Investing in fluctlight inc., a Company Expanding Services in the Generative AI Field| 株式会社ディ・ポップスグループ

Investing in Payke, Inc., the Company Operating a Shopping Support App for Foreign Visitors to Japan

The corporate mission of D-POPS GROUP Co., Ltd. (Shibuya, Tokyo; CEO: Kazuhiko Goto; referred to as “our group” from here on; URL: https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en), is to multiply the number of growth companies (so-called “unicorn companies”) that will revolutionize society. In accordance with this, our group has made an investment in Payke, Inc. (Headquarters: Naha, Okinawa; CEO: Keisuke Furuta; referred to as “Payke” from here on; URL: https://payke.co.jp/), the company responsible for operating a shopping support app for foreign visitors to Japan. Background Since 2017, our group has actively promoted the business strategies of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate venture capital (CVC), with the goal of “realizing a Venture Ecosystem”. Our group has now grown into a large-scale organization with 23 group companies and 28 investment companies (at the time of publishing), expanding its support for startup companies and businesses. Payke develops and operates a shopping support app by the same name for foreign visitors to Japan. The Payke app allows users to scan existing product barcodes with smartphones or tablets to translate information into the user’s language and provide product details that cannot fit on the packaging. Additionally, they offer inbound tourism-focused advertising and data analysis services. Our group has focused on real-world businesses, including our founding company D-POPS Corp., which operates approximately 50 mobile phone shops mainly in the Kanto area of Japan, and DIVE Inc., one of our group’s investment companies, which runs resort job placement services. Through this investment, we aim to develop stronger business collaborations and support the further growth of Payke, Inc. This graphic shows that Payke has the highest ranking in the app store in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau for inbound shopping guide apps, with over 5 million total users and over 650,000 supported products as of 2024. Comment from Keisuke Furuta, President and CEO of Payke, Inc. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to D-POPS GROUP for recognizing Payke’s business vision and potential, and for supporting us through financial investment. At Payke, we have continued to develop features that allow people around the world to enjoy cross-border shopping beyond language barriers. Through receiving this investment, we will learn together and achieve further service enhancement and technological innovation to deliver the Payke platform to more people. Particularly in the rapidly growing inbound tourism market, we are fully committed to evolving our product to provide foreign visitors with more convenient and enjoyable shopping experiences. Additionally, through our advertising and data services, we aim to support the success of many companies and serve as a bridge for stimulating inbound consumption and foreign currency acquisition. Our team is united in continuing our challenge to meet the expectations of D-POPS GROUP, which believes in Payke’s potential and supports us. We will strive for further growth and value creation to become an indispensable presence for our users and partner companies. We eagerly look forward to your continued support. Comment from Kazuhiro Goto, President and CEO of D-POPS GROUP Co., Ltd. I am very pleased that our investment in Payke means another wonderful partner has joined our Venture Ecosystem that we are promoting. Japan is expected to see an increasing number of foreign visitors in the future. Payke’s shopping support app for foreign visitors is an excellent service that removes language barriers for tourists visiting Japan, allowing them to travel more comfortably. I greatly anticipate that the spread of such services will help to expand Japan’s cherished tradition of ‘omotenashi’ (hospitality). Our company’s business stretches broadly across the areas of telecommunications, IT, and human resources, but we have always focused on what services we can provide to make our customers and clients more comfortable and satisfied. I believe that an app like Payke’s, which eliminates shopping barriers for foreign visitors, is essential for energizing inbound tourism throughout Japan. Above all, the CEO and founder of Payke, President Furuta, is a true entrepreneur who, despite being severely impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, made a remarkable comeback and has powerfully moved his business forward. I decided to invest because I want to support CEOs such as President Furuta. Our group’s vision of “realizing a Venture Ecosystem” aims to contribute to society by supporting the development of startup and venture companies through creating the stage, environment, and platform that will serve as the fertile ground on which those startups can flourish. Going forward, we will grow together with Payke and strive to enhance the corporate value of both companies. Comment from Genta Sugihara, Advisor to D-POPS GROUP Co., Ltd. The number of foreign visitors to Japan will reach an all-time high in 2024, and this momentum is expected to increase further in 2025. While their purposes for visiting Japan vary widely, including dining, entertainment districts, and scenic tourism, shopping remains one of the primary objectives for all visitors. With the proliferation of social media, Japanese products are gaining attention overseas, and an increasing number of visitors look forward to purchasing these local products. On the other hand, one of the challenges for Japan in becoming a tourism powerhouse is dealing with multiple languages. President Furuta, CEO of Payke, has taken on various challenges with his overflowing vitality and focused on barcodes early on as a universal product identification method to launch the Payke business. Thanks to this app, travelers can understand product features in their native language, read reviews from people in their country, and make informed purchases. The Payke app, which serves as a bridge between Japan and overseas, can be expected to work not only for physical products but also for restaurants, commercial facilities, and various other areas. Through investment activities focused on the intersection of ‘Real Business x People x Technology’, D-POPS GROUP aims to create a Venture Ecosystem where synergies between our group companies naturally emerge. Together with Payke, which has newly joined our ecosystem, we will strive to enhance the travel experience of visitors from around the world and develop Japan’s real economy. Investee Information Company Name: Payke, Inc. Company President and CEO: Keisuke Furuta Address: 203 Clarion House, 2-5-16 Makabi, Naha, Okinawa Established: November 26, 2014 Company Website: https://payke.co.jp/ Investor Information Company Name: D-POPS GROUP Co., Ltd. Company President and CEO: Kazuhiro Goto Address: 32F Shibuya Hikarie Bldg., Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Established: October 1, 2015 (Originally founded on February 4, 1998) Company Website: https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en

