Innovators in Japan Weekly Digest: 9/10/2018
We have some big news…Innovators in Japan has officially moved to Tokyo!
This won’t change anything about our Twitter and Medium efforts, but it’s great to be in the country where our information originates — not to mention, we’ll be able to attend so many events ourselves rather than collecting details second-hand.
With that said, do let us know through contact@innovatorsinjapan.com if you have any recommended events coming up, or have some juicy information about the Japanese startup scene.
Off to our Weekly Digest!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Don’t forget to leave a few 👏s if you like what you see, and let us know what you think in the comments or via contact@innovatorsinjapan.com!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Japanese Startup News Resource Roundup
As of this writing, I have been working on Innovators in Japan for a little over three months. It surprises me to no end how our Twitter engagement and Medium readership have grown, and I’m grateful for every click, like, clap, retweet, and comment people throw our way.
Stepping back a little bit, I reflected on why I even started this brand in the first place.
When I was looking for information on how companies expand to Japan, what came up as results were of very low value, from superficial puff listlcles, to management theory books from the 60s. Information on the current state of the Japanese startup market was also slim pickings.
Read more of the article here.
New Rounds:
Azit, rideshare service Crew operator, raised ~¥1bn (~$9m) from Eight Roads Ventures Japan, Global Brains, Mobile Internet Capital, and Crooz. More here: https://tcrn.ch/2wEt4U5
Beatfit, an audio fitness app, raised ¥100m (~$900k) in seed funding from individual and non-Japanese venture capital firms along with launching 150 fitness content. More here: https://bit.ly/2CeQAwS
GO TODAY SHAiRE SALON, an on-demand seat / booth reservation service for freelance hair stylist, raised ~¥60m (~$540k) from iStyle, Beauty Garage, and LIFULL. More here: https://bit.ly/2NdvIuu
GVA Tech, an AI Contract generation LegalTech startup, beta launched their product and raised ¥180m (~$1.6m) in funding from DBJ Capital and Seibu Shinkin Capital. More here: https://tcrn.ch/2PFj0lR
Hirozawa Daiki, ex East Ventures and Skyland Ventures investor, launched his own firm The Seed Capital with ¥1bn (~$9m) raised. More here: https://bit.ly/2MJ1cJo
Knowledge Merchant Works, operator of HataLuck retail productivity management app, raised ¥270 (~$2.4m) from GMO Venture Partners, EN Japan, DD Holdings, Brain Pad, Value Create, and other individual investors. More here: https://tcrn.ch/2PFlKzF
lute, a culture / lifestyle video platform and artist management company, raised ¥80m (~$720k) in series B funding. More here: https://bit.ly/2LXhQQa
Mewcket, a news aggregator for software engineers and tech workers, raised ¥60m (~$540k) from Venture United. More here: https://tcrn.ch/2NtPf9S
Richka, an automated video generation app that requires no skills from its video creating users operated by Cocktail Make (@cocktailmakeInc), raised ¥50m (~$450k) from NOW (@NOW_Fund) and individual investors. It has recorded 3000+ videos created per month. More here: https://tcrn.ch/2wMUZSB
SenSprout, an agriculture know-how IoT and data startup, raised ¥145m (~$1.3m) to develop its smart greenhouse technology. More here: https://bit.ly/2oMttR0
Senri, a Kenya-based sales management SaaS startup, raised ¥80m (~720k) from Japanese investors Monex Ventures, Leapfrog Ventures and ANRI. More here: https://bit.ly/2Ndps5H
Seven Dreamers Laboratories, a lifestyle improvement technology startup, raised ¥1bn (~$9m) from Panasonic and Daiwa House to develop laundry folding robot concept. More here: https://bit.ly/2M4JTx1
JapanTaxi, a leading Japanese taxi hailing startup, raised ¥1.5bn (~$13.5m) from Kakao Mobility, a mobility-focused subsidiary of Korean Kakao Corp. More here: https://bit.ly/2NWFu19
Quick Updates:
ALIS, a blockchain-based social network with micro tipping system for articles, partnered with Microsoft Japan on its API codevelopment.Plans to reveal product test results in October. More here: https://bit.ly/2NpaM3u
DataSign, personal data management platform, launched new product titled paspit with personal data governance features. More here: https://bit.ly/2MN2Lpx
LINE, a Japanese media and internet giant, launched its own blockchain network LINK Chain and cryptocurrency LINK, to be listed on bitbox, LINE’s own cryptocurrency exchange. More here: https://bit.ly/2M0lYiy
Oculus Education, VR education arm of famed VR company Oculus, brings VR pilot programs to Seattle, Japan, and Taiwanese schools. More here: https://bit.ly/2PHNeEJ
Okane Answer, a free consumer financial consultation startup, officially launches service. More here: https://tcrn.ch/2LY5vvb
Open8, with ¥1.5bn (~$13.5m) in funding from World Innovation Lab etc. launches latest AI video creation platform Video Brain. More here: https://tcrn.ch/2CgqKZu
Origami Pay, smartphone-based mobile payment system, is now available across all Lawson locations in Japan. More here: https://bit.ly/2wN0fVw
Twidy, the Japanese Instacart, officially launches services in Shibuya. More here: https://tcrn.ch/2M3S8ta
XTech, a Japanese venture capital firm and incubators, announced a takeover bid for internet portal company Excite. More here: https://tcrn.ch/2MZaxg6
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Whew, thanks for reading the whole post! Let us know how we did by clapping 👏, commenting on the article below, or writing to us via contact@innovatorsinjapan.com!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
