[Entrepreneur Interview #03] Kazusuke Obi (X-Locations)| 株式会社ディ・ポップスグループ

[Entrepreneur Interview #12] Keisuke Furuta (Payke, Inc.)

Interview with the CEO & Founder of Payke, Inc., the Company Operating a Shopping Support App for Foreign Visitors to Japan Recently, D-POPS GROUP made an investment in Payke, Inc., which operates a shopping support app for foreign visitors to Japan, and so we have begun our journey together as partners in the Venture Ecosystem. ☆The press release regarding our investment in Payke, Inc. is available here: https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en/column/payke/ The following article is adapted from an interview with Keisuke Furuta, founder and CEO of Payke, Inc., where he shared the untold story of the company’s founding and his thoughts about their shopping support app “Payke”. ① What motivated you to start this company? During my time running a trading company—which was my start as an entrepreneur—I learned that when selling something overseas, it’s crucial to communicate the “value” of the product. I realized the greatest challenge was effectively conveying product information, and I believed the largest barrier was language. This experience gave me the idea that the barcode attached to a product could be utilized to relay information about the product, so I decided to transform barcodes into a media platform and create a system that provides product information in multiple languages. This is what led to the founding of Payke. ② Please briefly introduce your app so readers can understand it. Payke allows users to scan product barcodes to receive product information in multiple languages. It has almost 6 million users as a shopping guide app for inbound tourists. In multiple languages, users can check promotional information and other content that isn’t apparent from the packaging alone. Currently, the app supports 7 languages: Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, English, and Japanese. ③ What makes your company superior to similar companies? Payke provides a service that delivers detailed product information in multiple languages when users scan items. This allows foreign tourists and residents to check product information while shopping in Japan without facing language barriers. Additionally, Payke’s app is accessible and user-friendly, making it easy to scan products and save money with coupons, even for foreigners who may not be tech-savvy. ④ What have been your biggest challenges since starting this company? The most difficult challenges for us were acquiring initial users and surviving the period when inbound tourism disappeared during the COVID-19 era. ⑤ What do you most expect from your shareholders? We want our shareholders to be our biggest fans, watching over and supporting our business. In particular, when it comes to expanding our business and developing new services, we hope our shareholders will help to accelerate Payke’s growth by proactively exchanging opinions and providing us with access to their networks. ⑥ What is the best part of receiving investment from D-POPS GROUP? Although it hasn’t been long since D-POPS GROUP invested in us, they have already introduced us and connected us to many different companies. Some initiatives have already begun moving forward, and it’s very encouraging to see the D-POPS GROUP team attending meetings and working alongside us. ⑦ What aspects of “realizing a Venture Ecosystem*” resonate with you? I appreciate how companies with various ideas and resources can support each other and grow together. *For more information about our “Venture Ecosystem”, click here. (This graphic shows that Payke has the highest ranking in the app store in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau for inbound shopping guide apps, with over 5 million total users and over 650,000 supported products as of 2024.) ⑧ What is your ideal vision for the company 10 years from now? In 10 years, we aim to create a world where Payke has not remained solely in Japan, but has expanded globally (centered around Asia), making it a simple matter to enjoy purchasing foreign products. ⑨ What challenges do you foresee in achieving that future? Moving forward, our biggest hurdles include expanding into overseas markets and providing services that are even more user-friendly for a wider range of consumers. We also need to strengthen our human resources. ⑩ Any closing comments you’d like to briefly share? With gratitude toward everyone who supports Payke, we will continue to take on challenges as a company that keeps growing. We are committed to making shopping for foreign products more convenient and enjoyable. Thank you for your continued support! Payke, Inc. Company President and CEO: Keisuke Furuta Address: 203 Clarion House, 2-5-16 Makabi, Naha, Okinawa Established: November 26, 2014 Website: https://payke.co.jp/

Interview

2025.04.10

[Entrepreneur Interview #03] Akira Tameto (BLUEISH)

