Japanese space rental platform files for IPO
SpaceMarket, a Japanese start-up that lists vacant spaces available for rent for corporate events, is looking to raise up to JPY933.2 million ($8.5 million) through a domestic IPO.
The company plans to sell 1.79 million shares for JPY520 apiece, according to a filing. The offering will comprise 520,000 new shares with the rest to come from existing investors. Dausuke Shigematsu, SpaceMarket’s founder and CEO, a fund established by Recruit Holdings, Opto Ventures, Orix Corporation, CyberAgent Ventures are among those paring their stakes. The four financial investors stand to receive JPY241.1 million between them.
SpaceMarket was launched in January 2014 and won the top prize at CyberAgent’s Rising Expo 2014 – a start-up showcase event – seven months later. The company operates a mobile platform that connects the landlords of vacant properties with prospective short-term tenants. It adds 5% to the rental price as a fee from tenants and receives a 30% commission on each transaction from the landlords. The more popular a property, the higher the fee rebate for the landlord.
As of September, it had more than 11,900 listings covering 47 prefectures nationwide. Its customers are typically companies looking for conference and seminar facilities, but there are also listings for restaurants, sports halls, movie theaters, closed schools, temples, and castles. A cosplay photoshoot on an uninhabited island is among the more unusual transactions brokered by SpaceMarket. The company also provides event planning services and helps customers obtain insurance coverage and security.
SpaceMarket generated sales of JPY578.2 million in 2018, up from JPY392.6 million the previous year. Over the same period, its net loss widened from JPY148.6 million to JPY274.2 million.
Shigematsu has the largest stake in the business with 47.63%. He is followed by Opto on 10.64%, CyberAgent on 6.57%, SBI Ventures on 3.65%, Mynavi Corporation on 2.86%, Mizuho Capital on 2.19%, Orix on 2.18%, and an NTT Docomo fund on 1.46%. According to AVCJ Research’s records, CyberAgent and Mizuho provided JPY100 million in seed funding in 2014, Opto led a JPY400 million Series A in 2016, and multiple new and existing investors participated in a $850 million round in February.
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