Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Tonchidot Raises $4 Million in Series A Funding - DCM


Tonchidot Corporation today announced it has closed a $4 million Series A financing round.

New investor DCM led the financing with participation from existing investor ITOCHU Technology Ventures (ITV).
Tonchidot has already launched their service, called Sekai Camera, in Japan and is planning to offer the service to a broader global audience. Sekai Camera is a social Augmented Reality (AR) service for browsing and sharing user-generated text, photos, voice, and other location-based information. The funding will help accelerate the company’s global expansion. Concurrent with the funding, Osuke Honda from DCM will join Tsuyoshi Ogawa from ITV on Tonchidot’s board of directors.

“Tonchidot’s Sekai Camera provides a completely new experience to mobile internet users,” says Osuke Honda of DCM. “We believe that Augmented Reality represents a tremendous opportunity for investors, particularly as you look to a global platform. We have studied the AR market for some time now and believe Tonchidot’s technology platform and business model to be the most compelling among competitors in the space. We look forward to working with Tonchidot as they bring this exciting new experience to mobile users worldwide.”

“We sought out an investment partner with true global capabilities and specific knowledge of and expertise in markets in the Pacific Rim and the US,” says Tonchidot CEO, Takahito Iguchi. “DCM has already provided us with invaluable operational guidance and access to a global network of resources and we look forward to working with them going forward as we look to launch Tonchidot to a global scale.”

About Tonchidot
Tonchidot Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) offers an innovative web service/application named “Sekai Camera”, which enables mobile devices to “change the view of the real world.” Sekai Camera enables camera-attached mobile devices, through an easy-to-use augmented reality (AR) interface, to access hypertagged social, informational and entertainment services over the internet. Tonchidot first announced its Sekai Camera concept at TC50, 2008, and released in Japan its iPhone version in September 2009. For more information, visit www.tonchidot.com.

About DCM
DCM is an early stage venture capital firm supporting entrepreneurs building world-class technology companies. The firm’s partners manage US$1.6 billion and have funded leading technology companies including 2Wire, 51job (Nasdaq: JOBS), @Motion (Openwave), About.com (The New York Times Co.), All About (Jasdaq: 2454), Arroyo (Cisco), Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR), Dang Dang, eDreams (TA), Foundry Networks (Nasdaq: FDRY), HireRight (acquired by USIS), Internap (Nasdaq: INAP), IPivot (Intel), Neopath Networks (Cisco), Neutral Tandem (Nasdaq: TNDM), nQuire (Siebel), OPI, PGP Corporation, Recourse Technologies (Symantec), RockYou, Scigineer), SMIC (NYSE: SMI), Sling Media (EchoStar), Ustream, VanceInfo (NYSE: VIT) and Vimicro (Nasdaq: VIMC). DCM offers hands-on operational guidance and access to an extensive network of resources, including close relationships with many of the Pacific Rim’s leading companies and investors.


Osuke Honda
Principal

ohonda@dcm.com

EDUCATION:
Hitotsubashi University
B.A. in Law
Keio University Graduate School of Business Administration
M.B.A.
The Wharton School,University of Pennsylvania

SECTORS/INTERESTS:
Japan-related companies
Consumer Internet
Digital Media
IT Services

As a Principal, Osuke Honda brings a powerful combination of strategic and venture investments, business planning and development, as well as operational experience to his role in identifying new investment opportunities and helping build global companies.

Prior to joining DCM, Osuke was a Principal and operation committee member at Globis Capital Partners, formerly Apax Globis Partners, a pre-eminent venture capital firm in Japan. He led investments in consumer internet, digital media and IT services sectors.

Previously, Osuke held multiple positions at Mitsubishi Corporation, the largest trading house in the world. Here he led various initiatives which involved operations management in the automotive sector as well as business planning and new business development for the CEO Office, Machinery Group. He established strategic alliances and joint ventures with partners across the globe and executed both strategic and venture investments.

Osuke was born in Japan and spent his childhood moving between Texas, California and Tokyo, which created the basis of his cultural flexibility and high tolerance to rapidly changing environments. Besides spending time with his wife and son, Osuke enjoys practicing judo and kyokushin-karate and holds the rank of black belt in both disciplines.

2 comments:

thfjunded said...

I have been dealing with Osuke Honda who recently joined the firm. He "got it" right away and liked our product. Although DCM passed in this case due to timings and fit, he was professional and a pleasure to deal with.

Anonymous said...

great guy. cant say the same for his colleagues