여행자들에게 투어 및 액티비티(Tours & Activities)를 현지보다 저렴하게 예약할 수 있는 플랫폼을 운영하는 ‘데얼(THERE)’이 세계 최대 여행-테크 콘퍼런스인 ‘웹인트레블, 도쿄(Web In Travel, Tokyo)’ 스타트업 부트캠프에서 우승을 차지했다. 6월 2일, 행사 첫째 날 스타트업 부트캠프 세션을 통해 데얼를 포함해 총 10개 팀의 발표가 있었으며, 그중 4개 팀을 선정해 6월 3일 경합을 벌였다. 투어 및 액티비티 분야 스타트업 클룩(Klook)이 작년 웹인트레블 도쿄에서 우승한 데 이어 올해도 같은 분야의 스타트업인 데얼이 바통을 이었다. 강영열 대표는 “우리의 작은…

Japan’s first commercial jet, The Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) – developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, in half a century made its maiden flight on Wednesday. The two-engine aircraft, approximately 35 metres (115ft) long, flew smoothly upward into clear skies in central Japan. It is an important milestone for an ambitious effort by Japan to develop its aerospace industry. The flight seems to have gone well, with the Guardian reporting that it “flew smoothly upward…

Viddsee raises USD2.3 million to date, after bringing Japan-based CyberAgentVentures (CAV) as lead investor in its latest round of funding to develop the new wave of mobile-powered cinema, starting with Asia. Viddsee is a hybrid online video platform that showcases short films on its web platform and through its mobile Viddsee app. It was founded two years ago by Ho Jia Jian and Derek Tan, two entrepreneurs in Singapore with a background…

Two weeks after the third anniversary of founding Between, the world’s largest social network for couples, has hit a major milestone, achieving 10 million global downloads. Since launching 3 years ago, Between has enjoyed 100% year-on-year growth. What is perhaps even more encouraging is that in 2014, much of this growth came from overseas markets, such as Japan, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Japan hit its 1 million local downloads earlier this year,…

This is part two of this story. Part 1 here In 2010 when Bong-jin Kim left’ Naver’ (Korea’s primary online search portal), he had no idea about Venture Capital or ‘Exit’. Additionally, he had no interest in global expansion. He built his startup to focus on solving ‘small issues that Koreans face in their daily lives’. Yesturday we discussed how he raised his first three rounds of funding. Today we look at how…

In 2010 when Bong-jin Kim left’ Naver’ (Korea’s primary online search portal), he had no idea about Venture Capital or ‘Exit’. Additionally, he had no interest in global expansion. He built his startup to focus on solving ‘small issues that Koreans face in their daily lives’. That is how Baedal Minjok started. But recently his ‘startup’ raised $36 million USD from Goldman Sachs. He concluded, “if a person like me who had…

It has been announced in Korean media this morning that the country’s leading food delivery service (Baedal minjeok) has secured funding of USD36 million from Goldman Sachs. JaeHyun Lee, in charge of the Korean investmnet said: “Korea is a very exciting market for e-commerce and we are excited to be partnering with Baedal Minjeok, to help them solidify their position in Korea and expand into new markets.” Kim BongJin, CEO of Baedal…

Softbank Ventures Korea is one of the most established and successful Venture Capital companies in Korea. Outstanding successes include Sundaytoz and Sunnyloft (acquired by Kakao), and there are dozens of other portfolio companies that are rising stars in the Korean scene. Softbank Ventures is a 100% subsidiary of Softbank Corp. in Japan and manages a $250M fund. The fund is based in Korea, but they take care of investments across Asia and…

On October 16, SoftBank Ventures Korea held their second annual forum which presents their portfolio companies and vision to invited guests and the press. Our friends at Buzzvil, also a portfolio company of Softbank, were there to record the action. SoftBank Ventures Korea, a subsidiary of Softbank Corp. in Japan, is one of the most established early stage investment companies in Korea and their annual Forum showcased their portfolio companies for press and…

Spoqa is a Seoul-based startup that operates Dodo Points, a tablet-based loyalty platform for local merchants. Since its launch in April 2012, 1,500 local merchants in Korea signed up and Spoqa has driven 2.5 million customers to its partner merchants. Today the company has announced that it has closed its second round of funding, putting its total funding raised to $3.9M US dollars. With this round, Spoqa aims to aggressively expand its…

