CyberAgent Invests In Korean KakaoTalk /ITmedia

CyberAgnet announced that it invested in Korean company, Kakao Coarporation, messaging application KakaoTalk operator.

KakaoTalk is a smartphone application which allows users to send and receive message like chat. It was launched in Korea at March of the last year. It is said that almost all Korean smartphone users are using the app and it has over 22 million users worldwide including Japan with Japanese version. The investment is conducted through CyberAgent Ventures. ...

ITmedia 8/29/2011

memo

• CyberAgent Ventures is actively investing in this month to invest in three startups, Kakao Corporation, Retty, and FrogApps. It has invested in many startups in Asia including China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Indonesia, but it seems the first investment in Korea.

iRemocon, Remote Control By iPhone, Plans To Release Android Version Within The Year/Venture Now

iRemocon allows users to operate home electronics with iPhone. The device is provided by a startup, glamo which was just founded in this February.

Different from other common learning remote control, it does not have buttons and allows to control with an application downloaded on iPhone/iPad by connecting it with a WiFi router. One of the biggest selling point is to allow controlling home appliances from outside. The price is 26,800 yen. ...

Venture Now 8/30/2011

memo

• The application allows users to design customized interface such as buttons, backgroud, or sound effects.

Cerego Japan Raises 100M Yen From NTT-IP /Cnet Japan

English learning service, iKnow!, operator, Cerego Japan announced to conduct an allocation of new shares of 100 million yen to NTT Investment Partners.

NTT Group implements NTT Kyoiku Square X ICT field trial supported by education institutes such as ten elementary and middle schools from five local governments in order to promote ICT for learning at school and home.

Cerego japan provides iKnow! for enterprises and education institutions for profit. It aims to drive ICT forward in education area partnering with NTT Group.

Cnet Japan 8/30/2011

memo

• NTT-IP invested 320 million yen in Cerego Japan in July of 2009. 

NTT-IP Invests In Synerchip, Next Generation AV Interface "DiiVA" Promoter /ITpro

NTT Investment Partners announced that it agreed on investing in Synerchip which provides chip and middleware related to DiiVA, transmission interface standard for video and voice between AV devices. NTT-IP invests $1 million by an allocation of new shares.

There is a move to put DiiVA to practical use in China and other countries as the next generation interface which allows to control video contents on multi-devices on network. ...

ITpro 8/29/2011

memo

• Synerchip has offices in China, Taiwan, Korea, and USA.

V-cube Raises 528M Yen From Globis And Others /Cnet Japan

Web conference system provider, V-cube conducted an allocation of new shares to Globis Capital Partners, Premier Conferencing, and Todentsu to raise 528 million yen. It aims to strengthen service and support for global expansion. ...

Cnet Japan 8/26/2011

memo

• V-cube was founded in 1998 October. Other investors of VCs include Intel Capital, Recruit Incubation Partners, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Mizuho Capital, and JAIC. 

All Coupon Japan And TV Tokyo Broadband Entertainment Have Capital Alliance /Cnet Japan

TV Tokyo Broadband Entertainment takes 9.2% of shares of All Coupon Japan. The amount is not disclosed.

With the investment, both will jointly launch group coupon aggregate site in September. The site provides original coupons centered around travel and gourmet run by TV Tokyo Group. It also plans to link the service with TV program.

All Coupon Japan is an aggregate service of group coupon service in Japan. It started as a service of Cybridge, and spun off in 2011 to become All Coupon Japan. ...

Cnet Japan 8/25/2011

memo

• News about group coupon services have decreased drastically these days. Two largest services, Groupon and Ponpare take huge lead against others using tons of mass advertising. Alliance with TV station would have great potential.

Axion Raises 11M Yen From Angel Investors And Cybridge /Cnet Japan

Axion operates smartphone application distribution service buying smartphone apps from developers and redistributing or reselling them. The investors include Shintaro Yamada, former CEO of Unoh (current Zynga Japan), Kazuma Ieiri, founder of paperboy&co., Tsuyoshi Haya, founder of Bijin Tokei, other two angel investors, and Cybridge Ventures. ...

Cnet Japan 8/24/2011

Multi Language Manga Distribution, Japan Manga Releases iPhone App /Venture Now

JapanManga is an eBook service translating manga into English and Chinese for foreign manga fans. It provides cartoonists with translation, turning to ebooks, upload registration and sales representation.

Currently English and Chinese are available and it plans to add Korean and French as soon as translators are ready. Translation fee is 7,800 yen up to 30 pages for 1 language. 2,500 yen is to be added for extra 10 pages. When distributing paid contents, the revenue is to be shared as follows, 35-50% for cartoonist, 20-35% for MangaJapan, 30% for application market such as Apple or Google. ...

