are marked red, and VCs are appropriately green!

If you’d like to further explore prominent Japanese tech companies and startups, feel free to check out our database as well. We encourage you to add your own company and service profiles too.

Japanese Seed Accelerators

Open Network Lab

0e918ca8a8e38631b33232758ba1fee92143991d

Open Network Lab is a seed acceleration program based in Tokyo, similar to Y Combinator and TechStars, established by Netprice.com, Digital Garage, and Kakaku.com.

[More info]

MOVIDA JAPAN

69ee70adb43c3173dcd3d80c4b198714f5120cebA seed accelerator by Taizo Son, the younger brother of Masayoshi Son of Softbank. Their ultimate goal is to build an eco-system in Japan and Asia that allows startups to grow.

[More info]

Samurai Incubate

imagesSamurai Incubate Inc was founded in 2008 to support early-stage startups in the areas of management, marketing, sales, human resources, and finance. The company invests in start-up ventures, and they also hold advisory posts and serve as external directors of some venture companies.

[More info]

KDDI Mugen Labo

FB______KDDI_Labo__reasonably_smallA tech startup incubator founded in May of 2011 by Japan’s second largest Telco, KDDI.

[More info]

Docomo Innovation Village

20130207-00000015-rbb-000-0-viewAn NTT Docomo incubator that focus on startups and venture companies primarily in Japan that possess business models, services or technologies related to mobility, and have the potential to be developed as new or upgraded offerings by NTT Docomo.

[More info]

Early Stage VC Firms

ANRI

logoAn independent venture capital based in Japan. The fund size is about 500 million yen and their typical investment size is between 10 million and 30 million yen.

[More info]

CyberAgent Ventures

cyberagentventuresCyberAgent Ventures is a venture capital firm headquartered in Tokyo. It has a presence in South Korea, China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, and India, and invests in startups in those countries.

[More info]

VOYAGE VENTURES

logoVOYAGE GROUP’s VC, investing in internet technology startups. They are active in Japan, Vitenam, and Indonesia, helping student entrepreneurs, and providing office space and mentoring services.

[More info]

KLab Ventures

logo_klabventuresA Japanese joint venture capital that was founded by KLab and SBI Investments. It invests in early stage internet-focused startups.

[More info]

insprout

logoA Japanese venture capital company that runs several kinds of business: venture incubation, investment, and corporate venturing support.

[More info]

EastVentures

logo-1East Ventures is an early stage venture capital for consumer web and mobile startups. The company invests in Singapore, Jakarta, and Tokyo.

[More info]

ITOCHU Technology Ventures

imgresITOCHU Technology Ventures (ITV), based in Tokyo, is the venture capital arm of ITOCHU Corporation.

[More info]

Globis Capital Partners

5db1e569ee7a5f7999853ffe4d00d06d_logo_gcpGlobis Capital Partners (GCP) is one of Japan’s leading venture capital firms. Globis boasts a unique combination of local presence and Western experience.

[More info]

Global Brain

Screen Shot 2013-04-01 at 4.15.57 PMGlobal Brain (GB) is an early stage venture capital firm based in Tokyo, expanding its investment activities in the US and Asia.

[More info]

CYBRiDGE Ventures

imgres-1CYBRiDGE group’s venture capital arm. It typically invests 100 million to 150 million yen in early stage startups in Japan.

[More info]

Femto Startup

imgres-2A Japanese venture capital that typically invests 200 to 300 million yen in internet business related startups.

[More info]

GREE Ventures

globalHeader-logo-01The venture capital arm of Japanese social gaming giant GREE.

[More info]

Incubate Fund

logoIncubate Fund is the largest and best known seed to early stage focused venture capital fund in Japan.

[More info]

B Dash Ventures

imgres-3B Dash Ventures does seed to late stage tech investments in Japan, Asia, and the US.

[More info]

KDDI Open Innovation Fund

imagesKDDI Corporation’s corporate venture capital fund that supports promising startup companies.

[More info]

docomo Innovation Fund

04daf2eA fund of Japan’s largest mobile carrier, NTT Docomo.

