Top Startups from Japan Compete at JapanNight VII in San Francisco on November 5

SAN FRANCISCO - Oct. 16, 2014 - PRLog -- This fall, the hottest emerging startups from Japan will gather in San Francisco for the ultimate startup demo competition—JapanNight. The event will be held on November 5 at the Automattic Lounge on 132 Hawthorne. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. PDT. Tickets are available on Eventbrite (JPN7SF.eventbrite.com) now through November 5.

Organized by marketing consulting and brand localization firm btrax (btrax.com), the pitch battle began in September with 14 startups in the Tokyo semi-finals chosen from hundreds of entries. Only the top six teams qualified to advance to the final event in San Francisco next month.

“There’s really no other event quite like this right now,” said Brandon K. Hill, btrax’s founder and CEO. “JapanNight is a massive platform for Japanese startups to showcase their innovations. Our finalists from the previous years have benefited greatly from participating, with 40% receiving funding after the event. I look forward to bringing a new generation of entrepreneurs to San Francisco and sharing the excitement for Japanese innovation and technology.”

The Six Finalists

AgIC Circuit Printer and Circuit Maker - AgIC, Inc.

AgIC (agic.cc) circuit printers and circuit markers aim to make circuit board creation more accessible. Circuit printers are off­-the­-shelf home inkjet printers with silver-based conductive ink. Customers can print their own circuit boards in a few minutes in the same way they print pictures at home and in the office.

Sansan – Sansan, Inc.

Sansan (en.sansan.com) is a collaborative cloud-based contact management service that transcribes business cards and enables businesses to share their network as a team. Through this service, users can transform everyday business encounters into usable data they can leverage. Sansan launched its platform in the U.S. in May 2014.

planBCD - Kaizen Platform, Inc.

planBCD (planb.cd) is a service that helps businesses optimize their websites through precise data analytics, simplified A/B testing, and crowdsourcing top design talent.

Akerun – Photosynth Inc.

Akerun (akerun.com) is a smart lock robot compatible with iPhones. It uses Bluetooth to lock and unlock your door by recognizing your phone, which acts as a digital key. The design is intuitive, easy to install and secure.

Cafetalk – Small Bridge Inc.

Cafetalk (cafetalk.com) is a service that connects tutors around the world with students interested in their classes. Students can learn to speak new languages or play musical instruments through private video classes conducted over Skype. All students have to do is find a class they like and reserve a time on the tutor's schedule.

Fove – Fove Inc.

FOVE (fove-inc.com) is the first consumer head mount display for interacting with virtual worlds. The wearable device uses eye and motion tracking technology to control the display output, as opposed to existing virtual reality systems that rely on external controllers. Tracking eye movements allows the display to focus dynamically and naturally, greatly increasing realism and visual immersion.

About btrax

btrax (btrax.com) is a consulting, localization and marketing agency focused on brands entering the US and Asia markets. Our clients range from startups to Fortune 100 companies. To learn more, follow us on twitter (twitter.com/btrax) or Facebook (facebook.com/btrax), and check out Asian market trends and tips on our freshtrax blog at blog.btrax.com.