Breaking conventional wisdom with AI to create the future standard for business processes! Recently, D-POPS GROUP made an investment in BLUEISH Inc., which operates the industry-specific AI workflow “Omni Workspace”, and we have begun walking together as fellow members of our Venture Ecosystem. ☆The press release regarding this investment in BLUEISH Inc. is here: https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en/column/blueish/ For this article, we interviewed Akira Tameto, CEO and founder of BLUEISH Inc., about the behind-the-scenes story of the company’s founding and his thoughts on his AI business. ① What was the impetus for founding your company? I always upheld the policies of “high technical capability”, “creation of good products”, and “pursuit of victory with everyone involved”. At that time, rather than creating some kind of service within that framework, I found value in creating what customers were seeking. However, no matter how high the technical skills or how well I managed development teams, projects would go up in flames due to various factors. And when these projects failed, I witnessed many people suffer. To enable the “creation of good products” where clients, developers, and users of the product would all feel satisfied, I realized I had no choice but to take a central role myself. This thinking led me to establish BLUEISH Inc. And now, AI is going to revolutionize the modern era. So, BLUEISH will also achieve through AI services the vision our company upholds: “Realizing a society where companies can grow through our value creation, and all the people involved can share the wealth.” ② Please give us a brief summary of your services. “BLUEISH Agents” is a corporate AI program platform based on the new concept of companies essentially “hiring” AI agents. Until now, similar services have been built on the framework of AI chatbots geared towards corporations. However, we are surpassing this framework by preparing diverse AI programs (which we call agents) specialized to various skills and industries in order to automate and streamline all kinds of work with minimal intervention. Since these individual AI agents can be assigned to specific tasks—e.g., accounting, customer service, translation, etc.—the resulting framework can effectively support entire companies from back offices to job sites. ③ What makes your company superior to similar companies? BLUEISH is quite capable of developing these individual AI agents, but our greatest strength is orchestrating all of them into an AI agent platform. When generative AI became wildly popular, AI development companies split into two types: companies developing LLMs (Large Language Models) and companies developing ecosystems using LLMs. BLUEISH chose the ecosystem side, abandoned the chatbot format, and was the first to attempt developing AI agents. (Image text: Corporate AI Agent Platform – The future of companies will be determined by their employment of AI.) ④ What have been your biggest challenges since starting this company? Despite being a system development company, our clients were mostly in the hospitality and sports industries, so we were also heavily affected by COVID. Through that experience, we learned many things and became stronger. After overcoming those hardships, BLUEISH has emerged all the more resilient! ⑤ What do you most expect from your shareholders? We hope that our shareholders will resonate with our company’s slogan of “Create the future standard for business processes” and ride the wave of AI agent innovation together with us as we push forward. We expect a partnership that will support us, with a long-term view, until the day comes when we see our business grow and share the wealth through the power of BLUEISH Agents. ⑥ What is the best part about receiving investment from D-POPS GROUP? Our company has been greatly stimulated by D-POPS GROUP’s cooperative ability and visionary approach. We believe this investment will serve as a major engine to accelerate the next giant leap forward of our BLUEISH Agents. Through the synergy created with D-POPS GROUP, our system for creating unique value will become even more robust, and we will definitively be able to pioneer an innovative future! ⑦ What aspects of “realizing a Venture Ecosystem” resonate with you? BLUEISH is passionate not just about providing technology, but about building an ecosystem that establishes new future standards for the entire industry. We believe that when diverse companies collaborate, explosive synergy will emerge through the power of digitalization and AI. ⑧ What is your ideal vision for the company 10 years from now? In 10 years, BLUEISH aims to become an indispensable presence in Japan. Our company will further expand the potential of LLMs, and we will lead the charge in digital transformation both domestically and internationally, establishing new standards for corporate growth on the basis of our future concept of incorporating quantum computing into LLMs. Founded on our passions for “high technical capability” and “creation of good products” that we have upheld since the beginning, we intend to be a company that drives the market forward with amazing innovations and brings prosperity to society as a whole! ⑨ What challenges do you foresee in achieving that future? One of BLUEISH’s challenges is to remain a platform that quickly and flexibly responds to the rapid changes in AI technology and also captures our clients’ diverse needs. To accomplish this, we will need to further strengthen our domestic and international partnerships, and to continue evolving without being afraid to try new things in order to realize our mission of digitalizing all business processes. ⑩ Any closing comments you’d like to briefly share? We are pioneering the future and breaking conventional wisdom with passion and technical prowess through our AI agents to “Create the future standard for business processes”. Together with BLUEISH Agents, we will bring about business process innovations that amaze everyone and make it possible for our company to grow and share the wealth! With that same passion and enthusiasm, we hope that you will all join us in facing this challenge! Thank you very much! BLUEISH Inc. Company President and CEO: Akira Tameto Address: 5F VORT Motoazabu, 3-1-35 Motoazabu, Minato, Tokyo Established: February 9, 2018 Company Website: https://www.blueish.co.jp/