[More info]

Infinity Venture Partners

siteTitleInfinity Venture Partners Incubator Fund is a $5 million venture fund focusing on seed and early stage investments in the digital media sector.

[More info]

YJ Capital

da3179567f41a148f282d49ec98a1651593cca20Yahoo Japan’s corporate venture capital fund. Founded in 2012, the fund manages 10 billion yen and invests in startups in Japan.

[More info]

Fuji Startup Ventures

4dd3e54ce8ec3f3dc69c1a8a7060b68df97e1079Fuji TV’s venture capital arm.

[More info]

Feeding Asia’s growing games appetite: Gumi Asia CEO on expansion beyond Japan

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It was almost one year ago when Japanese social game developer Gumi established a presence in Singapore. That subsidiary, called Gumi Asia, was set up last April, with David Ng appointed as the CEO. Ng has previously worked with low-end router vendor Linksys and gaming giant Electronic Arts [1]. During a recent visit to Singapore, I had an opportunity to speak with Ng, who explained more about what the company has in store in the future, as well as some advice to businesses aspiring to expand in the Asia regions. Q: Can you tell us a little about your Singapore team? David: We have 75 people at our Singapore office alone. Every team in the office has 20 to 25 people, [each] with a single mission for developing a specific game title. That’s how our operations in Singapore can currently develop three game titles at the same time. In addition to Singapore, we have development teams in Taipei and Jakarta, and I’m administrating all 110 people working at the three different locations. I speak with each of the offices via teleconference once a week at least, and I actually visit the locations once a month at least. Q: Gumi is…

davidng_gumi

It was almost one year ago when Japanese social game developer Gumi established a presence in Singapore. That subsidiary, called Gumi Asia, was set up last April, with David Ng appointed as the CEO. Ng has previously worked with low-end router vendor Linksys and gaming giant Electronic Arts [1]. During a recent visit to Singapore, I had an opportunity to speak with Ng, who explained more about what the company has in store in the future, as well as some advice to businesses aspiring to expand in the Asia regions.


Q: Can you tell us a little about your Singapore team?

David: We have 75 people at our Singapore office alone. Every team in the office has 20 to 25 people, [each] with a single mission for developing a specific game title. That’s how our operations in Singapore can currently develop three game titles at the same time.

In addition to Singapore, we have development teams in Taipei and Jakarta, and I’m administrating all 110 people working at the three different locations. I speak with each of the offices via teleconference once a week at least, and I actually visit the locations once a month at least.

Q: Gumi is currently focusing on the Asian market. Why not North America nor Europe?

David: We’re in the emerging market where the population of our potential users are rapidly increasing. In other parts of the world, to be honest, few people know about us. Our brand is becoming well-known in Asia, and that’s why we’re running our business right here now. I heard that some gaming titles cost six dollars to acquire a user, and that’s the number we definitely can’t accept. This is another reason why we’re focusing on Asia.

gumi_halloween
CEO David Ng and his colleagues at Gumi Asia’s Halloween Party
(from Gumi Asia’s Facebook page)

Q. Your business is not only about sales but also developing products all over Asia. What is the benefit of this development strategy?

David: Game developers are doing business differently than typical tech startups. Startups are pursuing the development of market-disrupting products or services to acquire users. But we as game developers need keep introducing new titles to attract people. Through this kind of sustained efforts, we’ll have a smash hit product some day in the future.

In order to develop as many titles as possible with a limited amount of the funds, we reduce the development cost for every development task. In Taiwan, a talent can be hired for almost a half the salary as in Singapore. In Indonesia, we can hire a designer with very high skills for only $500 a month. By mixing up skills from our employees at different locations, we can develop more high-quality game titles than our competitors. With the cost of developing a game at a typical Japanese game development company, we can develop three titles.

Q. At the end of last year, Konami also set up in Singapore. Is the regional market attracting many more gaming companies?

David: When they set up an office in Singapore, their president came to my office, and I enjoyed chatting with him. Gumi is still a very small and young company, but many executives from companies new to Singapore contact me for advice. The Singaporean government is offering great support for innovative businesses. For example, the PIC (Productivity and Innovation Credit) offers 400% tax deductions and 60% cash payout for the deployment of working facilities. It’s easier to ask someone for translation to Mandarin or English here. Also our country is well known for having the world’s lowest income tax system, which is 17% at most. We also got financial support from the government for covering the cost of setting up our local office. For Japanese startups aspiring to expand in the Asia region, I believe Singapore is the smart choice.

