Category: Business
Japan’s VR startup HoloEyes wins Tech Lab Paak awards on Recruit Holding’s Sixth Demo Day
Japan’s Recruit Holdings has held its annual Demo Day last month for the 6th batch of its startup accelerator Tech Lab Paak, a community space for IT members, located in Shibuya, Tokyo.
The facility is managed by Recruit’s R&D headquarters and acts as an incubator to support tenant startups which are classified into community and project members throughout the incubation process.
The classification is made in reference to the maturity of their developing services whereby the startups, after half a year, will have to present and exhibit their incubation outcome since they have moved in.
The Demo Day for the 6th batch was a big pitch event seeing the participation of 21 teams whereby six teams in the regular course and six teams in the virtual reality (VR) course made three-minute pitches presenting their incubation results since joining the program.
Additionally, the remaining nine teams were excluded from examination by judges though they were given the chance to make one-minute pitches which can be voted for the Audience Award.
Judges for the pitch competition included the CEO of Colopl Next – Shintaro Yamagami , the Director of LINE Business Strategy – Shinichiro Isago, the Startup Business Development Manager of Amazon Web Services in Japan – Hiroshi Hata, the Managing Partner of 500 Startups in Japan – Yohei Sawayama, and the Head of Media Technology Lab and Recruit Holdings – Yoichi Aso.
There were 7 prizes in total, that is the choice startup from each individual judge a Special Award as well as an Audience Award. In this event, HoloEyes, a startup aiming to make an information revolution in the medical field using VR has received the Tech Lab Paak award, winning a supplemental prize of pair meal ticket for a hotel dinner.
Founded by Naoji Taniguchi, an engineer and Maki Sugimoto, a surgeon and the Associate Professor of the International University of Health and Welfare Graduate School, HoloEyes is a technology that will help the medical world through the facilitation of medical information sharing of human bodies in the 3DVR form.
In this aspect, HoloEyes has constructed a medical VR database which through the accumulation of various CT scan data will be utilised to construct customised 3D human body models. For instance, if the criteria are the terms male, 60s, prostate cancer, 3D images of matched cases will be output. Then, doctors can utilize these 3D images for diagnosis references of similar cases or training upon surgical operations.
The firm expects a business model providing VR viewers for hospitals and selling collected data after obtaining patients’ consent to medical colleges or pharmaceutical companies.
On the other hand, winners also include MacroSpace which won the 500 Startups Award along with meal tickets worth 30,000 yen, Embody me by Paneo which won the Colopl Next Award and its supplemental prize of Apple store gift cards worth 30,000 yen, as well as Orario which won the LINE Award with a set of uncut boiled snow crab, and Oton Glass who won the AWS Award with 30,000 Amazon gift cards and a lunch ticket for Amazon cafeteria.
Additionally, a Special Award was also awarded to Psychic VR Lab for their STYLY project – a VR shopping platform focusing on fashion with its supplemental gift being a visit right for Microsoft Japan’s Technology Center led by its Director Madoka Sawa. Besides, the Audience Award accompanied by a supplemental prize of the membership of TECH LAB PAAK as a Project Member was given to Orario and Macrospace.
Online golf platform GolfLAN acquires Singapore-based competitor GolfGreedy in cash-and-stock deal
Dehli-based golf course aggregator, GolfLAN has acquired its Singapore-based competitor GolfGreedy in a cash-and-stock deal, the company said in a statement on Monday.
This deal comes as GolfLAN’s second acquisition in six months after it has bought Dubai-based golf technology company StayPrime in July 2016 for US$1 million.
Founded in 2011 by Dhruv Verma, an XLRI alumni and avid golfer, GolfLAN offers a subscription-based service for golfers to book tee times through the startup without the requirements of having a club membership.
GolfLan.com, a unit of GolfLAN Technology Solutions, is an online golf marketplace that is digitising the sport to make it more accessible, subsidised and convenient for the masses.
On GolfLAN’s cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform Online Tee Time Organiser (OTTO), both amateur and professional golfers can find golf equipment and trainers, in addition to booking tee slots at over 1,000 courses across 40 countries from anywhere in the world.
Following this acquisition, GolfGreedy will become part of the GolfLAN group but will continue to operate under its own brand name. More than 10,000 subscribers of GolfGreedy, mainly from Singapore and nearby regions, will gain access to all the golf courses on the GolfLAN platform, that is 1,200 courses across 40 countries pro-acquisition.
