2026年度　アントレプレナーシップⅠ　セッション７

Company overview (Akippa / Kanaya)

• Company / Founder: Akippa
• President / Representative: Kanaya（カナヤ）— “Akippa no Kanaya”
• HQ: Namba, Osaka
• Founded: February 2009
  • The speaker references “107 years,” which appears to be an auto-subtitle error.
• Business model: Parking space sharing via a smartphone app
  • Owners list unused parking spaces in 15-minute increments
  • Drivers reserve + pay in-app
  • Akippa takes a commission and remits the remainder to space owners

Value propositions & GTM (go-to-market) strategy

For drivers (users)

• Pre-booking: up to 30 days in advance (concerts / baseball / game days)
• Lower price than local coin-operated parking
  • Achieved by monetizing “empty supply”
• High availability: the app shows 50,000+ spaces available at any time

For parking owners (supply)

• No upfront cost: “start without spending a single yen”
• Earn extra income easily via smartphone
  • Positioned similarly to listing an item on Mercari

Supply expansion (concrete tactics)

Akippa expanded supply in stages:

• Started with privately owned spaces
• Then added:
  • monthly-rental parking lots
  • vacant lots
  • unused spaces in apartment buildings

Motivation / scale logic mentioned:

• The speaker claims ~30 million empty spaces (with multiple numeric references across subtitles).
• A “parking scarcity” framing is discussed alongside references to car volumes.

Scale indicators (as stated)

• Members exceeded 5 million (one subtitle)
• A separate segment says 2023 registered users exceeded 3.5 million
  • These figures appear inconsistent due to subtitle aggregation.

Key frameworks / “playbooks” mentioned

1) “Indispensable service” mission framework

• Define mission as creating services indispensable to society
• Collect internal inputs: employees write down ~200 daily-life problems
• Convert those into a workable business thesis via investigation + prioritization

2) Problem-to-product narrowing

• Narrow from ~200 problems → ~6 candidate ideas → select parking
• Selection criteria included:
  • cheaper than existing alternatives
  • fit to company strengths, including early sales execution capability
  • “don’t leave the decision to others”

3) Fundraising playbook (venture capital sprint)

• The speaker contrasts venture capital with banks during a cashflow crisis (VC focuses on growth potential).
• Execution:
  • cold outreach to 49 companies (or 50+, subtitles vary) → 3 appointments
  • secured JAFCO investment of ¥65M (described alongside a debt offset)

4) Employee motivation through external validation

• Entered IVS Launchpad (biannual startup pitch; Yahoo/LINE presidents mentioned as judges)
• Used the win as internal morale + credibility catalyst

5) PR / earned media recruitment funnel

A “candidate strategy” to attract new grads without ad spend:

• weekly 10 press-release proposals, send 3
• target newspapers/magazines (Mainichi, Nikkei mentioned)
• PR packaging: a transparent A4 envelope so content is visible without opening
• Claim: 100+ TV appearances in 3 years

6) Ongoing market defense

After major entrants (SoftBank / Rakuten / Recruit), the response emphasized:

• hiring top talent (“more capable than the CEO”)
• building brand / recognition / usable supply to compete with incumbents’ distribution

Metrics, KPIs, targets, and timelines (business performance)

Early product + launch

• First month sales after Akippa release (Apr 2014): ¥20,000

Funding & investment

Examples cited:

• ¥65 million VC investment from JAFCO (crisis period)
• ~¥1.2 billion within ~two years after the IVS win (as stated)
• ¥3.5 billion total investment referenced after strategic hiring/defense
• Yahoo example (2016 segment):
  • planned ¥500 million over 7 years
  • later received ¥3.5 billion (as narrated)

COVID-19 impact + profitability turnaround

During COVID (2020):

• Event revenue disappeared
• Expenses reduced to ~40% of prior year (speaker’s claim)
• Sales “plummeted”; aimed to turn profit in May 2020
• Monthly deficit reached “several thousand” (likely larger; subtitles conflict)

How Akippa pivoted:

