The first Japanese project invested by Zhu Xiaohu, a furniture brand for overseas expansion founded by the former head of SHEIN Japan, has secured 650 million yen in financing | Exclusive from 36Kr
Author | Lin Qingqing
Editor | Yuan Silai
36Kr learned that the cross - border furniture e - commerce company "Kagu E - commerce" recently announced the completion of a Series A financing of 650 million yen (approximately 30 million RMB), jointly led by the X&KSK Fund founded by Japanese football star Keisuke Honda and GSR Ventures. This round of financing will be mainly used for team building, optimization of the fulfillment system, upgrading of local services, and expansion into markets outside Japan. Previously, at the beginning of its establishment in 2024, the company completed a seed - round financing of 300 million yen. The seed - round investors included JAFCO Group Co., Ltd., the largest venture capital firm in Japan, and the PKSHA Algorithm Fund. The cumulative financing amount of the two rounds reached 950 million yen.
Founded in May 2024 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, "Kagu E - commerce" focuses on integrating Chinese furniture supply - chain resources and providing cost - effective and diverse furniture and home products for overseas markets such as Japan through brand - based operations. Initially, Kagu E - commerce will focus on the Japanese market, committed to providing high - quality and cost - effective furniture and home products for Japanese consumers. The company is centered around the "Chinese supply chain + Japanese brand" model, aggregating products from domestic established brands and factories and selling them to overseas consumers. Currently, the platform has over 2,500 products online, with nearly 30,000 SKUs, covering large - scale furniture such as sofas, tables and chairs, mattresses, and ergonomic chairs. It plans to increase the number of products to 5,000 - 8,000 by the end of the year.
The Japanese furniture market has long been dominated by offline basic - style brands (such as IKEA and Nitori) and high - end designer brands. The former has a limited number of SKUs, while the latter is expensive.
Kagu E - commerce quickly aggregates verified high - quality domestic products through a light - inventory model, filling the market gap with design diversity and price advantages. For example, a sofa produced by a Chinese supply chain on the platform is priced at only 1/2 to 1/5 of similar high - end Japanese brands. In addition, at the end of 2024, Kagu reached a strategic cooperation with the home - design software Kujiale. After users complete their designs, they can directly place orders to purchase the corresponding products, forming a closed - loop of "design - product selection - fulfillment". In terms of local services, the company combines local warehousing in Japan with direct shipping from China, keeping the average return rate at a very low level.
In terms of industry pain points, cross - border furniture e - commerce needs to solve the problems of complex supply - chain management, high logistics costs, and local - service challenges. Kagu E - commerce has a deep - seated partnership with domestic suppliers and has established some forward warehouses in Japan to optimize the last - mile fulfillment efficiency. The founder, Liu Sanyong, once served as the head of the Japanese market at Shein, building the team from scratch and achieving business scale - up. The core members of his team have both cross - border e - commerce and local - operation experience.
Currently, Kagu E - commerce has launched a brand - upgrading plan and is about to sign Japanese national - level football star Keisuke Honda as its brand ambassador to strengthen local trust. The company plans to expand into East Asian markets such as South Korea and Southeast Asia this year and further optimize its supply - chain system to increase the speed of new product launches. Liu Sanyong revealed: "The Japanese market is extremely picky about quality and service. If we can gain a foothold here, expanding into other global markets will be more certain. In terms of the supply chain, we will continue to actively expand cooperation with leading brands and factories in various categories in the domestic furniture and home - furnishing field. We also hope to cooperate with more advantageous supply - chain enterprises to jointly explore overseas markets."
Views from investors:
Zhu Xiaohu, Managing Director of GSR Ventures: "As a Japanese enterprise, Kagu efficiently integrates the furniture and home - furnishing supply chains of furniture - producing countries such as China through an innovative product - development model, providing consumers with high - quality and diverse furniture and home - furnishing products at highly cost - effective prices. We are very optimistic about this model and believe that Kagu can not only succeed in Japan but also has great potential in many global markets. As a globally - operating fund, GSR Ventures will help Kagu grow into a world - renowned furniture and home - furnishing brand as soon as possible."
Keisuke Honda, Founder of X&KSK I Investment Limited Partnership: "Mr. Liu Sanyong, the founder, once served as the head of Shein's Japanese market, establishing the Japanese - market business from scratch and developing it into a popular fast - fashion e - commerce platform in Japan. I believe that his rich business experience and successful business model can also lead Kagu to stand out in the furniture e - commerce field. Most importantly, Mr. Liu's outstanding business wisdom and execution ability are truly admirable. Every time we communicate, there are new developments in the company's direction and business, and the speed of its development always surprises me. I look forward to seeing more growth from Kagu, and in the future, it can grow into a globally - renowned brand, not limited to Japan."