6 rising startups in Japan
This week, a smartphone insurance startup received another round of funding. Also featured are a streamlined app for beauticians, a C2C platform for farmers, and the latest in luggage storage.
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AOS Data, which offers cloud and software content management platforms for companies as well as individuals, has teamed up with Findex to gain a bigger foothold in the medical data space. As part of this new partnership, the four-year-old startup got US$1.84 million from Findex, which has been in the market for over three decades.
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Vivid Garden developed Tabechoku, an organic farming C2C marketplace similar to PocketMarche. Tabechoku users can have fresh vegetables, rice, and other agriculture products – all chemical- and pesticide-free – delivered directly to their homes, straight from the farm. At present, 100 farms are registered as sellers.
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In its most recent funding round, Vivid Garden received US$370,000 from Eureka founder Yuka Saka, Campfire CEO Kazuma Ieiri, Adtech Tokyo president Hiromitsu Ishimori, Akatsuki CEO Genki Shiota, and an undisclosed angel investor.
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Osaka-based Wefabrik has created Smasell, a B2B marketplace that allows fashion companies to sell their unused inventory or scrap materials to other businesses. Over 350 companies are using Smasell’s marketplace, which handles transactions via SMBC banks.
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Wefabrik announced that it has raised US$923,000 in its latest fundraising from Crooz Ventures, Septeni Holdings, SMBC Venture Capital, Senshu Ikeda Capital, and existing investor KLab Venture Partners.
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In August 2017, the company made it to the final round at B Dash Camp 2017 Summer in Sapporo pitch competition.
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Lime is riding the digitization wave in Japan by offering a streamlined app for beauty professionals. They can store “clinical records” – complete with photos – of their clients, allowing them to provide better service. The app also enables users to directly manage client appointments.
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This week, Lime received US$644,000 from iStyle’s @cosme.
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A finalist in the TechCrunch Tokyo 2017 pitch battle, JustInCase offers relatively cheap insurance for smartphones. Registration takes about 90 seconds, and plans start as low as US$1.80 a month. But the feature the company touts the most its ability to connect users with their friends and family to create an insurance pool, which allows them to get reduced rates
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In November, JustInCase received funding in the hundreds of thousands from 500 Startups Japan. The product was set for release in December last year, but it’s still in the works at the moment.
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JustInCase recently raised US$273,000 in its latest fundraising round, with previous investor 500 Startups Japan new investor Merpay CEO Naoki Aoyagi participating.
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The winner of startup competition IVS 2017 Fall Kanazawa, Ecbo has launched Ecbo Cloak, a sharing economy luggage storage system . Through this app, users can find open or unused spaces in cafes and stores for their luggage and handle all the transactions online. This serves as an alternative to the traditional coin locker option in Japan.
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Ecbo recently secured an undisclosed amount from several investors, including Japan Railways Group and Mercari.
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Correction (Feb. 15, 4:21 pm): Replaced the companies named as investors in Ecbo