[Sd] Japanese startup raises $600K, gets you into hard-to-book restaurants

Pocket Concierge is a website that allows you to book popular restaurants, even if they are fully booked for several months. Tokyo-based startup Pocket Menu, the startup behind the service, announced today it has raised 60 million yen (approximately $600,000) from Fuji Startup Ventures, Nippon Venture Capital, and individual investors.

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Sd 9/11/2013 [en]

memo

• Restaurant booking is not very new category for Internet service, but Pocket Concierge tries to differentiate from others by focusing on very popular restaurants. 
• https://pocket-concierge.jp/ 

[Sd] Translation startup Conyac partners with World Jumper, introduces new API

Tokyo-based Anydoor, the startup behind crowdsourced translation service Conyac, announced today that it has partnered with Yaraku, the provider of website translation tool World Jumper. 

Since its launch back in 2009, Anydoor has been providing translation services between multiple languages using crowdsourced workers. ... 

World Jumper was launched last year, and has been a translation service mainly for website owners. The company outsources orders to third-party agencies (such as Conyac or Gengo), but it also accumulates frequently-used translation requests and results in its database for future reference. ...

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Sd 9/10/2013 [en]

memo

• As in the article, both companies have already worked together, so the partnership may intend to integrate their services more deeply. 
• https://conyac.cc/
• http://www.worldjumper.com/

[Sd] Japanese recipe sharing site Cookpad acquires private lesson marketplace Cyta.jp for $10 million

Tokyo-based Coach United, the startup behind private lesson marketplace Cyta.jp, announced today that it has been acquired by Japanese recipe sharing site Cookpad. 

Update: Several news sources say the acquisition price is 1 billion yen ($10 million). 

Since its launch back in June of 2011, it has grown to provide users with about 140 different private lessons (in fields such as language learning, music study, or qualification acquisition), available at 3,000 locations around the country. Unlike other marketplace services which typically connect potential students to teachers, the startup assures the quality of the lessons they introduce on the website by checking into will teach them or where it will take place.

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Sd 9/3/2013 [en]

memo

• It has been said that there are not many exits by acquisition in Japan, but it seems increasing recently. It may be the first acquisition with the scale for Cookpad. Cyta.jp can expect to accelerate customer acquisition speed by linking with CookPad.
• http://cyta.jp/ 

[Sd] Japanese skills marketplace Coconala fundraises $1.5 million

Coconala is a website where you can buy and sell knowledge, skills and, experience from users who are willing to teach. Tokyo-based Welself, the startup behind the service, announced today that it has fundraised 150 million yen ($1.5 million) from Nissay Capital, Opt, Adways, and Tetsuro Yoshimatsu, the CEO of Japanese cosmetic site iStyle. 

Coconala was originally launched back in July of 2012. Users don’t need to pay any sign-up or monthly fee, but they do need to pay a 500 yen ($5) commission for a purchase. To date the startup has acquired 63,000 users, 10,400 knowledge ‘items’ for sale (i.e. their expertise or skills), and it has transacted more than 43,000 deals using the marketplace. ...

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Sd 9/4/2013 [en]

memo

• There are various categories in Coconala from consulting for personal matters to business such as web marketing and logo design. Among them, it seems drawing a portrait or fortune telling are popular categories. Coconala takes 30% from the 500 yen for system usage and billing commission. It is interesting to see how Coconala will increase the transaction with the capital. 
• http://coconala.com/

[TechCrunch] Japanese E-Commerce Giant Rakuten Confirms Acquisition Of Video Site Viki

Rakuten has confirmed that it will acquire Viki, a global video streaming platform that crowdsources translated subtitles. The Japanese e-commerce giant, which is expected to sign an agreement to buy Viki tomorrow, did not disclose financial terms, but is reportedly paying $200 million. ... 

Based in Singapore, Viki operates similarly to Hulu.com by offering premium content such as primetime TV shows and movies. Its advantage over other on-demand video services is crowdsourced subtitles from 22 million users in more than 160 languages, which allows Viki’s content providers to quickly enter new markets. ...

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TechCrunch 9/1/2013 [en]

memo

• Rakuten has been aggressively acquiring companies in foreign countries. They were mostly EC sites in 2010 and 2011, but it acquires more digital contents related companies in the past two years including e-book reader, Kobo, and Spanish video-on-demand, Wuaki.tv. It is interesting to see how the acquired services will make synergy with each other.

TBS Enters Venture Investment By Establishing A Subsidiary / Cnet Japan

Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings (TBS HD) announced an establishment of TBS Innovation Partners. The subsidiary aims to develop a new business of TBS Group by investing in and partnering with startups. By enhancing contacts with venture companies and entrepreneurs, it will accelerate the growth of new businesses.

A venture fund of 1.8 billion yen will be launched in early September by TBS HD and TBS Innovation Partners. The fund plans to invest in startups around media, contents, entertainment, and IT. ...

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Cnet Japan 9/2/2013 [jp]

memo

• Another TV and media company, Fuji Media Holdings started investment in startups this year. There would be more media companies to join the trend. 

[Sd] Anime illustration crowdsourcing platform raises $1.3M

Crowdsoucing platforms can be divided into two categories: 1) general purpose and 2) industry-focused. The latter is very much focused on specific business fields such as translation or design, and such crowdsourcing platforms are on the rise. 

MugenUp is a Tokyo-based startup that provides a crowdsourcing platform for animated content and illustrations. The company just announced that it has raised series B funding worth 130 million yen (or approximately $1.3 million) from Industrial Growth Platform and SMBC Venture Capital. ...

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Sd 8/30/2013 [en]

memo

• Other industry-focused crowdsourcing startups include Gengo and Conyac (Translation), and Designclue (Design). While, leading crowdsourcing services for general purpose by startups would be Lancers and Crowdworks. 
• http://mugenup.com/