Participated · Series C · Apr 2020

Cogent Labs is a Tokyo-based AI company that provides four core offerings: Tegaki (handwritten OCR), Kaidoku (an NLP platform), Time-Series Forecasting (TSF), and bespoke AI consulting. TSF is used in a stock trade volume prediction service for Daiwa Securities, and the firm has developed an AI Creator System with Asahi Group Holdings for product package design. The company plans to enhance its NLP capabilities and develop an education service and an enterprise search engine built on that technology. Cogent will use the new funds to accelerate overseas expansion across Asian markets by localizing existing services and has begun entry into South Korea with local partners. Financially, Cogent raised JPY 1.4 billion (USD 13 million) in this Series C, bringing total funding to JPY 4.2 billion (USD 39 million). Past financings include a nearly USD 12 million Series A in 2017 led by SBI Investment and Toppan Forms, and an about USD 11 million Series B last year from Samsung Venture Investment, Kiwoom Investment, K2 Investment Partners, and Ncore Ventures.