Note-taking software and service provider Evernote has received a multimillion pound injection from Japanese media giant Nikkei, as part of a new content deal.

The partnership, which steers $20m (£12.8m) into the California-based developer’s coffers, will see content from  Nikkei’s various publications appearing in Evernote’s Context tool early next year.

The research-aid software pulls together content from third-party sources using phrase-based algorithms. Evernote said in a press release that the program displays relevant, real-time content to set up a workspace that supports its users while they “accomplish their best work”.

The deal will see feature articles and news stories from some of Nikkei’s widely read publications – a list that includes the Japanese newspaper Nikkei, as well as several English language journals, such as Nikkei Asian Review and Nikkei Weekly – available to Evernote users.

The considerable size of the deal points towards the growing relevance of quality content both for consumers and for businesses. For the latter, content provision has replaced older, more direct and outmoded forms of marketing, as people expect a more organic, less invasive approach from the brands they face.

Tech Crunch’s Catherine Shu has predicted that Evernote will strike a number of similar content deals in the future, especially if the partnership with Nikkei proves to be popular with its users. This could well be the case, since a large portion of those who use Evernote – about 20%, according to the firm’s CEO, Phil Libin – are based in Japan.

Evernote Context is available to subscribers of the Premium and Business services, with a Japanese-language version available on iOS and Mac. Announced just last month, Context is able to pull together a user’s previous notes on a relevant subject, as well as notes from colleagues working on the same topic. It also looks at the LinkedIn profiles of those mentioned in a user’s work.

Richard Bell

Richard has a First in English Literature and Creative Writing, and has experience writing fiction and short stories (which he has published both online and in magazines).