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Last week saw a new US$175 million fund debut in Japan and this week’s funding roundup shows the nation’s startup momentum is not slowing down.
Potential biomedical breakthroughs in spinal cord injury treatment and supplement production headline this week’s list. With the exception of a micro-funding service, the rest are all business-to-business services. They cover construction, localization, accounting, and real-estate.
Check out the details below.
Kringle Pharma
Photo credit: Phalinn Ooi.
Hailing from Osaka, Kringle Pharma took in US$5.4 million to finish its proof-of-concept study of a new treatment for spinal cord injuries. The Development Bank of Japan and the Keio Innovation Initiative fund led the round.
Its research focuses on hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). For biology Ph.Ds, “this protein is secreted by mesenchymal cells and acts as a multi-functional cytokine on cells of mainly epithelial origin.” For the rest of us, it is a protein involved in tissue regeneration.
Kringle Pharma’s clinical projects currently focus on producing HGF to assist patients with severe spinal cord injuries, ALS, acute kidney injuries, and vocal cord scars.
HealthServer
Credit: e-Magine Art.
HealthServer had a good week, announcing two major investments. With the claim of analyzing your body’s health and then providing tailor-made supplements, the under-development device seems to be nearing completion.
The operating startup, Dricos, is four years old but has caught the eye of Shiseido, the largest cosmetic firm in Japan. Shiseido, which just established the aptly named Shiseido Venture Partners, did not disclose the amount invested. DyDo, one of the nation’s largest operators of vending machines, also invested US$520,000 in a separate deal.
Though it is still unclear how the device works precisely, the backing such major players suggests the technology might fulfill its promise.
Photoruction
Xiaomi’s Yi 4K action cam.
We wrote about Photoruction’s debut at Infinity Ventures Summit last week. A few hours later, it announced US$130,000 in seed funding from Primal Capital.
Still in testing phase, Photoruction is aiming to be the “AWS for construction productivity”. Construction workers can take, upload, and digitally share thousands of progress photos from a project. Teams that adopt this technology can stop painstakingly printing out each photo for their reports and consultations.
Wovn
Minimal Technologies co-founders Jeff Sandford and Takaharu Hayashi. Photo credit: Minimal Tech.
Since we first met Wovn back in 2014, the multilingual website translation localization product has continued to grow. Now available for 27 languages, it just closed a US$3 million series B. SBI Investment also led this round.
With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics coming up, Wovn has a good chance to scale further. It is hiring too.
For more details, please see our interview with co-founder and CTO Jeff Sandford.
A-SaaS
Photo credit: vanmarciano.
A-SaaS, the brand name of the startup Accounting SaaS just raised a US$2.6 million series C. This follows a US$5.4 million and US$8.7 million series A and B, respectively. AG Capital joined previous investors 8 Roads Capital and Arbor Ventures.
The company provides hardware and software tools to accounting services. A-SaaS reports that it has signed contracts with over 2,100 of the 30,000 registered tax professionals and offices in Japan.
Leeways
Photo credit: Sherwood CC .
Real-estate startup Leeways took in US$2.2 million to expand its business overseas. Gaia Enterprise and Hallo Hallo Home, which manage real-estate in Hawaii and the Philippines, led the round.
Leeways started a couple years ago, but it has high hopes for Gate., an AI-powered service released over the summer. It analyzes 40 million listings to predict changes in valuation and future purchase opportunities. English and Chinese interfaces are expected this winter.
Securite
All illustrations by Tech in Asia’s Kathrinna Rakhmavika.
SBI Investment’s US$260 million fintech fund has found a new portfolio company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Securite, the second service offered by parent company Music Securite, allows users to invest in local regions or industries in Japan. For a starting investment of at least two hundred dollars, investors can earn a portion of the profits. An added bonus is getting some of the goods produced by the investees.
This post Treatment for spinal cord injuries and 6 other Japanese startups raised funding last week appeared first on Tech in Asia.
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