At this time of transition from "Heisei" to "2025," we would like to leave behind the story of Asilla's founding.
Asilla, Inc. is an AI startup that is currently completing its fourth fiscal year (as of April 2019) and is oriented toward solving social issues through machine learning models in the image and video fields.
In particular, it has obtained three patents in the field of "action recognition" and has a PCT application pending overseas, and another patent reflecting its latest technology is pending.
Financially, since its founding, the company has continued to increase sales, profits, and profits, and sales per capita, which is a key KPI, have tripled.
This means that we have been able to steadily convert our knowledge, know-how, and intellectual property into added value through our technological strategy.
Most recently, we have exhibited and spoken at the best venues in Japan, including ABEJA SIX2019, the 3rd AI EXPO, AI/SUM 2019, Plug And Play Japan, and the Gartner Conference, and we are seeing firsthand that our profile is gradually improving.
We want to see the world further ahead as soon as possible. We are a company where all members have such a desire.
Back in time, in October 2013, two men met in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
Daisuke Kimura ("Kimura"), who was in charge of system management and SEM for a division of a web service company listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and Nguyen Thanh Hai ("Hai"), who was the project manager of a team at the company's offshore development contractor.
There were three points of agreement.
This is the reason why the IT industry has become labor-intensive in a multiple contractor structure.
Japan, whose IT industry is labor-intensive due to its multiple contractor structure, and Vietnam, which wants to quickly break away from the labor-intensive IT business system of offshore development.
The two men soon became close friends, calling each other "Brother," and their hearts began to connect. And it wasn't long before they became aware of starting a business to realize their mutual ideals.
In January 2014, Kimura and Hai, along with Mr. TA from Hanoi University of Technology, who was an intern on the same team, took the founding pledge in Taoyuan, Hanoi.
We three, though born in different days and at different times, are now brothers, and we shall help one another and save those in need. The first shall be rewarded by the nation, and the second shall be at peace with the people. Though we cannot be born in the same year, in the same month, and on the same day, let us hope to die in the same year, in the same month, and on the same day."
authority：Peach Garden Pledge - Wikipedia
This is the Heisei Peach Garden Oath.
Whoever Zhang Fei is, the three technicians are here to rise Asilla.
The group will also move on to Hoan Kiem Lake.
There is a legend about this lake.
The story goes that in the 15th century, the first emperor of the Li Dynasty took the treasured sword that lay in this lake and successfully defeated the Ming Dynasty (present-day China) and protected his people.
One day, when the emperor was taking a walk by the lake, the Great Tortoise of the Lake appeared to him and enlightened him to return the sword to its owner, the Dragon King, because he was now at peace, and he returned the sword to the bottom of the lake. Hence, the lake came to be called "Hoan Kiem," or "Returned Sword.
And now, 600 years later, in the 21st century.
We, too, encountered the giant tortoise (2 meters long) on the shores of Hoan Kiem Lake. The giant tortoise peeked out from the surface of the lake and looked at us. The people on the lakeside were overjoyed to witness this, and we were also moved beyond description.
Coincidentally, meeting the giant tortoise on the same day that we pledged to found Asilla had a strong impact on all three of us that would remain with us for many years to come.
Two years later, the last individual, affectionately known to us, died out and became extinct.
The last individual, affectionately known to locals as "Cụ Rùa", meaning "great grandfather turtle" in Vietnamese, was reported dead on 19 January 2016.
(The last individual, affectionately known to locals as "Cu Rua" (Grandpa Turtle), meaning "great grandfather turtle" in Vietnamese, was reported dead on 19 January 2016.
Looking back, the sword we were given by the Great Tortoise (or Dragon King) was the sword of deep learning. As a pre-founding data science team, we had done a lot of image and data analysis, and when we came across the MNIST dataset and a few lines of DNN sample code, we saw its tremendous destructive power.
I knew intuitively. I thought to myself, "Oh, this is great.
I realized then that engineers must be the first people in the world to understand the greatness of "what was previously impossible. I imagined the evolution of technology and its potential impact on society, and decided to make this the core of my business.
A year later, in 2015, Asilla started simultaneously in Tokyo and Hanoi.
Some startups raise a large amount of funding at the time of their founding and scale at once, but we did not. There are several reasons why we started small. We chose a policy of first learning about business management, establishing a corporate culture, and then improving one level at a time, and scaling up at once when the time was right to do so.
Even Apple and Google must have started in apartments and garages like this.
On the other hand, we had to allocate all the profits we generated monthly to securing computing resources (GPUs). Therefore, we could not work elegantly in a stylish office like other companies, or take pictures with our company emblem prominently displayed at the entrance with our arms folded in front of it.
On the Vietnamese side, the R&D center rented a room in an apartment, where Kimura lived and developed until late every day. One day, the police told him that foreigners were not allowed to live in the office, and he was forced to move out.
On the other hand, the business base on the Tokyo side, which also served as the GPU server room, started out as a small room that could only accommodate two people. We lived through the start-up phase, putting together contracts while battling the heat from the GPUs, which continued to dissipate no matter how much we cooled them down.
(This passion for heat would later lead to the implementation of FPGAs...)
Asilla will close this fourth phase at the end of May 2019.In the fourth phase, the company executed Series A equity financing, moved its R&D base to VietA Tower on Duy Tan Street, an IT technology cluster, moved its business base to Otemachi, where startups gather, and had its CFO and other terrific members join the company.
Then, in June, we will enter the fifth phase and begin the 2021 Asilla.
The treasure sword, which says it can solve all kinds of social problems, is still on loan from Mr. Ryuoh.
Since the Great Tortoise who enlightens us on the return of the sword is no longer with us, I will let the rental be overdue for a while, and when all is over, I will return this sword to Hoan Kiem Lake.
Daisuke Kimura, Representative Director, Asilla Co.
reference：Asilla Raises Series A Round of Funds through Third-Party Allotment of New Shares
reference：Otemachi aims to be "a town where startups naturally gather": Nikkei Business e-Edition
AI × Overseas Employment × Growth Rate" No Reason Not to Choose Asilla -An Interview with a Newly Graduated 3-Year-Old Product Manager (Part 2)
There is no reason not to choose "AI × Overseas Employment × Growth Rate" Asilla -An Interview with a Product Manager in his third year as a new graduate (Part 1)
Entrepreneurship honed in Asilla . Become a world-class entrepreneur