Global Brain invests $3.3m in Japan group buying site Luxa

This is the second round of VC investment Luxa has received this year. In March, JAFCO invested JPY500 million in the business having put up the same amount back in November 2010. This latest round brings Luxa's total funding to around JPY1.33 billion since operations started in 2010.

Unlike other daily deal sites, such as Groupon, Luxa targets the higher-income, 30-something demographic by listing only premium items such as branded cosmetics and meals at up-market restaurants. The company - which is headquartered in Tokyo with offices in Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka - was set up by Swimmy Minami who also founded premium job listing site BizReach which was backed by JAFCO in 2010 to the tune of $2.6 million.

According to a release, Luxa currently claims to have around 450,000 members across the country, up from 350,000 in March. By partnering with the KDDI fund - a $50 million vehicle backed by Japanese telecoms giant and au mobile network operator KDDI Corp - Luxa hopes to leverage KDDI's mobile network to grow its user base.

Luxa has already seen its proportion of transactions via its smart phone app increase from 8% to 35% over the past year with net sales increasing 11-fold. It hopes to gain access to the 8 million users of KDDI's au Smartpass service, a subscription-based android app marketplace for au customers.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Consumer
• Technology
• Venture
• Global Brain Corporation
• TMT
• Consumer
• Japan
• JAFCO