GBAF 2022 Startup Pitch Battle (2)
Eight promising startups that were funded by Global Brain mainly over the last 12 months pitched on stage.
ritten by the Universe editorial team
Global Brain (GB)’s annual conference Global Brain Alliance Forum 2022 (GBAF 2022) was held on December 2, 2022. Its final program “Startup Pitch Battle 2022” was joined by eight promising startups selected from among those funded by GB over the last 12 months.
This year’s judges were as follows.
Nobuhiro Ariyasu, entrepreneur / angel investor Kiyotaka Kobayashi, Co-founder and CEO of Knot Inc. Yusuke Sato, CEO of hey, Inc. Masanori Sugiyama, outside director of ACSL Ltd.
In this article, we will feature the following startups that pitched in the later half of the pitch battle program.
MOSH: Toward a Future that Empowers Individuals and Teams
There is currently a major movement going on in the creator economy. Although it has been generally difficult for individual creators to make a living only from advertising revenue, with the development of various monetization methods that take advantage of social media, an environment is gradually being formed for the creator economy to further expand.
MOSH provides a service that allows anyone to sell their services online and offers a variety of necessary features. In addition to offering both offline and online reservations and payments, subscription services and digital content can easily be sold on smartphones, and CRM by fan base can be used to attract more customers and offer video content exclusively to members.
Currently, more than 200 creators in a variety of occupations are on the platform, and some of them, such as those who offer online tutoring, coaching for children, and run cafes, are earning JPY 1 to 5 million (USD 6,900 to 34,500) per month. The number of registered creators has exceeded 55,000, with GMV growing at 200% annually.
The Japanese creator economy market is expected to grow from JPY 1.3 trillion to 10 trillion (USD 9.0 billion to 69.0 billion) by around 2034 and will further expand. Yabu says, “The internet itself is becoming more and more crowded and uncomfortable. We would like to believe in the true power of the internet and expand our business to create a future that empowers individuals and teams.”
Veritas In Silico: Delivering New Drugs to the World through its mRNA-targeted Drug Discovery Platform
Veritas In Silico has established a platform for mRNA-targeted drug discovery. It targets mRNA (a blueprint for making proteins) in all forms, from mRNA-targeted small molecule / nucleic acid drugs to mRNA drugs that replenish mRNA.
The company is particularly focused on small molecule drug discovery targeting mRNA. Nakamura, CEO, says, “Small molecule drugs are the most desirable drugs because they can be administered orally, are inexpensive, and have a long shelf life. They also account for more than half of the pharmaceutical market.”
By changing the target from protein to mRNA, the company has made it possible to newly tackle small molecule drug discovery targeting 3,000 disease-related proteins which were difficult to target with conventional protein-based drug discovery.
Since its foundation in 2016, Veritas In Silico has been conducting joint drug discovery research with nine companies to create drugs, and the number of genes of interest (GOIs) disclosed by pharmaceutical companies has already exceeded 100. Target diseases based on these GOIs include cancer (30%), central nervous system disorders (25%), rare diseases (20%), and the others ranging from infectious diseases to immunity, respiratory organs, skin, musculoskeletal disorders, etc. This shows that the company’s technology can be used to treat various diseases from the pharmaceutical companies’ professional points of view.
The company concluded a JPY 102 billion (USD 703.4 million) business alliance with Shionogi & Co., Ltd. in November 2022. With its technologies, Veritas In Silico plans to expand its business throughout the world to rapidly deliver more medicines to society.
By providing society with medicines that address unmet medical needs through mRNA-targeted drug discovery, the company aims to realize a society filled with hope where people do not have to give up because there is no cure, or lament that they cannot receive optimal treatment.
MAZIN: An IIoT Startup Aiming to Build Automated/Unmanned Factories by Developing AI Software that Solves Skilled Worker Shortage
It is said that 95% of factories lack human resources and 84% lack skilled workers. Some factories, despite having many employees, cannot run their production lines when all of the few skilled workers are absent at the same time. For them, the staffing of skilled workers has become a bottleneck, making it difficult to improve operational efficiency and to pass on their skills.
The company provides IIoT services that fully automate factory operations by breaking down the lathe operations, machining centers and other cutting processes, and the injection molding of plastics, metals, etc., to provide AI-based software for each process. Currently, the development of a cutting tool management product is underway. By automatically sensing and monitoring the state of the machine tools, notifications are sent when the machine tools are suspended or when abnormalities are detected. Furthermore, a system that automates the detection of cutting tool wear and loss has already contributed to reducing on-site loss costs and improving quality, and is currently being used by dozens of companies, including major automobile manufacturers.
In Japan, there are approximately 1 million machine tools in use, and the market for cutting tool management is worth JPY 200 billion (USD 1.4 billion) in Japan. The global market is expected to be extremely large, considering global needs and how 10 million machine tools are used globally, which is about 10 times that of Japan.
“We are now conducting R&D to automate not only cutting but also injection molding, grinding, welding, casting, and pressing processes.
Currently, the company is mainly selling automation software for cutting factories, but eventually it aims to automate all processes to realize factories where production activities can be carried out without skilled workers. We would like to pursue the development of production technology software and create ‘strong factories’ all over the world," said Kadoya, CEO of MAZIN, in closing.
PartnerSuccess: Developing and Providing a PRM that Increases the Number of Successful Agencies
Many product companies such as Microsoft, Google, AWS, Salesforce, Zoom, etc. utilize the distributor sales channel. 75% of the B2B transaction value is said to be generated through the distributor sales channel. For example, Zoom has over 70% of its Japanese sales coming from distributors. PartnerSuccess develops and provides a PRM (partner relationship management cloud) to increase the number of successful partners.
The three main challenges for distributors are staggering partner sales, being unable to find good partners, and the difficulty of management and communication. In response to the current situation where communication and management have become a black box and no winning patterns can be found, the company is transforming the partner business to a more strategic one by solving management communication issues and collecting data.
The company’s solution is introduced in industries that have a large number of agency companies. After the official version was released in January 2022, 720 companies have introduced it in just 10 months. Many large companies have opened accounts on PartnerSucess, and the system is being used in 20 industries. In March, the company formed an alliance with SB C&S, Japan’s largest provider of IT products and services, and they have begun approaching 4,000 manufacturers and 12,000 distributors who partner with SB C&S.
The PRM market is growing rapidly and attracting attention in the US, with about three unicorns already created. As the only PRM company in Japan, the company is taking on the great challenge of not only forming a domestic market, but also spreading the role of partner success, the next step after customer success.
YuaBread, PartnerSuccess, and MAZIN have won the awards
Among the eight startups, the GBAF AWARD went to YuaBread, the AUDIENCE AWARD went to PartnerSuccess, and the PITCH PANEL AWARD went to MAZIN.
