Safie raises capital from the NTT Group: Safie enhances partnership with NTT East with the aim of building a common video platform as social infrastructure

Safie Inc. (Head Office: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; President and Representative Director: Ryuhei Sadoshima; hereinafter called “Safie”), the developer and operator of the Safie platform (which has the largest share¹ in the cloud video recording service market), has raised capital from funds operated by NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Inc. (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Takayuki Inagawa; hereinafter called “NDV”). Safie aims to develop a strong partnership with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation (Head Office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President: Fukuzo Inoue; hereinafter called “NTT East”) for purposes such as building a video platform as social infrastructure and to promote collaboration with the NTT Group.
1. Source: Techno Systems Research Co.’s research on the network camera cloud recording service market for 2018

Through the raising of capital, the Safie video platform will be linked with the assets of the NTT Group, the largest telecommunications carrier in Japan. Safie aims to build a video platform as social infrastructure by providing services that can be used safely and at low cost by anyone, including individual consumers, corporate customers, enterprises, and central government institutions and local governments.

■ Details of collaboration
(1) Providing cloud video services
Development, provision, and sale of the Giga-raku Camera cloud-type camera service
Promoting linkage with the NTT Group’s nationwide network of construction and maintenance services, making delivery more efficient, reducing the cost of wiring and installation work, and offering packaged services

Reference: October 2018 Provision of a cloud-type camera service called Giga-raku Camera Cloud Plan

(2) Building a video platform as social infrastructure
Building scalable, secure, and stable video infrastructure and providing relevant services by taking advantage of the NTT Group’s fixed-line and mobile telecommunications infrastructure and 5G wireless technology

(3) Developing services that link with AI and analysis technologies through cloud computing
Strengthening linkage with market devices and services through cloud-to-cloud interworking and developing alert and automatic control systems on the basis of video analysis results

(4) Promoting collaboration with the NTT Group
Promoting collaboration with NTT Group companies, jointly developing services and solutions, and strengthening linkage among them

■ Comments by each company
[NTT East]
Positioning the provision of the Giga-raku Camera Cloud Plan as one of the core components of our IoT, we aim to strengthen and expand video analysis services through the use of the Safie video platform and provide services that satisfy customer needs by enhancing linkage with optical fiber lines and other telecommunications infrastructure facilities. We will endeavor to build video-related social infrastructure together with Safie.

[NDV]
Following the investment, we will support the further development of collaborative operations through the use of the business assets of NTT East and other NTT Group companies and Safie’s technology.

[Safie]
We will work in collaboration with the NTT Group to develop new markets such as major corporations, local governments, public institutions, and other entities that have, until now, faced difficulties in shifting to cloud services. Furthermore, we will build a video platform as social infrastructure and endeavor to develop services that link with AI and analysis technologies.

■ Investment outline
Third-party allocation

■ Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation
As an ICT company rooted in local communities, NTT East will contribute to solving local social problems by using not only AI, IoT, and other cutting-edge technologies but also the NTT East Group’s various assets.

Address: 19-2, Nishi-shinjuku 3-chome, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Date of establishment: July 1, 1999
Paid-in capital: 335 billion yen
Representative: Fukuzo Inoue
Business outline: Regional telecommunications services in the eastern areas of Japan, etc.
URL: https://www.ntt-east.co.jp

■ NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Inc.
NDV operates corporate venture funds that invest in startups and other companies, promotes collaboration among companies, and runs the DOCOMO Innovation Village, a support program for companies. Furthermore, NDV promotes efforts to actively develop businesses that link organically with the above-mentioned activities.

Address: Ark Mori Bldg. 31F 12-32 Akasaka 1-Chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Date of establishment: February 20, 2008
Paid-in capital: 50 million yen
Representative: Takayuki Inagawa, President and CEO
Business outline: Operation of corporate venture funds investing in startups and other companies, etc.
URL: https://www.nttdocomo-v.com

■ Safie Inc.
Safie has developed and operates a cloud recording-type video platform that enables users to view video from a camera in a remote location anytime and anywhere by connecting the camera with the Internet. In 2017, it obtained the largest share in the domestic cloud recording camera market. In line with its vision of “creating a future from video,” Safie aims to create a future in which video is actively used everywhere and to develop a platform that can be used easily by many people.

Address: 6F, Nikko Gotanda Bldg. 29-5 Nishi-Gotanda 2-Chome, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
Date of establishment: October 23, 2014
Paid-in capital: 100 million yen
Representative: Ryuhei Sadoshima, President and Representative Director
Business outline: Development and operation of the Safie cloud recording-type video platform and provision of relevant services
URL: https://safie.link/