Funding for The Bridge, Japan’s bilingual startup news source

Tokyo-based online media startup The Bridge today announced fundraising from Fuji Startup Ventures, the venture arm of Fuji TV network, and news release distribution service PR Times. The amount is undisclosed.

We would like to help startups outside Japan [gain] access to the Japanese market.

Founded in 2010 as Startup Dating and rebranded to The Bridge in 2013, the bilingual (Japanese and English) website offers technology and startup news with a strong focus on the domestic market. The site partnered with San Francisco-headquartered tech blog VentureBeat to facilitate its entry into Japan last March. The Bridge translates some of VentureBeat’s content into Japanese while also providing them with English coverage of the domestic startup ecosystem.

The Bridge – with roots as an events platform for connecting entrepreneurs, engineers, and investors – hosts a number of meetups around Japan, including bi-monthly startup demo days. It’s also planning a large-scale startup event next month in Tokyo called Bridge Fes, which will cater to both the local and international tech industry.

“Every startup community has a different mainstream in terms of how startups can make an exit,” The Bridge co-founder Masaru Ikeda tells Tech in Asia. “Established companies [have] a strong presence in the Japanese market, and they typically [approach] business development efforts through collaboration with startups.”

“Through providing opportunities, such as our events, we would like to help startups outside Japan reach out to relevant Japanese companies [and gain] access to the Japanese market, which I believe will help Japan become a melting pot for the global startup ecosystem,” he adds.

Masaru declined to provide further information about the investment amount or how the funds would be used.