Transcript

Hello and welcome to today’s news from TotemoTech on August 11th, 2023. In today’s news, we’ll be discussing the latest developments in the tech industry in Japan.

First up, let’s talk about the growing market of ‘Vertical SaaS’ in Japan. Against the backdrop of severe labor shortages and the need for productivity improvement in Japanese industries, domestic startups specializing in ‘Vertical SaaS’ are flourishing. These startups are strategically capturing the market, and we’ll explore their background and future prospects through interviews with vendors.

Next, e-commerce platform Mercari has announced its financial results for the fiscal year ending in June 2023. The company achieved its highest-ever sales revenue of 172 billion yen, a 17% increase compared to the previous year, and recorded a net profit of 13 billion yen. Mercari’s GMV, or Gross Merchandise Volume, has also reached the trillion yen scale. The company plans to implement AI-generated content and LLM (Local Listing Management) within the year.

Moving on, AI Picasso has launched its official service called ‘AI Irasutoya,’ which can generate illustrations in the style of the popular Japanese website ‘Irasutoya.’ By subscribing to their paid subscription service for 1,480 yen per month, users can generate an unlimited number of images and use them for commercial purposes without any credits required.

In other news, Rakuten’s president, Hiroshi Mikitani, has denied the rumors of Rakuten’s impending downfall. During a recent earnings conference, Mikitani addressed the crisis speculations surrounding the company. We’ll delve into the details of what he said during the conference.

Moving on, Freakout Holdings, a company involved in advertising and marketing, has announced its intention to conduct a tender offer for UUUM, a company specializing in YouTuber management. Freakout Holdings aims to make UUUM a consolidated subsidiary through this acquisition.

Next, the producer of the ‘Rock in Japan Festival,’ Yoichi Shibuya, has released a statement expressing his protest against NHK Mito Broadcasting Station’s report. Shibuya claims that NHK violated the agreed-upon embargo time for the announcement of the next festival’s location, causing great inconvenience.

Lastly, Elecom has announced the discovery of vulnerabilities in some of its past Wi-Fi routers. These products, released before February 2017, are no longer supported with updates. The company recommends users switch to alternative products to address the vulnerabilities.

That’s all for today’s news from TotemoTech. Stay tuned for more updates on the latest tech developments in Japan. And that’s all for today’s news. Thanks for listening to TotemoTech.

Keywords - japan, tech, news