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The company wants to reach more Singapore SMEs, which, CEO Chika Terada, says are rapidly adopting cloud-based solutions

If you are anything like me, sitting in the corner of your office desk is an overwhelming pile of business cards providing just enough usefulness to justify a permanent stress-inducing zone in a drawer.

Sansan Inc., a Tokyo-based business contact management service wants to help companies put those business cards on the cloud. Today, the company announced a S$24.2 million (US$16.8 million) Series C funding round to accelerate product innovation and international business growth.

Investors included Silicon Valley-based VC firm DCM Ventures, the strategic venture arm of Salesforce — Saleseforce Ventures — and Japanese early stage VC firm Nissay Capital.

Additionally, Sansan is allocating S$4.2 million (US$2.8 million) towards extending its reach in Singapore, which, along with the US, is the company’s top market for international expansion.

“In Singapore, we pin our hopes on tapping a large pool of SMEs that are rapidly going digital and adopting cloud-based solutions to enhance productivity, better manage costs and, most importantly, to effectively engage their customers, build loyalty and, ultimately, grow the business,” Chika Terada, Founder & CEO of Sansan, said in an official statement.

Also Read: Japanese fashion box service AirCloset snags US$8M Series B funding

The rest of the investment is to be used to strengthen mobile product offerings and open a platform to connect larger companies through other enterprise services.

While Terada’s goal for Singapore is to focus on SMEs, the company itself has a wide range of clients, with over 4,000 corporate users including Intel, Japan Post, Seven and I Holdings and Toyota.

Furthermore, it boasts the Japanese government’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as a client.

In Singapore, storage pricing is as follows: For 2,000 cards, it costs S$60 (US$41) per month; S$120 (US$83) per month gets 5,000 cards and the cost of 10,000 cards is S$220 (US$152) per month.

The service is meant to be collaborative within a company and Sansan cites the ability for employees to share information across geographies as an advantage.

Also Read: Japan/US startup Fresvii raises US$4M from Nissay Capital

Founded in 2007, Sansan Inc. is a Japanese company that, in October 2015, opened a subsidiary company in Singapore called Sansan Global PTE.

Photo Courtesy of Syda Productions/Shutterstock

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