Besides, the golf platform is also looking to expand it to 2,000 by the end of 2017. While club operators registered with GolfGreedy will be able to use GolfLAN’s superior golf cart management system and tee sheet management solution.
“Singapore is an important golfing destination in Southeast Asia. And golf, as an industry is also growing rapidly. This transaction clearly establishes our leadership in this region and industry. Golf lovers, through us, will get a host of choices to book a tee time and also experience a range of our world-class services,” said Dhruv Verma, the founder and CEO of GolfLAN.
In November last year, the company has raised US$1 million (Rs 6.65 crore) from existing investors YourNest Angel Fund and Africa’s IT/ITES group iSON. Prior to that, it has also raised US$1 million in its first round of funding from YourNest and other angel investors in March 2015.
Recently, GolfLAN is looking at Africa, the U.S. and Australia for its next phase of expansion. “Our inorganic strategy for phase 1 is done. Now we will pump more money to grow these companies and will focus on phases 2 which will begin with South Africa,” said Verma adding that the company is in talks for a potential acquisition in the mentioned country within the next six to nine months.
Commenting on the acquisition, Sunil Goyal, the CEO of YourNest as well as an investor of GolfLAN said, “GolfLan is on a high growth trajectory with an energetic founding team that thinks long term. Our team has been actively engaging with Dhruv and team, as they work towards their goal of being the world’s best tee-time aggregator. We are thrilled to see them grow fast and are confident that they will drive further technology disruption and innovation in the golfing market.”
Also, with GolfGreedy and StayPrime in its ownership, the Dehli-based aggregator will consolidate its position as the leading provider of golf and related technology products in its key focus markets of Southeast Asia, the Middle East and India. GolfLan is also in talks with venture capital investors to raise about US$5 million by July.
“We are excited to be a part of the GolfLAN family. We started as a golf course aggregator to help golfers pursue their passion to get a good round at reasonable prices. Today we are still very much focused on doing that, albeit with more intelligence built in so that we can add value to the customer’s gold search and booking journey,” Gerald Koh, the co-founder of GolfGreedy said.
The company is looking to beef up its technology in 2017 and will launch an in-house service along the lines of StayPrime, in addition to investing US$1 million for market development in the Southeast Asian region over the next year.
By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media
Comic art platform Kuaikan Manhua closes US$36 million Series C round led by Tiantu Capital
China’s Tiantu Capital has led a 250 million yuan (about US$36 million) Series C round funding in Kuaikan Manhua, an online and mobile platform for original online comic artwork targeting young readers.
The financing round was reportedly completed in October last year and other investors who also participated in the round include Sequoia Capital, GX Capital, Engage Capital and Chinese news reader app, Toutiao.com. This brings the value of the Beijing-based startup at over 1 billion yuan (approximately US$140 million).
“China’s animation and comics content market are in the initial development stage. It is also an area that the Chinese government encourages,” said Neil Shen, the founding managing partner at Sequoia Capital China. “Kuaikan Manhua focuses on a niche market and has successfully established a leading position.”
Founded in 2014 by a well-known animation artist Chen Anni, Beijing-based Kuaikan Manhua currently has active monthly readers of 24.6 million while daily viewership reaching 7.27 million. The platform has signed over 1000 works and more than 500 comic artists, where some of the popular authors has a fan base of over one million.
Aside from the increase in the magnitude of users and works, the comic artwork startup has also recently moved their office to Wangjing Soho as well as an increase in company size, increasing from the original 40 employees to a recruitment of more than 100 people.
Upon the completion of this financing round, the capital will mainly be used in the cooperation with the external CP as it can be difficult to solve the problem of creating self-published content which requires professionals as well as the expenditure of energy in order to build a solid team.
Besides, the platform will still retain its original intents of providing light comics, targeting the new generation of young readers and their fragmented time in reading comics – that is an average daily usage of about 40 minutes, according to the data from Kuaikan.
The company previously raised 100 million yuan (about US$14 million) in a series B financing round from unnamed investors in 2015.
Alibaba-backed Koubei, Zhongshi Capital to invest in Shanghai restaurant booking app
Chinese Internet giant Alibaba’s local services search engine platform, Koubei has teamed up with Chinese RMB fund Zhongshi Capital to invest in Meiweibuyongdeng, a mobile app that allows users to reduce their waiting times at restaurants.
Other investors also include China Television Media, a listed subsidiary of China’s state-owned central television CCTV, according to Xie Xinfa, the Chief Executive of Meiweibuyongdeng, which translates to no waiting for delicious food.
