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Martech startup awoo Intelligence aims at IPO in Japan, democratizing AI solution retail and e-commerce brands
Ken Mogi, Japan’s respected neuroscientist, extends expertise to consumer behavior AI solution startup awoo. This alliance adds strength to awoo’s robust tech background, fueling awoo’s ambition in Japan.
Like most countries throughout the world, the pandemic has taken its toll on in-store business sectors across Japan. In the once lively Tokyo, department store halls are no longer packed with eagle-eyed customers; shopping arcades are more empty than on a typhoon day. Brick and mortar stores are suffering from a plunge in sales. This unexpected turn of events accelerated the digital transformation of Japanese businesses as consumers picked up speed to adopt e-commerce.
“awoo is a company with double beating hearts, one in Taiwan and another in Japan,” described Mike Lin, founder and CEO of awoo. Starting out as a SEO optimization consulting group in Taiwan, awoo recently expanded its portfolio to build a SaaS platform for e-commerce owners to implement precise marketing with AI. Although Japan is slower to adopt e-commerce due to their relatively older demographic, being the third largest economy in the world, Japan poses great e-commerce potential. In a recent report by JP Morgan, Japan’s e-commerce market is valued at 150 billion, of which would need awoo’s AI services if they were to compete in the digitized future.
The cherry on top: automated marketing solution with exclusive AI tech
awoo entered the Japan market in 2018, orchestrating to become the leading provider of AI technology that help businesses grow website traction with traffic engine, recommendation engine and EDM engine. Furthermore, partnering with several homegrown martech companies in Japan, awoo is anticipating the dawn of a martech ecosystem.
“Democratizing AI for all business solutions is what awoo is born to do,” said Mike Lin, founder and CEO of awoo. awoo realizes this by building a SaaS platform that allows every e-commerce owner to implement AI technology.
awoo adopts neuro language processing (NLP) to take their services up a notch. AI is a driver of growth, and Mike breaks it down in our interview, explaining why the team made such a turn from SEO consulting services in the first place.
“In fact, solely offering SEO consulting services is lucrative enough. We even arranged a company trip to Paris back in the days,” said Mike. However, under the SEO consulting business model, Mike and the team felt stagnant. Therefore awoo rolled out growth hacker SaaS product “Break the Great Wall of SEO”. “Building SaaS platforms is critical in that automation and scalability allows us to expand our customer base extensively,” revealed Mike.
Currently, awoo provides a SaaS platform as well as consulting services. For customers, auto-generated marketing strategies could be accessed through awoo’s platform. The process is easy-peasy, insert your e-commerce website, then awoo’s AI platform generates a solution report, on which improvement measures are listed. On the other hand, customer success programs help tailor solutions to company-specific needs, which is a differentiating advantage over other automated AI marketing platforms.
Tech endorsed by Japanese top scientists
awoo’s panel of seasoned AI scientists built a strong tech infrastructure. Worthy of note is the team’s approach to precise marketing, which is unique and more efficient, receiving attention from top scientists in Japan.
This brand-new approach aroused interest from Ken Mogi, Japan’s famed neuroscientist, also a senior researcher at Sony Computer Science Laboratories and a visiting professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Mogi was approached by awoo’s vice president, who has been a fan of Mogi. awoo’s business model immediately hit it off with Mogi.
“Mogi San was captured by our approach that tracks consumer behavior based on product but not users. He provided us with abundant people connections in Japan, which is a huge boost for awoo to flourish in Japan,” said Mike.
Compared with other martech companies on the market that still use third-party cookies to track consumer behavior, awoo’s approach proves unconventional but efficient. “awoo labels by products and not by individual consumers, which is a more intuitive way to analyze consumer behavior. What’s more, this method avoids using consumer’s private data, which is all the more important as consumers become aware of the issue,” said Mike.
“The awoo team is rebellious, and that makes all the difference,” said Mike, who always had revolutionary blood running in his veins.
The first album Mike bought was by the LA-based rock band Guns N’ Roses, known for making music that topples the industry. “awoo wants to shift the paradigm of martech. We are exploiting new routes on the map,” concludes Mike Lin with a pumped-up attitude.
Engraving awoo’s ambition to “go global”
“The Japanese market is hard to crack open, as Japanese consumers are extremely detail-oriented and slightly xenophobic,” said Mike. The first and foremost step for awoo is therefore recruiting expert sales representatives that know the way around the local market.
When it comes to hiring new blood in a brand new market, awoo has prepared a question to test for company fit. “I always ask our interviewees what their vision was. For me personally, the question is important because awoo’s vision in Japan is to go global. Passion matters,” said Mike.
In Japan, a rising number of the young are acknowledging that Japanese traditional companies need to embrace transformation. In other words, no longer will a closed mindset that focuses only on the domestic market be competitive. To compete on a global scale, it is essential that employees recognize expanding overseas as their ambition too. “Our goal is to become the company that Japan's top talents want to work for the most, as they can ignite change and go global with us,” Mike concluded awoo’s recruitment philosophy.
“We are laying the groundwork for an initial post offering (IPO) in Japan,” said Mike. The strategic move into the Japan market was initially suggested by awoo’s investors from Silicon Valley angel investors. awoo proved to be on the right track, as their momentum is charged by support from top scientists in Japan and an ongoing B round funding from strategic investors in Japan.
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