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Wednesday, July 31, 2024

RevComm Secures US$10 Million in Pre-Series B Funding, Total Funding Reaches US$32 Million

RevComm Inc., a leading B2B SaaS company specializing in AI-driven communication solutions “MiiTel”, announced the successful completion of a $10 million Pre-Series B funding round, bringing its total funding to $32 million. 

This round saw continued support from existing investors, including Sony Innovation Fund by IGV, WiL, and ALL STAR SAAS FUND, as well as participation from new investors, Salesforce Ventures and tb Innovations. Additionally, the funding included a loan from the UPSIDER BLUE DREAM Fund, managed by UPSIDER Capital, and asset financing from Money Forward Kessai.

This marks RevComm’s first funding announcement since October 2020, when the company secured 1.5 billion yen in a Series A round. Over the same period, the company also obtained a 1.7 billion yen loan from financial institutions such as Shoko Chukin Bank, SBI Shinsei Bank, Japan Finance Corporation, Shizuoka Bank, and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank. The cumulative capital raised by RevComm now stands at 4.95 billion yen (about US$32 million).

"RevComm has demonstrated significant progress in supporting various forms of communication, including telephone, online meetings, and face-to-face interactions. They have consistently provided in-depth data analysis to meet the demands of the digital society. Since the Series A round, we have been proud to be part of this journey as shareholders, and we are confident that they will continue to leverage the latest AI technology to address their customers' challenges. We will continue to support them," said Kazuto Hatano, Representative Director and President of Sony Ventures.

Takeshi Aida, CEO of RevComm Inc., stated, "Since the Series A funding round in 2020, we have operated our business without equity financing, relying solely on operational cash flow and debt. This Pre-Series B funding round was raised through mezzanine financing by CE, similar to the Pre-Series A round in 2019. Moving forward, we will continue to optimize our balance sheet with a focus on our Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) and actively invest to maximize growth while maintaining capital efficiency."

The funds from this round will be used to enhance the development and sales infrastructure for RevComm’s AI-driven conversation analysis services, "MiiTel." Additionally, the investment will support research and development for new services, international expansion, and improvements to organizational infrastructure.

In 2020, during the Series A funding round, RevComm offered only one product, MiiTel Phone, which utilized AI to analyze telephone conversations automatically. Since then, RevComm has continued to innovate, introducing new products such as MiiTel Meetings and MiiTel RecPod. These solutions analyze and visualize voice communications in online and offline meetings, enhancing overall corporate productivity. In addition to its advanced analytical capabilities, MiiTel also provides automatic recording, transcription, and generation of meeting minutes.

“Now that generative AI has become widespread, we believe that our mission is to create an environment in which MiiTel user companies can make the most of AI by turning each company's voice data into an asset as big data. We will use the funds we have raised this time to strengthen our services as an application layer, accelerate our efforts in the data layer, and promote the development of services that utilize new AI technology,” added Takeshi Aida.

RevComm Inc., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, has been operating in Indonesia since 2021 and now serves over 78,000 users globally, including in Japan, Indonesia, and the United States. In Indonesia, MiiTel is trusted by many prominent companies, such as Orang Tua Group, Astra International, BPJS Kesehatan, and the Ministry of Manpower of Republic Indonesia.

Investor Statements

Mr. Toshimitsu Namba, Partner at WiLMr. Yamato Sasakawa, Investor

Following our Series A investment, we are pleased to contribute additional funding in this Pre-Series B round.

Previously, the importance of online meetings increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, changing the nature of business communication. Now, with the rise of generative AI, enterprise data is gaining attention, and the utilization of voice data, in addition to text and images, is being questioned. We are excited about the vision of Mr. Aida, who has consistently focused on "AI x Voice" since the founding of RevComm, and the daily efforts of the RevComm team to "Reinventing Communication to create a society where people think of others." We look forward to RevComm updating the way people conduct business. We will also continue to support RevComm as part of the team.

Mr. Masayuki Minato, Senior Partner at ALL STAR SAAS FUND

Following our participation in the Series A round, we are very pleased to join this Pre-Series B round. Online communication with customers has become an indispensable and extremely important element of sales activities. RevComm, as a leading company in voice AI from Japan, has developed various solutions that dramatically improve the productivity of sales organizations by personalizing communication not only through phone and web meetings but also in face-to-face interactions with customers. We sincerely hope for RevComm to lead the world in the voice AI x SaaS field under Mr. Aida’s overwhelming vision and leadership.

Mr. Ken Asada, Executive Officer, Salesforce Ventures Japan

Since meeting Mr. Aida and Yusuke Suzuki from RevComm in early 2020, we are delighted to participate in this round as Salesforce Ventures after more than four years. The collaboration between RevComm and Salesforce began in December 2021 with the release of MiiTel for Salesforce on our AppExchange marketplace. As the utilization of AI becomes a competitive edge in all business activities, the importance of rich data as a foundation will also increase. We look forward to further collaboration with RevComm as they expand their product portfolio centered around AI x Voice.

