5 rising startups in Japan

This week’s roundup is not lacking for excitement. One company received funding from both 500 Startups and 500 Startups Japan funds. Another waltzed away with a rare-for-Japan US$16 million series A. But both were overshadowed by an acquisition featuring an industry giant and a startup which only just finished blowing out the candles on its second birthday.

3Minute

A still from the 3Minute website. Photo credit: 3Minute.

These are good times if you run a digital content production studio in Japan. As consumer eyeballs show a preference for online video, corporates and startups alike are looking to take the lead – and profits – in content production. One of the earlier movers in this space – 3Minutes – has gone from idea to US$38.2 million acquisition in just over two years.

Though 3Minute first scored an undisclosed sum from Line, it exited to gaming giant Gree last week. A Japanese unicorn since before it was fashionable, Gree has high hopes for the integration, anticipating anticipates that Japan’s video ad market will balloon from last year’s US$475 million to US$1.8 billion by 2020. With a monthly reach of 75 million users and 100 million page views, 3Minute will now be a key part of Gree’s plans to capitalize on the industry’s growth.

Folio

World, Tokyo here. Fintech has landed. Photo credit: Miyabi Inoue

Folio is the latest robo-advisor to join Japan’s growing family of fintech startups. By unveiling a series A of US$16 million, the startup is sending notice that it’s ready to hit its spring release with plenty of firepower. DCM Ventures and Draper Nexus funded Folio’s US$2.6 million seed round last March and returned for the series A. Joining them are powerhouse investors including Rakuten Fintech Fund, Jafco, Monex Ventures, and Sumitomo Shanghai Capital.

The past couple years have seen an uptick in robo-advisors – algorithm-based services that act as automated money managers for lower fees and initial capital than traditional services. Folio will be facing stiff competition from the likes of Money Design, which added an undisclosed sum in funding last November to push its total funding to over US$23 million.

Xtreme Design

Photo credit: tec_estromberg.

Xtreme Design, a finalist at TIA Japan 2016’s Arena Pitch Battle, announced a pre-Series A of US$620,000. Freebit Investment along with prominent angels like Kotaro Chiba (founder, Colopl) provided the funds. The startup democratizes the processing power of supercomputers by letting business owners rent their machines by the hour (or minute) or through a regular subscription.

Unibo

Unibo is a home support robot joining the battle for your living room. Its playful frame distinguishes it from the bodiless or monolithic Siri, Alexa, and Cortana, but it will not officially launch until March. Investors are expecting a strong consumer response and just provided US$2.9 million in funding. Fujitsu Corporate Venture Capital, Nikon-SBI Innovation Fund, and Sumitomo Corporation headlined the round.

The robot is expected to integrate with a home’s IoT devices and also help with family matters like calling one another and buying groceries.

Lendy

Photo credit: wutwhan / 123RF.

Lendy is looking to be a friendly face for small business owners in need of a little extra capital. After raising a seed round of US$532,000 last September, it topped up with a further US$444,000. The company says the round was effectively split in two, meaning it raised approximately US$1 million for its seed stage. Previous investors Draper Nexus Ventures and Voyage Group are joined by Freebit Investment, 500 Startups, and 500 Startups Japan.

We spotted Lendy last December at the Infinity Ventures Summit. As noted then, Lendy uses a proprietary scoring model to structure the right loan. Loans often go for US$20,000, at 8-15 percent interest with an expected payback period of 6 months.

Lendy claims its approach can reduce loan defaults by 30 percent, making its service more appealing for investors than traditional lenders.

This post 5 rising startups in Japan appeared first on Tech in Asia.

from Tech in Asia https://www.techinasia.com/5-rising-startups-japan
via IFTTT