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Ad giant Dentsu, SF-based Scrum Ventures jointly set up global sports-tech accelerator

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See the original story in Japanese. Japanese ad giant Dentsu (TSE:4324) and the San Francisco-based VC firm Scrum Ventures last month jointly held an explanatory meeting about Sports Tech Tokyo, the acceleration program focusing on sports tech. With 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics approaching, there seems to be the best momentum for sports tech to attract global attention.  At the beginning of the event, Japanese footballer Keisuke Honda, also known as an investor for startups, provided a comment. The operation term of this acceleration program’s 1st batch is planned to be about one year, beginning in January of 2019. It is relatively longer than typical acceleration programs and consists of a six-month business starting round and a six-month activation round. This program commits not only to service / business development but also to establishment of business for participating teams. The system allows Play (eSports or fantasy sports), Watch (arena / stadium solution) and Support (player support technology) to apply this program, covering a wide range of services. 150 teams will be chosen from among applicant startups gathered from around the world next February, and a kick-off conference will be held in Tokyo during March of 2019. After next April,…

(L to R) Fumihiko Nakajima (Program Owner of Sports Tech Tokyo / Dentsu CDC) and Takuya Miyata (CEO of Scrum Ventures)

See the original story in Japanese.

Japanese ad giant Dentsu (TSE:4324) and the San Francisco-based VC firm Scrum Ventures last month jointly held an explanatory meeting about Sports Tech Tokyo, the acceleration program focusing on sports tech. With 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics approaching, there seems to be the best momentum for sports tech to attract global attention.


At the beginning of the event, Japanese footballer Keisuke Honda, also known as an investor for startups, provided a comment.

The operation term of this acceleration program’s 1st batch is planned to be about one year, beginning in January of 2019. It is relatively longer than typical acceleration programs and consists of a six-month business starting round and a six-month activation round. This program commits not only to service / business development but also to establishment of business for participating teams.

The system allows Play (eSports or fantasy sports), Watch (arena / stadium solution) and Support (player support technology) to apply this program, covering a wide range of services. 150 teams will be chosen from among applicant startups gathered from around the world next February, and a kick-off conference will be held in Tokyo during March of 2019.

Partial list of Sports Tech Tokyo mentors

After next April, Sports Tech Tokyo will choose some 10 to 20 finalists and plans to provide mentoring to them based in Japan and San Francisco. The program will line up 100 famous Mentors including Daniel Brusilovsky (technology lead of U.S. basketball team), Kai Bond (investor of Comcast Ventures) and Ryan Hoover (founder of Product Hunt / investor of Weekend Fund).

Sponsored companies of Sports Tech Tokyo

Sports Tech Tokyo plans to have a world Demo Day in San Francisco, as the conclusion of business development round in July of 2019. To increase appearance opportunities of participating startups, the program will hold pop-up events within tech conferences in Japan during October of 2019. It has acquired about 20 supporters / sponsorships including sports-related company or media.

Takayuki Hioki (Sports Marketing Japan) introduced sports business trends around the world. He also spoke on the evolution of sports business.
Takeshi Okada (ex-Manager of the Japanese national football team, right) and Kojiro Kurotobi (CEO of Sportsbull, left), along with Hiromu Nishiuchi (author of ‘Statistics is the most powerful knowledge,’ in center) delved into the potentials of sports tech.

Translated by Taijiro Takeda
Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Panasonic, Scrum Ventures announce BeeEdge joint venture to foster innovation

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This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology. Panasonic (TSE:6752) held a press conference as MC’d by Panasonic Senior Managing Executive Officer Tetsuro Homma on Thursday, announcing in Tokyo that it is forming a joint venture with a 49% share called BeeEdge together with Scrum Ventures, a San Francisco-based early-stage venture capital firm. Aimed at enabling a new generation of products, BeeEdge will identify technologies within Panasonic that are not fully utilized and create independent startups to develop them commercially. BeeEdge will act as an accelerator, with Panasonic and Scrum pooling their experience upon collaboration and supporting entrepreneurs. Scrum Ventures said in their release on the U.S. side. We know how to identify and support startups that are working on ground‐breaking new technologies. We are very hands‐on with founders and make sure they have what is needed to succeed. Sharing our expertise with Panasonic is a great opportunity to bring underutilized innovations to market. Tak Miyata heads the U.S. outfit as Founding Partner of Scrum Ventures, a seed-stage venture firm investing across a range of industries in the U.S. and Asia. With extensive experience plus networks in both…

This is a guest post authored by “Tex” Pomeroy. He is a Tokyo-based writer specializing in ICT and high technology.


Scrum Ventures’ partner Makoto Haruta speaks at a press conference in Tokyo.
Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy

Panasonic (TSE:6752) held a press conference as MC’d by Panasonic Senior Managing Executive Officer Tetsuro Homma on Thursday, announcing in Tokyo that it is forming a joint venture with a 49% share called BeeEdge together with Scrum Ventures, a San Francisco-based early-stage venture capital firm.

Aimed at enabling a new generation of products, BeeEdge will identify technologies within Panasonic that are not fully utilized and create independent startups to develop them commercially. BeeEdge will act as an accelerator, with Panasonic and Scrum pooling their experience upon collaboration and supporting entrepreneurs.

Scrum Ventures said in their release on the U.S. side.

We know how to identify and support startups that are working on ground‐breaking new technologies. We are very hands‐on with founders and make sure they have what is needed to succeed. Sharing our expertise with Panasonic is a great opportunity to bring underutilized innovations to market.

Tak Miyata heads the U.S. outfit as Founding Partner of Scrum Ventures, a seed-stage venture firm investing across a range of industries in the U.S. and Asia. With extensive experience plus networks in both Silicon Valley and Japan, Scrum Ventures accelerates their portfolio companies for global opportunities and helps corporations innovate. Scrum Ventures partner Makoto Haruta will become BeeEdge President. It was recently announced that Scrum Studio to connect global corporations in Japan with startups in Silicon Valley through investing and collaboration have been set up.

Scrum Ventures’ partner Makoto Haruta (right) shakes hands with Panasonic’s Tetsuro Homma (left).
Image credit: “Tex” Pomeroy

Meanwhile Panasonic, known for creating consumer electronics that enhance customer lifestyles, has been increasing its investment to create new consumer experiences and businesses for the next generation. In April, it will look to focus their design efforts in Kyoto, among other changes. Haruta took the stage to underscore Scrum Ventures’ track record identifying new trends and technologies, in addition to strong understanding of the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem, noting that Scrum Ventures is well‐positioned to bring expertise to BeeEdge upon advising the startups.

Homma, in charge of the Appliance Company at Panasonic, said:

We are looking forward to working with Scrum Ventures because of their expertise in supporting startups. From analyzing opportunities and bringing products to market, to sharing best practices in operations, Scrum Ventures will be a valuable partner in maximizing how we develop our technologies with new innovative companies.

The Osaka manufacturing giant spokesman added as well that Panasonic is mulling investment into the Scrum Ventures Fund III along with the joint venture set-up.