Although the financial details of the investment were not disclosed, it was reportedly said that the company’s series C+ round has increased the value of the startup to a substantial RMB 3 billion (approximately US$ 433 million).
Many restaurants in China have long queues during peak hours and Meiweibuyongdeng, which is founded in 2013, provides solutions to restaurants which helps better manage their booking and customer flow, allowing customers to automatically take a waiting number and to be away during their wait.
Meiweibuyongdeng, operates via mwee.cn and mobile apps, offers restaurants solutions to managing the four major problems often faced by catering businesses which are efficiency, customer flow, capital, and data traffic.
The company says to date it has occupied 90 percent of the market share, having served 60,000 popular restaurants in 200 cities, in addition to its 10 million mobile app users and 20 million followers on its Wechat account, where the company also offers similar services.
The transaction follows a RMB 500 million (US$72 million) strategic investment from Meituan Dianping and Baidu Inc. in October 2015. The company previously raised US$20 million from Tiantu Capital，a private equity and venture capital firm specialising in SMEs. The investment also includes several million U.S. dollars led by Matrix Partners China.
Meiweibuyongdeng says it plans to use the latest proceeds on product promotion and marketing. Besides, the capital will also be used for product development to improve features to meet various demand from consumers as well as an attempt to allow users to book tables in restaurants in a way similar to booking seats in a cinema.
By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media
Indian Aurobindo Pharma acquires Portugal’s Generis for Rs 970 crore in a bid to boost margins in Europe
Aurobindo Pharma Ltd announced on Saturday that it has acquired Portuguese pharmaceutical company Generis Farmaceutica SA from Magnum Capital Partners for approximately Rs 969 crore (approximately 135 million euros).
The binding agreement for this acquisition was inked through the Aurobindo Pharma’s wholly-owned subsidiary Agile Pharma BV based in Netherlands.
“The acquisition of Generis, by leveraging its strong portfolio and unrivaled brand recognition will allow us to establish ourselves as top generics player in the Portuguese market,” Aurobindo SVP European Operations, V Muralidharan said.
Generis produces and sells pharma products in Portugal which serve Aurobindo Pharma’s aim at increasing the profitability of its European operation, whereby Aurobindo Pharma estimates that the net sales with its acquired businesses will be approximately 72 million euros in 2017, compared to the 64.8 million euros in 2016.
In addition, the adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EDITDA) estimate for 2016 is 12.7 million euros, which is projected to improve to 15.8 million euros in 2017, Aurobindo Pharma said.
However, the real benefit of this acquisition can only be realised if Aurobindo can drive up its scale of operations and perform synergies to lower costs.
“The combined entity will benefit from a robust pipeline covering all major molecules coming off-patent in the next five years. The acquisition includes a state of the art manufacturing facility based in Portugal, which will allow us to better serve both the local Portuguese market and the broader European market, particularly with regard to small volume products and also to meet timelines for low lead time tenders,” V. Muralidharan explains.
As per details of the acquisition, the deal involves Generis’s manufacturing facility in Amadora, Portugal which has the capacity to produce 1.2 billion tablets, capsules and sachets annually.
“This deal consolidates Aurobindo’s footprint in Portugal, which currently consists of Aurovitas, Unipessoal LDA, and Unipessoal Limitada. The consolidated APL group will rank number one in the Portuguese generic pharma market, and will have the largest generic product portfolio consisting of 271 products,” said Muralidharan.
“This acquisition coupled with our past acquisition activity underlies our commitment to focus on growth initiatives in European markets and will be a key driver of growth for the future,” he further adds.
Aurobindo Pharma manufactures generic pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. The company’s product portfolio is spread over 7 major therapeutic/product areas encompassing Antibiotics, Anti-Retrovirals, CVS, CNS, Gastroenterologicals, Anti-Allergies and Anti-Diabetics which is marketed globally in over 150 countries.
“Generis will benefit immensely from Aurobindo’s vertical integration and strong product pipeline,” Paulo Lilaia, the CEO of Generis said. “Our large portfolio along with our unmatched commercial presence in Portugal will allow Aurobindo to consolidate its market position in Portugal.”
Closing the transaction, Aurobindo Pharma has received the shareholder approval to raise Rs 2,100 crore through a sale of shares which is intended to use for the acquisition. However, the deal remains to be conditional depending on obtaining the necessary approvals from the Portuguese authorities.
By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media