Angel InvestorsHere are the voices of three angel investors who have invested in a startup from Kirirom Institute of Technology.

I had no intention of investing when I first head the pitch a year ago. As I am not fluent in English, I was concerned about communication. I was also unsure about the amount of investment that was required of me. Six months later, when I heard the pitch again, I became interested in the management. I felt compelled to help him after seeing him trying his best. I was drawn to his personality rather than his business knowledge. It was easy to dismiss if off by saying, “He is a student, so he does not have the foundations of business yet,” but if my involvement could transform his life … I expected the investment to be around 10 million yen, but it was just 1 million yet. I attend board meetings once a month, and I’m relieved that Kirirom would interpret my queries and back up my English.

1.      It is a place with a lot of pioneering potential. Even with a business plan, the biggest challenge of a business is to collect money. However, he is capable of doing it at this point.
2.      I posed ten questions from diverse perspectives, such as what the biggest hurdles to capital policy and life are, to understand his values and methods of thinking. I was particularly interested in learning how he believes he will be compensated for his investment.

1. In Kirirom, startups will be launched one after another, but most of them are in the IT area. I think that the more these startups grow, the more Jobify will be needed, so I decided to invest in Jobify.
2. We have formed a union with people who are interested in startup investment but have not yet invested. The total investment is over 1 million yen. If you are doing IT business, you can expect to hire an engineer for your company. I think Jobify can also introduce Cambodian junior IT personnel to Japanese companies. Although it cannot be supported locally, it is possible to get involved in the business in the form of supporting sales and marketing while investing. Those are the reasons why they join the union.

1. We also doing business of inspect buildings, roads, dams, bridges, etc. using 3D data. I thought there was business synergy with our company.
2. I am not good at English. Normally, you would understand the content in English, but we can get the materials in Japanese, or we can have a meeting in both English and Japanese. Also, since we are working on 3D data, it is helpful to be able to understand it with images.
3. At first, I hadn’t decided whether I should invest or not, but the president’s hard work touched my heart. I thought he would do it, and I could support him. There is also the expectation that Japanese technology will spread as it is used overseas.
4. It was good that the investment amount was lower than expected.