Keio Innovation Initiative has invested in Colorful Board, an AI venture from Keio University, from a fund managed by Keio Innovation Initiative.
Keio University venture capital firm Keio Innovation Initiative (KII; President: Kotaro Yamagishi) invested in Colorful Board Co. (“Colorful Board”) on October 7 through a third-party allotment of new shares.
Since 2014, Colorful Board has been developing SENSY, a one-to-one artificial intelligence platform that learns users’ senses, based on the results of joint research with Keio University. Currently, we are providing services in the fields of “fashion” and “food” by analyzing user preferences through deep learning of input data such as images, text, music, videos, taste substances, and behavior logs, as well as image analysis and natural language processing.
Yuki Watanabe, founder and CEO of Colorful Board, studied AI at Keio University’s Faculty of Science and Technology, graduating in 2005. After working for a telecommunications service company, a management consulting firm, and obtaining his CPA license, he founded Colorful Board in 2011. in developing SENSY, he collaborated with Professor Emeritus Eitaro Aiyoshi (currently an advisor to the company), and in 2015 received the Yagami Prize (Entrepreneurship Support) from the Alumni Association Research and Education Promotion Fund of the Faculty of Science and Technology. In 2015, KII received the “Yagami Award (Entrepreneurship Support)” from the Alumni Association of the Faculty of Science and Technology’s Research and Education Promotion Fund.
KII’s President and CEO, Kotaro Yamagishi, stated, “We are very pleased to be working with KII on this first project.
AI technology is a growing field, but building a new business model and creating a new industry is not an easy task. KII will support further collaboration between the Colorful Board and Keio University, mainly in terms of technology and human resources, to contribute to society through social implementation of research results and to maximize the return on investment. KII will support further collaboration between the Colorful Board and Keio University, focusing on both technology and human resources, aiming to contribute to society through the implementation of research results and maximize the return on investment.