Press Releases 2016

SoftBank Announces ‘SoftBank Innovation Program’
1st Round Winners SoftBank to tie up with eight companies and conduct test marketing for five solutions

March 18, 2016
SoftBank Corp.

SoftBank Corp. (“SoftBank”) today announced the 1st Round results of its first ‘SoftBank Innovation Program’ launched in July 2015. SoftBank will tie up with eight companies and test market five solutions to consider their commercialization.

The SoftBank Innovation Program's aim is to create new value by taking innovative solution and technology entries from around the world, and then combine chosen entries with SoftBank's own resources*1. The first SoftBank Innovation Program received a total of 173 entries for four categories—Smart Homes*2, Connected Vehicles*3, Digital Marketing and Healthcare—and SoftBank selected five from the Smart Homes, Connected Vehicles and Digital Marketing categories to consider for commercialization.

Through the SoftBank Innovation Program, SoftBank will continue to seek to create new value by teaming up with companies around the world.

[Notes]
  • *1
    For more details, please see the SoftBank Innovation Program site.
  • *2
    Residences with home appliances and equipment that are connected to the Internet
  • *3
    Vehicles that are always connected to the Internet

Outline of Companies Involved in Test Marketing Tie Up

renoveru co., ltd. (Headquarters, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan)

Provides new services for homes, including one-stop renovation services

URL https://www.renoveru.jp(Japanese)

KAMARQ HOLDINGS PTE. LTD. (Headquarters: Singapore)

A furniture venture company developing previously unheard of Smart Home products under its ‘Furniture × IT’ concept

URL http://kamarq.jp (Japanese)

ASSA ABLOY Japan Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan)

The Japan business of the world-leading security solutions company. Offers digital door locks and other locking solutions

URL https://www.assaabloy.com

MoBagel, Inc. (Headquarters: California, USA)

Provides cloud-based real-time data analysis platform focused on IoT devices

URL https://mobagel.com

Urban Engines, Inc. (Headquarters: California, USA)

Offers engine that can visualize, analyze and predict different types of urban traffic patterns in real-time

URL https://www.urbanengines.com

Drivemode, Inc. (Headquarters: California, USA)

Provides smartphone-centric service apps developed so users can easily experience the world of connected cars

URL https://drivemode.com

BuzzElement Sdn. Bhd. (Headquarters: Malaysia)

Offers digital marketing solutions that fuse shopping mall and other location-specific coupon deliveries and pre-payment platforms

URL http://www.buzzelement.com

MicroStrategy Japan Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)

Provides analysis/security platforms by analyzing the vast amounts of data companies possess and visualizing it for display on smartphones and tablets

URL http://www.microstrategy.com/

Outline of Solutions for Test Marketing

Categories Companies Solution Descriptions
Smart Homes renoveru co., ltd.
  • 1) Smart Homes × Renovations

    To provide proposals and real-life IoT and device experiences tailored to customer lifestyles
KAMARQ HOLDINGS PTE. LTD.
ASSA ABLOY Japan Co., Ltd.
MoBagel, Inc.
  • 2) Office/Home Appliances × Big Data

    To analyze the big data of office and home appliances and visualize obsolescence predictions, etc.
Connected Vehicles Urban Engines, Inc.
  • 3) Urban Transport × Big Data

    To provide engine that can visualize, analyze and predict different types of urban traffic patterns in real-time
Drivemode, Inc.
  • 4) Smartphones × Vehicles

    To offer value-added services that utilize smartphones
Digital Marketing BuzzElement Sdn. Bhd.
  • 5) Smartphones × Pre-payments

    To deliver time- and location-specific information, and improve store operations by utilizing pre-payments as well as visualize customer traffic
MicroStrategy Japan Inc.
  • SoftBank, the SoftBank name and logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of SoftBank Group Corp. in Japan and other countries.
  • The information is true and accurate at the time of publication.
    Price, specification, contact and other information of products and service may be subjected to change. The information contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.