WiL leads $10.6m round for Japan's Retty

According to a statement, the round also included participation from Eight Roads Ventures Japan and ABC Dream Ventures, an investment arm of local radio and television broadcaster Asahi Broadcasting Corporation. The capital is expected to be used for product development and an overseas expansion.

Set up in December 2010, Retty offers a desktop and mobile-accessible "social gourmet service" whereby users can list and rate their favorite restaurants and share their assessments with friends. It currently claims to have more than 20 million users per month.

Last year, Bloomberg reported that the company was planning a domestic IPO by mid-2017 in order to fund the establishment of bases in the US and Hong Kong. This initiative included the launch of both English and Chinese language services and a target of reaching 30 million unique user per month by the end of 2016.

The company received a JPY1 billion Series C round led by Fidelity Growth Partners (which is now known as Eight Roads Ventures) in 2015. Previous funding included a $3.2 million Series B round in 2013 backed by Itochu Ventures and Mizuho Capital as well as a JPY100 million investment in 2012 by Gree Ventures, NTT Investment Partners and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Consumer
• Technology
• Expansion
• World Innovation Lab (WiL)
• Eight Roads
• TMT
• Japan
• Growth capital