With the mission of “contributing to the sustainable development of regions,” Velodash Japan Inc. (Velodash Japan) focuses on three businesses: cross-border e-commerce (online sales to overseas customers), inbound tourism PR and tourism solutions, and support for business expansion overseas and regional exchange. We asked CEO Daiki Sekiguchi, who wants to help countries and regions keep developing in a sustainable way, about that passion.
Working with a local team, based on experience living in Taiwan
We are a company based in Osaka that mainly supports cross-border e-commerce for Taiwan, does PR aimed at inbound tourists, and helps overseas startups enter Japan.
Velodash Japan’s strength is the collaboration with our local team that we have built since our founding. Even high-quality Japanese products will not be accepted by the market without an understanding of local consumer needs and the timing of sales. A big feature is that, drawing on my own long experience living in Taiwan and working with the local team to grasp customer needs in detail, we can create PR strategies with clearer targets.
Recently, we partnered with the Taiwanese online shopping site WUZ to support cross-border e-commerce for a major Japanese drugstore chain. In addition to PR on social media and flyers packed with products, we set up a pop-up booth at WUZ’s physical store in central Taipei so that people could actually pick up the products, and guided them to the website with QR codes.
WUZ has a clear target customer, “upper-middle-class women in urban areas,” who are also very interested in Japanese cosmetics and supplements. By focusing on them and carefully selecting products for PR, we achieved a high engagement rate. For inbound tourism as well, we run cost-effective PR activities using local influencers and others.
Japan and Taiwan differ not only in historical and social background but also in business customs, such as the pace of business. With us, who know the local situation inside out, serving as the bridge, both sides can build trust and do business comfortably.
Communication skills gained in a highly international environment
Since high school, I had wanted to work introducing traditional Japanese culture and products overseas. I studied at a law faculty in university, and after winning the “Japan-Taiwan Cultural Exchange Youth Scholarship” organized by a Japanese newspaper while a student, I went on to graduate school in Taiwan. In graduate school, I studied area studies and Taiwanese history, and in a highly international environment I gained language skills, an understanding of different cultures, and communication skills.
At the same time, seeing Japan’s economic and social problems, such as the declining birthrate and aging population, the concentration in cities, and depopulation in rural areas, I felt a sense of crisis. Perhaps being outside the country let me see them more objectively.
With the Japanese domestic market set to shrink further, I believed that “earning foreign currency from outside the country and outside the region will be essential for the sustainable development of the country and its regions.” While still in graduate school, I entered the local startup industry and began seriously preparing to start a business.
At the time, I knew the Taiwanese IT industry well, so I tried outsourcing from Taiwanese IT companies to Japan. That was how I met Velodash, a Taiwanese company that runs a cycling app. After going through the investment process and so on, we began a trial introduction in Japan around 2019 and held cycling events and more in Japan.
Just then, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Unable to hold events, we fundamentally reviewed the business and founded the company in earnest in 2021, leading to our current business.
The sustainable society we aim for, hand in hand with countries around the world
The formative experience that made me want to connect Taiwan and Japan was volunteering, while in graduate school, at the “Wakayama Night Market,” an event held at Nanamagari Market in Wakayama City.
Themed on Taiwanese night markets, the event was a homemade effort by local people to liven up a shopping street that was losing its energy. Feeling firsthand the tough situation that regional cities face and the love of the people living there for their community strengthened my wish to contribute to the region by connecting Taiwan and Japan.
Wakayama City has such strong ties with Taiwan that it even has a citizens’ group, the Wakayama Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association. Through encounters at the Wakayama Night Market, we have arranged visiting tours for local government officials from both Taipei and Wakayama, interpreted for them, and given talks at exchange events.
We also support business expansion between Japan and Taiwan in various fields and regions. We support exchanges of people, experiences, and products between Japan and Taiwan across many fields, using methods suited to each project: introducing Japanese artworks to Taiwan, PR for and sending visitors to Japan, helping Taiwanese startups enter Japan, and writing articles for and approaching newspapers and magazines.
Precisely because information from around the world is available wherever you are today, we want to convey the true appeal of each country as vividly and as timely as possible.
Japan has unique traditional and food cultures, and it is a technological powerhouse in industry. It also has a distinctive sensitivity toward people, in hospitality and consideration. We will further accelerate our activities to share Japan’s appeal with the world. Beyond Japan and Taiwan, we also aim to expand to ASEAN countries and then the whole world.
Japan is expected to see its population decline and its birthrate fall and population age further, with regional disparities widening. For sustainable development, we need relationships that benefit both sides, rather than thinking only of our own country’s interests. We want to join hands with countries around the world and work together for the development of society.
How We Used OIH
I visited OIH even before starting the company to gather information on pitch events and VCs. In December 2021, before incorporating, I presented at “Mirainno Pitch,” and in July 2022, after founding the company, at “Umekita Pitch.” Having the chance to convey our business and my own passion on a big stage was very helpful for later pitches and business contests.
Interview date: August 5, 2024
(Interview and text: Aya Iwamura)