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Japan VCs invest $3m in Tokyo tech boot camp

  • Andrew Woodman
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Life is Tech, a Tokyo-based IT boot camp program for elementary and junior high school students, has raised JPY310 million (about $3 million) from Japanese investors Jafco, Mistletoe, KCJ Group, DeNA and Recruit Holdings.

The program teaches kids mobile app development and movie-making in three different types of course: a short-term boot camp; an online program; or a year-long series of face-to-face courses. More than 5000 students are said to have attended the school's various courses to date. About 1300 students are expected to join the summer boot camp program in the upcoming vacation season.

The start-up - which qualified from the fourth batch of telecom giant KDDI's incubation program - received early backing from internet firm CyberAgent with whom is set up a joint venture called CA Tech Kids to teach elementary school kids how to program.

The education start-up will use this latest round of funding to set up a subsidiary in Singapore and strengthen its global reach by providing online courses to more students abroad.

Another education-focused investment in Japan's tech space to take place this year involved Tokyo-based educational app developer Smart Education. CyberAgent Ventures and Infinity Venture Partners invested JPY550 million in the company.

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