<article>Paneo has raised $800,000 in funding from Japan&#8217;s Incubate Fund while Funderbeam is entering the Asia Pacific region with an investment from Mistletoe, which has also invested in Funderbeam.</article>

Paneo has raised $800,000 in funding from Japan&#8217;s Incubate Fund while Funderbeam is entering the Asia Pacific region with an investment from Mistletoe, which has also invested in Funderbeam.
<h3 class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">VR startup Paneo raises $800k from Incubate Fund</h3>
<a style="color: #000080;" href="http://paneo.vision/" target="_blank">Paneo</a>, a startup venture developing a virtual avatar creation product called <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://embodyme.com/" target="_blank">EmbodyMe</a>, a VR app that creates an avatar on the basis of a single headshot and is currently available on Steam and the Oculus Store, has secured 90 million yen ($808,081) from Japanese VC <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/incubate-fund" target="_blank">Incubate Fund</a>.
Incepted in June 2016, the venture&#8217;s immediate priorities are refining their VR app and releasing their software development kit (SDK), which enables third party developers to develop content and games using EmbodyMe’s avatar function. They are targeting an SDK release date within the year.
EmbodyMe is a VR app that creates digital avatars for a user from a single photo of a users head. Through the use of a head-mounted display (HMD), it allows users to communicate over the internet in real-time. 
Digital communication services offering the chance to communicate on an audiovisual basis like Skype somestimes sees cases where nuances and context can be misinterpreted or missed. The use of digital avatars compensates for this inefficiency.
The use of EmbodyMe translates to the easy creation of 3D models from head shots and depicting them in a virtual context, then allowing the reproduction of a user&#8217;s appearance, body and expressions.
<h3 class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">Funderbeam secures funding from Mistleto, to expand into APAC</h3>
<a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.funderbeam.com/" target="_blank">Funderbeam</a>, originally from Estonia, which offers a blockchain-based stock exchange platform for startups, has raised EUR 2 million ($2 million) from <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/tag/mistletoe/" target="_blank">Mistletoe</a>, which is led by Japanese renowned entrepreneur/angel investor <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://linkedin.com/in/taizo-son-b6086182" target="_blank">Taizo Son</a>.   
At Slush Tokyo 2017, founder and CEO Kaidi Ruusalepp, disclosed the funding and highlighted that it also marked its expansion into the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, including Japan, through a strategic alliance with Mistletoe.
Ruusalepp, who previously served as CEO of the Estonian stock exchange Nasdaq Tallinn, launched Funderbeam in 2013 and in April 2016 launched a platform allowing startups to raise capital and trade their stocks. Funderbeam reports cumulative funding to date is $4.8 million while data compiled by Crunchbase estimates it at $4.75 million. Additionally, they have raised EUR 424,000 from their own funding platform.
With an office in London, it also has established partnerships with the Zagreb Stock Exchange in Croatia and the Ljubljana Stock Exchange in Slovenia. The decision to expand into the Asia-Pacific rather than the US is due to the rapid growth of Asia and the opportunities it has generated. 
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Paneo has raised $800,000 in funding from Incubate Fund while Funderbeam is has raised EUR2 million from Mistletoe. 

Japan: Incubate Fund invests in Paneo, Funderbeam

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