THE BRIDGE

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Japan’s KDDI buys members-only premium outlet site Luxa

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See the original story in Japanese. Japan’s leading telco, KDDI, will take a majority stake in Tokyo-based Luxa, the company behind a premium outlet e-commerce site under the same name. Luxa’s shareholders are Japanese VC firm Jafco, Tokyo-based startup BizReach, and KDDI. Upon this agreement, Luxa is expected to become a consolidated subsidiary of KDDI. The e-commerce site provides a variety of time-limited or quantity-limited items, including designer-branded fashion items, consumer electronics, cosmetics, and apparel that are carefully selected by the company’s buyers. Luxa was initially launched as a business of BizReach in August 2010 but was spun off in October 2010 because BizReach shifted its focus to an online premium job hunting and talent search site under the same name. Subsequently Luxa secured 500 million yen funding from Jafco in November 2010, followed by closing series B round worth 500 million yen ($5.3 million) from JAFCO Super V3 Fund in March 2013.

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See the original story in Japanese.

Japan’s leading telco, KDDI, will take a majority stake in Tokyo-based Luxa, the company behind a premium outlet e-commerce site under the same name.

Luxa’s shareholders are Japanese VC firm Jafco, Tokyo-based startup BizReach, and KDDI. Upon this agreement, Luxa is expected to become a consolidated subsidiary of KDDI.

The e-commerce site provides a variety of time-limited or quantity-limited items, including designer-branded fashion items, consumer electronics, cosmetics, and apparel that are carefully selected by the company’s buyers.

Luxa was initially launched as a business of BizReach in August 2010 but was spun off in October 2010 because BizReach shifted its focus to an online premium job hunting and talent search site under the same name. Subsequently Luxa secured 500 million yen funding from Jafco in November 2010, followed by closing series B round worth 500 million yen ($5.3 million) from JAFCO Super V3 Fund in March 2013.

In September 2013, the company raised 330 million yen ($3.3 million) from KDDI Open Innovation Fund, the fund operated by Japanese telco KDDI and Global Brain, and started providing limited-offer discounts to mobile subscribers via au SmartPass, the telco’s flat-rate app subscription program.

Translated by Masaru Ikeda
Edited by Kurt Hanson
Proofread by “Tex” Pomeroy

Japanese premium outlet site Luxa raises $3.3 million from KDDI

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Tokyo-based Luxa, the startup running a members-only discount e-commerce platform, has announced today that it has raised 330 million yen ($3.3 million) from KDDI Open Innovation Fund, the fund operated by Japanese telco KDDI. Prior to this funding, the company raised a total of investment worth over $10 million from Japanese investment company Jafco. Coinciding with these new funds, Luxa plans to provide limited-offer discounts to mobile subscribers via au SmartPass, the telco’s flat-rate app subscription program. Since its initial launch back in August of 2010, the website has acquired over 450,000 members, mostly people in their 30s and 40s. Their products are wide-ranging, with a heavy slant towards cosmetics and appliances. The company claims that its smartphone access ratio has risen from 8% to 35%, which indicates a rapid transition of users from desktop to mobile both in revenue and traffic [1]. With this new partnership with KDDI, the startup expects to boost its user base to 4.5 million by the end of 2016. KDDI also revealed that it has invested in iRidge, the startup behind an O2O (online-to-offline) solution using mobile geolocation and notification features. The investment sum was undisclosed. This year, the telco has invested in several…

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Tokyo-based Luxa, the startup running a members-only discount e-commerce platform, has announced today that it has raised 330 million yen ($3.3 million) from KDDI Open Innovation Fund, the fund operated by Japanese telco KDDI. Prior to this funding, the company raised a total of investment worth over $10 million from Japanese investment company Jafco. Coinciding with these new funds, Luxa plans to provide limited-offer discounts to mobile subscribers via au SmartPass, the telco’s flat-rate app subscription program.

au-luxa
Luxa’s storefront for KDDI mobile subscribers only

Since its initial launch back in August of 2010, the website has acquired over 450,000 members, mostly people in their 30s and 40s. Their products are wide-ranging, with a heavy slant towards cosmetics and appliances.

The company claims that its smartphone access ratio has risen from 8% to 35%, which indicates a rapid transition of users from desktop to mobile both in revenue and traffic [1]. With this new partnership with KDDI, the startup expects to boost its user base to 4.5 million by the end of 2016.

KDDI also revealed that it has invested in iRidge, the startup behind an O2O (online-to-offline) solution using mobile geolocation and notification features. The investment sum was undisclosed.

This year, the telco has invested in several other e-commerce startups, including Origami and Monoco. This indicates how the company plans to leverage its huge user base, developing an entirely new revenue stream, making it more than a conventional dumb pipe business.


  1. From January of 2012 to September of 2013.

Japan’s members-only discount site LUXA raises $5.32M

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Tokyo-based e-commerce website LUXA has announced today that it has raised 500 million yen in series B funding from the JAFCO Super V3 Fund. For those outside Japan who might not be familiar with the site, LUXA is a sort of ‘outlet shopping’ site which offers products at discount prices for a limited time, with sales typically lasting for just 72 hours for its members. The site has over 350,000 members to date, mostly people in their 30s and 40s, with products recently showing a heavy slant towards cosmetics and appliances. The company’s founder and CEO Swimmy Minami explains more about the service: LUXA aims to provide a unique online shopping experience, similar to what is offered at real-life premium outlet malls. The buyers stakeholders of various categories in LUXA will continue to focus on curating the best premium products and luxury experiences for its membership and make LUXA into an essential online shopping destination full of new discoveries. The new funds will be used to help the service grow, specifically in terms of its sales staff as well as customer acquisition, particularly on mobile where the site has seen a six-fold increase in revenue over the course of 2012….

luxa-jpTokyo-based e-commerce website LUXA has announced today that it has raised 500 million yen in series B funding from the JAFCO Super V3 Fund. For those outside Japan who might not be familiar with the site, LUXA is a sort of ‘outlet shopping’ site which offers products at discount prices for a limited time, with sales typically lasting for just 72 hours for its members.

The site has over 350,000 members to date, mostly people in their 30s and 40s, with products recently showing a heavy slant towards cosmetics and appliances. The company’s founder and CEO Swimmy Minami explains more about the service:

LUXA aims to provide a unique online shopping experience, similar to what is offered at real-life premium outlet malls. The buyers stakeholders of various categories in LUXA will continue to focus on curating the best premium products and luxury experiences for its membership and make LUXA into an essential online shopping destination full of new discoveries.

The new funds will be used to help the service grow, specifically in terms of its sales staff as well as customer acquisition, particularly on mobile where the site has seen a six-fold increase in revenue over the course of 2012.

In addition to Tokyo, the company also has offices in Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka. This round of funding brings its total amount raised to 10 billion yen (or $10.6 million).

I was lucky enough to have a chance to meet with Swimmy just last week, and hear more about how Luxa has grown. He’s a bold entrepreneur, and it will be interesting to see where he steers Luxa in the future.

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