“No matter how much the web progresses, paper is not going to disappear,” says Raksul CEO Matsumoto. In fact, the conventional wisdom that there is no future in paper is proving to be a boon to him.
Photo Credit: Tech in Asia/ Founder and CEO Yasukane Matsumoto (l) with prize hire and new CFO Yo Nagami. Nagami is a DeNA and Carlyle alum
Last week, Metaps’ online payment system and app monetization know-how powered it to a hefty US$36 million series C funding round. In roiling markets like China or India, 36 million might not stand out, but in Japan it’s rare for even one startup to get that sort of cash per year. 2015 might turn into a special one – today Raksul, a startup that lowers printing costs, publically confirmed it scored US$33.7 million for its own series C.
Ten firms joined the funding round. Repeat investors were Opt, Global Brain, World Innovation Lab, Itochu Technology Ventures, ANRI, Dentsu Digital Holdings, and GMO Venture Partners. The new faces are Link and Motivation Group, Gree Ventures, and Global Catalyst Partners. This funding follows a US$14.3 million series B in February 2014.
Printing may not seem sexy, but Raksul has hit onto something. Speaking with Tech in Asia, Raksul founder and CEO Yasukane Matsumoto confirms his firm is now serving about 100,000 clients. The company’s statement also mentions that revenue has grown five times over. When we last spoke with Matsumoto he said that sales had hit US$1 million in March 2014. He declined to reveal the current monthly revenue figures, but simple mathematics puts Raksul on target for roughly US$60 million this year.
Raksul’s disciplined growth can offer some lessons for young entrepreneurs today. “[To build a business] you need to put the goal at the highest point and keep revising upward. The thing that we are aiming for – we need to keep changing it. IPO is not the goal, it is just a tool. What size, impact can our business have? That is the goal we need to decide,” Matsumoto says.