IR
Press Release

2025.01.16

Investing in BLUEISH Inc., Operator of Industry-Specific AI Workflow “Omni Workspace”

The corporate mission of D-POPS GROUP Co., Ltd. (Shibuya, Tokyo; CEO: Kazuhiko Goto; referred to as “our group” from here on), is to multiply the number of growth companies (so-called “unicorn companies”) that will revolutionize society. In accordance with this, our group has made an investment in BLUEISH Inc. (Minato, Tokyo; CEO: Akira Tameto), which operates the industry-specific AI workflow “Omni Workspace”. Background Since 2017, our group has actively promoted the business strategies of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate venture capital (CVC) with the intention of realizing a Venture Ecosystem. We have now grown into a conglomerate with 23 group companies and 27 investment companies (at the time of publishing), resulting in an expansion of our ability to support venture companies (i.e., startup companies). BLUEISH operates under the vision of “realizing a society where companies grow through our value creation, and prosperity circulates among all people involved”, and the mission of “digitalizing all business processes to provide unique and irreplaceable value”. The company develops AI solutions centered on the AI workflow “Omni Workspace”. To avoid ending up with only PoC (Proof of Concept) projects, BLUEISH leverages standardized business manuals and know-how from major BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) companies to achieve high-quality AI implementation in a short period. The company optimizes and automates processes end-to-end, from core business operations to peripheral tasks, while maintaining a system for continuous updates even after production deployment. This approach is intended to create a unique, yet irreplaceable AI platform that goes beyond mere operational efficiency improvements to contribute to strengthening corporate competitiveness and creating new value. Our group is actively investing in the AI field to realize a Venture Ecosystem with a diverse variety of industries. Based on this investment, we will proceed with stronger business collaboration to support BLUEISH’s further growth. This diagram illustrates how BLUEISH’s “Omni Workspace” platform transforms the traditional AI development process. It shows the conventional four-step AI development workflow (Planning → Proof of Concept → Development → Operations), and demonstrates how Omni Workspace accelerates and improves each step through semi-automation, speed enhancement, optimization, and streamlining. Comment from Akira Tameto, President and CEO of BLUEISH Inc. Thank you very much for your investment in BLUEISH. By receiving this investment, we intend to further accelerate our AI technology development and service expansion, dramatically speeding up the DX promotion of complex business processes that companies face. Additionally, through collaboration with D-POPS GROUP, we hope to create new synergies and work to deliver a future where more and more companies and people can “share the wealth”. For future pitch events and other important occasions, I’m going to wear the unicorn T-shirt that I received from D-POPS GROUP and do my best to represent our Ecosystem! Comment from Kazuhiro Goto, President and CEO of D-POPS GROUP Co., Ltd. We are delighted to have invested in BLUEISH Inc., and to have another wonderful partner join the Venture Ecosystem we are promoting. We believe that BLUEISH’s BPaaS (Business Process as a Service) business utilizing AI will become