I came back to Cambodia after finishing my two-week business trip around five cities in India, traveling to Osaka then Tokyo via Bangkok. Took me two hours to get passed immigration after arriving in cool Delhi from Cambodia where it is very hot all year round, I had to skip an appointment which Ms. Shigeta had especially made for me, a very Indian style start of a trip I must say. All five cities I went round by airplane had different temperature which shows the magnitude of India, while starting the leg of the flight at Kolkata Airport at 2 AM (5:30 AM Japan time) to Bangkok, pushing my tired body towards the limit, it was 6℃ when I arrived in Osaka at 4PM.
Moreover, if I had a checked baggage, it will be in the way through my long trip and a waste of time at the airport. All I had was a small carryon bag with very limited clothing, when I arrived in Japan I was wearing a fleece top and an ultra-light down jacket from Uniqlo. I am confident that I was the most lightly dressed guy in Kansai until I purchased a coat the following day.
Anyway, we published a press release related to the fund raise we just completed on January 31st, just before I left for my business trip.
＊“AGRIBUDDY”, a startup that supports fund management of farmers using mobile apps in developing countries raises 730K USD from iSGS Investment Works Inc, Yorihiko Paul Kato and others.
http://thebridge.jp/2017/02/agribuddy-730k-funding
＊ Agribuddy nets $730K in funding
http://m.phnompenhpost.com/business/agribuddy-nets-730k-funding
＊ I found an article published in Khmer (Well I think it is about the funding because I can read iSGS Investment Works Inc…)
Agribuddy ទទួលមូលនិធិ$៧៣ម៉ឺន
I thought of writing an article about it while on my business trip, but Mr. Kato had written an article before me while making many excuses and waited till I got back to Cambodia.
http://katou.jp/?eid=575
In the article there is a line, “The company is a startup that began in Cambodia, and this increase of capital is a result of Mr. Kitaura and my efforts for the past year. To be honest, it was quite difficult. After all, startups that have little relation to Japan in the frontier of Southeast Asia are…”, as he has written there were so many issues and hardships during this voyage. I am deeply grateful for those who have agreed to the capital increase this round, to Mr. Kato who has agreed to increase his share of funding and to all the existing shareholders. While being supported by so many people, this was an opportunity for me to realize that I am running toward a big goal.
The main purpose of this business trip in Japan was to announce what AGRIBUDDY is trying to accomplish through our business. “Mirai 2017” is one of Japan’s largest pitch contest backed by Japan Research Institute and Mitsui Sumitomo Bank.
https://mirai.ventures/
We successfully passed through the secondary preliminaries held at Mitsui Sumitomo Bank’s head office in Tokyo last December, this time the final presentation was held in my home town Osaka at Rihga Royal Hotel.
Mr. Tachibana the president of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mr. Fuchizaki the president of Japan Research Institute both attended the event and I was very happy to be awarded both the SMFG award and the Grand Prize with such amazing people being present.
I look like a wanted criminal even on such a special occasion don’t I, I will practice more on my smile. I am so sorry, Mr. Tachibana…
When the SMFG award was announced, I thought the Grand Prize was out of the question. When the moderator asked me for the second comments, I froze for a second not knowing what I would like to say. Well, I should have bought a proper jacket for such a special occasion too.
We were able to participate in “Mirai 2017” because of the award win at NIKKEI Fintech last year, which was thanks to Ms. Shigeta reaching out to us. AGRIBUDDY really has a team of great supporters around us.
＊ AGRIBUDDY received an award
http://ken5.jp/kengo/archives/2415
Ms. Shigeta has agreed to support AGRIBUDDY as a director, we will advance our business to India along with Cambodia. Thank you all for your continuous support.