AI
Interview

2025.03.13

[Entrepreneur Interview #05] Tatsumasa Hosaka (STAR CAREER CO., LTD / graphD Corp.) – Part 2

Interview with Tatsumasa Hosaka: a Daring Voyage Toward Realizing a “Venture Ecosystem” At D-POPS GROUP, we have 23 group companies as partners (at the time of publication). On this occasion, D-POPS GROUP Advisor Genta Sugihara interviewed President Tatsumasa Hosaka, who founded STAR CAREER CO., LTD in 2016. This is the latter part of the interview. To read the first part, click the link below. https://d-pops-group.co.jp/column/star-career-interview-first-part/ ◆The Market Environment Sugihara: Thank you. For my next question, you mentioned that in the case of STAR CAREER, there are a lot of new graduates. However, generally speaking, what are the current trends in recruitment? Hosaka: The job seeker’s market will continue into the future for sure. Businesses will struggle to recruit employees next April and the following April, especially. A lot of companies, including major corporations, reduced their hiring numbers during COVID, and now many are lacking sufficient talent. As a result, demand for new graduate recruitment has increased tremendously. This situation is likely to continue through the hiring of graduates entering the workforce in 2026. ◆The Release of Carepo (“Carepo” is a portmanteau of the words ‘career’ and ‘points’.) Sugihara: In the midst of that challenging recruitment environment, on July 1st, you released a smartphone app called “Carepo” (page is only in Japanese) that allows users to earn points while job hunting. First of all, could you introduce Carepo for us? Hosaka: The Carepo app that we released displays various job hunting events. When job seekers participate in these events through the app, they receive electronic money as points. It’s an app that combines point collecting with job hunting—something that seemed like it should have existed before but didn’t until now. After its release, we’ve seen extremely positive reactions from both students and clients. Since it targets students graduating in 2026, we’re aligning our current approach with that graduating class. Sugihara: So then, you’re starting full-scale promotion from now. Do you have any goals for Carepo? Hosaka: As part of our 2025 fiscal year plan, we’re aiming for Carepo to receive 10,000 downloads. It’s said that about 450,000 people in Japan are job hunting each year, so after first reaching 10,000 downloads, our next goal is to get 150,000 downloads in three years. ◆Industry-Academia Collaborative Events Sugihara: I heard that in connection with Carepo, you’ve been involved in industry-academia collaboration activities and giving lectures at universities. Could you tell me more about this? Hosaka: Yes, as part of a business school curriculum at a certain university, we actively sponsor activities where students set up booths at event venues like a barbecue festival to learn how to generate revenue as a business. In practice, there are various tasks involved—ordering equipment for attractions like shooting galleries and yo-yo fishing, selecting prizes, arranging staff, managing schedules for receiving deliveries, and handling event operations. We expect this provides valuable hands-on experience for the students. We also plan to actively conduct lectures for job seekers, and we’re already receiving requests from universities and employment offices. I originally aspired to be a teacher and hold a teaching license, so in a sense, one of my dreams has come true. Sugihara: What’s the intention behind conducting these activities? Hosaka: The original motivation for starting my business and subsequently launching the job hunting café and the Carepo app was to nurture talented individuals who can thrive in society through our business. I am very grateful that we continue to gain allies who resonate with these activities. Regarding Carepo specifically, our idea is to eliminate employment inequality caused by information gaps, and we’ve received support from professors and lecturers at various universities. Rather than pursuing things purely from a business sense, we aim to create products that are widely endorsed by students, student organizations, and university officials. I want Carepo to become a resource that’s convenient and useful from multiple perspectives. Sugihara: That’s impressive. People who don’t put in the work can get a certain level of results just by pouring money into advertising. But instead of spending money, creating various innovations and earning things through your own sweat and legwork, so to speak—those outcomes are far more valuable than advertising. And more sustainable, too. Hosaka: Yes. Lecturing at universities and employment offices isn’t about status or branding—I simply want people to know about us, and I feel that through these activities, we’re gaining more supporters. Also, regarding “eliminating job hunting inequality caused by information gaps”—as mentioned in our media release (article only in Japanese)—a university dean told