Japan’s venture capital industry is in a very difficult situation. That’s, in a nutshell, the result of a recent Nikkei survey. According to the paper, investments from the nation’s top 20 VC firms dropped a whopping 40% in fiscal 2009 to $711 million. Compared to 2007, that’s even 50% less. To be more concrete, the… Continue reading Japanese Venture Capital Investments Take Nosedive in 2009
Category: News
Spacecraft Carrying Asteroid Sample Returns; Landing Process To Be Ustreamed From Australian Desert
Hayabusa (peregrine falcon in Japanese) is an unmanned space mission to return a sample of material from the asteroid Itokawa. The spacecraft launched from Japan seven years ago, and succeeded to land on the asteroid. It is now returning to the earth and will be landing in Woomera Prohibited Area, Australia today. The final landing… Continue reading Spacecraft Carrying Asteroid Sample Returns; Landing Process To Be Ustreamed From Australian Desert
Japanese recipe site Cookpad in overdrive, doubles sales and profits
In case you didn’t know: Japan is the only country in the world that has a listed recipe site, Cookpad. After going IPO at the “Mothers” section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange last July, its current market cap stands at a staggering $370 million. Over the weekend, the eponymous company behind the site reported [PDF]… Continue reading Japanese recipe site Cookpad in overdrive, doubles sales and profits
Japanese mobile gaming startup GREE to open US and China offices within a year
Japan’s social networks seem to be hitting a ceiling growth-wise, and apparently they increasingly feel the need to go abroad in order to grow. “Japan’s Facebook” Mixi, which now counts 20 million members, is operating “Mixiu” in China. DeNA, the company behind mobile gaming platform Mobage-town (19.4 million members), has always been more aggressive in… Continue reading Japanese mobile gaming startup GREE to open US and China offices within a year
Four Companies Encourage Developers To Monetize Apps With New In-app Purchase Platform And Investments
Tokyo-based real affiliate service provider Best Create[J], Japan’s largest telecom product distributor Hikari Tsushin, Cyber Agent Investment and SBI Investment[J] launched a new project called “Future of Apps[J]” last month, which is expected to collect new app ideas and will invest USD110,000 at the maximum in each of selected promising ones. The project will also… Continue reading Four Companies Encourage Developers To Monetize Apps With New In-app Purchase Platform And Investments
May 2010 Japan IT Links (Part 1)
First half of May news which we did not write as a dedicated article. Continued to (Part 2) Referred pages are all in Japanese, unless otherwise stated. Twitter Rescued A Guy Without Paper At Akihabara Toilet covered by Japan Trend Shop [En] and Gizmodo [En] Cellphone Journalist Atsushi Ishikawa reports that NTT Docomo did not… Continue reading May 2010 Japan IT Links (Part 1)
Cnet Japan Overhauled. ex-Chief Editor Takes TechCrunch Japan’s Head
On May 31th, Cnet Japan [J], run by Asahi Interactive, a subsidiary of Asahi Shimbun [J], a Japanese online tech media licensed by US Cnet, has changed its design to an original US Cnet like black-banner from long lasted yellow based one. Also added twitter retweet assistant function. Ex-chief editor Moved to TechCrunch Japan On… Continue reading Cnet Japan Overhauled. ex-Chief Editor Takes TechCrunch Japan’s Head
Sony, KDDI, Asahi And Toppan To Co-launch E-Publisher In July
Sony, Toppan Printing (Japan’s 2nd largest printing company), KDDI(Japan’s 2nd largest telco) and the Asahi Shimbun (newspaper publisher) announced last Thursday that they would launch a joint venture for an e-publication distribution service. Sony has introduced an e-book reader device called “Reader” in Europe and the U.S., and the company plans to introduce it in… Continue reading Sony, KDDI, Asahi And Toppan To Co-launch E-Publisher In July
Apple And Softbank Mobile Start iPad Sales In Japan On Friday
Apple and Softbank Mobile finally started the sales of the iPad in Japan on Friday. At Apple Store Ginza or one of Apple Japan’s two flagship stores in Tokyo, about 1,200 people were queuing for having the new device. The earliest bird who has been waiting at the store since Wednesday’s 4pm was 19-year-old part-timer… Continue reading Apple And Softbank Mobile Start iPad Sales In Japan On Friday
Breaking News: Rakuten To Launch E-Commerce Business With Media Giant In Indonesia
Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten just announced today it would launch a joint venture with Indonesian media conglomerate Global Mediacom to run a e-commerce platform service in the country. Rakuten takes 51% stake in the joint venture which is capitalized at USD4.3M. The joint venture will start the service in the latter half of this year… Continue reading Breaking News: Rakuten To Launch E-Commerce Business With Media Giant In Indonesia