VCs invest in Japan sports analytics start-up
Global Brain has joined a JPY 770m (USD 7m) pre-Series B round for Japan’s Run.Edge, a sports video search and analytics platform.
Run.Edge spun out from Fujitsu in 2018 with a suite of image-search and image-analysis tools for the sports sector. Its core product, Pitchbase, analyses pitching and hitting data for 14 professional baseball teams across the US and Japan.
An application for field sports such as soccer, basketball, and rugby called FL-UX has been used by more than 80 professional and amateur teams in Japan and overseas, according to a statement. It allows for video segments to be tagged in real-time and discussed among groups.
Much of the idea is to broaden access to video playback and data-driven analytics from the professional sports world to an amateur user base. FL-UX, for example, allows video sharing via a social media-style chat function. There is a strong focus on intuitive user interfaces and facilitating video editing.
Run.Edge is also attempting to expand into the education sector via its Taguru product, which uses the same technology to help students take notes on video lectures. Users can organise sections of the lesson as either important or not understood and follow up with questions to the teacher. It has been deployed in some universities, as well as elementary, junior high, and high schools.
Global Brain is investing via its third corporate VC fund in its partnership with telecoms giant KDDI Corporation, KOIF III. It was joined by W Ventures, Okasan Capital Partners, SMBC Venture Capital, Contents Innovation Program, and the VC arm of sports equipment maker Asics.
KOIF III also participated in a JPY 580m Series A in 2020 alongside Spiral Capital and Obunsha Ventures, among others. Sony Innovation Fund, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Keio Innovation Initiative, Japan Finance Crop, and Japan Living Warranty provided a bridge round of undisclosed size last year, according to AVCJ Research.
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