See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Shelfy, the company that operates a platform connecting renovation companies and retail store owners, announced on Friday that it has secured seed funding from East Ventures. Funding details have not been disclosed but it’s likely worth around a six-digit number in US dollars.

See also:

• Japan’s Shelfy helps restaurant owners get better deals on renovations

On the platform, store owners willing to renovate their interiors can invite tenders from renovation companies and compare their estimates before making an order. The company’s CEO Shunki Roy found that there are larger market needs in this sector than he had expected before launching the service. Roy explained:

Most orders about renovating stores ranging from 130 to 200 square meters in size abound. Because the size of their budgets varies, our commission ranges widely, from $1,000 to $10,000.

When we launched the service, we intended to focus more on scaling up our business and acquiring as many store owners and renovation companies as possible. But we will carefully select and acquire from both sides of these.

To streamline the matching process, they found that they should carefully handpick store owners and renovation companies allowed to join the platform. That’s because acquiring skillful finishers while avoiding tire kickers from among the store owners is a must.

Their business is already monetizable. But that’s not only the reason why East Ventures’ Taiga Matsuyama has invested in Shelfy. He said:

I think that Shunki is suitable for this kind of business because he is tough, a survivor. Replacing a conventional business with an online service is very hard to do. So the founder has to be a tough guy.

We want to massively invest in more startups improving real business related to necessities of life.

We’ve recently seen not only online-completition services but also startups solving issues in the real world. Shelfy looks to realize optimization of costs upon renovation.

Shelfy currently serves the greater Tokyo metropolis, which has some 6,000 retail stores opening each year. The company aims to serve 20% of all these store, handling 100 renovation projects a month via the platform annually.

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based startup Shelfy launched an online platform under the same name yesterday with the aim to connect restaurant owners with renovation companies. For restaurant owners looking to renovate their establishment, the platform allows them to browse a list of renovation companies and solicit estimates.

The platform lets participating renovation companies submit their proposals when asked, so that users can easily compare designs and price quotes before ordering a renovation. Shelfy takes a 100,000 yen (about $1,000) commission only when a user places an order for a proposal submitted by a renovation company.

Shelfy was launched by Shunki Roy, founder of manga translation service Japan Manga and who also worked at Japanese photo stock site Pixta as the head of its business management department. He believes that renovation costs are not appropriate, so he expects the platform to adjust prices through Shelfy. The company’s primary potential users will be restaurants and beauty salons.

The company aims to sign up 300 companies by year end and close 80 deals a month, thus generating monthly revenue of 8 million yen (about $80,000).