Bokksu, Inc.
Type of businessE-commerce, subscription service
Traded asPrivate
HeadquartersNew York, New York, United States
Area servedWorldwide
Founder(s)Danny Taing
URL
LaunchedNovember 2015; 8 years ago (2015-11)

Bokksu is a digital marketplace and subscription service for Japanese food and goods headquartered in New York and founded by Danny Taing in 2015, the D2C company partners with traditional makers throughout Japan to share their craft with over 75 countries.[1][2]

History

The founder Danny Taing received a dual Bachelor's in Psychology and Communication, and a Master’s in Sociology, all from Stanford University. He then worked as a marketing strategist at Google HQ. After that, he relocated to Japan for a position at Rakuten. It was there, during the years he spent living and working in Tokyo, that he developed his interest of Japanese food and culture.[3]

Taing founded Bokksu in 2015 and launched a Japanese snack subscription service in 2016, Bokksu snack boxes ship directly from Japan and contain various types of snacks and flavors.[4] Bokksu launched a digital marketplace for Japanese lifestyle products, Bokksu Market, in 2018. In 2019, Bokksu was selected to participate in Grand Central Tech's (GCT later changed its name to Company) Startup-in-Residence program.[5][6]

In 2021, Bokksu also opened an online grocery store called Bokksu Grocery, where its customers can find authentic Asian food products.[7][8][9] On January 25th 2022, New York and Tokyo-based company Bokksu announced its Series A funding round raised $22 million, the round was led by Valor Siren Ventures. The company is currently valued at $100 million.[10][11] Bokksu is a LGBTQ-founded business.[12]

References

  1. ^ "本物にこだわった日本のお菓子を100カ国以上に届け、アジアの伝統を引き継ぐ米国企業「Bokksu」". 経済界ウェブ (in Japanese). 24 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  2. ^ "Japanese digital food marketplace Bokksu raises $22M". Grocery Dive. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  3. ^ "Entrepreneur Danny Taing Bridges Cultures One Tasty Snack at a Time". Food & Wine. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  4. ^ "Most Gift Baskets Are Terrible. These Are Great". The New York Times. 2022-12-09. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
  5. ^ Ha, Anthony (2019-01-30). "Meet the 20 startups in this year's GCT Startup-in-Residence program". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
  6. ^ Konrad, Alex. "WeWork's Newest Challenger: A Billion-Dollar High-Rise For Tech Startups—And Facebook". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
  7. ^ "Bokksu bags $22M Series A at a $100M valuation to deliver traditional Asian groceries to your home". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  8. ^ Raczka, Rachel Kim (2022-02-17). "Beyond Pocky: This online market sells some of Japan's tastiest and most authentic snack foods". Fast Company. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  9. ^ Burkhardt, Kai (2021-10-04). "Bokksu, the Japanese snack subscription box, now delivers Asian groceries to your door". CNN Underscored. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
  10. ^ Weissman, Cale Guthrie; Weissman, Cale Guthrie (2022-04-28). "'I was laughed out of the room': How Bokksu founder Danny Taing bootstrapped his business to a $100M valuation". Modern Retail. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  11. ^ "「日本の菓子」扱うBokksu、シリーズAで25億円の資金調達". Forbes JAPAN（フォーブス ジャパン） (in Japanese). 2022-02-17. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  12. ^ Anderson, Sage; Anderson, Sage (2022-07-01). "Pride Month Is Over, But Here Are Some LGBTQ-Owned Businesses You Should Still Be Supporting". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
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