Incubate Fund: An all-in-one conferencing system that can deliver the faces and voices of all participants cleanly

With the motto of "honestly supporting the challenges of aspiring entrepreneurs," Incubate Fund Co., Ltd. is a venture capital firm specializing in the seed stage before and after the founding of the company. Since its establishment in 2010, the company has managed a total of more than 128 billion yen in funds and invested in more than 400 companies, making it the largest of its kind in Japan. The company supports startup companies, creating effective business partnerships with for entrepreneurs from its headquarters in Japan, and offices in the USA, Singapore, and Brazil.

With fast-faced, international business operations, frequent web conferences are essential. Originally, the company used a speakerphone with a built-in 360° camera from another company, but they were not satisfied with both the sound and image quality. Mr. Niitsu, the company's office manager comments "With the previous system, you have to bring the PC to the conference room and connect it to the speakerphone, so it took 3~5 minutes to start each meeting, which is a huge waste of time. In addition, the system struggled to pick up everyone’s voice which often adversely affected communication." An office relocation proved the perfect time to consider new video conferencing solutions. Mr. Ohno, the distributor of Eizo System Co. Ltd commented after the seamless implementation “There’s no complicated wiring and the tabletop looks very neat with no wiring cluttering things up.”

Just one tap on the controller starts your meeting in less than 10 seconds

The company revamp its system when it relocated its office. After considering several products, IncubateFund chose the Jabra PanaCast 50 Video Bar System. Every day, the company holds many web conferences, so the speed and convenience of starting meetings was a major factor.

180° camera to capture all participants in any room layout

During planning for the office relocation, the company consulted with the distributor, Video Systems Co., Ltd., about their choice of system. Mr. Ohno, Design Section 1, Design Management Department, Eizo System Co. Ltd., explains the factors he considered when proposing the system.

"In the new office layout, there were many conference rooms with the conference table located close to the wall. In such a layout, it is difficult to show everyone on the camera. However, the PanaCast 50 Video Bar System has a 180° angle of view which addresses this challenge. The new office also has a state-of-the-art design so the solution also needed to be stylish. The PanaCast 50 Video Bar System has a simple design and space-saving integrated camera, speaker, and microphone. There is less wiring and no clutter on the tabletop, so all round it was the perfect choice."

"In a limited space, the 180-degree camera captures everyone’s image beautifully. We also like that the system automatically adjusts the view according to the number of people and can also identify and zoom in on the speaker are also wonderful. The design is also impeccable as we really like not seeing wires everywhere." - Mr. Niitsu, Office Manager, Incubate Fund

A cost-effective all-in-one video bar system

Mr. Niitsu comments "Other products that support Zoom Rooms on Android OS can involve multiple devices, but the PanaCast 50 Video Bar System is an all-in-one-system, with integrated cameras and microphones, and with the touch tablet included. Since we introduced the system, we were able to reduce costs significantly by streamlining the number of devices required and making better use of everyone’s time in meetings.”

The company use the system for web conferences mainly with Zoom Rooms but also Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex. Meetings are scheduled and rooms reserved using Google Calendar, which works smoothly.

Future perfect

The firmware updates for the PanaCast 50 Video Bar System are also well received, enabling the system functionality to continue to evolve in the future. “I am excited to hear of upcoming features that Jabra is shortly launching, including the new Zoom Smart Gallery view. Support for BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device) will also be useful for instances where colleagues want to share their screens in meetings.”