[The Bridge] Japan’s handmade item marketplace Creema fundraises $1 million from KDDI

Tokyo-based Creema, the startup behind the C2C marketplace for handmade items, announced today that it has raised 100 million yen (about $1 million) from KDDI Open Innovation Fund. The company plans to use the funds for system development efforts to give users better experience. 

In this space, we’ve seen many startups like Etsy (US), Creatty (Japan), and Pinkoi (Taiwan). But Creema is one of the oldest companies among them. Since its launch back in June of 2010, the company has acquired 18,000 creators and they have submitted over 500,000 items on the platform. ...

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The Bridge 6/6/2014 [en]

memo

• It is free to place items on the marketplace and it takes 12% of the revenue when sold. The commission rate becomes less to 8% depending on the total sales. KDDI aims to let users to pay by KDDI's billing service on the platform.
• http://www.creema.jp/

[The Bridge] Japan’s deli food delivery company Okan raises from CyberAgent Ventures and Oisix

Our readers may recall we told you that Tokyo-based startup Okan has launched delivery service for Japanese deli foods for corporate customers. The company announced today that it has raised an undisclosed sum from Japanese investment firm CyberAgent Ventures and food delivery company Oisix (TSE:3182). 

With the service Office Okan, corporate customers will receive Japanese deli once a month, since the deli lasts about a month. These can be refrigerated, and users can buy it by dropping coins to the collection box on the fridge and prepare it in about minutes. The service was launched in close beta back in November and subsequently officially launched back in March. ...

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The Bridge 6/5/2014 [en]

memo

• Oisix is one of the largest cooking ingredients delivery services in Japan, which went IPO last year. There must be synergy with the startup in terms of foods and delivery. It may be options to even acquire it.
• http://okan.jp/

[The Bridge] Japan’s Metaps acquires app ranking and analytics site App Data Bank

Tokyo-based Metaps, the company behind the app monetization platform of the same name, announced yesterday that it has acquired app ranking and analytics site App Data Bank. 

Since its launch back in 2011, App Data Bank has been publishing reports about app ranking and market analytics for mobile app developers. Through the acquisition, Metaps expects to create synergy with their primary business that helps developers monetize their apps in over 200 countries worldwide.

The Bridge 6/3/2014 [en]

memo

• Applications with Metaps SDK integrated have been downloaded over 1 billion times. The company has offices in several countries in Asia and the US. In app ranking and market analytics services, App Annie may be the largest service provider. It is interesting to see how Metaps will compete with the giant by taking advantage of its existing services.
• http://www.metaps.com/

[The Bridge] Japan’s English learning platform provider Rarejob files for IPO

Tokyo-based English learning platform Rarejob has been approved for an IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market today. 

Since its launch back in October of 2007, the company has hired native speakers (mainly students from high profile universities in the Philippines) as English conversation teachers who instruct Japanese students over Skype. As of last August, the company had provided over 10 million lessons to over 200,000 Japanese users. ...

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The Bridge 5/23/2014 [en]

memo

• There are many English lesson services using Skype, but Rarejob may be one of the first one in this field. It is interesting to see if the IPO makes Rarejob the runaway leader, or there are opportunities for the rest competitors to catch up and even overtake.
• http://www.rarejob.com/

[The Bridge] Japanese internet company Voyage Group files for IPO

Tokyo-based Voyage Group, the internet company best known for the e-commerce and shopping portal EC Navi, has announced that it has been approved for an IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market today. The company will be listed on July 2nd. 

Formerly known as Axiv.com, the company was initially launched back in 1999 as the online marketing arm of Japanese internet giant CyberAgent. But CEO Shinsuke Usami bought the majority of their shares from CyberAgent and made the company an independent business entity. ...

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The Bridge  5/29/2014 [en]

memo

• Voyage Group runs some other businesses such as online research, mobile apps, ad technologies, and venture capital. So, it is somewhat like a small CyberAgent. 
• http://voyagegroup.com/

Kaonavi Raises 100M Yen From Daiwa PI Partners And NVCC / Venture Now

Cloud-based human resource management service, Kaonavi announced about 100 million yen of fundraising from Daiwa PI Partners and an existing investor, Nippon Venture Capital. ...

Kaonavi is a human resource management system to allow placing the right people in the right jobs and also to train people. It uses face photos as an icon, which enables to recognize, evaluate, select, and place human resource intuitively. ...

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Venture Now 5/30/2014 [en]

memo

• Its customers include many Internet companies including startups from CyberAgent, Voyage Group, NHN to gumi and Sansan. There may be not a few cloud based HR management services, but the customer base is one of the great advantages of the startup because these Internet companies are increasing human resources rapidly.
• http://www.kaonavi.jp/

[The Bridge] Japanese family photo service Kiddy raises $500,000, poised for global expansion

Tokyo-based Compath.me, the startup behind family photo sharing platform Kiddy, announced today that it has raised 50 million yen (about $492,000) from Japanese internet company United. 

The company was originally launched back in 2011, graduating from Tokyo-based startup incubator Open Network Lab. This latest news follows its previous seed funding from DG Incubation, Architype, and Netprice.com. ...

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The Bridge 5/29/2014 [en]

memo

• Considering the recent growing size of fundraising, 50 million yen would not be a large amount, but it is a great step for a closed social network service in which there are no successful services yet. It is interesting to see whether Kiddy can become the first one to succeed in the field.
• https://kiddy-photo.com/