After a period of rampant speculations it has been reported that Line Corp.,which now boasts almost half a billion users, has filed confidentially for an initial offering in the U.S. It is expected that the company will seek a dual-listing in New York and Tokyo. This, according to a report our on Bloomberg. While the details have not been released publicly by Line, it is believed that Morgan Stanley (MS) is managing the listing…

Imagine if department stores in busy urban shopping districts could lock-in customers travelling into the area, before they even arrived. Kimgisa, a navigation app developed by Korean startup locNall aims to be the No. 1 player in the navigation and location-based marketing industry in Asia and make that marketing dream a reality. The team has already started working with large clients like Incheon International Airport to deliver targeted marketing to airport visitors…

The Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC), Asia’s largest mobile industry conference which is hosted annually in Beijing, is making a foray into Japan with GMIC Tokyo on July 11, 2014. GMIC Tokyo will bring together industry experts as well as up-and-coming innovators at Hikarie Hall in Tokyo’s hip Shibuya district. The theme of GMIC Tokyo 2014 is “Globalization of Mobile”. The organizer Great Wall Club’s (GWC) inaugural GMIC in Japan, GMIC Tokyo promises to be the biggest…

[metaslider id=”17793″] After the successful releases of BeNative apps in Korean, Japanese, and Chinese, SMATOOS is expanding its service with Speak Real English, an “English to English” learning application that helps English language learners practice through video lessons. With this app, SMATOOS hopes to provide an alternative to stuffy textbook learning and offer support to help users cultivate practical and natural-sounding English skills. “Speak Real English” features video content of real native English speakers filmed around…

Hello Market, who have just announced their first funding round of $2.5M, is a C2C marketplace platform service that allows users to sell, buy, and exchange goods and services through mobile platforms (Android, iOS) as well as the web. According to Co-Founder Alber Hahn their goal now is to continue to apply, update, and expand upon the craigslist C2C commerce model, with a current focus on further expansion into Japan. The Hello Market…

Established in 2009, the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) Beijing is arguably Asia’s most influential mobile industry conference. Taking place on May 5-6, 2014, GMIC will attract over 10,000 mobile industry executives, entrepreneurs, developers and investors from 30+ countries. This year, as part of our partnership with GMIC, our own Global Director, Nathan Millard, will be moderating a panel with four of Asia’s top investors from Korea, Japan, and China to discuss…

Originally posted on The Bridge: Kei Kajitani is the Japan general manager of Korea-based VCNC, heading up the company’s efforts to promote their couples app Between here in Japan. After the app’s recent 2.0 release back in December, it appears to have picked up some steam in a number of markets around the world, including Japan where it is has ranked as the top social networking iOS app since Wednesday. He tells…

Japan has been much harder hit by the global financial crisis than its North East Asian neighbors and has since struggled to catch back up. The country’s recovery has of course further been hampered by the devastating tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis in Fukushima. Suffice to say that Japan has seen better days, and now news that in the lucrative semiconductor market Japan is also losing out to Korea. According to research…

파이브락스(대표 이창수)는 일본의 애드웨이즈(대표 하루히사 오카무라) 및 애드웨이즈의 한국 지사인 애드웨이즈코리아(대표 노다 노부요시)와 전략적 업무 제휴를 체결했다고 9월 24일 발표했다.  지난달 말 일본의 글로벌브레인으로부터 투자를 유치한 후 일본에서 이루어 낸 첫 사업 제휴 성과다. 애드웨이즈는 아시아에서 가장 사용률이 높은 CPI 광고 플랫폼인 앱드라이버(AppDriver)와 광고 효과 측정 시스템인 파티트랙(Party Track)을 보유한 일본의 대표적인 모바일 광고 회사다. 이번 제휴는 파이브락스의 모바일 앱 실시간 분석 기술을 눈여겨 본 애드웨이즈의 제안으로 이루어진 것.  파이브락스의 분석 기술과 애드웨이즈의 광고 효과 측정 시스템을 결합해 보다 과학적이고…

Adjapan and 8crops are subsidiaries of Fancommunications, one of the largest ASPs (affiliate service providers) in Japan. They offer a range of interesting marketing solutions for both PCs and smartphones. They are now actively expanding into new markets, having seen sustained domestic growth.