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This is part five of our CNet Japan Startup Awards nominee rundown. The rest can be found here . Search and recommendation are a tough nut to crack, especially when it comes to e-commerce. We are overloaded by information, and technology struggles to parse relevance that can match our needs. Users now expect sites and services to know what we want before we know we want it (see Amazon and Netflix recommendation algos, for instance). This is a problem that needs solving regardless of where you live, and it can be a huge opportunity for startups to address a real consumer need. Enter Monoco and Rinkak , looking to connect designers with consumers. Think of them as Japan’s answer to Etsy or Fab . Meanwhile Base is the local version of Squarespace, Shopify, and Strikingly. All three are doing interesting things in Japan’s e-commerce space these days, attempting to solve the same difficult issues that face e-commerce businesses abroad. Monoco
Monoco is an e-commerce site focused on selling fashion and craft goods of limited quantities for limited times. The items are curated by buyers the around the globe, and since the site’s launch in April of 2012, it has acquired more than 87,000 users, with more than 1100 designers worldwide. Because of the quantity and time constraints, it could be easy to write off Monoco as just another flash sales site. But browsing through the site, I think this format makes sense. When you first log-on, you are immediately greeted by professional grade, high quality images. The products are carefully chosen, often a unique spin on regular products like mugs, phone accessories, handbags, and clothing. It’s easy to lose yourself scrolling and scrolling as you browse the many product offerings. On the product pages, prices are hidden unless you are a registered user. And this is a pretty clever way to subtly encourage user registration. The limited sale period and quantity creates a sense of urgency for the user to purchase, and it cycles products to surface designers. It’s a different way to approach recommendation, increasing the site’s overall stickiness factor as users will check, and re-check the site to see new items. In July, Monoco announced series A funding of an undisclosed amount. Rinkak
Rinkak (the name means ‘ outline of object’ in Japanese) is a 3D printing marketplace that is Japan’s answer to Shapeways . The site opened to the public in September. They offer a platform for anyone with 3D data to sell their printed designs. Like Shapeways, they offer various materials like plastic, pottery and metals. 3D printing seems to finally be gaining traction beyond the scope of early tech adopters. Shapeways, founded in 2007, most recently closed a $30 million series C round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with a total of $47.3 million raised thus far. With a physical shop, distribution center in NYC, and an API to encourage 3D printing apps, they are clearly the 3D printing market place leader in the US startup space. Let’s wait and see what Rinkak will do similarly or differently. For more on Rinkak, check out our previous feature back in September. Base
Often referred to as Japan’s Shopify , Base’s e-commerce site is the marketing platform for the founder’s true vision: a mobile payment solution platform. Base has raised a total of $4.73 million and has expanded its team from 12 to 20 people. The CEO states they have acquired 50,000 merchants in the past year, with a monthly growth of 10% when we last spoke with them. It’s rapid growth shows Japanese small- to mid-sized merchants are looking for e-commerce solutions other than Rakuten and Amazon. 70% of Base’s user activity comes from smartphones — another clear indication that Japanese e-commerce behaviors are shifting. You can check out the company’s brief promo video below. Good luck to all three startups on Tuesday night at the CNet Japan Startup Awards. TAGS


CNet Japan Startup Award nominees: Exploring e-commerce with Monoco, Rinkak, & Base

Sep 20, 2013
[Sd] Japan e-commerce startup Monoco partners with major broadcaster Fuji TV
Monoco is a flash sales e-commerce site specializing in limited quantity fashions selected by curators and buyers worldwide. The company announced today that it has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Fuji Startup Ventures, the investment arm of Japanese TV network Fuji TV. Coinciding with this funding, the two companies are expecting to work on collaborative product development and explore possible sales opportunities on Fuji TV’s own programs. Furthermore Monoco plans to launch a physical store in Shibuya, Tokyo on September 27th, to be called Monoco Showroom. ...
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Sd 9/13/2013  [en]
memo
Fuji Startup Ventures has been actively investing in startups. It is the fourth company among disclosed deals. There would be a big advantage for Monoco from the collaboration if Fuji TV supports increasing the brand awareness of Monoco on TV.


