Bizcast, which operates the influencer support platform BitStar, announced on the 19th that it has raised 300 million yen from Global Brain. This procurement is a seed round procurement from East Ventures in 2014 (procurement amount undisclosed), and a series A round procurement from COLOPL in August 2016 (procurement amount undisclosed, estimated at several hundred million yen). It follows. This round is de facto a series B round, but from the procurement scale and investment conditions, it seems that it will be similar to the series A round.
As a result of this procurement, Mr. Kazuhiko Miyama, a partner of Global Brain, will be appointed as an outside director. In addition, since this round has not been closed, Bizcast said that there is a possibility of making additional procurement within the same round from a company that can generate business synergies.
Bizcast, which was established in July 2014, launched the matching platform BitStar in September 2015 between YouTubers and companies that want to request YouTuber promotion. In particular, he has more than 1,500 YouTubers who do not belong to MCNs (multi-channel networks), etc., and their total number of followers exceeds 80 million.
In general MCNs, YouTubers are often charged about 20% of their YouTube monthly advertising income as a commission, but BitStar makes registration free and offers not only project proposals but also final tax returns. It aims to acquire influential YouTubers by providing incidental services such as support and exposure support. Currently, the number of videos distributed is over 1,000, and the repeat rate from clients is said to be 51%.
Bizcast developed its own tool in-house, crawling and analyzing the social media of registered YouTubers. Matching is established on Bitstar based on conditions such as which YouTuber can be introduced to what kind of project, and whether it is possible to satisfy both the YouTuber and the client.
Finance aims to strengthen YouTuber discovery and overseas expansion
Originally, BitStar started as a matching platform for video advertisements, but in the future, in order to increase the number of places where YouTubers can play an active part, We are also strengthening the management of our own media, and are exploring collaboration with entertainment agencies that have many artists and performers. Recently, we announced a partnership with the apparel brand WEGO and the joint program “WEGO YouTube Club” and “Toutiao”, which is making a full-scale entry into Japan with an up-and-coming news app from China. also gives a glimpse of his Bizcast vision.
It seems that they will also focus on accelerating the cycle of discovering new YouTubers, training them, and monetizing them.
In conjunction with this procurement, Bizcast has also revealed that it will collaborate with JTB Domestic Travel Planning. The background to this is that he uses BitStar in the main domestic travel product "Ace JTB" operated by JTB Domestic Travel Planning. At Ace JTB, the appointment of YouTubers using BitStar has increased the time spent on the site by four times and the number of PVs per day by up to seven times, making it possible to approach young people. evaluation.
JTB, the parent company, is the LP of Global Brain's 6th fund (management scale of 20 billion yen). In anticipation of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the company plans to promote collaboration in inbound tourism and overseas promotion support for Japanese companies.
As symbolized by its partnership with Toutiao, Bizcast seems to be expanding its reach into the influencer marketing market in Greater China. It is said that there is a possibility of expanding into Taiwan and other countries by the end of the year, and it is expected that he will compete with AdAsia Holdings, which has already taken the lead in this area. Incidentally, AdAsia Holdings announced last week that it has appointed a new VP to strengthen its presence in the Taiwan market.
The following is from a video produced by Ace JTB through BitStar matching, "Abura-kozo Explosion! Melting Snow Country Meat Steak [Ace JTB Thank You Choice Hokkaido 1]".
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