However, Japanese companies should not expect results in the short-term. No results can be made in the first three to six months. It may require at least three to five years to achieve something. Furthermore, they shouldn’t deploy a Japanese management style to local employees. This might cause negative results no matter where the region.

Q. You achieved a lot in your past business life, at Linksys and EA, and I expect you’re doing ok financially. Why did you choose to join startup where the future is less certain?

David:
I did a joint venture with Linksys CEO in 1998 after the Thailand economic crisis and built Linksys business in Asia. Linksys was sold to Cisco for $500 million in 2003, hence I was successful as an entrepreneur from early days. (This paragraph contained a mistake of fact. It’s been corrected.)

But when I met with Mr. Kunimitsu (Gumi Group’s CEO) and listened to his dreams and ideas, and where he’s heading, I wanted to get involved and work with him. This is not about making money. Unlike my previous business experiences, Gumi is a startup requiring us to create everything from scratch. I thought this must be very challenging and interesting.

Q. What projects are you currently working on?

David: In the smartphone game industry, there will be a shift to native apps from web-based apps this year. For us, developing native apps based on our Japan-made apps is also one of our missions at the Singapore office. For upcoming gaming titles for smartphones, we’ll be developing all of them as native apps. Puzzle Trooper is a notable one, released on April 16th (available on Google Play, trailer below). We will also introduce another slot app by the end of this year which was mainly designed at our Indonesian office. So please stay tuned for that and more upcoming products.


As I talked with David Ng, I felt that he was not just the president of a Japanese subsidiary, but also that he has the perspective of an investor rather than that of an entrepreneur. And he’s ambitious enough to share a dream with the startup’s founder, and expects to make Gumi a top global company.


  1. Linksys was subsequently acquired by Cisco Systems and Belkin.  ↩

No girlfriend? No problem. Two hacker projects from Japan help you feel loved

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Japanese makers are well known for coming up with very unique inventions. Take for example, Shippo, a fluffy appendage that moves in accordance with your brain waves, or this musical fork that emits music while you eat. For creative types who come up with fun ideas like these, I expect there isn’t much time left for a love life. But thankfully some enthusiastic hackers in Japan have come up with a few new inventions that simulate a girlfriend’s affection [1]. The first device comes from some students at Tsukuba University. It looks like a regular coat, but if you strap on its special mechanical belt, and put on the included headset, you can experience the feeling of having a girlfriend running up and hugging you from behind. And while it’s not likely a product that will ever come to market, it’s good to see young enthusiastic engineers having fun like this, as you can see in the video below (h/t VS Media). Another awesome device that simulates a girlfriend’s affection is an unusual set of ‘head pat’ headphones. When worn, the headpiece has a piece on the top with rotates in an attempt to simulate intended a girlfriend patting you…

Japanese makers are well known for coming up with very unique inventions. Take for example, Shippo, a fluffy appendage that moves in accordance with your brain waves, or this musical fork that emits music while you eat.

For creative types who come up with fun ideas like these, I expect there isn’t much time left for a love life. But thankfully some enthusiastic hackers in Japan have come up with a few new inventions that simulate a girlfriend’s affection [1].

The first device comes from some students at Tsukuba University. It looks like a regular coat, but if you strap on its special mechanical belt, and put on the included headset, you can experience the feeling of having a girlfriend running up and hugging you from behind. And while it’s not likely a product that will ever come to market, it’s good to see young enthusiastic engineers having fun like this, as you can see in the video below (h/t VS Media).

Another awesome device that simulates a girlfriend’s affection is an unusual set of ‘head pat’ headphones. When worn, the headpiece has a piece on the top with rotates in an attempt to simulate intended a girlfriend patting you affectionately on the head. I’m not certain who the developers in this particular video are, but it looks like a student project as well.

Neither of these devices are especially practical, but I expect that the students who created them have bright futures ahead!


