Buy orders swamp IPO for Shogi app developer

Apr 21, 2018 | News On Japan

Apr 21, 2018 (NHK) - A company that developed a smartphone application for the Japanese board game shogi has been listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. But the initial public offering ended without an opening price as there were too many orders to buy its shares.

HEROZ went public on the TSE's Mothers section for startups on Friday. Its Chief Executive Officer Takahiro Hayashi was among those who celebrated the IPO by ringing the bourse's bell.

The company's apps for board games -- shogi, chess and Go -- are popular with users. The shogi app uses the artificial intelligence program Ponanza, which has beaten professional players.

With hopes high for the company's further growth, buy orders far outnumbered sell orders.

HEROZ is working to use the AI technology developed for the shogi app for business purposes such as finance and construction.

It says it will spend the money raised in the floatation to hire skilled engineers.

CEO Hayashi says the spread of AI across various industries will help create a society where people will be able to focus on work that they really want to do. He says he wants to help bring about such a society.

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