myGengo, a web-based multilingual human translation service start-up in Japan, announced convertible note fundraising of approximately 50 million yen from ten angel investors including:
Since last April when they introduced an API that allows you to enable the translation service on your website, about 10,000 translation requests a day month have been processed, myGengo’s managing director Matthew Romaine says.
They plan to strengthen marketing arms using the fundraising money, and expect to raise more money through myGengo’s US-based parent company.
As a result of this fundraising, the company’s co-founders Robert Laing and Matthew Romaine keep a 85% stake.
Meanwhile, market research company devoted to international business operations Common Sense Advisory reported last May in their whitepaper that the market size of the world’s translation outsourcing business is expected to reach USD2.5B in the year of 2010. It used to be USD1.425B in FY2008. There’s reportedly a rapid growth in translation needs for e-commerce websites.
Correction: The number of the translation requests was incorrect. It is not “a day” but “a month”. Sorry for your inconvenience it may cause.
Everyone in Japan’s startup scene has been guessing which of the about 20 localclones Chicago-based Groupon would buy for about 3 months now. And today it came to light that the Americans have chosen to go for Qpod, which offered its first daily deal on May 28.
And they are not losing time with the rebranding of the service either. As you can see above, the site already received a new logo.
According to The Nikkei (Japan’s biggest business newspaper), Groupon will acquire a majority stake in the Tokyo-based startup for $10 million. Qpod is reportedly ready to issue shares to Groupon via a private placement by the end of this week.
Qpod currently has around 60 employees and around 20 competitors on the Japanese market. The company has been set up by direct sales company PakuReserve and VC firm Infinity Venture Partners.
Nanbeijie (南北街) is an entertainment focused social shopping company that transforms online shopping into a social gaming experience. Utilising social gaming, virtual currencies and merging it with entertaining shopping games to create a new experience in the shopping entertainment space.
Cosher provides an innovative solution that makes internet display advertising campaigns more effective. It is the first company worldwide to offer standard-based cursor-advertising. In one simple sentence, they use the mouse cursor pointer for advertising purposes. They can display your company/product logo on affiliated websites in conjunction with your banner-ads.
Enterproid allows mobile professionals to consolidate their work and personal life onto a single cloud-managed enterprise-grade device without compromising security or functionality.
The Popcorn Media Network is one of the first company’s in Hong Kong to see the value of social media and blogging and set up Hong Kong’s very first blog network with the brands such as ButterBoom.com, NeonPunch.com and Winbuzz.hk.
Conyac is a tech start-up based in Tokyo and a place for social translation over the internet. It is a user friendly website that enables you to request a translation or translate a request by another user, in order to gain Conyac points.
For more details about Conyac, refer to the following Asiajin stories.
Spoilt is a team that brings experience gifts to Hong Kong. If you look for a unique gift for a loved one or planning a day out, they can help. Their points are unique experiences, hassle-free shopping, price guarantee and simple booking process.
Patrick Lee, Founder of Alive Not Dead (an online community dedicated to helping artists)
Ken Law, CEO of MotherApp (a smartphone app developer creating iPhone / Android / Windows Mobile / Blackberry apps very quickly using their patent-pending technology. Asiajin’s iPhone/iPod Touch reader is also powered by them.)
Stepcase developed several photo-related iPhone apps. One of their best is Steply, which is for establishing an access to a free online community to share photos with friends and discover new things in your city. Steply is available on the iTunes AppStore.
Gobuya is a deal of the day site serving merchants and consumers in Hong Kong. Developed and operated by Allo Online Solution Ltd. which is headquartered at Hong Kong Science Park. They get high traffic through Facebook.
Aoopz is a platform for professionals to publish their works, creatives, ideas to the subscribers in multi-channels where publishings can be seen in most of platforms – mobile, iPad and web.
Pillow2 is an online community to share travel experience, personalize your trips, and discover hidden local gems. You can create a comprehensive travel journal with photos and the places you visited. Then you can share it with your friends.
OPP helps business to demonstrate their products online easily and efficiently. It is a fully customized and animated product tools that can act as product catalog to complete online store. With its animated user interface, user can generate your own E-commerce website or product catalog in a very short time. Developed by online solution provider Innoverz, which is also based at Hong Kong Science Park.
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I’ve ever been to TechCrunch 50, OpenWeb Asia and the other attractive tech conferences many times, but never met such a hot event where a number of start-ups and entrepreneurs having grassroots spirits plus ambition to be a world-class business come together. The organizer announced more than 400 people attended the event, and they were forced to set up an additional venue for having seats for the entire audience.
