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Hello. My name is Masatoshi Kana, the representative of Trifa, Inc. This time, we have raised a total of 1.2 billion yen through financing from new shareholders including ANA Holdings and Global Brain, as well as financial institutions.
I would like to take this opportunity to once again express my gratitude to ANA Holdings and Global Brain, who have become our new shareholders in this round, as well as to Mr. Hirozawa of THE SEED, who has invested in every round since our founding, and to individual investors who have been consulting with us regularly, and most importantly, to all the members who support Trifa on a daily basis. Thank you so much as always.
By the way, this is our first press release regarding fundraising as a company. Since this is a rare opportunity, I decided to write a note to introduce myself, share Trifa's journey so far and what lies ahead, and to help you learn more about our company.
Suddenly, I have a lifelong goal of “Strengthening Japan through startups.” This thought was sparked by an experience I had overseas, which made me strongly feel this way.
Japan has stopped being a country of admiration
Born in Komatsu City, Ishikawa Prefecture in 1995, I had a somewhat fulfilling time until high school, but I was a boy who could not find something I was truly passionate about. This did not change when I left my hometown for university, and I still remember living with a strange sense of restlessness.
Is it okay to enter society without having any aspirations?
When I was troubled by such feelings, someone I was indebted to recommended me a travel novel by Kotaro Sawaki, “Midnight Express.” The story features charming places and characters that I had never imagined. Gradually, I wanted to see the world with my own eyes, and I made the decision to take a year off to go abroad.
There, I encountered an event that would greatly affect the course of my life.
By chance, I was hired as an intern at a company in Vietnam, where I had opportunities to engage with the Vietnamese startup community.
There, I witnessed younger people passionately declaring, “We will change Vietnam through startups,” and I was deeply shocked. What was even more shocking was that their sights were not set on Japan, but on the United States and China.
At that time, I thought that with companies like Toyota and Sony, the presence of Japanese companies in the world was still strong, but it was here that I first realized the significant decline in Japan's presence.
I remember feeling a strong regret when I was confronted with the smallness of the world I usually see and the fading of Japan's global presence.
Perhaps the reason for the restlessness I had until then was that I had not found something on a scale that I could dedicate my life to. The answer I came to after realizing this was that “Strengthening Japan through startups” was the way to go.
To achieve that, I believed that the quickest path was to become able to create services, so I decided to aim to become an engineer.
<Internship in Vietnam>
Finally found the prototype of Trifa
When I returned to Japan, I promptly learned programming on my own and joined Zeals as an engineering intern.
I felt that the company’s vision of “Raising Japan” aligned with my own aspirations and that I could work with the perspective I aimed for. After the internship, I joined the company directly and served as a PM and head of overseas development.
I was able to hone my skills as an engineer, but experiencing the growth of an organization firsthand from a few dozen to 100 people was a valuable experience. Many people I met here also helped during the founding period of Trifa, and the time I spent at Zeals was invaluable to me.
<With my close colleagues from Zeals even now>
While working at Zeals, I was thinking, “Someday I want to start my own business,” but it was only after visiting a war museum in Kagoshima Prefecture that I acted clearly toward entrepreneurship.
Seeing the last words of young kamikaze pilots in front of me made me rethink how to use the rest of my life. I want to create a product originating from Japan that can soar into the world; I want to dedicate my time to that. Strengthening that thought, I finally decided to start my own business.
However, although I started a business, I was in a situation where only my thoughts led the way, and I had no concrete vision or plans. I continued to release several services without knowing what was right, and I spent a period trying to find our direction. After enduring painful trial and error, I arrived at a certain thought.
To strengthen Japan, isn’t it necessary to experience the world just like I did once? I want to create a service that contributes to allowing Japanese people to experience overseas more easily.
This thought connects to what Trifa is today.
<The Zero Fighter that shocked me back then>
Unyielding commitment even in difficult times
In order to increase the number of Japanese people experiencing overseas, we started the eSIM service in August 2021, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we struggled significantly at the beginning. Almost no one was traveling abroad. With a small number of employees, I had to handle development, marketing, and customer support all by myself. Even though I had aspirations, I was doing my best only with what was right in front of me. It truly felt like there was no way forward.
Even in such a difficult situation, there are two things I continued to focus on unwaveringly. They are communication quality and customer support.
To become the communication infrastructure for overseas travel, “a sense of security” is crucial. A service that doesn’t connect when needed or doesn’t respond to inquiries cannot be used with peace of mind.
First of all, regarding communication quality, we partnered with multiple communication providers in various countries. With our design, if one provider experiences a failure, we can quickly connect to another provider to maintain high-quality communication.
Furthermore, regarding customer support, aiming for a level of service comparable to Zappos, which is considered the best customer support in the world, we internalized a 24-hour human chat support system. To alleviate anxiety even slightly during troubles, we have structured our operations to start responding within one minute of an inquiry.
Perhaps this commitment bore fruit, as our average score on the app store is 4.6, and we have achieved the top ranking in the domestic travel category as an eSIM player. As a pioneer of overseas communication eSIM applications in Japan, our recent user growth rate is 160% on a QoQ basis, and we are experiencing rapid growth.
Moving forward, we will aim to be the overwhelming No. 1 in Japan and will strengthen not only services for individuals but also those for corporations. We will also accelerate our global expansion while approaching customers in Asian regions such as Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
Aiming for a new "travel infrastructure"
Trifa is not just a communication app; it was established to provide a new “norm” in overall travel. The name comes from combining “trip” and “infrastructure,” aiming to be the foundation of travel.
Recently, we established an overwhelming No. 1 position domestically as an overseas eSIM application and are hastening our plans for overseas expansion. In the future, we want to grow as a global travel tech company that addresses all the challenges and needs of travelers, ultimately realizing a future where one can travel freely around the world with just a “passport + Trifa.”
Finally
As it's called the “lost thirty years,” Japan's economic situation has stagnated. When I think about whether this situation will remain unchanged when my children or grandchildren are grown up, I feel extremely anxious. When I tend to imagine such a dark future, I always think of the late Edo period.
Young people who felt the threat from the arrival of the black ships from the West desperately thought and acted, which led Japan to seize the opportunity to soar into the world.
Similarly, even amidst the acceleration of the rise of the United States and China, if Japan can unite its latent strength, we should be able to raise our presence in the world once again. And we at Trifa want to contribute to that reality. I truly believe that.
Trifa has 16 full-time employees, with an average age of 28, making it a young and growing company. Both as individuals and as a company, we feel a lack of strength, but the ambition to change the future of overseas travel will not be surpassed by anyone.
<Trifa's team. Please check here for details>
If there are those who agree with our aspiration to become Japan's global No. 1, please feel free to contact us. We also welcome those who simply want to chat casually. We look forward to inquiries via DM, etc.!
X: https://x.com/masatoshikana
Messenger: https://m.me/masatoshikana
Recruitment page: https://herp.careers/v1/trifa
