Hakuhodo DY, Japan Post, NTT Docomo and Plus Corporation contributed to a $9.4m round that pushed the interior photo sharing service's total funding past $20m.

RoomClip, the Japan-based operator of an online lifestyle photo sharing service, closed an ¥1bn ($9.4m) series D round yesterday featuring corporate investors Hakuhodo DY, Japan Post, NTT Docomo and Plus Corporation.

Office supplies producer Plus Corporation invested directly while advertising agency Hakuhodo DY, postal service Japan Post and mobile network operator NTT Docomo took part in the round through Hakuhodo DY Ventures, Japan Post Capital and NTT Docomo Ventures.

The round was filled out by securities firm Okasan Securities’ Okasan Capital Partners unit, private equity firm Mercuria Investment and debt financing from financial services firms including Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Mitsubishi UFJ Group and Resona Bank.

Formerly known as Tunnel, RoomClip has built an online platform with 8.3 million monthly active users that enables users to post and share photographs of rooms to showcase interior design.

The capital will go to hiring, marketing, the launch of an e-commerce offering to tie in with RoomClip’s core offering and the introduction of cloud services that will enable businesses to market directly to the platform’s users.

The company said it has now raised approximately $20.7m since it was founded in 2011. Femto Growth Capital invested about $1m in 2013 and joined Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation unit SMBC Venture Capital and internet company Mixi’s i-Mercury Capital fund to add $1.6m in 2015.

RoomClip then secured $7.1m in a 2017 series C round that included the 2015 investors as well as marketing technology provider Adways, internet company Excite Japan and Opt Ventures, the subsidiary of marketing firm Opt now known as Bonds Investment Group.

The series C round also featured Mitsubishi UFJ subsidiary Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Spiral Ventures Japan Fund and Ibaraki New Industry Creation Fund.

Robert Lavine

Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.