increasingly necessary and widespread in society. We are very excited about the prospect of AI utilization spreading even further throughout Japan by embodying AI transformation and achieving complete automation of business processes through “Omni Workspace”. Encountering BLUEISH, a company with such high technical capabilities, felt like a very important opportunity for realizing our Venture Ecosystem. We decided to invest because we wanted to support President Tameto, who is not only an excellent engineer but also has high communication skills and possesses lofty aspirations and a grand vision. Our group’s vision of “realizing a Venture Ecosystem” aims to contribute to society by supporting the development of startup and venture companies through creating the stage, environment, and platform that will serve as the fertile ground on which those startups can flourish. Moving forward, we will grow together with BLUEISH Inc. under President Tameto’s leadership, and work to enhance BLUEISH’s corporate value. Comment from Genta Sugihara, Advisor to D-POPS GROUP Co., Ltd. Generative AI-related startups are emerging daily and evolving at such a breakneck pace (in effect, creating a “red ocean”) that coming in later can also be advantageous. In times like these, assessing and predicting growth areas and models thus becomes quite tricky. When I met President Tameto of BLUEISH Inc., I was impressed by his inquisitive spirit, his manner of explaining things clearly and sincerely, and his thorough, customer-oriented attitude plainly shown through every word. Moreover, he has a unique background as both a top-level CTO and the highest-ranked Japanese player of a strategy game. Our most agreed-upon opinion was that generative AI is not an optimization tool created to make people obsolete, but rather a tool to empower people—a tool that allows human users to focus on the kind of work that only humans can do. Our group believes that BLUEISH, led by someone like him, has the potential to become an AI-related company that serves society, so we requested to be allowed to invest in them. At D-POPS GROUP, we aim to realize a Venture Ecosystem where group synergies naturally emerge through investment activities themed around the intersection of “Real Business × People × Technology”. Together with BLUEISH, which has newly joined our Ecosystem, we want to work toward spreading AI transformation that empowers people. Company Name: BLUEISH Inc. Company President and CEO: Akira Tameto Address: 5F VORT Motoazabu, 3-1-35 Motoazabu, Minato, Tokyo Established: February 9, 2018 Company Website: https://www.blueish.co.jp/ Our company is a corporate group that operates under the mission of “producing numerous growth ventures (unicorn companies) that bring transformation to society”, developing businesses at the intersection of “Real × Technology × Group Synergy”. We are working to create an unprecedented growth platform for startups that can provide one-stop solutions not only to companies within our group, but also to companies outside the group. Company Name: D-POPS GROUP Co., Ltd. Company President and CEO: Kazuhiro Goto Address: 32F Shibuya Hikarie Bldg., 2-21-1 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Incorporated: October 1, 2015 (Established: February 4, 1998) Company Website: https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en/

IR
Press Release

2025.01.09

Investing in X-Locations Inc., a Company Providing Analytical Platforms and Distributing Advertising Services Based on Smartphone Users’ Location Data