me that this is actually a serious issue that needs to be addressed, especially for regional universities. For example, in the Kanto region, job hunting events and seminars are typically held somewhere in Tokyo. When students living in Tochigi Prefecture and students living in Tokyo want to attend job hunting events, company information sessions, or recruitment fairs, the Tochigi students can certainly go, but they inevitably need to make more arrangements. It’s inconvenient to have to coordinate multiple company visits while in Tokyo. This means that within the short timeframe of job hunting, if they are unable to meet with and receive the opportunity to have an interview from a decent number of companies, a significant gap in experience will result. If students can participate online through this app, or if our job hunting café advisors can provide information about events tailored to each student’s needs, they can job hunt more efficiently in terms of both cost and time. We believe this contributes to eliminating inequality caused by information gaps. Sugihara: Everyone recognizes that the information gap between metropolitan and regional areas is an issue that needs to be addressed across all fields. It’s important to spread this awareness, and your business is truly excellent. ◆STAR CAREER’s Corporate Culture Sugihara: Changing the subject completely, I have the impression that at STAR CAREER, within the group, people of all genders and ages are thriving. Looking at your website (page only in Japanese) and company newsletters, everyone has such bright, attractive smiles. There are messages on your website like “shine as your authentic self” and “accept and respect each other”. Is there a policy that you’re consciously implementing, President Hosaka? Could you tell us the background of this message about “shining as your authentic self”? Hosaka: Yes, regarding both the headquarters members and field staff appearing on STAR CAREER’s website…I think basically all our members are like that, without a doubt, ha ha. But actually, this is the culture that President Goto built. The main deciding factor for me—who originally aimed to be a teacher—to join D-POPS* was when President Goto told me, “As we build a 3-billion-yen company that grows to be worth 10 billion yen, then to 30 billion and 100 billion yen, I want to create an environment where young people can take on challenges, so I think it would be great to have someone like a teacher with us.” *Note: D-POPS Corp. (page only in Japanese) is the company originally founded by D-POPS GROUP’s President and CEO Kazuhiro Goto. Based on that kind of culture, President Goto now leads an entire group company and is moving forward to the next major domain, whether that be creating a Venture Ecosystem or contributing to society as an entrepreneur. What I’m conscious of is that I want to pass on President Goto’s desire to provide a stage where young people can take on challenges and overcome them, even while bumping into walls. I’m working with the intention of continuing what I’ve inherited here at STAR CAREER, so I’m simply implementing at STAR CAREER what President Goto conveyed to me: creating an environment where young people can continuously take on challenges and communicating the value of facing obstacles. Journey to the Venture Ecosystem, and Beyond <Interview with D-POPS GROUP President Goto>https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en/philosophy/ Sugihara: I see. Indeed, at most companies led by presidents who emerged from D-POPS, many members have genuine, warm smiles. Recently, there are also many companies that have joined without being brought up out of D-POPS. Have you had the opportunity to speak with any presidents of these other group companies? Hosaka: Yes! I enjoy good relationships with the presidents of various companies that have joined D-POPS GROUP. Simply put, I’m interested in the presidents and members of companies that have joined D-POPS GROUP. I myself have been in the D-POPS environment from the beginning, so as a fellow group president now, I want to know more about their situations before and after joining. Sugihara: It’s definitely important to have someone like you, President Hosaka, who takes interest in our members and actively expands the circle. ◆“Realizing a Venture Ecosystem” Sugihara: Returning to what you said earlier, the members of D-POPS GROUP (not only President Goto) would like to spread the key phrase “Venture Ecosystem” throughout Japan. Is there anything about realizing a Venture Ecosystem that resonates with you, and are there any such activities that you’re intentionally engaging in? Hosaka: Indeed, D-POPS GROUP has officially set its sights on realizing a Venture Ecosystem, but even from the time I joined D-POPS, there was already a stage where young people could take on challenges. I believe that the vision at D-POPS evolved into an even larger worldview in today’s D-POPS GROUP. I sincerely resonate with how the foundational thinking at D-POPS has expanded into