| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JULY 26, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| BUSINESS WEEK E.BIZ -- UPSTARTS
Bit Valley Ventures Bit Valley Ventures www.bitvalley.org INDIGO Founded in 1996 by Taizo Son when he was an economics student at Tokyo University, Indigo designs Web sites and provides E-commerce services to Japanese retailers--and U.S. cyber-auctioneer Onsale. CYBER AGENT Cyber Agent runs the biggest online ad network in Japan, which generates 150 million ads each month for more than 200 Japanese corporate clients. Sales last year: $170,000. Founder Susumu Fujita estimates 1999 sales will top $5 million. DIGITAL GARAGE Launched in 1995 as an E-business media and market research firm, DG was Infoseek's partner in Japan until June 29 when Infoseek Japan bought the site DG created for Infoseek and named DG founder Joichi Ito as chairman. Ito, meanwhile, will transform DG into a Net incubator for E-commerce startups. HORIZON DIGITAL ENTERPRISE Startup founded by economics student Kazuhiro Ogura in 1996 outfits small and medium-sized businesses with servers and software programs based on Linux for small network systems, intranet, and E-commerce needs. NETAGE Launched last year by ex-AOL Japan employee Kiyoshi Nishikawa, NetAge creates online car sales sites. CarPoint's Japan venture bought his Net car assessment sight in June. NetAge plans to launch retail and services sites this fall. RAKUTEN Rakuten is Japan's biggest Net shopping mall, with 850 cybermerchants. It provides auction and hosting services for Japan AirLines and leading retailers such as Seibu and Hankyu. Rakuten expects to earn $1.5 million this year, before taxes. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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RELATED ITEMS Tokyo's Valley of the Netrepreneurs (int'l edition) TABLE: Bit Valley Ventures MAP: Tokyo INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