Venture Now 8/24/2011

memo

• JapanManga is founded by three university students. Mobile EC company, Netprice.com supports the company for its incubation program. 

Klab goes IPO on Mothers at September 27 /Cnet Japan

Klab was accepted for IPO by Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market. It plans to be listed on September 27th.

Klab was founded as an R&D division of Cybird on 2000 January and became a corporation on August of the year. The company developed elemental technology for mobile phones at first and then jointly with telecom careers planned and developed service for mobile phones. Currently it focuses on providing social applications.

The annual revenue ending August 2010 was 2.95 billion yen and the operating income was 150 million yen.

Cnet Japan 8/23/2011

memo

• Klab provides social games for three largest platform in Japan, Mobage, GREE, and mixi.
• It is the first IPO of a mobile social game developer and several other developers are expected to follow.

Social Gourmet Site, Retty Raised 22M Yen From VC And Angel /Venture Now

Retty revealed that it conducted an allocation of new shares of 22 million yen in total to CyberAgent Ventures and an angel investor.

Retty is a seed startup founded in November 2010 and launched the social gourmet service in this May. Retty allows users to make list of restaurants which they have visited or want to visit and share with other users. With Facebook or Twitter account, users enjoy through a browser of PC or smartphone for free.

The company will use the capital for development resources. It also plans to release iPhone/Android application in September. ...

Venture Now 8/23/2011

memo

• Among restaurant search service, Gurunavi and Tabelog are popular in Japan. Gurunavi focuses on information provided from restaurants, and Tabelog is based on reviews from users. Retty could be called a social media version of Tabelog.
• CyberAgent Ventures invested in FrogApps as well in this month. 

DeNA to Expand Asian Operations in Singapore with DeNA Asia /DeNA

DeNA Co., Ltd. today announced plans to establish DeNA Asia Pacific Holdings Pte. Ltd. (DeNA Asia) in Singapore on September 1st. A wholly-owned subsidiary of DeNA, DeNA Asia will work with developers in Southeast and South Asia to bring high-quality social mobile games to smartphone users worldwide.

DeNA Asia will serve as a hub for DeNA Group’s social games business in Southeast and South Asia. The subsidiary will also seek to strengthen the group’s development capabilities through acquisitions of local developers. Future activities will include localization of the global edition of Mobage, a social mobile gaming network launched last month by DeNA’s subsidiary ngmoco, LLC. DeNA Asia will be headed by Managing Director Tetsuya Mori, with an initial capitalization of 500,000 Singapore dollars. ...

DeNA Press Release 2011/8/19

memo

• DeNA expands to foreign markets by itself except US where it acquired ngmoco. While, the other mobile gaming giant, GREE basically takes partnership strategy for global expansion such as partnering with mig33, the largest mobile gaming platform in South East Asia, and Tencent, China's biggest web company. 

CyberAgent Venture invests in FrogApps, Internet communication service provider /Nikkei

FrogApps was founded as Kizna in 2010 September to provide Internet communication service, Kizna. At June 30 of 2011, it changed the company name to FrogApps and transfer a license of Kizna.

Nikkei 8/10/2011

memo

• It is the first investment from CyberAgent Ventures' new fund, CA Startups Internet Fund.

[Penn Olson] Japan’s GREE Continues Foreign Expansion, Partners With SK telecom in Korea

Japanese social gaming heavyweight GREE announced late last week that Chinese partner Tencent would be implementing a new open platform for feature phones and smartphones that is compatible with GREE’s own game platform standards. And today we’re hearing even more news from GREE, as it has partnered with South Korea’s SK telecom, thus entering the Korean games market as well.

SK telecom is the largest carrier in South Korea, with over 25 million subscribers as of November 2010. That represents over half of the market share, and a great ‘in’ for GREE to enter Korean gaming space.

According to its announcement, GREE set up shop within SK telecom’s ‘T store,’ the country’s first app store service. ...

Penn Olson 8/9/2011

memo

• GREE's rival, DeNA just announced a partnership with US mobile career, AT&T last week. 

[Penn Olson] Japan’s KDDI Announces 5 Nominees For Its First Incubation Program

On Friday, KDDI’s Mugen Labo, a start-up incubation program by Japan’s second largest telco, announced five tech start-ups chosen for its first incubation period. During the next three months, the program will provide management advisory, a development environment, and also help them spread their respective services throughout the country.

