Tech Crunch Japan: Plug and Play SHIBUYA 1 Year Anniversary Article Featuring SynchroLife
SynchroLife was chosen for Plug and Play Japan’s Batch 1 accelerator program in summer 2018 (see full news here: https://medium.com/synchrocoin/synchrolife-selected-for-startup-accelerator-plug-and-play-japans-fintech-batch-1-26c0ae7461c9) and we recently joined Plug and Play Japan in celebrating their one year anniversary!
Tech Crunch Japan wrote a great article about Plug and Play Japan’s growth and influence in the tech community in Japan, including a big section on SynchroLife! The article looks at several Plug and Play Japan graduates and we were honored to be included in the list. We have translated the SynchroLife section into English to share with our global community.
Thank you again Tech Crunch Japan for including us in this great article!
You can read the original news in Japanese here: https://jp.techcrunch.com/2018/12/14/plug-and-play-shibuya-1st-year/
Tech Crunch Japan — December 14, 2018
SynchroLife: “Our View of Big Business Changed 180° After Joining Plug and Play Japan”
GINKAN (the company behind SynchroLife) was selected as part of Plug and Play Japan’s Batch 1 group, and they shared a presentation about their successful proof-of-concept test with Plug and Play Japan Partner Tokyu Land Corporation at the recent Plug and Play Shibuya one year anniversary event.
GINKAN runs SynchroLife, a social restaurant review and discovery service (see previous Tech Crunch Japan article here: https://medium.com/synchrocoin/tech-crunch-japan-social-restaurant-discovery-app-synchrolife-releases-new-version-with-token-360d37731a6b). GINKAN’s founder and CEO Tomochika Kamiya comments that “SynchroLife’s social media database of good restaurant reviews and artificial intelligence algorithm allows users to find the best restaurants in seconds”. The service is currently avaliable in four languages and users have already posted over 170,000 restaurant reviews.
SynchroLife has a blockchain based token economy in their platform, and rewards high quality restaurant reviewers with token (cryptocurrency) incentives. Users can also earn cryptocurrency tokens as cashback rewards when dining at participating restaurants. The service is designed to help restaurants with marketing to attract customers.
All restaurants need to do is install the participating restaurant mobile app on a tablet or mobile device. There are no software or hardware fees, no upfront costs, and no monthly fees associated with restaurants using the SynchroLife service. They can use the service just by paying a results based compensation fee of 3% of their total sales from SynchroLife users. For SynchroLife users, the customers at the restaurant, they can receive 1%+ of their total dining bill cashback in the form of cryptocurrency by scanning a QR code when paying.
GINKAN’S recent proof-of-concept test was to test this cashback reward feature. They worked with Tokyu Land Corporation to run a special campaign at 21 restaurants in Tokyu Plaza Ginza for one month from September to October 2018.
During the proof-of-concept campaign, users could earn 3% of their total bill at restaurants cashback in the form of cryptocurrency. During the campaign they tested both user and restaurant staff experiences using the system. The QR code process took only 10 seconds and there were no issues for users or restaurants during the campaign.
The campaign also tested the effects of having the food loving social media influencers of SynchroLife visit restaurants, and it was a success with over 92% of ratings posted online positive. A correlation was seen between the amount of restaurant ratings posted and the number of diners visiting each restaurant, and Mr. Kamiya analyzes this behavior as positive experiences being shared online attracting more customers.
Mr. Kamiya comments that during their time with Plug and Play Batch 1 and the proof-of-concept campaign, SynchroLife learned a lot. “Batch 1 was only 3 months but focusing on reaching our goals in this short period of time was a real learning experience, and I was impressed with the networking power and far reach Plug and Play Japan has. Running a proof-of-concept campaign with Tokyu Land Corporation changed my view of big businesses 180°. It was an amazing experience for a company with a still growing product like SynchroLife to work with Tokyu Land Corporation.”
He also comments that “A proof-of-concept test isn’t results, it’s a process that helps you further develop your product.”
