Rovio exec quits to help a Japanese music startup go global

Hiroshi Asaeda, Beatrobo founder and CEO (left), pictured with new COO Antti Sonninen.

Finnish game developer Rovio, the creator of international smash hit Angry Birds, today sees a change in management at its Japan subsidiary. Effective today, country director Antti Sonninen will be replaced by Katsumi Oikawa, a marketing executive who has previously worked at Samsung, Sony, and Apple. Sonninen has revealed to Tech in Asia that he will be joining Tokyo-based startup Beatrobo as COO.

Beatrobo, which started as an online social music community in 2012, has since switched its focus from software to hardware. The company hopes that its PlugAir dongle, which instantly pulls music and other content from the cloud upon being connected to a mobile device’s headphone jack, will become the mixtape of the future.

“Beatrobo will now focus on global expansion and international hiring, unlike most domestic startups,” says founder and CEO Hiroshi Asaeda. “[Sonninen] is our first non-Japanese hire, and I think him joining us shows that if you have passion, if you have a big goal, even relatively small startups can attract cool people.”

Sonninen got his start at Rovio’s home office in 2011, working part-time as a market researcher. He transitioned into Rovio’s business development team before moving to Japan in 2012, serving as the country director since November of that year. In just three years, Sonninen says that Rovio Japan grew from approximately 80 people to more than 800 (Beatrobo, on the other hand, has just seven members).

After watching Rovio grow from a humble startup to a household name, Sonninen believes that he can help Beatrobo achieve the same:

If you look at the domestic startup scene, I think there’s a lot of potential. But something always puzzled me: why are there are so few big-name Japanese startups in the world? I observed the scene during my time at Rovio and realized that many companies are not big outside because they aren’t even trying. Beatrobo is more ambitious and more globally-minded than other startups here. PlugAir can definitely be a global player in the contents industry – even more than the product itself, I have faith in the team.

See: Music startup Beatrobo gets $1.1 million funding to reinvent the mixtape

As for Rovio Japan, it appears that the hiring of Oikawa may be further proof of the company’s push to become more of a global entertainment powerhouse than just a hit gaming company. What he lacks in gaming industry experience, Oikawa should make up with his skills in brand development and product marketing.

According to Japanese gaming industry insider Serkan Toto, the Japanese have yet to embrace Angry Birds – despite strong brand recognition in China and other parts of Asia. The franchise’s latest installment, Angry Birds Stella, is landing in Japan next month along with a special marketing campaign featuring the new (apparently female) title character.

The post Rovio exec quits to help a Japanese music startup go global appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Rovio exec quits to help a Japanese music startup go global