KDDI, Jafco invest $12m in Japan news app Gunosy

Jafco and another unnamed investor also joined the round. This is KDDI's second investment in the company, following the acquisition of a minority stake for undisclosed sum in March.

Gunosy was founded in 2012  by Shinji Kimura and Yoshinori Fukushima. Its flagship app presents news content from more than 50 Japanese media outlets and divides them into customizable categories. It is the second-most popular news app on Apple 's Japanese app store and on Google Play.

The app has been downloaded more than 4 million times since its introduction at the beginning of last year. Gunosy is targeting 100 million downloads globally within three years.

According to a release, the start-up will use the extra investment to improve its user interface and broaden its relationships with content providers. The company introduced an English-language app in the UK in April and entered the US last month, challenging US-based Flipboard.

KDDI - Japan's third-largest wireless carrier by market value - has led, or participated in, a number of funding rounds for mobile app developers in the country. It also runs its own start-up incubator KDDI Mugen Labo.

Typically, KDDI will offer industry expertise and access to its user-base in return for start-up talent and exclusive value-add services for its network customers.

Earlier this month it invested JPY100 million in Creema, an online consumer-to-consumer (C2C) market for handmade items, via its KDDI Open Innovation Fund. As part of the deal Creema is able drive user traffic from Au Smart Pass, the unlimited app download service run by KDDI and in return will offer several payment methods for KDDI's smart phone subscribers.

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• Topics
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• North Asia
• Early-stage
• Japan
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• JAFCO