  1. I don’t think these projects should be interpreted as any sort of perverted Japanese tech trend, but rather a great example of some very clever kids with a great sense of humor.  ↩

Japan increasingly turning to Facebook to reach potential tourists

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Last month Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) surpassed the 18 million user mark in Japan, pushing it well past domestic social network rival Mixi as perhaps the preferred SNS in Japan [1]. In addition to consumers jumping on the bandwagon, businesses are getting in on the action as well. The travel industry is no exception, and there are a number of initiatives that try to leverage Facebook to promote tourism among domestic and international audiences. One such service just launched this past week. It’s called ’fb Japan Kankou Annai (or simply fb Japan), and it is essentially a website that collects Facebook pages relating to the tourism industry (currently a total of 324), including those of hotels and ins, as well as airlines and railways. The page was created by Tokyo-based social network consulting company Ainapal, which has runs a few other Facebook pages, including Beautiful Ryokan in Japan. If any tourism-related companies out there wish to add their Facebook page to the list, they can do so using a submission form. Reaching beyond Japan’s borders Similarly, the recently launched Travelience service (I’m not a fan of the name!) offers guided tours of Tokyo, and is making use of Facebook by engaging potential…

facebook-in-Japan
Photo: clutch.ne.jp

Last month Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) surpassed the 18 million user mark in Japan, pushing it well past domestic social network rival Mixi as perhaps the preferred SNS in Japan [1]. In addition to consumers jumping on the bandwagon, businesses are getting in on the action as well.

The travel industry is no exception, and there are a number of initiatives that try to leverage Facebook to promote tourism among domestic and international audiences. One such service just launched this past week.

fbjapan.com
fbjapan.com

It’s called ’fb Japan Kankou Annai (or simply fb Japan), and it is essentially a website that collects Facebook pages relating to the tourism industry (currently a total of 324), including those of hotels and ins, as well as airlines and railways. The page was created by Tokyo-based social network consulting company Ainapal, which has runs a few other Facebook pages, including Beautiful Ryokan in Japan. If any tourism-related companies out there wish to add their Facebook page to the list, they can do so using a submission form.

Reaching beyond Japan’s borders

Similarly, the recently launched Travelience service (I’m not a fan of the name!) offers guided tours of Tokyo, and is making use of Facebook by engaging potential tourists, posting photos from around Japan, and conducting quizzes. The company boasts cheaper tours than its competitors, and its Facebook presence (now with about 21,000 fans) is a place potential tour participants can comment and have discussions.

As for Japan’s official tourism arm, the JNTO, it has also been pretty active in reaching out on the social network. The organization operates a number of regional pages targeting a variety of countries, including the USA (153,000 fans), Singapore (141,000), and Thailand (92,000).

travelience

Of course, the efforts of these companies to promote Japan abroad via Facebook pales in comparison to startup Tokyo Otaku Mode, which has racked up more than 11 million Facebook fans with its page about Japanese otaku subculture [2]. Likewise, another young startup under the KDDI Mugen Labo incubator program, Kawaii Museum JPN, is doing something similar, and currently has more than 3 million Facebook fans.

In addition to capitalizing on the power of Facebook, companies and organizations are using the afore-mentioned Line chat app to reach audiences and customers. This past week we featured the apparel brand Lip Service which has been using Line to connect with customers via smartphones, and the end result was a 50% boost in in sales over the previous week. Even the Prime Minister’s Office has a Line account, promising to push updates to citizens who want to stay in the loop using their smartphones [3].


  1. I say ‘perhaps’ because many would say that recently the social network of choise is Line, although as a chat app many others would say it isn’t strictly a social network.  ↩

