Tag - startups

 
 

STARTUPS

Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 4, 2020
How a mother's comment gave a Japanese intern an idea worth billions
Yuta Tsuruoka's Base Inc. has been a beneficiary of a rally in small-cap technology stocks in Japan as retail investors sought to pick winners in the pandemic.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 20, 2020
Nissan said to be in talks with U.S. startup to electrify pickup truck
Nissan has never fared well in the competitive U.S. full-size truck market, and demand for the Titan plunged 38% last year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 15, 2020
Japan’s startup gauge surges to 14-year high on retail demand
The coronavirus pandemic proved to be a blessing in disguise for many Mothers-listed companies as investors first poured their money into pandemic-themed stocks.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 9, 2020
PlayStation inventor starts new career making robots for no pay
Ken Kutaragi, 70, wants to make affordable robots that can safely move around and do physical work alongside humans in factories and logistics centers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: TECH
Sep 26, 2020
Tea, toys and tech on the go
Teplo personalizes your cup of tea; Digicoro makes playing with kid's apps more analog; and Keepack helps keep your items sanitized while on the move.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Sep 20, 2020
Startups race to develop tech that can clear workplaces of COVID-19
Smithfield Foods Inc. thought it was doing great. In the first quarter of this year, the pork giant’s earnings were up 190 percent over the same period in 2019. Then the pandemic hit, and the close quarters of meatpacking plants made them ideal places for the coronavirus to spread.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 20, 2020
Japanese startup raises $28 million to help fund moon mission
Ispace plans its first lunar landing mission in 2022, and another the year after to explore the moon's surface with a rover.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 5, 2020
SoftBank backs 29-year-old’s venture aiming to become Netflix for fiction
Radish's growing stable of in-house soap-opera scriptwriters conceive new episodes in various genres every four or six hours.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2020
Tech firms start to leave Hong Kong after Beijing enacts security law
About half of U.S. business people say they plan to depart from the territory, according to a recent survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 10, 2020
Japanese college dropout builds $560 million fortune through AI firm
AI inside Inc. has ambitious plans to expand outside Japan and into other business lines.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2020
SoftBank-backed DCM eyes China startups with $880 million fund
David Chao, a venture capitalist who has been on the ground floor of Asian companies worth a combined $206 billion, has raised money for a new fund with a China focus, a sign that rising U.S.-China tensions aren’t turning off foreign investors.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 27, 2020
Japanese startup creates 'connected' face mask for coronavirus new normal
As face coverings become the norm amid the coronavirus pandemic, Japanese startup Donut Robotics has developed an internet-connected "smart mask" that can transmit messages and translate from Japanese into eight other languages.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 19, 2020
SoftBank to invest in 14 startups run by minority founders
Companies will receive at least u00a516 million through an accelerator, with further capital available from a u00a510.6 billion fund for founders of color.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 11, 2020
Founder of software company who turned down SoftBank joins ranks of Japan’s billionaires
Masayoshi Son had offered to buy Shunji Sugaya's business idea for $2.8 million.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 4, 2020
SoftBank creates $100 million fund to back companies led by people of color
The effort stems from U.S. and international disgust with the death of George Floyd, who died after a white Minneapolis cop knelt on his neck for over eight minutes.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 1, 2020
E-ticketing platform Zaiko's livestream success sees unwelcome imitators
The ticketing company pivoted to livestreaming events when the coronavirus struck, a move that may change how we experience music in Japan.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?