<article>Japanese flea market app <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.company-maipple.com/" target="_blank">Maipple</a> has closed a seed investment from <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.gaiax.co.jp/gxincubate/" target="_blank">GX Incubate</a>, a fully-owned subsidiary of Japanese Internet company Gaiax, and three other angel investors.</article>

Japanese flea market app <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.company-maipple.com/" target="_blank">Maipple</a> has closed a seed investment from <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.gaiax.co.jp/gxincubate/" target="_blank">GX Incubate</a>, a fully-owned subsidiary of Japanese Internet company Gaiax, and three other angel investors.
Proceeds from this investment will be used to finance further expansion into the Southeast Asian markets through promotions and enhanced system development. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.
Launched in December 2015, Maipple is from the 11th batch of Taiwanese startup accelerator <a href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=AppWorks">AppWorks</a>. Currently, the app focuses on dealing with consumer-to-consumer (C2C) transactions of fashion items in Taiwan, with plans to become a B2C (business-to-consumer) business that allows Japanese brands to sell carry-over stock in Taiwan. Maipple, which offers an escrow service, has launched a time-limited offer for the service to operate commission free for now.
This is aimed at leveraging on the <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Trends/Online-word-of-mouth-marketing-picking-up-in-Taiwan" target="_blank">growth of online referral marketing in Taiwan</a>, particularly given its ability to drive sale of products.
For instance, the Nikkei Asian Review observed in 2014 that blog advertising in Japan is often shunned, but Taiwanese consumers recognise the difference between advertising content and genuine reviews and will still purchase products they think are good.
Kotaro Nagamatsu, founder and CEO of Maipple, has said that he wants to boost promotion of the service, leveraging on more than over 300 women influencers which his company has acquired. This is expected to help Japanese apparel makers to market their brands in the Taiwanese market.
However, brand expansion may prove challenging due to the emergence of many competing Asian brands that already operate in the market. One Japanese startup, Smaoku, allows users to sell their second-hand branded items. It has recently launched its own mobile app for Japanese users.
<a href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=Carousell">Carousell</a>, based in Singapore, has also proved to be a compelling market leader in Southeast Asia, where Maipple plans to expand.
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Japanese fleat market app Maipple has secured seed funding from GX Incubate, an arm of Japanese Internet company Galax

Japanese flea market app Maipple gets seed funding from GX Incubate

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Japanese flea market app Maipple gets seed funding from GX Incubate

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