9 rising startups in Japan

Another busy week for Japanese startups. Nine companies received investments to bolster some of the latest technology in marketing, connected homes, VR, and more. To top off a good week, iSpace just added more cash to its mountain of funding.

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Following December’s US$90 million to help it compete in Google’s Lunar XPrize race to the moon contest, iSpace has raised another US$1.9 million from Tohoku University Venture Partners.

That brings its series A to over US$96 million, and US$98 million in total raised since its founding in 2010. iSpace will used this money to continue working on its moon missions.

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Maiko Kojima’s startup, Chatbook, was a 2016 graduate of YJ Capital and East Venture’s accelerator, Code Republic. Maiko Kojima also appeared at TIA Tokyo 2016, where she participated in a special stage session with DeNA’s Tomoko Namba.

Chatbook creates customizable chatbots for Facebook Messenger. A variety of templates are available that allow chatbots to be customized in a simple, two-step process. The technology also analyzes possible leads and metrics.

Chatbook has a new round of funding in the hundreds of thousands of dollars from Salesforce Ventures, East Ventures, and YJ Capital. The company also announced a new partnership with Salesforce.

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Haruumi Shiode founded Nature during his time as an MBA student at Harvard. He started fundraising through Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Makuake campaigns. Now, in its most recent round, the company just amassed US$938,000 from Daiwa Kigyo.

Its smart device, Nature Remo, is a remote that connects to home appliances. The device is also able to be integrated with Google Home and Amazon Echo.

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Voicy lets individuals create podcasts. The service takes care of the edits as well as the analytics. Along with this backend service, the company has a blogger site for podcasters.

The company recently raised US$263,000 from 16 angel investors, following its 12-investor angel round in March 2017.

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Photo credit: Placeholder

Litpla by Placeholder is a VR/AR theme park for kids and adults alike. Attractions include a VR sandbox with treasure boxes. The company has a temporary park open in Tokyo but plans to establish permanent parks in the near future. Placeholder is also planning a special event at the Waikiki aquarium from July 20th to September 30th.

This month the company reported two big announcements: US$5.6 million from TBS Holdings, Incubate Fund, and Mizuho Capital, plus a new business partnership with lead investor, TBS Holdings.

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Hiroshima-based Portable is developing UUUO, an ecommerce marketplace for bulk-buying seafood.

The startup recently accumulated US$1.1 million from Incubate Fund, IF Lifetime Ventures, Hiroshima VC, and Tottori Capital.

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Mosh helps businesses create customized web pages. Through the site, people can add all the necessary features, like automating reservations and allowing customers to leave reviews. Mosh promotes its ability to design a webpage simply through a smartphone – no need for any knowledge on HTML or CSS. Since the release of its beta version in October, over 100 individuals have created web pages, of which over half are yoga instructors.

This month, the company announced it raised US$188,000 from Genesia Ventures and a new addition, Retty.

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Social recruiting platform Grooves offers three services: IT engineer recruiting platform Forkwell, Crowd Agent to connect non-engineer job seekers to employers, and SkillShift for people looking for a side job or opportunities in non-urban areas.

Following a November round worth US$500,000, this month the started pocketed US$1.7 million from Iyogin Capital, Niigata Venture Capital, Hokuyo Capital, and Shinsei Bank.

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As the number of exchange students in Japan continues to increase, Linc is looking to tap into the market as an educational site for Chinese students looking to study in Japan.

It teaches them the necessary knowledge to pass entrance exams and lectures on life in Japan. The site has both interactive, live lectures as well as pre-recorded ones. All the lessons are taught in Chinese.

Recently Linc raised US$940,000 from Genesia Ventures and Beenext to expand into Southeast Asia. The team is also working on expanding its educational resources into topics like house and job hunting in Japan.