  2. To learn more about Tokyo Otaku Mode, see our feature on the young up-and-coming startup from last month.  ↩

  3. And as of this week, the Prime Minister’s Office also has its own smartphone apps!  ↩

14 standout financial solution startups from Japan

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These days in Japan, there are a bunch of startups providing accounting or financial solutions, both for personal and business use. Let’s take a quick rundown of some of the more popular ones. BizNote by CrowdCast ¶ BizNote is a cloud-based accounting app that helps SME owners and startup managers handle their cash flows using their PC or smartphone. The app aims to simplify accounting, thus letting business spend their time on more important tasks. BizNote won the top award at the Yayoi App Contest, an Android app competition run by Japan’s largest accounting software company. It recently added key features like receipt scanning as well as data integration with major accounting software packages. It’s available in English and Japanese, and for free for the first 30-days. Apps are available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Google Chrome. The app was developed by CrowdCast, a company founded in 2011 by Takashi Hoshikawa. He previously worked with Microsoft Japan and DEC Japan. Coiney ¶ Coiney is Japan’s first-ever smartphone-based credit card processing service. It’s similar to services like Square, Paypal Here, and Swiff. The company was founded by ex-Paypal Japan employee Naoko Samata and won the top prize at Rising Expo…

bookkeeping

These days in Japan, there are a bunch of startups providing accounting or financial solutions, both for personal and business use. Let’s take a quick rundown of some of the more popular ones.


BizNote by CrowdCast

BizNote is a cloud-based accounting app that helps SME owners and startup managers handle their cash flows using their PC or smartphone. The app aims to simplify accounting, thus letting business spend their time on more important tasks.

biznote_logoBizNote won the top award at the Yayoi App Contest, an Android app competition run by Japan’s largest accounting software company. It recently added key features like receipt scanning as well as data integration with major accounting software packages. It’s available in English and Japanese, and for free for the first 30-days. Apps are available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Google Chrome.

The app was developed by CrowdCast, a company founded in 2011 by Takashi Hoshikawa. He previously worked with Microsoft Japan and DEC Japan.

Coiney

coiney_logoCoiney is Japan’s first-ever smartphone-based credit card processing service. It’s similar to services like Square, Paypal Here, and Swiff. The company was founded by ex-Paypal Japan employee Naoko Samata and won the top prize at Rising Expo 2012, a startup showcase competition event held by CyberAgent Ventures.

The startup announced in February that it had fundraised 100 million yen (over $1 million) from four investors including East Ventures, CyberAgent Ventures, and Shinji Kimura (the founder of ad platform developer AtLantis). It has partnered with Sumitomo Mitsui Card, the largest issuer/acquirer of Visa-affiliated credit cards in Japan, and is working together with them to accelerate merchant acquisition.

I previously spoke with the team when the service was launched last October, so check that out for more details.

Freee by CFO K.K.

freee_new_logo-c3970ad3866dd25fda6b1c27779b6173The recently launched Freee is a cloud-based accounting solution that aims to set SME owners free of tedious accounting tasks. By synchronizing your account to this cloud system (which is integrated with web services provided by banks and credit companies) your payments will be logged in the system using web-scraping technology. They are sorted into the appropriate categories corresponding to the items you’ve purchased.

It was developed by CFO K.K., a company founded in July of 2012 by ex-Googler Daisuke Sasaki and ex-Sony engineer Ryu Yokoji. They’ve been developing the service as a stealth project at their home, and fundraised 50 million yen (about $523,000) from notable US-based VC firm DCM in December.

Hottoscope

hottoscope_logoHottoscope is a data-mining company that provides market analysis and prediction based on the aggregated information from social media. It provides analysis to Bloomberg Terminal, one of the most famous information resources for stock traders.

The company was launched about 12 years ago as a kind of a hobby/study group at the University of Tokyo. Since then it has been providing various tools for analyzing social updates to prevent companies from being financially damaged by harmful rumors and misinformation.

Kanmu’s Card Link

kanmuclo_logoBy associating coupons with your credit card, Kanmu allows you to get discounts from participating merchants when paying with a credit card. For merchants, you’ll be charged on a performance basis, and can reduce transfer fees while easily targeting a specific segment of customers. For the consumers, you even don’t need to print coupons beforehand or present virtual coupons with your smartphone at storefronts.

The startup was founded by Wataru Yamaki who previously worked with several web startups as an intern. He also has developed Marketgeek.

Makeleaps

makeleaps_logoMakeleaps is a web-based invoicing solution that targets startups and SME owners. It was founded in 2010 by Tokyo-based (Australian) entrepreneur Jason Winder who’s also known for organizing Hacker News Tokyo. They launched the service in Japan because people here aggressively pursue product quality, which is why he believes his business can work globally once it succeeds here. In addition to invoice delivery via snail mail and fax, the startup provides an optional dunning service too.

