Wazap!

Wazap!

Industry
Founded	Tokyo, Japan (December 2003)
Founders	Andreas Rührig, Markus Ken Baron & Timo Meyer
Headquarters	Tokyo , Japan
Website	Wazap!

Wazap! is a vertical search engine, video game database and social networking site to distribute gaming news, rankings, cheats, downloads and reviews owned and operated by East Beam Co. Ltd. of Japan. As a vertical search engine, it indexes gaming sites and categorizes the information as news, reviews, cheats, downloads, previews and articles.

History[]

Wazap first launched in Japan in 2001 as a community website for gamers.^[1] Initially a mix of gaming news and user generated content, Wazap was then redeveloped as a gaming search and information distribution site. Following initial success in Japan, Wazap was launched in other markets, beginning with Germany in 2004 under the auspices of Wazap AG.^[2] In November 2006, Wazap launched Wazap (CN) in China. The US version of Wazap launched in June 2007.^[3][4]

By 2008, however, Wazap had failed to gain traction outside of Japan, and its German, Chinese and American operations were closed down.^[5] As of October 2018, it continues to operate solely in Japan.

Executives[]

• Andreas Rührig: CEO & Co-founder^[6]
• Timo Meyer: COO & Co-founder
• Philip Gienandt: CFO
• Alexander Piutti: CCO, & General Manager, Europe
• Jeff Tang: General Manager, China
• : General Manager, U.S.

Awards[]

In 2007, Wazap AG (Germany) earned a 2007 Red Herring Award - European Division.^[7] The Red Herring award is noted as a valuable tool in measuring companies that will serve as leaders of innovation in the field of technology.

References[]

• Wazap JP