Dentsu Group Co-Hosts Pitch Event with French Telecom Giant Orange

Orange Fab, the startup incubation program by French telecommunications giant Orange, and the Dentsu Group held a pitch event on June 26 in Tsukiji, Tokyo, featuring nine companies participating in the program.

Recently, projects by large corporations with substantial financial resources to discover and nurture startups have become increasingly active both domestically and internationally. Domestically, attention has turned to the establishment of funds and the hosting of hackathons by companies like TV stations and major manufacturers, which previously had little connection to startups. Orange, the company hosting this event, and the Dentsu Group are also focusing their efforts on multifaceted initiatives with startups, including investment, nurturing, and business partnerships.

At the event's opening, Koji Nishikawa, Venture Partner for Asia at Orange, explained the background for establishing Orange Fab: "We support startups with potential to create synergies in European and African countries where we operate our core telecom business. We've been running a similar program in Tokyo for the past two years." The company supports startups globally and has already supported 18 companies in Japan.

Pitching Companies

The nine companies gathered at the event offer services including O2O solutions, promotional support, data analytics, and app development. They presented new collaboration opportunities to the approximately 70 attendees—business development managers, media representatives, marketing planners, and creators—whose primary focus is the digital domain.

ABEJA: Yosuke Okada

Provides in-store marketing support tools utilizing image analysis and machine learning. By integrating various store-related data through its proprietary DMP, it enables predictions of metrics like customer counts and product order volumes.

Livepass: Yukiko Utsumi

Developed a service capable of delivering personalized videos to each individual customer. These videos are woven into email newsletters and similar communications, already demonstrating high effectiveness for several companies.

Mashroom: Yoichiro Hara

Developed a system enabling information exchange with dedicated terminals without requiring app downloads. This enables applications for services like in-store payments and coupon acquisition, regardless of device or app availability.

Spectee: Kenjiro Murakami

Operates Spectee, a photo-driven news media platform. By analyzing photo information from Twitter, Instagram, and other sources, it transforms primary news delivery—currently averaging 60 minutes—into real-time reporting.

Aquabit Spirals: Tomohiro Hagiwara

Developed the "Smart Plate," a compact card embedded with an IC chip that can be attached to various objects. By simply holding a smartphone over it, users can instantly access information about the attached item—such as its product purchase page or Facebook page—without needing to search.

Nain: Mr. Kentaro Yamamoto

Developed "Nain," a communication app for smartwatches. It automatically shares your status—such as when you're traveling or eating—with friends using location data and gyro sensor information.

Repro: Yusuke Hirata

Developed a tool that analyzes user behavior within apps, incorporating video analysis. This enables combined qualitative and quantitative analysis, further streamlining the PDCA cycle for app operations.

Mobilous: Akira Miyata

Provides "AppExe," a tool that enables the development of various apps using slide creation principles. Generates apps compatible with multiple operating systems with a single operation, eliminating coding and significantly reducing development time in projects.

Scentee: Hiroki Tsubouchi

Developed a device that emits scents when connected to a smartphone port. This project gained attention both domestically and internationally. Future plans include developing new products like wearable devices.

Orange Fab supports startups by offering regular mentoring sessions with guest speakers about two or three times a month and by involving them in new projects within the company. According to Mr. Nishikawa, Orange Fab will continue to be based in Tokyo, discovering promising startups in Asia, including Korea and Taipei, and supporting "businesses that can be taken globally, especially to Europe and Africa, which are hot regions for Orange."

Mr. Fumihiko Nakajima of Dentsu Inc. and Mr. Yota Mitsunobu of Dentsu Digital Inc. Holdings, who organized this event, shared their future outlook: "Through initiatives like the Dentsu Digital Inc. Fund operated by the Dentsu Group, we are accelerating collaboration with startups. Moving forward, we will engage in various events and collaborative programs, working alongside external incubators and venture capital firms as we did this time."