Evernote nets $20M in partnership agreement with Japan’s Nikkei

Professional and personal lifehacking service Evernote and Japanese media corporation Nikkei Keizai Shimbun (“Nikkei”) announced a working partnership today that features a US$20 million capital investment by Nikkei into the American firm. The agreement means that Nikkei’s digital news services will be integrated into the Evernote platform from 2015.

Japanese (paying) users of both services can look forward to more easily using Nikkei articles for completing work tasks. Nikkei articles will be automatically stored in Evernote so relevant articles will be suggested for further reference when users make business documents.

This deal means that Nikkei will become the first non-US firm to join Context, the software that knows what articles a user needs at any given time. TechCrunch and Wall Street Journal are already included.

Nikkei’s US$20 million sweetened the deal but it is likely no accident that Evernote targeted Japan as the first international market for expanding Context. Evernote is sourcing 20 percent of its users and 30 percent of its revenue from Japan. The American company also targeted Japan when expanding its marketplace service.

For Nikkei, this move should be applauded. The physical newspaper industry is still strong in Japan, with major publications publishing both morning and evening editions. Even considering Japan’s history of being late to certain technological movements (hello, Great iPhone Debate of 2009), the transition from physical media to digital contents is likely inevitable.

Teaming up with Evernote keeps Nikkei one step ahead of its rivals. The newspaper has been around since 1876 and this move can go a long way to keeping that run alive.

See: This is how Evernote CEO Phil Libin makes decisions