After their further development, apps or services gaining high evaluations will be published on the telco’s local Android app market, au one Market. ...

Penn Olson 8/9/2011

memo

• Among 5 teams, Qlippy and Giftee are almuni of Open Network Lab, an incubation program run by Digital Garage, Kakaku.com, and Netprice. 

MOVIDA JAPAN starts seed acceleration program /Cnet Japan

MOVIDA JAPAN announced Seed Acceleration Program at August 9th. The program aims to develop a venture ecosystem like Silicon Valley in East Asia. One of the key words of the program is to expand in Asia from Japan.

The program starts to recruit participant teams from August 9th until September 30th. ...

Cnet Japan 8/9/2011

memo

• Y-Combinator model incubation programs are rapidly increasing recently in Japan such as Open Network Lab, CyberAgent's Startups, Netage, and KDDI's Mugen Labo. Several startups participate in two those programs. 

Hunglead, cloud service for EC, raises capital /Cnet Japan

Hunglead announced that it conducted allocation of new shares of about 30M yen to Global Brain.

Hunglead provides Robot series, a cloud service supporting management of inventories, items and orders of EC sites. Its main service, zaiko Robot, an inventory management system for multi-shops, handles over 60 billion yen annually. It launched two and a half years ago. ...

Cnet Japan 8/3/2011

memo

• Hunglead was founded on 2006 October.

EC Navi Ventures invests in Logly, recommendation technology /Cnet Japan

EC Navi's investing arm, EC Navi Ventures revealed that it invested in Logly which provides information recommendation service in July. The amount is not disclosed but expected to be several million yen.

Logly was founded in 2006. It develops technology of analyzing access log of web contents and vistor behavior and recommendation technology. The company provides services using the technology such as newzia topics, automatically developing summary web site, and newzia connect, linking related contents. ...

Cnet Japan 8/10/2011

memo

• EC Navi Ventures was established in 2011 March and has invested in several startups such as Cotobank, e-learning service, and Ubiregi, POS terminal for iPad.

Online ticket service, Wazoo raises capital from Recruit Incubation Partners /Cnet Japan

Wazoo announced that it conducts allocation of new shares to Recruit Incubation Partner's operating fund, RIP II.

Wazoo was founded in 2011 April to provide online ticket service. It allows individuals and businesses to issue tickets of an event, develop web pages of the event, notify the event using email or Twitter, sell ticket and bill. The company charges 5% for system usage and another 5% for online billing. But for free events, users can use for free. ...

Cnet Japan 8/5/2011

memo

• There are similar type of event management services appearing recently such as PeaTiX of Orinoco and Everevo.

Opt invests in MCN, mobile advertising agency to get into mobile marketing in ASEAN /Markezine

Opt has a capital alliance with MCN Asia Holdings to jointly develop mobile marketing market in ASEAN. Both companies aims to partner with mobile operators in ASEAN as well as provide services from mobile ads related solutions to ads sales such as mobile search ads, SMS ads, and in-apps ads.

MCN Group owns original search engine solution and is the only mobile ads platform which has partnership with Thai three largest mobile operators.

Markezine 8/5/2011

memo

• Opt is the second largest Internet ads agency in Japan and actively invests in startups recently such as Milog.

CyberAgent Ventures establishes a fund focused on startups /Cnet Japan

CyberAgent Ventures announced that it sets up CA Startups Internet Fund I which focuses on startups in Japan.

The fund invests in award winners of its business plan contest, Startups and others in Internet business. Within this year, it plans to raise up to 2 billion yen from corporations and investors.

Cnet Japan 8/4/2011

memo

• CyberAgent Ventures operates an incubation center in which startups selected in its business plan contest, Startups, are located.

DeNA's subsidiary and AT&T partners /ITpro

DeNA announced that ngmoco, its subsidiary in US and AT&T agreeed on partnership about Mobage, social gaming platform.

With the partnership, AT&T will preferentially promote Mobage such as allowing users of Android smartphone to be provided within 2011to easily access to games on Mobage. ...

ITpro 8/5/2011

memo

• DeNA launched English version of Mobage in six English-speaking countries last month. 

iRidge raises 80M yen from Mizuho Capital and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital /Venture Now

iRidge develops and provides popinfo, push message platform for smartphone (Android/iPhone) and future phones (NTT Docomo i-concier).

The service pushes a message to a device when a user comes into a certain area. In addition to EC sites such as Rakuten and Oisix, retailers and department stores use the service. ...

Venture Now 8/2/2011

memo

• Local businesses such as restaurants can pushes messages like time-limited sales, coupon or vacancy seats on calendar application or home screen.