DBJ CAPITAL RAISES 550 MILLION YEN FROM MITSUBISHI UFJ CAPITAL AND OTHERS

〜THE RELEASE OF THE NEW SERVICE "AGENT," A PERSONAL SALES ASSISTANT FUNCTION, FURTHER ACCELERATES THE SMARTENING OF THE SALES FRONTLINE.

UPWARD Corporation (Chuo-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Shinsuke Kaneki; URL: http://upward.jp), a provider of next-generation mobile CRM with the mission of "making fieldworkers smarter," has announced that it has formed a joint venture with DBJ Capital Corporation (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Haruhiko Uchiyama) as lead investors. (Location: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Haruhiko Uchiyama) as the lead investor, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Corporation (Location: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Shinsuke Sakamoto), DNX Ventures (Location: San Mateo, California; Managing Director: Yo Kurabayashi), Nippon Venture Capital Co. (located in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Minoru Tagaya, President and Representative Director).

■Purpose of Fundraising and Future Prospects

As Japan's workforce shrinks, fieldworkers engaged in liaison activities are faced with the challenge of improving sales efficiency and business process reform. However, the current situation is that daily customer contact information is not a corporate asset, and sales activities are still conducted on a person-to-person basis, due to such reasons as "I don't know which customers to visit," "Reporting sales to the company is a hassle," and "There is no particular benefit in reporting.

THE FUNDING WILL BE USED TO FURTHER ADVANCE UPWARD AND TO DEVELOP AND MARKET A NEW SERVICE CALLED "AGENT," A PERSONAL SALES ASSISTANT FUNCTION THAT INCLUDES AN AUTOMATIC ACTIVITY DATA ENTRY FUNCTION, NOTIFICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS USING CRM DATA AND AI, AND OTHER FUNCTIONS. WE WILL AGGRESSIVELY INVEST MAINLY IN EXPENSES.

Underwriter Comments/Expectations for the Future

DBJ Capital K.K.
Mr. Hiroaki Suzuoka, Senior Investment Manager, Investment Department, DBJ Capital Co.

AS LABOR SHORTAGES BECOME MORE APPARENT, AND THE NEED TO REFORM THE WAY PEOPLE WORK IS INCREASING, THERE IS A NEED FOR INNOVATION IN FIELD SALES, A FIELD IN WHICH MANY WORKERS ARE ENGAGED. WE ARE PLEASED TO INVEST IN UPWARD AS A LEAD INVESTOR IN THIS SERIES E. WE BELIEVE THAT UPWARD WILL HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON SOCIETY. WE EXPECT UPWARD TO FURTHER REVOLUTIONIZE THE SALES PROCESS AND ACCELERATE DATA-DRIVEN SALES ACTIVITIES, INCLUDING THE PLANNED LAUNCH OF "AGENT".

Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Corporation
Deputy Director, Investment Department I, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Corporation

UPWARD" mobile CRM has a proven track record in Japan, and we believe that it can be a true partner for our customers who are aiming for the next generation in sales. The upcoming release of the personal se
assistant function will further evolve UPWARD and actively support the creation of a sales style in the 5G/AI era. We look forward to working with UPWARD to contribute to the smartening of Japanese industry through this investment.

DNX Ventures
Mr. Yo Kurabayashi, Managing Director, DNX Ventures

Under the leadership of CEO Kaneki, UPWARD has been growing rapidly as a mobile CRM by supporting its users, field salespeople, to realize DX in the field of sales through a thorough field-oriented approach. UPWARD has achieved rapid growth as a mobile CRM. In the future, UPWARD will continue to evolve, including the development of personal assistant functions. We expect UPWARD to accelerate DX in the field of sales in Japan and become a flagship for productivity improvement of Japanese companies.

WHAT IS THE NEW AGENT SERVICE?

AGENT IS A NEW SERVICE FROM UPWARD THAT AUTOMATICALLY RECORDS THE DAILY CUSTOMER VISIT ACTIVITIES OF FIELD WORKERS. BY SIMPLY HAVING A SMART DEVICE, THE DATE AND TIME OF CUSTOMER VISITS AND THE NUMBER OF VISITS TO DATE ARE AUTOMATICALLY ENTERED INTO YOUR CRM AND TOTALED. FURTHERMORE, IT WILL BE THE CORE SOLUTION FOR THE NEXT-GENERATION MOBILE CRM THAT MAKES YOUR LIAISON SALES ACTIVITIES SMARTER, INCLUDING AN AUTOMATIC RECOMMENDATION FUNCTION THAT RECOMMENDS NEXT ACTIONS.

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