Fidelity, DBJ lead $20m round for Japan's Raksul

Existing investors, including Global Brain, GMO Venture Partners, and Global Catalyst Partners, also participated in the round, according to a release. Raksul will use the capital to improve its human resources and marketing for its flagship printing service, along with supporting its newly launched delivery service Hacobell.

Founded in 2009, Raksul does not provide printing services itself, but rather connects users with print shops, taking a cut of the job fees and offering discounts by taking advantage of downtime at its partnered printers. The company claims to have grown its user base to 300,000 over the last three years.

In addition to its growth within Japan, Raksul has been pursuing international expansion. It led a seed round for Prinzio, a similar business based in Jakarta, last year with East Ventures, and earlier this year joined a pre-Series A round for Indian merchandise printing marketplace Inkmonk.

Including the latest round, Raksul has raised about JPY7.9 billion since its founding. In 2015, World Innovation Lab (WiL), GMO and Global Brain were part of an investor group that contributed JPY4 billion. That came a year after a JPY1.5 billion round from Global Brain, WiL, Itochu Technology Ventures and GMO.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Technology
• Consumer
• Venture
• Japan
• The Development Bank of Japan (DBJ)
• Global Brain Corporation
• GMO Ventures
• TMT