• Found heavy usage for commuting
• Expanded parking inventory in office/factory areas
• Outcomes:
  • surpassed the same month YoY
  • 2022: profitable monthly as events returned
  • 2023: profitable for the entire year

Customer support efficiency (AI enablement)

• AI chat rollout (Nov 2025 comparison):
  • friend-chat sessions down 58.3% YoY
  • cost reduction 40.7%
  • stated handling rate: 98% resolved by regular support; ~2% escalated to humans

Reservation + traffic reduction metrics

Fireworks traffic mitigation via time-slot distribution:

• 19% of reservations 9am–12pm
• 23.6% of reservations 12pm–2pm
• Claim: traffic jams reduced; return-trip routing improvements ongoing

Modernization + partnerships

• Google integration: “Online Reservation” button inside the Google app to improve discovery → conversion
• Claimed steady growth in members, especially in early autumn (no numeric KPI given)

Concrete examples & case studies (execution patterns)

1) Sports “supply crunch” solved without building

• Case: FC Machida Zelvia promoted to J1 (fall 2023)
• Problem: ~500 cars short of parking capacity
• Usual approach: build multi-story garage
  • described as >¥1B capital and slow
• Akippa approach:
  • recruit unused local private lots
  • secure 500 spaces
  • deliver within 2 months for match days
• Generalization: a “standardized process” applied with sports teams across Japan

2) Festival traffic management via reservation-only access

• Example: Autumn Festival / park venue
• Introduced “Autumn Pass”:
  • only reserved car arrivals permitted
  • non-reservers directed to public transport to prevent congestion
  • plan to later expand surrounding parking so the broader area remains usable

3) Fireworks reservations

• Reserve 2,500 official parking spaces (early autumn)
• Coordination described for school grounds (elementary/junior high)
• Introduced time-slot strategy to reduce peak arrival congestion

4) Toyota navigation partnership

• After TV exposure, a Toyota executive reached out
• Joint project:
  • link Akippa parking info into Toyota navigation
• Toyota investment fund involvement mentioned (amount not stated)

Actionable recommendations embedded in the talk

• Start with mission clarity (“indispensable service”) and translate it into product hypotheses using real user problems (the “200 problems → choose 1” approach).
• Validate early with distribution + PR when cash is tight:
  • earned media targets
  • structured press-release cadence and packaging designed for easy media consumption
• Defend against incumbents by hiring for capability, not only headcount.
• Use data to pivot supply strategy during demand shocks:
  • COVID lesson: reallocate inventory toward the usage segment that remains (commuting), rather than event demand.
• Operationalize quality + trust at scale:
  • insurance/mitigation processes for accidents and responsibility ambiguity (Son Japan insurance mentioned).
• Automate support with AI while retaining human escalation for edge cases (98/2 split referenced).

High-level investing/market view (execution emphasis)

• The speaker describes incumbents (SoftBank / Rakuten / Recruit) entering after market validation.
• Akippa’s counter focused on execution:
  • funding scale
  • hiring
  • PR
  • inventory expansion
  • product/UX improvements
  • aiming to outlast competitors and absorb supply if others exit (Rakuten/Recruit takeover mentioned).
• Competitive framing mentions mobility platform rivals (Uber / Disney / Waymo referenced as “Google” in subtitle; appears to be an auto-error), but operational emphasis remains: becoming the largest mobility/parking platform.

Presenters / sources mentioned

Presenter

• Mr. Kanaya (カナヤ) — President of Akippa

Organizations / people referenced

• IVS Launchpad judges: Yahoo CEO / LINE CEO (names not specified in subtitles)
• Investors / funders: JAFCO, DNA, GLOBIS Capital Partners
• Partners / examples: Google, Toyota Motor Corporation (navigation partnership), Son Japan (insurance)
• Media / PR targets: Mainichi Shimbun, Nikkei Shimbun
• Competitors: SoftBank, Rakuten, Recruit
• Sports teams: FC Machida Zelvia; J.League / B.League / Toho Kuraku (baseball reference; team name unclear due to subtitles)
• Named individuals: Fujita (CyberZent) and other exec/talent names such as Hida, Kobayashi (first names not always clear from subtitles)