Tonchidot has raised a $12M second round of funding, coming from DCM, Itochu, KDDI and Jafco, for their AR platform http://bit.ly/b9jvk4

The downloads of Tonchidot’s application haven’t translated into significant revenue, but given the early stage of the market, investors and entrepreneurs are more concerned with adoption than with generating money. Initial revenue would probably come from augmented reality games, according to the Juniper report, followed by business-to-business and business-to-consumer sales from around 2012 onward.

That’s exactly the business model that Tonchidot hopes to pursue, Honda said. “We’re raising a pretty big amount of money to keep on running and keep on building the platform,” he said. Honda points to the success enjoyed by first generation mobile gaming companies like Gree Inc., which is publicly traded in Japan with a market capitalization of nearly $3 billion.

The partnership with SPiRE is also important for the firm as it experiments with adding advertising and promotional marketing to its offerings. “In the medium term we see applications for advertising,” he said. “We’re tying up with Internet travel agencies and real estate services to locate which apartments are available for rent.” The idea is for users in a city to be able to view geo-tagged locations on their smartphones to receive information about potential rental apartments in the area. Full Story via Wall Street Journal.

Related posts:

1. AdMob Lands New Funding – Looks to Japan
2. MiX Features AR by Sekai Camera
3. Maqs Rolls Mobile Ad Platform
4. KDDI Invests $5m in Tonchidot
5. Mig33 Raises Funding from Gree

Some sage advise when entering new turf; Stop, Look and Listen.. it’s also good to secure a local guide. Japan is the cradle of mobile civilization – we have been dedicated to this space since 2001 – trust our archives here offer some useful material.

Domestic activities continue to set the pace, and sharp players are looking at global markets. We have hard-earned industry expertise and trusted network of contacts with access to advanced intell. and potential deal flow. Need a lift.. Ok, buckle-up!