04 Aug Takenaka Partners Advises Station Digital Media on a Capital and Business Alliance with KDDI

KDDI Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) and Station Digital Media, Inc. (Long Beach, CA) (“SDM”) have entered into a capital and business alliance in order to provide one-stop services ranging from communications to service platforms and applications for connected cars and IoT devices. KDDI Corporation, together with KDDI America, Inc. (Staten Island, NY), (collectively “KDDI”) acquired a part of the shares issued by SDM, making it an equity affiliate of KDDI. Takenaka Partners LLC (Los Angeles, CA) acted as the financial advisor to SDM, providing valuation and business advisory services.

SDM is a leading application vendor that provides applications and products for connected services. The company has a proven track record in planning and developing mobile applications with superior CX (customer experience) design for multiple global automakers and has received high praise for improving the value of customer experience. SDM also has a lineup of various products, including API integration tools, multilingual application management tools and push notification management, and analysis tools, enabling the rapid construction and expansion of platforms for providing connected services while also reducing operational costs.

KDDI provides the “IoT Global Platform”, a platform that seamlessly connects communication modules installed in customers’ devices to networks in countries around the world, and the “Global Communication Platform”, which, based on the location information of vehicles equipped with in-vehicle communication devices, automatically connects to the appropriate communication carriers selected for each country or region and monitors communication status in an integrated manner. KDDI provides over 16 million IoT network circuits to companies around the world. In particular, the “Global Communications Platform” is used in 79 countries and regions around the world as the foundation for connected services that expand the connection between people and cars, providing even greater safety and creating new experiences and value.

The partnership between KDDI and SDM will create a one-stop solution for connected services from communication devices to communication networks, IoT service platforms, and mobile applications, with KDDI providing the communication layer and SDM developing applications for the upper layers of communication. In addition, by utilizing the data accumulated from connected cars, IoT service platforms, and mobile applications, the companies will promote the creation and development of new businesses on a global level.

Through this alliance, the three companies will work with automakers around the world and customers in various business domains to expand the points of contact between people and vehicles and IoT devices, and contribute to the spread of IoT services that enhance the value and experience of customers. August Lopez, CEO of SDM, stated that, “the Takenaka Partners team was incredibly helpful. Yukuo Takenaka and his team were proactive, passionate, professional, well prepared, and they were always available to lead and guide us through the transaction process. Most importantly, they were able to clearly present and highlight the value and potential of our company.”