Mr. Kenji Tak, President of tb innovations (Tokyo Boeki Group CVC)

When I first met President Aida, I was deeply impressed by his strong determination and foresight. The company’s vision of innovating business communication using AI x voice technology holds the potential to bring new value to the industry. Especially noteworthy is their effort to convert voice data, which has not been fully utilized, into big data. I believe this approach will provide a crucial competitive advantage in the era of generative AI.

We will fully support the development of their technology and services that contribute to enhancing corporate productivity. We are confident that RevComm’s challenge will pave the way for the future of communication in the AI era and make a significant impact on society.

Mr. Naoki Ishigami, President of UPSIDER Capital

When I spoke with President Aida, I was impressed by their passion to revolutionize business through "Voice x AI," leveraging their pioneering strength in voice data analysis and utilization.

With changes in working styles, online sales activities have become the norm. I am honored to support RevComm’s challenge to address the black-box problem of voice communication and dramatically improve productivity, a major issue in Japan.

UPSIDER BLUE DREAM Fund will fully support RevComm’s mission to "Reinventing Communication to create a society where people think of others," and we will work together to move forward swiftly and far.

About RevComm
MiiTel is an innovation from RevComm, one of Japan's fastest-growing technology companies. Within five years, RevComm became a unicorn and won numerous awards: Forbes Japan's Startup of the Year, Google for Startups, AWS Summit, Mizuho Innovation Award, Japan Venture Awards, BOXIL SaaS Award, Deloitte Technology Fast 50, and Forbes AI 50.
This Press Release has also been published on VRITIMES

Local Brands Shine Bright: Sunscreen Market Sees an Impressive Growth in Q1 2024

preview

Jakarta, July 24, 2024 - Skincare product sales have shown impressive growth compared to 2022, with a 20% increase projected to achieve USD 2.7 billion in 2024.

This aligns with the fact that 87.3% of consumers use sunscreen, a type of skincare product, daily. This has resulted in an increase of 2.8 million products sold compared to 2022. Online platforms like e-commerce have significantly contributed to this growth in sunscreen sales.

Sunscreen Market Performance Overview

According to research by Magpie E-commerce Intelligence, in the first quarter (January to March 2024), the sunscreen market achieved a gross merchandise value (GMV) of IDR 318.04 billion with a total of 6.3 million products sold on Shopee, Lazada, and Tokopedia. “The sunscreen products experienced a decrease of 14.2% compared to Q4 of 2023, which generated IDR 370.29 billion. However, the GMV generated during this period consistently increased month over month (MoM),” said Wilhendra Akmam, CEO of Magpie.

Market Share by E-commerce

<i>Picture: E-commerce market share of Sunscreen category</i>
Picture: E-commerce market share of Sunscreen category

For the e-commerce share, Shopee dominated the market from January to March 2024 with 74.9%, placing Lazada in second position with 16.2% and Tokopedia with 8.9%. “Interestingly, Lazada showed significant growth from Q4 2023 to Q1 2024 with a GMV increase of 90.3%. Meanwhile, Shopee experienced a decrease of 25.2%,” added Wilhendra.

Market Share by Brand

<i>Picture: Brand market share of Sunscreen</i>
Picture: Brand market share of Sunscreen

The sunscreen market in e-commerce is dominated by local brands. Azarine leads the overall market with 14.3%, followed by Facetology in second place with 12.3%. Skin Aqua is third with 8.3% of overall market sales.

Top-Selling Sunscreen Products

<i>Picture: Product market share of Sunscreen in Shopee</i>
Picture: Product market share of Sunscreen in Shopee
<i>Picture: Product market share of Sunscreen in Lazada</i>
Picture: Product market share of Sunscreen in Lazada
<i>Picture: Product market share of Sunscreen in Tokopedia</i>
Picture: Product market share of Sunscreen in Tokopedia

The popular local brand Azarine leads the best-selling products on Shopee with a GMV of IDR 22.14 billion and 438.9 thousand products sold in Q1 2024. Azarine also leads sales on Tokopedia with a GMV of IDR 1.81 billion and 30.7 thousand products sold. On Lazada, Madame Gie recorded the highest sales with 90.6 thousand products sold in Q1 2024. “These results show that skincare products from local brands are preferred over products from global brands,” stated Wilhendra.

Picture on Thumbnail by: Real Simple on Pinterest

About Magpie Ecommerce Intelligence
Magpie helps businesses discover the market potential in e-commerce, compare performance against competitors, and provide detailed market share breakdowns by sellers, location, and specific segments. With data and insights from Magpie, your business can make better decisions for the future.
This Press Release has also been published on VRITIMES
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