Japan-based consulting agency BeBit has raised ¥2.5bn ($23.7m) in an equity and debt financing round led by professional services firm Industrial Growth Platform (IGPI).
The round included IT transformation firm Change, marketing firms Dentsu and Marshmallow, graphic design agency The Guild and financial services holding company Mebuki Financial Group’s Joyo Industrial Research subsidiary.
Gogin Capital, Oita Venture Capital and SMBC Venture Capital – respective subsidiaries of financial services firms San-In Godo Bank, Oita Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation – participated, as did investment firm Yosemite.
BeBit has developed a piece of artificial intelligence-equipped cloud software, Usergram, which classifies users’ behaviour data through automated sequencing and analyses their behavioural patterns in real time. The latest funding will go toward strengthening the product and expanding its presence globally.
BeBit concentrates on digital transformation and user experience improvements and has served more than 300 companies including large corporations and startups. In addition to Japan, it runs operations in Shanghai and Taipei.
The Guild CEO Takayuki Fukatsu is set to join BeBit as a product adviser as part of the deal, which represents the company’s first external funding since it was founded in 2000.
IGPI’s managing director, Makoto Shiono, said: “BeBit, one of Japan’s leading user experience enhancement providers, and IGPI, a management consulting firm that supports corporate transformation, will work together to create value for companies and help achieve digitisation.” [Translated from Japanese by Global Corporate Venturing.]