Misoca by Stand Firm

misoca_logoMisoca is an online invoice-issuing solution for startups and SMEs, a service provided by Nagoya-based company Stand Firm. The app is totally cloud-based and has features to send invoices to your clients via snail mail or fax.

Money Forward

moneyforward_logoMoney Forward provides online personal accounting for individuals, allowing them to easily manage their daily expenses by integrating with their bank passbooks and credit purchase history with information scraped from their web account. The startup was spun-off from Tokyo’s famous online stock brokerage Monex in 2012.  It recently raised 100 million yen (over $1 million) from several angel investors and WIT Corporation, a TLO (technology licensing organization) under Waseda University.

Mycredit.jp

mycredit.jp_logoMycredit.jp provides a credibility report of your finances, a sort of Japanese version of Experian or Equifax. By authenticating your identity over the phone, you will be able to get the report in just about 10 minutes after placing the order. This is intended as a service to check your credibility prior to applying for a house mortgage. Subsequently you can find a way to improve your standing for future borrowing from financial institutions.

The startup was founded by serial entrepreneur Russell Cummer who’s also running Acqush, a Tokyo-based social lending startup, backed by Dave McClure’s 500 Startups.

Paygate by Royal Gate

paygate_logoPaygate is a credit card processor that works as an attachment to tablets and smartphones. Using it together with a small printer, merchants can issue receipts to customers at purchase. The product is intended for people like motorcycle messengers, or insurance canvassers.

The service was developed by a 5-year-old IT company, and fundraised a total of 100 million yen (over $1 million) from NTT Investment Partners and Mizuho Capital in its final seed round in 2011.

ReceReco by Brain Pad

recereco_logoTokyo-based data mining company Brain Pad launched an iOS app called ReceReco (receipt recording) last month. By scanning receipts with your iPhone camera, the personal accounting app can recognize what you’ve paid for, visualize it in diagrams, and even lets you to share to Evernote or Facebook.

Brain Pad was founded in 2004 and was ranked 23rd place on Deloitte’s Fast50 Japan, a ranking of 50 Japanese tech companies based on revenue growth in Japan.

Totte Okuru

totte-okuru_logoTotte Okuru is an iPhone app developed by Tokyo-based startup Pirika Works. The app allows users to easily record expenses by scanning your receipts. Unlike similar services, scanned images will be transferred to keypunchers and entered to the system manually, which enables reading of not only machine-printed receipts but also hand-written ones.

The service uses people living in the Tohoku region for keypunching, which goes a little ways towards helping some people affected by the 2011 East Japan Earthquake.

Ubiregi

ubiregi_logoUbiregi is a cloud-based POS (point of sales) system that uses an iPad at the storefront. Compared to conventional systems, it can be reasonably deployed and easily maintained, especially for individual merchants like small restaurants, standing bars, and accessory shops.

The startup was launched by Keita Kido in August of 2010, and raised around 20 million yen (over $200,000) from Voyage Ventures and Kronos Fund. It also has a capital tie-up with SalesForce.com.

Zaim

zaim_logoZaim is a smartphone app that allows you to input your expenses into an assortment of categories, thus gaining some insight into your spending habits thanks to its graphic analysis. The startup has partnered with OCN Kakeibo, a cloud-based household accounting solution run by NTT Communications, and allows users to shorten the time requirements of their bookkeeping tasks.

It was launched in 2011 by Japan’s notable geek girl Takako Kansai. Zaim was incorporated last September, and raised 42 million yen (about $450,000) from Japan’s top recipe sharing site Cookpad. My colleague Rick spoke with her a little more about the service in this Tech in Asia article.

