Japan-based online manufacturing industry directory provider Aperza has received ¥1.2bn ($11m) from investors including GMO Venture Partners, internet company GMO’s corporate venturing unit.
The round was led by Eight Roads Ventures Japan, part of investment group Fidelity, and featured SMBC Venture Capital and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, subsidiaries of financial services firms Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
Investment firm Jafco filled out the equity portion of the round while Japan Finance Corporation supplied debt financing.
Founded in 2016, Aperza runs specialised online platforms catering to sellers and buyers in the Japanese manufacturing industry. It has 7,600 sellers and 300,000 buyers among its monthly active users, and launched a cloud service aimed at sellers dubbed Aperza Cloud in April this year.
The funding will be used to expand Aperza’s customer base, to strengthen marketing strategies for Aperza Cloud and to double its current workforce of 50 people by January 2020. The funding comes after Aperza had raised $1.5m from GMO Venture Partners in 2016.
Tomohiro Miyasaka, a partner of GMO Venture Partners, said: “The manufacturing sector, which Aperza specialises in, has a large number of workers and continues to be a key industry in Japan, as it was at the time of our initial investment.
“Japan’s presence in this industry is still outstanding, and I believe Aperza has sufficient opportunities to expand its services overseas.”
