Nissay Capital invests $1.9m in Japan home renovation site

Rinoko offers its users cut-price, flat-rate home renovation services by acting as a middle man between construction companies and consumers. According to a release, the company aims to simplify the costs associated with home renovation in an industry where opaque pricing and hidden costs are a recurring issue for consumers.

The company maintains a network of over 300 construction companies nationwide and assigns jobs depending on the user's location and the construction firm's availability.

It is the second e-commerce venture launched by Osaka-based Sekaie, which was set up in 2012. Its first website - Chiisana Oshoushiki or "Small Funeral" - applied a similar concept to funeral services. This website was sold to internet firm UniQuest early last year.

The concept of aggregating a network of service providers to offer discount services to an online user base has been employed by a number of Japanese companies to receive venture backing in recent months.

Last month, a consortium of Japanese venture capital investors including Global Brain, World Innovation Lab (WiL), Itochu Technology Ventures and GMO Ventures invested JPY1.45 billion in Raksul, a Tokyo-based start-up that provides printing services in partnership with more than 1,600 printing facilities across the country.

Prior to that, in August, Jafco Ventures invested JPY1 billion in Star Festival, the start-up behind catering site Gochikuru.com, which delivers Japanese lunch box sets via a network of 210 partner vendors.

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• Topics
• Early-stage
• Technology
• Consumer
• North Asia
• Technology
• Japan
• Consumer
• Venture
• Nissay Capital