Google Maps adds spectacular 45-degree aerial view to select Japanese cities

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Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has announced that it has added Tokyo, Kawasaki, Chiba, and Sendai to the list of cities worldwide that have the slick 45-degree aerial view feature. Somewhat similar to Apple’s touted ‘flyover’ feature, this view was initially rolled out in 37 US cities as well as 14 international cities last year. Now on Google Maps you can check out iconic locations such as Tokyo Tower or even the new Tokyo Skytree from a 45-degree vantage point. As you can see in the pictures below, the view looks pretty amazing. The 45-degree perspective doesn’t appear right away, but once you’ve zoomed into a certain level, it suddenly kicks in. Eye-candy aside, this is actually a pretty practical feature, especially if you’re trying to scout out a new place you plan to visit. I find myself often confused when visiting some stations, so I expect to make use of it often [1[. You might also want to check out Google’s Streetview compilation of cherry blossom viewing spots. Trees are just starting to bloom in Japan, so if you’d like to scout a spot near you for this weekend, this is a fun resource to explore! Sometimes it feels a little like…

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has announced that it has added Tokyo, Kawasaki, Chiba, and Sendai to the list of cities worldwide that have the slick 45-degree aerial view feature. Somewhat similar to Apple’s touted ‘flyover’ feature, this view was initially rolled out in 37 US cities as well as 14 international cities last year.

Now on Google Maps you can check out iconic locations such as Tokyo Tower or even the new Tokyo Skytree from a 45-degree vantage point. As you can see in the pictures below, the view looks pretty amazing. The 45-degree perspective doesn’t appear right away, but once you’ve zoomed into a certain level, it suddenly kicks in.

tokyo-tower-google-maps

tokyo-skytree-google-maps

Eye-candy aside, this is actually a pretty practical feature, especially if you’re trying to scout out a new place you plan to visit. I find myself often confused when visiting some stations, so I expect to make use of it often [1[.

You might also want to check out Google’s Streetview compilation of cherry blossom viewing spots. Trees are just starting to bloom in Japan, so if you’d like to scout a spot near you for this weekend, this is a fun resource to explore!


  1. Sometimes it feels a little like Mario Bros, coming up in a strange new world after traveling around in a series of pipes. ↩

Online support software provider Zendesk makes its presence in Japan official

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See also this story in Japanese. Online customer support platform Zendesk has officially established a presence here in Japan, celebrating the launch of its KK in Tokyo yesterday evening. I had a chance to catch up with the company’s CEO Mikkel Svane the day before the event, and asked him a little about how Zendesk plans to approach the Japanese market. So far the company has about 100 customers here in Japan (having made its services available in Japanese last year) out of a total of 3,000 in the Asia Pacific. The majority of customers in the region are from Australia and New Zealand, because the company’s initial traction has been in English speaking markets, but recently opportunities are presenting themselves in other countries too, as Mikkel explains: There are [new] markets that we see recently with some traction, and Japan is one of these. It’s a big, homogenous, scalable market. We have been fortunate to work with some early partners with whom we have a mutual respect. […] I think it’s important to bridge the cultures and that’s very much in the DNA of Zendesk — we have a crazy mix of nationalities. We will be patient, we have…

See also this story in Japanese.

zendesk-logoOnline customer support platform Zendesk has officially established a presence here in Japan, celebrating the launch of its KK in Tokyo yesterday evening. I had a chance to catch up with the company’s CEO Mikkel Svane the day before the event, and asked him a little about how Zendesk plans to approach the Japanese market.

So far the company has about 100 customers here in Japan (having made its services available in Japanese last year) out of a total of 3,000 in the Asia Pacific. The majority of customers in the region are from Australia and New Zealand, because the company’s initial traction has been in English speaking markets, but recently opportunities are presenting themselves in other countries too, as Mikkel explains:

There are [new] markets that we see recently with some traction, and Japan is one of these. It’s a big, homogenous, scalable market. We have been fortunate to work with some early partners with whom we have a mutual respect. […] I think it’s important to bridge the cultures and that’s very much in the DNA of Zendesk — we have a crazy mix of nationalities. We will be patient, we have a lot to learn — but we are committed long term.

He admits that for the Zendesk team coming to Japan, there’s certainly more than a little mystery surrounding the market here. Like many Western companies aspiring to get into Asia markets, finding the right local staff and local partners will be key:

I think we’ll rely a lot on the people that we hire to see what version of the Zendesk product and culture will work here. We will work with early adopter companies and gain a foothold there, and that is how we plan to embrace the Japanese market. I feel very confident about that.

