Sansan Raises US$38 Million in Series D Funding

SINGAPORE, Aug. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sansan Inc., Japan's leading provider of cloud-based business card management services, announced today US$ 38 million (S$ 52 million) in Series D funding, with participation from new investor Future Creation Fund, which is backed by leading corporations such as Toyota Motor Corp and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. This round of funding also saw continued investment from global venture capitalist firm, DCM Ventures, and cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform, Salesforce.com.

This new round of funding will support Sansan Inc.'s aggressive growth into new cities in Asia including India, and extend its market dominance through its business card management services for professionals and corporates.

Eight for Professionals

Come September 2017, Sansan Inc. will introduce and market the English version of "Eight" to Asia. Eight is a business SNS (Social Network Service) to help professionals digitalise and manage their business cards data. Started in Japan in 2012, it is one of Japan's largest business network based on business cards, with an established reputation for quick and accurate data registration that combines advanced scanning technology and manual input of business cards.

For Corporates 

In addition, Sansan Inc. plans to leverage the funds to accelerate its business card management service - known as Sansan - for corporate users and organisations. The business card management and sharing contact information service, has a wide and impressive portfolio of national and international corporate users, including the Japanese Government (METI), Intel, Japan Post, Mizuho Bank, SAP, Seven & i Holdings, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Tokyo Gas, and Toyota. Sansan expanded into Singapore in October 2015 and currently works with Singapore-based clients such as Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

This Series D funding of US$38 million is the largest amount raised in the company's history. This brings the total to US$ 76 million (S$103 million), of which approximately 40% has come from investors outside of Japan.

About Fundraising Sources *In random order

Future Creation Fund (Minato-ku, Tokyo)
DCM Ventures（California, U.S.）
Salesforce.com Ventures (California, U.S)

About Business Card Application Eight

Eight is one of Japan's largest business network based on business cards. It has an established reputation for quick and accurate data registration that combines advanced scanning technology and manual input of business cards. To facilitate usage of its business network that continues to expand daily through exchange of business cards, the app is equipped with features such as Feed, which enables business information to be exchanged; Message, for easy communications; and Profile, for expressing personal information not contained on a business card. After business cards have been exchanged, users can regularly share recent updates and information, and communicate with each other easily at any time.

About Sansan Service

Sansan's unique cloud-based business card management solution helps companies to use the data in their business cards to enhance their business prospects, share and manage connections across geographies. Sansan currently has over 6,000 corporate users, and 81% market share in Japan (2016) and has been expanding its market into Singapore and Asia Pacific region under the concept of "Business Card Management for your company, Better teamwork and sales, start with a simple scan".

About Sansan Inc.

Since its founding in 2007, Sansan has focused on delivering its cloud based contact management service to customers in Japan and beyond. Sansan is setting the standard in Japan for cloud-based contact management, with annually doubling numbers of users from over 6,000 premium corporate users including the Japanese Government (METI). Sansan Inc. is based in Tokyo, Japan and has its subsidiary Sansan Global PTE.LTD in Singapore since October 2015. The company began offering its business card app Eight in 2012. It has over 1.5 million registered users as a new business network that incorporates a social media framework to transform business cards into business connections.

Founded: June 11, 2007
URL: https://www.corp-sansan.com/
Address: Aoyama Oval Building, 13F, 5-52-2, Jingu-mae Shibuya-ku Tokyo 150-0001
Business scope: Planning, development, and sales of cloud-based business card management services
Sansan for business users: : https://sansan.com
Eight for individual users: https://8card.net

Logo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20170807/1914741-1logo