Innovators in Japan: Weekly Digest 7/9/2018
J-M&A Watch: Quartz Bought by Uzabase
What an exciting week last week was! We started with the announcement that Japanese financial media company Uzabase, operator of popular news aggregator and original content provider NewsPicks, has agreed to acquire US business media arm Quartz from Atlantic Media. Quartz will be bought for between $75 million and $110 million depending on Quartz hitting its business goals, and Uzabase plans to complete the deal within 30 days of the announcement. This is one of the latest US expansion for a Japanese company, following Recruit Holdings’ acquisition of popular US jobs site Glassdoor in May.
As part of the deal, Quartz will keep its name, brand, and editorial employees, with current editor-in-chief Kevin J. Delaney and publisher Jay Lauf continuing as co-CEOs. Uzabase will send managing director Tomoyuki Ota as Quartz’ new CFO.
“Since its launch in 2013, NewsPicks has gained a reputation as an innovative news site. It has convinced 64,000 users to buy subscriptions with its mix of aggregated stories and, increasingly, original content, such as in-depth stories on firms such as Uber Technologies Inc and Mercari Inc.”
— Reuters: Japan’s Uzabase buys U.S. biz news site Quartz in overseas push
How we got here
Uzabase representative Yusuke Umeda recounted in a live stream how this deal came to be, starting with cold emailing Quartz last August. It was only in November that they were able to get a meeting with Quartz co-CEOs Delaney and Lauf, and the plan for this meeting was not to discuss an acquisition, but a potential partnership between the two companies.
New Rounds:
Polipoli, a political community app leveraging the token economy for positive political discourse, launched its beta app after securing ¥10,000,000 (~$90k) in May.
Asia Education Labo, Japanese after-school education startup, raises ¥10,000,000 (~$90k) and launches immersive after-school program “Anyhapi” in Vietnam.
Yudai Yamada, ex-Incubate Fund associate, launched new independent fund Full Commit Partners with ¥1,000,000,000 (~$9mm) in the bank.
Tecotec, Japanese crypto powerhouse and mastermind behind DMM Bitcoin, raised ¥430,000,000 (~$3.9mm) in Sega, NEC Capital Solutions, and others to strengthen its FinTech portfolio.
Automation Anywhere, a Silicon Valley IT automation software firm, raises $250mm from likes of World Innovation Lab, Goldman Sachs, and NEA, now valued at $1.8bn. It is aiming to penetrate Japan, a nation with a rapidly decreasing and aging population, by automating menial tasks.
Obunsha, 87-year old publishing giant, sets up ¥1,000,000,000 (~$9mm) EdTech corporate venture capital fund.
HiCustomer, customer success SaaS tool provider, raised ¥60,000,000 (~$550,000) to gear up for official Fall 2018 launch.
F-Code, web marketing and consulting firm, raised ¥140,000,000 (~$1.25mm) from various individual investors and launched new customer engagement and tracking tool CODE.
Startbahn, art management blockchain creator, raises ¥100,000,000 (~$9mm) from University of Tokyo Edge Fund for crypto-based art identification, escrow, and revenue sharing platform.
CLAS, furniture rental marketplace, raised an undisclosed amount from ANRI and other individual investors. Over 2500 beta users have already signed up; target market to be home / office share client base.
Trillium Secure, car security IoT company, raised $11,000,000 from JAFCO Plug and Play, MUFJ Capital, etc.
Knowledge Labo, business analytics cloud Manageboard operator, became a Money Forward group company along with a ¥200,000,000 (~$1.8mm) injection.
Identity, operator of IT talent matching site Braineer, raised ¥400,000,000 (~$3.6mm) from Spiral Ventures, SMBC-VC, DG Incubation
Daiwa Corporate Investment Co. launched DCI venture growth fund
Clear, sake media outlet Saketimes operator, acquired traditional sake distributor Kawayu Shoten, plans to use liquor license to begin direct-to-consumer sales.
Quick Updates:
Plug and Play Japan, Japanese arm of Silicon Valley-based accelerator Plug and Play Tech Center, begins recruiting second batch of startups in FinTech, InsureTech, IoT, and Mobility. Nippon Express, Hitachi, and Norinchukin Bank to join as partners.
Fundbook, Japanese M&A advisory service provider, released AI-based M&A matching platform and plans to courting buyers as users.
The Japanese Financial Services Agency, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and Consumer Affairs Agency announced a director-level meeting was conducted on 6/27 to discuss crypto regulation and enforcement.
Tink Labs, operator of handy, smartphone service for hotel guests, aims for supercharged growth with new Softbank partnership. handy smartphones have already been deployed throughout 30% of Japanese hotel guest rooms.
SKYDiSK, IoT and AI solutions provider, announces partnership with Kyushu University’s Cyber Security Center to develop a secure cloud platform for implement IoT and AI for smart factories.
Viiber, video marketing service provider, begins partnership with Asahi Hoso Group with a distributed content brand, Lykke, focused on publishing DYI and lifehack videos.
Softbank (SBDrive) and Baidu (Apollo) launched official partnership geared towards autonomous bus development and use in Japan.
dely, operator of recipe video service kurashiru, announced the acquisition of Startouts, operator of competitor recipe video service mogoo, bringing to the total number of recipe videos across both services to 21,000.
Japan Post Service and Samurai Incubate to partner on Post Logitech Innovation 2018, an open innovation program focused on mail and supply chain logistics.
maneo, a public social lending service company, was found to have misappropriated funds from ¥10,000,000,000 (~$90mm) raised. The Japanese Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission is requesting the Financial Services Agency to step in with strict enforcement.
Rakuten, Japanese eCommerce behemoth, announced crypto currency Rakuten Coin launch planned for 2019 in Russia; users will be able to transact between the US dollar, Russian ruble, and the Euro.
