Japan-based multilingualisation software provider Wovn Technologies has raised ¥1.4bn ($13m) in a financing round featuring telecommunications firm NTT, digital marketing agency Opt, recruitment firm Mynavi and railway operator Kintetsu Group.
The round was led by Eight Roads Ventures Japan, a venture capital arm of financial services and investment group Fidelity, and included financial services firm Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank’s OKB Capital unit.
NTT, Opt and Kintetsu invested through their NTT Finance, Opt Ventures and Kintetsu Venture Partners subsidiaries respectively, and Wovn has also secured committed credit lines from three unnamed banks.
Founded in 2014 as Minimal Technologies, Wovn provides online localisation services, addressing language issues in Japan. It will utilise the funding to strengthen corporate strategies overseas, cater to larger-scale online customers and enhance its artificial intelligence-based translation capabilities.
Wovn had received $280,000 of seed capital from VC fund Incubate Fund in 2014, followed by $1.1m of series A funding from Opt Ventures and insurance firm Nippon Life’s Nissay Capital vehicle the following year.
Marketing agency Adways, printing services provider Toppan Printing and financial services firms SBI Holdings and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation subsequently provided $2.6m in a 2016 series B round, the latter two through their SBI Investment and SMBC Venture Capital units.