Educating and informing

zendesk-japan

As many of you may know, Zendesk made headlines in late February when a hacker broke into its system and downloaded email addresses. And while the company was pretty transparent about what transpired, I was curious whether or not this affected their pursuit of new customers, especially here in Japan. Mikkel explains that for customers who are in the buying process, there are some who would like to know more about what happened, and some existing customers have questions as well. They have been explaining how that vulnerability was exploited, and relating the measures that they are taking to ensure it doesn’t happen again. I’m told that Zendesk signed a big client just last week, certainly a good sign that companies still have faith in them.

In order to help further educate potential customers about their services, Zendesk has been holding the same sort of ‘bootcamps’ which it has held in other regions. Here in Japan, their first bootcamps were conducted with translators, but the most recent one in February was conducted entirely in Japanese in cooperation with a local partner.

Interestingly, Mikkel and his team observe that working with smaller businesses here in Japan is pretty much the same as working with small businesses elsewhere. The company has worked with startup incubators around Asia, and they hope to do the same in Japan as well. They already work with Open Network Lab, and I expect there will be more to come later as well.

Japan’s ‘Kiddy’ is a photo diary for iPhone that keeps grandma in the loop

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Having recently joined the ranks of parenthood, I’ve been in the market for useful apps with which I could privately archive pictures of my new arrival. I don’t want to be one of those over-sharing parents on Facebook, nor do I want to publicly photos far beyond my immediate family and friends. Kiddy is a photo sharing application from Japan which attempts to solve this sort of problem, letting you keep a calendar-like photo diary of your child’s development in a more private environment. If you do want to share your photos, you can push images to Facebook, or send them via email from the application. But the most interesting sharing feature for the app is what’s called the ‘Kiddy Card.’ This feature allows you to select five of your best photos, and create a sort of postcard which you can then send to family members in the mail. Currently Kiddy is offering a free Kiddy Card campaign for the first five hundred applicants. If you’d like to send to one address, it’s $2.59 per month; two addresses is $4.99 per month, and three addresses is $6.99 per month. In Japan in particular, with its rapidly aging population, this function…

kiddy-japanHaving recently joined the ranks of parenthood, I’ve been in the market for useful apps with which I could privately archive pictures of my new arrival. I don’t want to be one of those over-sharing parents on Facebook, nor do I want to publicly photos far beyond my immediate family and friends.

Kiddy is a photo sharing application from Japan which attempts to solve this sort of problem, letting you keep a calendar-like photo diary of your child’s development in a more private environment. If you do want to share your photos, you can push images to Facebook, or send them via email from the application.

But the most interesting sharing feature for the app is what’s called the ‘Kiddy Card.’ This feature allows you to select five of your best photos, and create a sort of postcard which you can then send to family members in the mail. Currently Kiddy is offering a free Kiddy Card campaign for the first five hundred applicants.

kiddy kiddy-2

If you’d like to send to one address, it’s $2.59 per month; two addresses is $4.99 per month, and three addresses is $6.99 per month. In Japan in particular, with its rapidly aging population, this function is a good way to ensure that grandparents aren’t left stranded across the digital divide.

Kiddy has been around for just a few months, but so far it seems to have found a surprising niche in the ‘medical’ category on Apple’s Japanese App Store. And an Android app is said to be on the way as well. Kiddy was created by the same folks behind Compath.me, a Tokyo startup which many of you may recognize. Check out their promo video below:

Other alternatives

Another made-in-Japan baby diary app on the market that parents might want to check out is Daiby, from Hakuhodo DY Media Partners. As for my own baby diary of choice, I still plan to use Notabli, primarily due to its ease of use, support for audio and video moments, and its promise to liberate my photos and data if I choose to quit the app in the future. (I’m glad to see however that Kiddy also plans to have this function soon.)

Kiddy’s service of delivering your pictures on paper is somewhat reminiscent of Mixi’s Nohana photo book service. That application, amazingly, lets you order one free book per month, not including a minor shipping fee. I recently ordered one, and I look forward to seeing how it turns out.