[Sd] Japan e-commerce startup Monoco partners with major broadcaster Fuji TV

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We featured Japanese flash sales e-commerce startup Monoco recently when they announced they had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Fuji Startup Ventures. At the time it was mentioned that Monoco would be launching its Monoco Showroom in Shibuya, so we were delighted to receive an invite to swing by the opening this past Friday. The company sells items from designers around the world, their new showroom is a place where you can see some of them on display. But it also doubles as an office, and considering the beautiful furnishings there you’d be hard pressed to find a nicer place to work. Many of our readers may already be aware that Monoco was previously known as Flutterscape. I had a chance to speak to Monoco co-founder and CTO, Ari Awan, about that transition. He explains that the process was anything but simple:
We started Flutterscape in February of 2011, but in February of last year we figured it wasn’t working. User growth was ok, but transactions and revenue were not growing. It was really hard to raise funds at the time, so we really had to figure out something. Flutterscape used a C2C model that let indie designers and makers export their products abroad. But this market turned out to be not especially big. Ari says one of their advisers introduced him to Fab as a possible model, and given that they had so many designers already, maybe they could go in a B2C direction. Two weeks of sales for Monoco were the same as Flutterscape’s sales for a year. Of course, business is rarely that simple. Ari says that he brought the idea to the board and they just didn’t want to do it. While Ari is not a particularly tall guy, he does give the distinct impression of being someone you don’t want to mess with. That turned out to be the case here, as what happens next is truly badass:
I asked our people to come in to the office on on the weekends. I said we have to do something or else we’ll go bankrupt. We started working on Monoco secretly, building it two weeks. We started selling things but no one knew it was us. Two weeks of sales for Monoco were the same as Flutterscape’s sales for a year. From there, selling the transition to Monoco to the board was obviously not a hard sell. The site now has 87,000 members in total, with the average user falling in the 25 to 40 demographic. They have over 1100 partner designers, the vast majority (about 1000) located outside Japan. This means that many of the 50,000 items Monoco has on sale are not otherwise available for purchase in Japan, making it a great destination for design-minded consumers on the lookout for something extra special. There are now over 50,000 items available for purchase, with the most popular ones being in the categories of fashion accessories, t-shirts, posters and art, and smartphones accessories. The Monoco event was attended by lots of folks from the design industry [1] , and both Ari and CEO Takehiro Kakiyama addressed the crowd on Friday night. Ari spoke to the company’s mission statement, and what he hopes Monoco can do for the design community in general. Monoco CTO, Ari Awan
There are some who see us as a threat disrupting traditional design retail and the supply chain. Yes definitely we cause some disruption but I think what we are trying to do is to disrupt people’s perception of design. I think the more people talk about design the better awareness there is. And the more awareness that is spread about design, then the bigger the pie is for everyone in the industry. Stay tuned to see how they do in fulfilling their mission. Given their progress to date, I wouldn’t bet against them. You can find more pictures from the event below, including many of the design pieces that were spotlighted at the showroom. CEO Takehiro Kakiyama
I’ve never seen so many scarves worn indoors before! ↩
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Tokyo Office Tour: A look at Monoco’s new showroom

See the original story in Japanese. Monoco is a flash sales e-commerce site specializing in limited quantity fashions selected by curators and buyers worldwide. The company announced today that it has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Fuji Startup Ventures , the investment arm of Japanese TV network Fuji TV . Coinciding with this funding, the two companies are expecting to work on collaborative product development and explore possible sales opportunities on Fuji TV’s own programs. Furthermore Monoco plans to launch a physical store in Shibuya, Tokyo on September 27th, to be called Monoco Showroom. The company has been seeing good progress of late as well. I spoke with the startup’s CEO Takehiro Kakiyama back in April of last year, when his team has just shifted their gears to become Monoco after its previous efforts under the FlutterScape banner. The team has devoted itself to growth since them, and raising funds (thought to be in the millions of dollars) from Japanese telco KDDI back in July. Monoco now has over 80,000 users, and has partnered with 1,100 product designers
Kakiyama didn’t disclose any revenue figures, but he did say that the marketplace now has over 80,000 users, has partnered with 1,100 product designers (both in Japan and around the world), and has over 50,000 items available on the platform. Their headcount has reached 22, way up from five when the service was launched. It will be interesting to see how Monoco will compete in this space now that it has the support of this Japanese media giant. Union Wood Wallet


Japan e-commerce startup Monoco partners with major broadcaster Fuji TV

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