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We are developing personal care and spatial technology products. (Incorporated in Japan)
We aim to create and commercialize innovative consumer personal care products and spatial materials through the utilization of mechanobiology and metamaterials in combination with our core proprietary wave technology that employs sound and light waves. Mechanobiology is the study of how biological systems respond to mechanical stimuli. Mechanobiological research findings have the potential to be used to develop new health care and personal care options, such as accelerating fracture healing with ultrasonic vibrations or enhancing wound healing through suction pressure. Metamaterials are artificially engineered materials that have properties not found in nature. These properties are achieved by carefully designing the structure of the metamaterial at the sub-wavelength scale. Metamaterials can be used to manipulate electromagnetic waves, such as light and radio waves, in novel ways, such as negative refraction to light. Our wave control technologies consist of a system of methodologies to manipulate the common behaviors of sound and light in abstract layers as desired, and to utilize the unique attributes of sound and light for innovative personal care and industrial products.
While wave control technology has the potential for a variety of applications, we currently focus our development efforts in two principal fields: Personal Care & Diversity and Workspace & Digital Transformation. We focus our research and development on commercializing technologies that we believe will, among other things, provide personal care benefits and that will improve physical limitations through sensory and metamaterial technologies. As an emerging growth company, we have yet to generate significant revenue from any commercialization of our proprietary technologies or products.
In the Personal Care & Diversity field, we are working to develop technologies to enhance personal care and quality of life. We have launched three personal care products in Japan, our principal market, over the past six months:
– SonoRepro, an ultrasonic non-contact vibrotactile stimulation scalp care device in November 2022;
– VUEVO, a series of directional voice arrival detection devices for individuals with deaf and hard-of-hearing (“DHH”) in March 2023, and
– kikippa, an acoustic stimulation device functioning as a speaker in April 2023.
Our products have been developed, and are marketed and sold, as personal care products. They are not marketed, nor intended to be used, as medical devices. In Japan, medical devices require compliance with the Act on Securing Quality, Efficacy and Safety of Products Including Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices (“PMDA”) and are regulated by the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (“PMD Agency”) and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, which require registration and approval and compliance with marketing requirements, among other things. If any of our products were to be characterized as a medical device by the Japanese regulators, we may be required to seek regulatory approval and could face penalties for not obtaining such approval. As we continue our product research and development, we may create new products or an extension of an existing product that may qualify as a medical device in Japan or other jurisdictions. In such event, we would seek the requisite regulatory approval in Japan and any other applicable jurisdictions for such products in the future.
In the Workspace & Digital Transformation field, we are working to develop technologies for sensing and controlling space. We launched iwasemi, a sound-absorbing metamaterial in Japan in July 2022, and conducted a “soft” launch of selected versions of our iwasemi product to key professionals in the United States, such as architectural and interior design firms, in March 2023. Additionally, we are continuing our development of hackke, a location positioning technology, and KOTOWARI, a technology providing spatial analysis data; however, we currently do not have any specific timeline for commercializing these products.
In the next few years, we plan to focus our efforts on marketing and expanding the features of SonoRepro, kikippa, VUEVO, and iwasemi, particularly in our principal market of Japan. As part of our sales strategy, we may offer third-party products that complement our own products. For instance, we obtained a license to sell a medication for treatment of hair loss, which we intend to co-market with our personal scalp care device, SonoRepro. We intend to continue to explore such opportunities to provide comprehensive solutions to our customers.
In 2014, Dr. Yoichi Ochiai, our Chief Executive Officer and Dr. Takayuki Hoshi, our Chief Research Officer, developed “Pixie Dust,” a three-dimensional acoustic levitation technology, which enables the movement of objects in three dimensions by using ultrasonic control. Previously, ultrasonic waves had only been used to levitate objects and make them move in two dimensions. Since then, we have continued to work on overcoming the challenges in manipulating waves by improving the efficiency and performance of the computer processing required to control waves and making the circuit boards more sophisticated, as well as on applying our wave control technology to product developments and innovation.
Our Company was founded in 2017 by Dr. Ochiai, Dr. Hoshi, and Mr. Taiichiro Murakami, our Chief Operating Officer, to explore better ways to integrate academic and industry resources to develop and commercialize applications of our wave control technology. Since our Company’s inception, we have actively pursued industry-academia collaborations to generate new technologies that can be applied to real-world uses. In doing so, we have prioritized developing products that we believe have potential for wide applicability in the marketplace. We have also sought to accelerate the commercialization of the new products by collaborating with established companies in the relevant industries. Our research efforts aim to develop both advanced technologies and new products and services that can meet real-life needs and help to address social issues facing the global society, such as issues arising from an aging population, as well as to generate added value for our stakeholders.
To date, we have generated revenues primarily from commissioned research and development (“R&D”) and solution services we have provided for other companies including under our collaboration arrangements. However, as we expand our marketing and sales efforts for our products, we expect revenue from product sales to contribute an increasing proportion of our revenues over time. For our fiscal years ended April 30, 2021 and April 30, 2022, we generated revenues of ¥512,772 thousand and ¥636,265 thousand ($4,281 thousand), respectively, and incurred net losses of ¥759,484 thousand and ¥1,109,468 thousand ($7,465 thousand), respectively. For the six months period ended October 31, 2021 and October 31, 2022, we have generated revenues of ¥179,213 thousand and ¥158,639 thousand ($1,067 thousand), respectively, and have incurred net losses of ¥624,957 thousand and ¥885,000 thousand ($5,954 thousand), respectively.
**Note: Revenues and net loss are in U.S. dollars (converted from Japanese yen) for the 12 months that ended Oct. 31, 2022.
(Note: Pixie Dust Technologies, Inc. priced its micro-cap IPO at $9.00 – the low end of its $9.00-to-$10.00 price range – and downsized the IPO at pricing on July 31, 2023, to 1.67 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) – down from 2.0 million ADS in the prospectus – to raise $15.0 million.)
(Note: Pixie Dust Technologies, Inc. filed an F-1/A dated July 28, 2023, disclosing that Sutter Securities has been added as a joint book-runner to work on its IPO with Boustead Securities. Background: PIxie Dust Technologies filed its F-1 on June 7, 2023, and disclosed terms for its IPO: 2.0 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) at a price range of $9.00 to $10.00 to raise $19.0 million. The company submitted confidential SEC documents on March 8, 2023.)
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