VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Streaming video platform Viki will launch a beta version of its website in Japan tomorrow. The move comes just five months after the Singaporean company was acquired by Japanese Internet services firm Rakuten for $200 million, according to TechCrunch.

Rakuten talked of its goal for Viki in a press release: "The launch is a natural transition of the company's acquisition by Rakuten in September 2013, and marks the first step in Rakuten's move to bring together Viki's global content, language and community-first DNA to expand the scope of Rakuten's $16 billion digital content and e-commerce business."

Starting tomorrow, viewers in Japan can use Rakuten IDs to enter the Viki Japan site. The platform will host free TV shows and movies with Japanese translation. The viewers can also subscribe to Viki Pass, the premium version of the service, for a monthly fee of JPY400 ($3.99). Viki Pass hosts high-definition video streaming without ads across multiple gadgets, the report detailed.

According to Rakuten, it aims to continue Viki's expansion into new markets. The company said Viki now has viewrs in 200 countries. In addition, its video streams have hit the three-billion mark, TechCrunch reported.