Daikin created a joint-venture with WASSHA for a business in East Africa

Daikin Industries have recently established a new company, Baridi Baridi Inc., to conduct an air conditioner subscription business. The joint venture between Daikin Industries and WASSHA capitalizes on Daikin’s air conditioners. The name of the new company derives from the word baridi, which means “to cool down” in the Swahili language that is used in East Africa. WASSHA has a consolidated expertise in payment collection technology using mobile money and business development in East Africa. Together, the two companies are striving to commercialize a subscription system in which users can use air conditioners whenever they want and pay a usage fee by smartphone on either a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. The purpose is to promote general use of air conditioners among people in income groups who previously could not have purchased air conditioners. The companies plan to first develop a business in the United Republic of Tanzania and then in the future expand the business to not only Africa but also to other immature markets around the world. 
The collaboration between Daikin Industries and WASSHA, a venture company associated with the University of Tokyo, was realized under the initiatives taken for “Social Implementation of New Value through Collaboration with Venture companies,” a theme of the industry-academia co-creation agreement concluded with the University of Tokyo in December 2018. Daikin has set aside 100 million USD for use in investments targeting global startup companies over a five-year period until 2024. Since the agreement, the two companies have established a close relationship, including a 300-million-yen investment that Daikin made in WASSHA as part of Daikin’s first project.
With the establishment of this new company, Daikin and WASSHA aim to contribute even further to the widespread adoption of air conditioning through a subscription system and undertake the challenge of creating an air conditioning culture with low environmental impact.