July, August & September 2019
July 2019 / August 2019 / September 2019
Japan’s startup news:
July 2019
- Japan: Sony announces $185M Innovation Growth Fund aimed at tech startup investments
- A look at Uber Eats’ surprising success strategies in Japan, including deliveries by the elderly
- Japan: Tier IV self-driving vehicle startup raises $100M Series A with open-source software approach
- Japan: Kyash payments app and putative challenger bank raises $14M with prepaid debit-based mobile wallet
- Japan’s Itochu trading house partners China’s Citic state conglomerate for $1.8BN VC fund to introduce Japanese startups into China
- Japan: 100 major manufacturers partner to use blockchain to share data to boost efficiency and improve competitiveness
- Japan: “The number of crypto asset exchange service providers which have expressed their interest [in launching in Japan] is about 110 as of June”
- Japan: Secrets of ancient Kuzushiji texts are now being revealed by AI
- Japan’s Agribuddy gains backing for agtech focus on rice, cassava and corn farmers across 7 provinces in Cambodia
- Japan: An overview of how Osaka is setting itself up as a hub for innovation
- Japan: An intro to Fukuoka Growth Next, aiming to make Fukuoka Japan’s Silicon Valley
- SoftBank Group announces $108BN Vision Fund 2 to focus on AI, with investor participation by Apple, Foxconn, Microsoft and others
- A brief look at how robotics startups from China and India are capitalizing on Japan’s labor and logistics challenges in responding to online shopping’s growth
- Japan: Deepcore incubator to boost AI-focused startups investment to 70, and may launch a second fund
- China’s Douyu live-streaming platform sets sights on Japan’s burgeoning esports market via JV with Mitsui trading house
- An overview of Japan’s collaborations with, and investments in, India’s startups
- Sony and Diawa arm launch Innovation Growth Ventures, aiming to raise $185M for tech startup investments in Japan, Europe, the US and Israel
Japan’s startup news:
August 2019
- Japan: Toyota partners Preferred Networks AI startup in pursuit of robots for the home, spurred in part by Japan’s ageing population challenges
- Seven-Eleven Japan to scrap hacked mobile pay service in September, citing insurmountable security challenges
- The current state of cashless payments in Japan
- Japan: Visa plans biometric and other cashless payment methods for Tokyo Olympics 2020, supporting the government’s Cashless Japan initiative
- Japan: Line Pay mobile money transfer and payment service integrates China’s WeChat Pay to tap the inbound tourist market
- Japan: Are mobile payments finally ready to take off?
- Japan: A brief intro to the 5 B2B startups selected for the SAP iO Foundry Tokyo accelerator
- Japan: An intro to intheHood, a finalist in the recent WiT Japan & North Asia Startup Pitch 2019 aiming to be a top accommodation provider
- Japan’s Line Bank gains license for internet-only banking in Taiwan, building on 165M monthly active users globally
- Indonesia: Grab ride-hail giant to invest $2BN across 5 years with Japan’s SoftBank to accelerate development of the country’s digital infrastructure
Japan’s startup news:
September 2019
- Japan: NTT Data partners China’s CloudPick for smartphone-based, cashier-free solutions for retailers to address labor shortages
- Japan: Fintech Business Camp Tokyo 2019 unveils participants, including 3 startups from Singapore and 2 from Hong Kong
- Plug And Play Japan opens Winter/Spring 2020 program applications, seeking startups in IoT, fintech, insurtech, mobility, retail, hardtech and healthtech
- Privacy-focused Brave browser overtakes rivals Firefox, Opera and Chrome in Japan
