Hachimenroppi Inc., a Tokyo-based startup operating a food delivery service for restaurants announced on Friday that it has fundraised 240 million yen (about US$2.2 million) from SMBC Venture Capital, SBI Investment, Senshu Ikeda Capital, Sansei Capital Investment as well as individual investors.
With the latest funding, the firm has secured a total of 1.1 billion yen (about US$9.9 million) to date.
Since launching back in April 2011, Hachimenroppi has been offering an e-commerce platform for restaurants in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. The company provides tablets to restaurants free of charge allowing them to order fish based on their prospects for arrival at the nation’s largest – Tokyo’s Tsukiji market – as well as other catches at ports across the country.
Its technology has replaced the conventional system of orders which were usually placed by telephone or fax – which lacks a sense of speed and cannot meet the daily needs of restaurants.
Information is provided through an application developed by Hachimenroppi and updated on a daily basis. It includes data on fish that used to be consumed only locally such as akaisaki (pink maomao) caught in Nagasaki Prefecture and sumagatsuno (wild bonito) in Oita Prefecture.
Clients of the service can place their orders after examining photos of the fish, where they were caught, the price and other data. Their orders are delivered the following day.
“Every single restaurant has a different need regarding what kind of fish or how many fish are needed day to day. On the other hand, what fish are available very much depends on changing environmental conditions. So matching the needs of restaurants with supplies from the market can be compare to doing a huge jigsaw puzzle. We facilitate this by making the most of digital technologies.”
Besides, the startup through providing digital solutions has evolved the entire industym removing the middlemen fron the distribution process.
Hachimenroppi (八面六臂) is named after the eight faces and six arms seen on many Buddhist statues, taking the meaning of “versatility” or “jack of all trades”. The startup delivers fish, handling distribution services for startups.
The startup uses technology to upend of the world’
The company bought Tsukiji Fish Market in, forming its own logistics and a vast procurement network with food procducers and regional markets across Japan to stably provide restaurants with high quality fishery products, fruits, vegetables as well as meat.
Leveraging its IoT-based platform managing delivers, the company has made many feature possible to better serve restaurants such as optimized deliver dispatching and notifying the estimated arrival time of an ordered food dlivery.
Tbe company claims that it will use the funds to strenthen fulfillment and logistics, also planning to focus on web marketing efforts using private and open data management platforms.
By Vivian Foo, VCNewsNetwork
Matsuda worked at a logistics company and learned that fresh fish is delivered to restaurants and other end users through a number of dealers.
Matsuda started the tablet-based information service in April 2011, aiming to make things more convenient and efficient.
He initially provided the tablets to fish wholesalers on a commission basis. But as that business proved unsuccessful, he changed the format of the venture to the current one.
As a result, Hachimenroppi recently started handling vegetables and meat as well, thanks to strong demand from clients.
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