SmartNews, a Tokyo-headquartered news aggregation website and app that’s grown in popularity despite hefty competition from built-in aggregators like Apple News, today announced it has closed on $230 million in […]
Japan
Trending topics and news from the Japan category
Back to news homeDriven by live streams, consumer spending in social apps to hit $17.2B in 2025
The live streaming boom is driving a significant uptick in the creator economy, as a new forecast estimates consumers will spend $6.78 billion in social apps in 2021. That figure […]
After years of inaction against adtech, UK’s ICO calls for browser-level controls to fix ‘cookie fatigue’
In the latest quasi-throwback toward ‘do not track‘, the UK’s data protection chief has come out in favor of a browser- and/or device-level setting to allow Internet users to set […]
H2O Hospitality secures $30M Series C to expedite hotel digital transformation
The pandemic has triggered more demand for contactless and staff-less operations in the hospitality sector, and now H2O Hospitality, the unmanned hotel management company, has closed a $30 million round […]
Apple’s dangerous path
Hello friends, and welcome back to Week in Review. Last week, we dove into the truly bizarre machinations of the NFT market. This week, we’re talking about something that’s a […]
Apple announces new settlement with Japan allowing developers to link to external websites
Apple has made a settlement with Japanese regulator that it will allow developers of “reader” apps link to their own website for managing users account. The change goes to effect […]
Japan Needs More Tech Workers. Can It Find a Place for Women?
TOKYO — If Anna Matsumoto had listened to her teachers, she would have kept her inquisitive mind to herself — asking questions, they told her, interrupted class. And when, at […]
Coral Capital closes third fund with $128M for startups in Japan
Coral Capital, a Tokyo-based venture capital firm, announced today that it has closed its third fund, Coral Capital III, raising $128 million (14 billion yen). Coral Capital’s total assets under […]
Korean 3D spatial data tool startup Urbanbase closes $11.1M Series B+ round
Urbanbase, a Seoul-based company that develops a 3D spatial data platform for interior planning and design, announced today it has raised $11.1 million (13 billion won) in a Series B+ […]
Few Women Ascend Japan’s Corporate Ladder. Is Change Finally Coming?
During Barack Obama’s 2008 run for president, she was impressed by young people’s political activism, something that is relatively rare in Japan. She resolved to return home and work to […]