Japan Post Capital announced on the 24th that it has invested as the lead investor in the Series A funding round of SAZO, which uses AI to solve challenges in the cross-border EC industry. Details such as the investment amount have not been disclosed.
SAZO is a cross-border online shopping service that allows users to purchase products from overseas EC sites with an experience almost identical to that of a typical shopping site. Many conventional purchasing agency services for overseas shopping sites require potential buyers to research product information themselves and engage in multiple chat exchanges to secure products and confirm payment amounts, resulting in a poor user experience.
In contrast, SAZO only requires users to input the URL of the product they want to purchase, and AI determines all information such as exchange rates, customs duties, shipping fees, and service charges, displaying the total cost of purchasing the product. Users can then proceed with the purchase in the same steps as on a normal EC site. The service eliminates challenges faced by users in the cross-border EC market, such as language barriers, information accessibility, payment methods, shipping methods, and payment of customs duties and shipping fees, using AI to provide a smooth and intuitive shopping experience for cross-border product purchases.
Another feature of SAZO is its trend product search function. Users can search for products from shopping sites around the world based on keywords of interest or trend keywords. Through this funding, Japan Post Capital plans to utilize the Japan Post Group’s domestic and international networks to collaborate with SAZO and expand this service to more customers.
SAZO is based in Nagoya and was founded in October 2023. CEO Gil Maro is from South Korea and has experience studying at Nagoya Institute of Technology as a Japan-Korea joint science and engineering government scholarship student. The company started operations in May 2024, and at that time also raised 50 million yen in seed funding from Incubate Fund, STATION Ai Central Japan 1 Fund, Partners Fund, Zero-Ichi Capital, and two angel investors.
via PR TIMES
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