Japanese online media player Candee gets $21.6m round

Existing shareholder YJ Capital also participated in the round, along with NTT Docomo Ventures, Mizuho Capital, and Opt Ventures. The new capital will be used to expand the company’s Live Shop social commerce platform, develop new business alliances and expand its team. The new investment brings Candee’s total capital raised to JPY4.1 billion, according to a release.

Founded in 2015, Candee develops live streaming content and social networking platforms aimed at smart phones. Live Shop, launched earlier this year, targets women in their teens and twenties with live advertisements produced by online opinion leaders. Through the platform, users can buy the products shown in the videos and can also communicate with the performers during their live streaming sessions. Candee is also working with NTT Docomo to develop a sports streaming platform.

YJ, the VC arm of Yahoo Japan, participated in Candee’s previous round last year. According to AVCJ Research, the firm committed JPY1 billion along with TBS Innovation Partners and online game developer Gumi.

This is the first investment from Eight Roads' second Japan-focused vehicle, which closed earlier this month at JPY25 billion ($223 million). The fund’s corpus was provided entirely by parent company Fidelity International. Eight Roads plans to invest in about 20 companies, concentrating on healthcare, financial technology, energy, space industries, media, and tourism.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Technology
• Media
• Early-stage
• Japan
• Eight Roads
• TMT
• YJ Capital
• Mizuho Capital
• Venture