VCs commit $30m to Japanese recipe-sharing start-up

Domestic technology player Akatsuki and online advertising firm United also took part in the funding round, according to a statement. The company will use the new capital to expand its recipe-sharing service Kurashiru by growing the software team and improving its marketing efforts, along with exploring new lines of business and acquiring other companies.

Launched in 2014 as a food delivery service, Dely changed its business model in 2016 to focus on social media through Kurashiru. The service allows users to post and share video recipes to various social networks.

The company's biggest rival is Cookpad, a recipe sharing site that listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2009. Cookpad claims more than 85 million monthly users on its Japanese and English-language sites, which host two million recipes.

Dely also competes with Every, a media company that distributes cooking video service Delish Kitchen. Every raised a JPY2.1 billion funding round last year from a number of VCs, including World Innovation Lab, GMO Venture Partners and DCM Ventures.

This is SoftBank’s first investment in Dely. YJ and United participated in the company’s previous funding round last year, which saw it raise JPY3.7 billion. Jafco and Gumi Ventures, the VC arm of mobile gaming company Gumi, also contributed to that round.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Technology
• Consumer
• Expansion
• Japan
• TMT
• YJ Capital
• Softbank