Capital Contribution to X-Locations Inc.

NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan; President and CEO, Takayuki Inagawa; hereinafter referred to as “DOCOMO Ventures”) announced today that, through a fund it manages, it has contributed capital to X-Locations Inc. (headquartered in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan; President: Kazusuke Obi; hereinafter referred to as “X-Locations”), a firm that engages in the location intelligence platform business.

1. Outline of the capital contribution
NTT DOCOMO Ventures, through a fund it manages, has acquired shares in X-Locations via a third-party allotment it conducted.

2. Background of the capital contribution
“Location Data Use 1.0,” an initiative that started in the second half of the 1990s with the development of GPS, has undergone the “2.0” stage brought about by smartphone penetration, and is now moving closer to the “3.0” stage coming from the permeation of sensors and the IoT. The year 2017 saw the establishment and operational launch of the Association for Promotion of Infrastructure Geospatial Information Distribution, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (public-private-sector location-information data exchange). In fiscal 2018, the positioning precision of the Japanese GPS will improve to centimeter levels thanks to four Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) (Michibiki) satellites, which points to a rapid environmental development. Experts predict that the market for the Japanese location data industry will grow to approx. 62 trillion yen by 2020. (*1)

X-Locations was established in order to succeed to the Japan operations of Near Pte. Ltd. (headquartered in Singapore), the operator of one of the world’s largest location intelligence platforms, and to deliver services more suitable for the Japanese market. X-Locations provides location data solutions such as location-based advertising and location intelligence, based on a wide range and diversity of location databases not reliant on any specific device, OS or application, but something made possible by using location data from smartphone applications as consented to by consumers. In the coming years, X-Locations will bolster its alliance with marketing-data holder companies in Japan, aiming to build a data distribution platform dedicated to location data, going forward.

Services from X-Locations, being highly recognized by its existing customers, will likely be used more widely as optimization will progress further for the Japanese market in the future. Due to being highly compatible with the digital marketing activities of NTT DOCOMO, INC., the services are expected to contribute to creating new value in these fields.

(*1) Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Report of Commission for promoting G-Space x ICT
(http://www.soumu.go.jp/menu_news/s-news/01tsushin01_02000105.html)