NTT DOCOMO Ventures Invests in Trend Express Inc.

NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan; President and CEO, Takayuki Inagawa; hereinafter “NDV”) has invested in Trend Express Inc. (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan; CEO, Tomonari Hamano; hereinafter “Trend Express”), which provides Japanese companies with marketing support for the Chinese market, through a fund operated by NDV.

As the domestic market has shrunk due to falling population caused by dwindling birth rate and an aging population, Japanese companies need to expand global business to capture overseas demands. In the cross-border e-commerce (EC) field, one of the measures for the global business expansion, the number of users in China is outstanding among other major countries. The size of transboundary business-to-consumer–EC market from Japan to China has already reached some ¥1.8 trillion*1 for FY2019.

Meanwhile, it is not easy, in fact, for Japanese firms to make a full-scale entry into the Chinese market where its social and cultural backgrounds are materially different from those of Japan.

Trend Express provides Japanese brands with a one-stop support for marketing process for Chinese consumers based on social big data analysis.

Trend Express services are highly rated by their existing customers, primarily Japanese leading brands, with the company’s additional growth being expected on the basis of the potential growth of the applicable markets and business expansion, arising from collaborations with their sales partners. Furthermore, there is a close similarity between their services and the NTT Group’s initiatives for inbound-related business; therefore, NDV has decided to make this investment on the basis that this investment will contribute to the creation of new values in these fields.

From now on, NDV will promote linkage between Trend Express’s and NTT Group’s services and will support activities such as joint creation of new services by the two organizations. NDV will make further efforts to create new values.

Note: All applicable company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
*1 Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry: “Survey of Infrastructure Development Status for Data-driven Society in Japan.”