Tokyu Land Corporation has been a partner supporting GINKAN as well as many other startups. Tokyu Land Corporation is working to co-create new businesses to support the next era of Shibuya as part of their “Shibuya Startup 100” project aiming to create 100 new businesses in the area by 2020. As part of that project, they set up an incubation center with Plug and Play in Shibuya in November 2017.
Mr. Ito of the Tokyu Land Corporation Urban Business Unit says they have already begun working with over 20 startups and plan to increase it to 30 in the near future. They began a fintech partnership with GINKAN after meeting through Plug and Play.
“We tested both their systems for distributing cryptocurrency rewards via QR code and their social media marketing plan to attract new customers. I hope we can continue to implement these systems at more restaurants in the future,” says Mr. Ito.
Mr. Ito says there are three points that lead to the successful partnership and proof-of-concept test through Plug and Play. “The first point was that they shared a detailed image of what their product and business is. The second point was actually being able to meet and talk with them in person. The third point was a shared business culture and mutually respecting each other’s time.”
Mr. Ito says that Batch 1 was filled with “Trust, passion, and motivation to work hard.” Tokyu Land Corporation is already looking to collaborate with some startups from Plug and Play Batch 2 and Mr. Ito comments, “We plan to continue our partnerships from Batch 0 and Batch 1. I hope we can continue to support and assist companies growing out of Tokyo and Shibuya moving forward.”
Thank you again Tech Crunch Japan for including us in this article!
We have been covered by Tech Crunch Japan several times, you can read translations of some of their other coverage below.
Please visit the following links to learn more about SynchroLife! 📲
Official Website: https://synchrolife.org
White paper: https://synchrolife.org/whitepaper.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/synchrocoin
Facebook: https://facebook.com/synchrocoin
Telegram: https://t.me/synchrocoin
SynchroLife Mobile App:
iOS App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id557532449
Android Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.synchrolife
Other Medium Articles by the SynchroLife Team:
・Social Restaurant Review Platform SynchroLife Launches Campaign at 21 Tokyu Plaza Ginza Restaurants: Earn 3% of Your Bill Cashback in Cryptocurrency! (Press Release)
・SynchroCoin (SYC) to List on LATOKEN, First Exchange for Restaurant Review Reward Token Used in SynchroLife Token Economy (Press Release)
・Token Economy Based Restaurant Review Service “SynchroLife” Announces First Restaurant Campaign with Tokyu Plaza Ginza (Press Release)
・Cointelegraph Japan: TEC — A New Way of Fundraising for Cryptocurrency Startups (Exclusive Chat with Ceres & SynchroLife)
・The Nikkei: GINKAN’s Restaurant Review App Forms Business Alliance with Ceres
・Tech Crunch Japan: Token Economy x Restaurant Review App “SynchroLife”, Announces Seed Round Including Token Equity Convertible
・Business Insider Japan: The World’s First Social Restaurant Review Service with Token Rewards “SynchroLife” Announces Seed Funding — Including Token Equity Convertible
・GINKAN Announces Business Alliance and Seed Round of 720,000 USD with Ceres Inc. to Further Grow Token Economy & AI Based Social Restaurant Review Service “SynchroLife” (Press Release)
・Tech Crunch Japan: Social Restaurant Discovery App SynchroLife Releases New Version with Token Rewards for Quality Reviews
・Cointelegraph Japan: Japanese Company Implements World’s First Token Reward System for Restaurant Reviews
・SynchroLife Releases World’s First Restaurant Review Service with Cryptocurrency Token Rewards for Users (Press Release)
・SynchroLife CEO Tomochika Kamiya Interviewed by Plug and Play Japan
・SynchroLife Major Launch Announcement — Becoming the World’s First Restaurant Review Platform with Token Rewards
・SynchroLife CEO Tomochika Kamiya Interviewed by Plug and Play Japan
・SynchroLife Nominated at “THE COIN” in Tokyo, CEO Tomochika Kamiya Presents