The corporate mission of D-POPS GROUP Co., Ltd. (Shibuya, Tokyo; CEO: Kazuhiko Goto; referred to as “our group” from here on), is to multiply the number of growth companies (so-called “unicorn companies”) that will revolutionize society. In accordance with this, our group has made an investment in X-Locations Inc. (Shibuya, Tokyo; CEO: Kazusuke Obi), the company responsible for providing a people flow data analysis platform (Location AI Platform®; referred to as “LAP” from here on) and advertisement delivery services utilizing smartphone location data (Location Marketing Service; referred to as “LMS” from here on). Background Since 2017, our group has actively promoted the business strategies of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate venture capital (CVC) with the intention of realizing a Venture Ecosystem. We have now grown into a conglomerate with 20 group companies and 25 investment companies (at the time of publishing), resulting in an expansion of our ability to support venture companies (i.e., startup companies). X-Locations is a tech company that visualizes diverse location-based big data using advanced AI analysis technology, supporting business expansion and efficiency improvement through the utilization of “people flow data”. The company provides a people flow analysis platform that analyzes high-precision GPS data (location-based big data) from smartphones using proprietary AI technology to visualize “real-world people flow and trade areas”. Furthermore, it provides strong support for marketing activities using this analytical technology. Our group has focused on location-based real businesses, operating approximately 50 mobile phone retail stores primarily in the Kanto region through D-POPS Corp. (our founder’s first startup), and supporting the development of THE SALONS (a chain of completely private salon studios) through our capital and business alliance partner The Salons Japan Inc. Within our group’s Venture Ecosystem, we will learn and research marketing strategies that utilize X-Locations’ people flow data while applying it to business growth. Based on this investment, we will advance stronger business collaboration to support X-Locations’ further growth. (Image text: Analyzing location big data through AI and pioneering business applications for real-world people flow data) Comment from Kazusuke Obi, President and CEO of X-Locations Inc. We are extremely pleased that D-POPS GROUP Co., Ltd., which pushes for investment and business development support for numerous startup companies with the slogan of “realizing a Venture Ecosystem”, has participated as a new share subscriber in our fundraising round. Since our establishment, our mission has been “to combine and visualize diverse location and spatial information through AI analysis of location-based big data, making it accessible to everyone.” To this end, we provide our proprietary Location Engine™, an AI analysis engine for location-based big data, and our Location AI Platform®, a people flow data analysis and visualization platform. We also provide our “Location Marketing Service”, a smartphone advertising delivery service utilizing people flow data, to numerous companies. Going forward, we hope to contribute to the further development of the Ecosystem by providing these proprietary services to D-POPS GROUP’s businesses and to the other startup companies participating in D-POPS GROUP’s Venture Ecosystem. Comment from Kazuhiro Goto, President and CEO of D-POPS GROUP Co., Ltd. We are extremely pleased to have invested in X-Locations Inc. and to welcome another outstanding member to the Venture Ecosystem we are promoting. We decided to invest because we believe X-Locations’ people flow data will provide added value to companies within our group that develop location-based businesses. The value of people flow data became clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we believe it can be utilized in marketing for various businesses. Practical application of people flow data has become standard for large corporations engaged in retail store businesses and real estate both domestically and internationally; however, this is starting to become commonplace for mid-sized companies and even for small enterprises. Going forward, we will advance utilization and research within our Venture Ecosystem to support X-Locations’ business growth. Our group’s vision of “realizing a Venture Ecosystem” aims to contribute to society by supporting the development of startup and venture companies through creating the stage, environment, and platform that will serve as the fertile ground on which those startups can flourish. Moving forward, we will grow together with X-Locations under the leadership of President Obi and work to enhance X-Locations’ corporate value. Comment from Genta Sugihara, Advisor to D-POPS GROUP Co., Ltd. In my previous role at AppsFlyer, I worked with a platform that tracked app users’ online behavior. X-Locations’ “people flow data analysis engine” is a platform that measures “location value” based on real human movement, enabling even deeper analysis. Additionally, while the digital advertising industry has evolved from keyword targeting to cookie-based retargeting, “geo-targeting” provides advertising based on where people are actually visiting on earth. This makes it a field worth researching for our group, which places importance on the real world. Through investment activities built upon the foundational combination of “Real World × People × Technology”, our group aims to build a Venture Ecosystem. X-Locations, which works on utilizing people flow data, seemed like an ideal investment target. Together with our group companies, we want to discover more practical applications for the development of society. Company Information Company Name: X-Locations Inc. Company President and CEO: Kazusuke Obi Address: 6F Kobayashi Bldg., 1-2-9 Ebisuminami, Shibuya, Tokyo Established: January 2018 Company Website: https://www.x-locations.com/ Here is a link to the official press release (Japanese only): https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000006.000143719.html ☆[Entrepreneur Interview #03] Kazusuke Obi (X-Locations): The Challenge of Turning Location Information into “Big Data” in the Age of Smartphones https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en/column/x-locations-interview/

IR
Press Release

2024.08.01

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Investing in fluctlight inc., a Company Expanding Services in the Generative AI Field

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