YAMAP launched its service in 2013 and operates a smartphone‑based outdoor platform focused on mountaineering and other outdoor activities. Its flagship app displays current location and routes using GPS even where cellular service is unavailable, and includes off‑route alerts and location‑sharing functions to enhance user safety. The company recently completed a Series D financing that amounted to ¥2.04 billion (20.4億円) and includes debt. YAMAP has established a wholly owned insurance subsidiary, YAMAP Naturelance Insurance (ネイチャランス損保), to develop insurance products that leverage the platform's accumulated big data. Initial products include an outdoor leisure policy with witness‑information collection and an outdoor household/gear policy; YAMAP will sell these as an insurance agent starting May 28 and will allocate part of the proceeds to mountain rescue and accident‑prevention activities. The company is developing telematics, dynamic‑pricing insurance based on user behavior data targeting summer 2024 and aims to use accumulated accident data to reduce outdoor accidents and build a proprietary insurtech offering. Sefuri operates Yamap, a mobile app that provides offline location tracking and a social platform for mountain climbers and hikers. Since its March 2013 launch the app has recorded 260,000 downloads, 160,000 registered users, 2.2 million photos and 9 million monthly page views. The company has expanded services to include an insurance service for hikers, Yamap Geers (a price-comparison site for outdoor gear), and Hyakkei (an online outdoor media site). It has partnered with camera manufacturers and had the app pre-installed on Kyocera’s Torque smartphone and Casio’s WSD-F10 smartwatch, and worked with Olympus on outdoor camera accessories. Sefuri is conducting a field test in Niseko offering offline maps and has posted more than 400 English-language updates from domestic and inbound visitors. Management says the newly raised funds will be used to operate the business while the team focuses on improving services rather than pursuing profitability for at least a year, and plans to add gamified, geolocation-based features (stickers for summits, Streetpass-like communication) with support from Colopl.

Total raised

$15M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series D

Latest activity

May 2024