Sansan enters Indian mkt, eyes 1 mn users in six months

Japanese firm Sansan today announced its foray into the Indian market with 'Eight', a business card management solution and said it expects to onboard one million users over the next six months.
The 'Eight' app - available for Android and iOS phones - allows users to scan and store contact details from business cards. It also offers networking features between Eight users.
"In August, we raised funding of USD 38 million, which is primarily for international expansion. We see huge potential in the Indian market. We hope to get 1 million registered users in the next six months," Sansan Chief Executive Officer Chika Terada told PTI.

The company had raised USD 38 million with participation from new investor Future Creation Fund (backed by Toyota Motor Corp and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp) as well as DCM Ventures and Salesforce.com.
Apart from Eight (consumer solution), Sansan offers a CRM-like solution to enterprises in Japan.
Asked about the company's monetisation plans, Terada said: "Eight has been in Japan from 2012 and it is now that we are starting to monetise. The focus with regard to the Indian market right now is to build a userbase".

He added that for Asian professionals, the business card is a vital tool for networking and progression.

"More than 10 billion business cards are exchanged a year, and with Eight, we plan to not only streamline this process, but also add more value to it so that every connection counts for an individual," he said.
In Japan, Eight already has two million users, 5,000 daily downloads and digitises around 3 lakh business cards every day.
Besides, Sansan plans to launch a business card scan partner programme in India.
"We will partner with co-working spaces, chain shops etc where Eight users can bring their large pile of exchanged business cards and get them digitised," Terada said.
While the company did not disclose its investment plans for India, he said the Sansan will launch a campaign '#TogetherMade' to showcase how successes, even those 'self- made', are a result of chance encounters and contacts.