This week 500 Startups went from seed funding to investing US$13 million in one company’s series B. Other news includes the latest in surfing, smartphones, and robots.
Reblue
Photo Credit: epicstockmedia / 123RF Stock Photo
Founder Hideyuki Okada headed the app business at Excite before quitting to start his own venture. He decided to create a startup based on his passion for surfing. His company, Reblue, created the free surfing video app and site, NobodySurf.
NobodySurf is at a very early stage with only six members, but it’s already the top free-surfing video app and site with 9 million video views a month. The app and site attracts a global audience, with 80 percent of viewers coming from outside of Japan, including 190 countries.
While still fledgling, Reblue recently raised US$2.1 million mainly from Globis Capital, but also from Adways as well as some angel investors.
iCARE
Photo Credit: psphotography / 123RF Stock Photo
Carely monitors the health and wellness of a company’s employees. The service offers consultations for employees to check their stress levels and consult with professionals about maintaining their physical and mental health. Carely streamlines files on to their digital platform to make sure data is properly accounted for, reviewed, and evaluated. The service fee is about US$2.75 per month per employee. Carley is being used by 80 companies that have 15,000 employees.
In its latest round of funding, iCARE received US$1.4 million from Beyond Next Ventures, Incubate Fund, Mizuho Capital, and SMBC Venture Capital.
Zeals
Photo Credit: neyro2008 / 123RF Stock Photo
Zeals has created Fanp, an advertising tool that directs clickers from Facebook ads to a Messenger chatbot to discuss more details about the product or service. This leads to a conversion rate of 5.7 percent, compared to 0.8 percent when clickers are sent to a homepage.
Zeals recently raised US$3.9 million from JAFCO and FreakOut.
IJGN
Amegumi
Connected Robotics
Linough
Xica
SmartHR
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