Osaka-based Galaxy Agency, the startup that operates online peer-to-peer parking lot sharing platform Akippa and several online job sites, announced today it has fundraised from DeNA (TSE:2432) and several angel investors including Shokei Suda, co-founder of Japanese internet service company Enigmo (TSE:3665). Details of the investment have not yet been disclosed but it’s likely be several hundred thousand US dollars. This follows their previous funding of 65 million yen (about $650,000) from Japanese investment firm Jafco back in September 2012.
Akippa helps customers find an available parking space online. When you book a time slot for it using your desktop or smartphone, you will be allowed to park your car there by paying up to 500 yen ($5) a day. It also allows parking lot owners to easily manage their venues via the platform as well. ...
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The Bridge 6/23/2014 [en]
memo
- Online sharing services are expected to become huge business like Airbnb or Uber, but there are no such success story in Japan so far. One of the reasons that these services have difficulties may be due to regulation. Since there seems no such regulations for car parking, the service may be accepted easier.
- https://www.akippa.com/
Bloomberg reported earlier today that Tokyo-based Gunosy, the company behind the curation news app under the same name, has secured funds worth 1.2 billion yen ($12 million) from Japanese telco KDDI (TSE:9433), investment firm Jafco, and B Dash Ventures. This follows their previous funds worth $12 million from KDDI back in March.
Regarding the money raised back in March, the company used over 80% of it to broadcast a TV commercial to increase penetration of their news app among Japanese consumers. They recently launched the app in the US and UK markets over the last few months, and it is told that they plan to use the funds raised at this time to intensify their global promotion efforts. ...
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The Bridge 6/23/2013 [en]
memo
- Gunosy expects to reach 4 million downloads by the end of June thanks to advertisement including TV commercial. But still 4 million is far from a number to secure leading position in news curation apps. It is interesting to see how Gunosy uses the additional capital to increase the user base in addition to TV commercial .
- http://gunosy.com/
Metaps Inc. (HQ: Tokyo, CEO: Katsuaki Sato, hereafter "Metaps") announced the establishment of a UK subsidiary as the regional headquarters for their European operations.
Metaps is headquartered in Tokyo and now has offices throughout Asia and in San Francisco, in addition to London. Their app monetization platform ‘metaps’ has expanded globally and offers a “gateway to Asia” for developers looking to succeed in Asia.
London was selected for their first European office due to the large presence of app developers in Western Europe. By establishing a regional hub, the intent is to strengthen their relationship with local developers and expand the breadth of services offered to European clients looking to expand into Asia. ...
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PRWeb 6/16/2014 [en]
memo
- Metaps provides several solutions to support Android app developers to monetize such as reward ads, CPC ads, and traffic exchange among apps. Since Asia is the largest market for mobile apps, many of European developers probably think that they can increase sales there. The subsidiary would bring great value to them.
- http://www.metaps.com/
Tokyo-based Casy, the startup offering crowdsourced housekeeping services under the same name, was officially launched today and also announced that it has raised an undisclosed sum of investment from Japanese startup incubator Beenos.
Both husband and wife in more than 60% of all households in the country. This situation has led to an expansion of the Japanese housekeeping market, which surpassed $960 million in FY2012 and shows nearly a 20% annual growth.
Despite the fact that more people think they have to keep a good balance between work and family, only high-income households are using housekeeping services since they can still be as expensive as $40 to $50 per hour. ...
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The Bridge 6/16/2014 [en]
memo
- Crowdsorucing or matching services using Internet are growing in various areas. Housekeeping service sounds quite old and traditional, but It is surprising that the market has 20% growth. It may be a good viewpoint to streamline old but growing industry with Internet technology.
- https://casy.co.jp/
Japan’s startup-focused investment firm CyberAgent Ventures announced today that it has formed a new fund worth 5 billion yen (about $50 million) called CA Startup Internet Fund No.2. This is because of closing their previous fund CA Startup Internet Fund No.1.
Comparing to the previous one worth about $24 million, the new fund is almost double in size and is planned for investment of an amount ranging from $100,000 to $1 million in every single startup they choose. ...
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The Bridge 6/16/2014 [en]
memo
- 5 billion yen seems a standard size for early stage focused venture capital fund recently. Recruit and GREE also established the similar sized fund in May and April respectively. It is good to have more money for startups, but increasing number of startups or entrepreneurs takes more time than money. The gap makes venture capitals tougher to find good deals in the future.
- http://www.cyberagentventures.com/en/
Tokyo-based mobile app developer Ignis announced yesterday that it has been approved for an IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Market. The company will be listed on July 15th.
Since its launch back in May of 2010, the company has surpassed over 50 million downloads by attracting users with more than 75 apps for iOS and Android.
Their best selling apps include ‘AKB48 virtual phone’ ( iOS / Android ) which delivers new voice messages from the members of Japanese pop singer group AKB48 every month and allows you to enjoy listening to their messages in a way like talking over the phone with someone.
The Bridge 6/11/2014 [en]
memo
- The annual revenue ending September 2013 was about $9 million with $3 million operating profit. It looks relatively small IPO, but it may be a right timing to go listed this year.
- http://1923.co.jp/
Tokyo-based Social Recruiting, the startup that provides consultation about recruitment using social media services, announced today that it has fundraised from Japanese investment firm Global Brain. Details of the investment were not disclosed but it’s likely worth around several million US dollars.
The company was launched back in 2011 and subsequently secured a seed funding from Tokyo-based seed startup incubator Samurai Incubate. They have been serving about 400 companies and helping their recruitment activities. In terms of the size of their user base, the company has acquired more than 200,000 annual users which accounts for about one-third of all new graduates looking for jobs in Japan. ...
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The Bridge 6/11/2014 [en]
memo
- It seems bit strange that Global Brain invests in consulting company for recruiting, but actually the startup seems to plan developing its own recruiting media with the capital raised. Its experience in supporting corporations of actual recruiting must be great asset to launch the service.
- http://social-recruiting.asia/
