Tokyo, Japan, April 21, 2008 – (JCN Newswire) – J-Seed Ventures Inc. announced the successful completion of the JPY 80 million round of financing by maneo Inc., the pioneer in social lending in Japan. The round was led by J-Seed Ventures and Yasuda Enterprise Development Co., Ltd. J-Seed Ventures also led the company’s first round of financing in April 2007.
maneo expects to be the first company to successfully introduce a social lending market in Japan. The company’s corporate website was launched in March 2008 and the company expects to launch its service this summer.
“We’re excited about launching Japan’s first social lending market,” said Tadatoshi Senoo, CEO and co-founder of maneo. “It's very simple. By cutting out the banks and consumer finance companies, borrowers get lower rates and lenders get higher ones. We are delighted to find in J-Seed Ventures and Yasuda Enterprise Development partners which share our passion for improving the personal financial lives of people all over Japan.”
“Social lending embraces the trends that are defining the current times and we expect it to provide an important alternative to traditional bank lending and consumer financing,” said C. Jeffrey Char, Representative Director of J-Seed Ventures. “We are excited about the company's ability to help people achieve their financials goals and improve their quality of life.”
About maneo Inc.
maneo Inc. plans to offer a user friendly and highly secure online community for people to borrow and lend money through an online auction system. maneo is about helping people lend and borrow money with each other, sidestepping the expense and inconvenience of traditional banks and consumer finance companies. People who want to borrow money register with maneo and create loan listings. Potential lenders register with maneo and bid on the loan listings they are interested in. maneo aggregates the bids with the lowest rates to fund the relevent loans and handles all of the administrative matters relating to the loans. For more information about maneo, visit http://www.maneo.jp/.
J-Seed Ventures Inc.
J-Seed is a Tokyo-based venture incubator and provider of management and technology consulting services. The Company maintains a close relationship with its various group companies and leverages its network to assist ventures to quickly attain profitability. The Company also assists foreign clients in establishing operations in Japan. For more information about J-Seed Ventures, visit http://www.j-seed.com.
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J-Seed Ventures Inc.
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