Acquisitions are relatively rare in Japan’s tech startup scene, but today Yahoo Japan caused a splash when the country’s biggest web company announced it acquired Tokyo-based Community Factory (which launched in 2006).

TechCrunch Japan is reporting that the price stands at around 1 billion yen, which currently translates to US$12.8 million.

Community Factory runs a number of social services and apps, but in its press release, Yahoo Japan singles out Decopic, a multi-lingual photo sharing application that currently boasts 7 million downloads on Android and iOS (profile on Asiajin from last year).

According to TechCrunch Japan, the so-called Mixi Fund, set up by Japan’s largest real-identity social network Mixi back in 2009, is the biggest shareholder in Community Factory (40%).

Yahoo Japan’s move isn’t surprising: the company’s new CEO Manabu Miyasaka said in April (when he took over from Masahiro Inoue) that he plans to strengthen Yahoo Japan’s position in the mobile and social fields.

Just a few days ago, Yahoo Japan also announced it has set up the YJ Capital fund (capitalized at 1 billion yen) to invest in promising startups.

Tags: Investment, Japan, News by Serkan Toto
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mixi, Inc. [J] will open the lady’s fashion EC site “Petite jeté” [J] as a new business from the middle of September.

Both companies have announced the creation of the new business by the publication of August’s balance sheet.  This “Petite jeté” seems to be an independent business apart from the SNS mixi.  Currently both companies have opened a teaser site, and according to the description on the top page, “Carefully selected fairly adult-like items prepared every day at moderate prices,” it seems to be a lady’s fashion EC site.  Pre-registration for preliminary users has also begun, and registered users will be sent the first notice when it opens.

Translation authorized by VSMedia

Tags: VSMedia by Chiho Komoriya
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