a much broader worldview within D-POPS GROUP. What I’m currently aiming for relates to places like the Shibuya Hikarie Building, where D-POPS GROUP’s headquarters is located. Since there are companies in various industries within D-POPS GROUP, I want to firmly establish that joining our group does not only mean gaining access to places like Shibuya Hikarie or industry know-how, but it also ensures increasing a company’s capability of recruiting core employees—even in a challenging job market. Sugihara: With 23 group companies now, being able to say things like “Our company is number one in recruitment capability”, or “Our company is number one in employee training”, or “Leave this backend system to us”—having various companies you can rely on for areas where you’re not as strong is one of the unique aspects of a Venture Ecosystem, you know. ◆Ideal Vision for STAR CAREER and graphD in 10 Years Sugihara: So, President Hosaka, could you tell us your ideal vision for STAR CAREER and graphD ten years from now? Hosaka: Simply put, I consider these two companies, STAR CAREER and graphD, as my assigned areas of responsibility in realizing the worldview that D-POPS GROUP is aiming for. For example, as D-POPS GROUP continues to grow, if they face challenges or need someone to handle certain tasks, I want to be someone who’s always ready to take action. Sugihara: Are there any initiatives you’re currently working on or challenges you face in moving toward that future? Hosaka: We do have some challenges, which we will address starting this October, in the second half of the fiscal year. Actually, all the senior managers who were responsible for each of STAR CAREER’s business units have delegated authority to the next generation. So now, the members who previously worked under those managers have become the final operational supervisors, independently engaging with those clients and supporting team members. I believe the reason why the 20-year survival rate for core businesses tends to be low is that even if they establish a business during an upward trend, they can’t ride the next wave once the business enters a stable or stagnant period. So, while developing three types of businesses—existing, core, and new—we’ve been able to expand our business fields from mobile phone shops to call centers, customer support, and back office support. We’ll continue to nurture the current trends as our existing business. Mobile phone shops, which were once on an uptrend, have now stabilized, but call centers and customer support are expected to continue growing, partly due to the digital transformation wave. We’ve decided to entrust the growth of these existing businesses entirely to our younger staff. And our previous executives will handle the newer business ventures, such as RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing), Carepo, and job hunting café operations. We’ve changed our policy so that leaders who are responsible for new businesses should achieve certain sales targets within three years. Sugihara: I see. The people who joined during the company’s launch have cultivated an entrepreneurial mindset through the staffing business—in other words, they’ve studied and gained experience in new business development. That’s truly the venture spirit. Hosaka: For sure. Recently, when we pivoted our business during COVID, we developed new business areas, talent development, and related evaluation systems through a collective effort of all our members. Now we’ve made the decision to have the next generation of members drive the business forward. Next, I intend to focus on properly launching Carepo and the RPO business. And we’re aiming to reduce the gross profit share of the staffing business from its current 90% to 50% over the next three years. The idea is to have our new businesses and the staffing business each account for half of our gross profit. ◆Message to Readers Visiting Our Website Sugihara: That’s a splendid goal. Finally, in closing, could you share a message for our online readers? Hosaka: Of course. When I talk with various people from D-POPS GROUP, I always get a certain sense. For example, there’s a famous manga with the repeated line “I’m going to become the Pirate King!” The protagonist is aiming to reach Treasure Island and earn the title of Pirate King. But interestingly, among the crew members on the same ship, only the protagonist wants to become the Pirate King. One member wants to become the world’s greatest swordsman, another member wants to be able to create sea charts of the entire world—everyone is working hard toward the single goal of reaching that place, but what everyone wants to gain when they get there is different. I think D-POPS GROUP is like that. Your dreams can come true in our Venture Ecosystem. There are many companions here, so we can cooperate with each other to fulfill each other’s dreams. I’m really looking forward to having more members join our Venture Ecosystem’s community in the future. STAR CAREER CO., LTD Company President and CEO: Tatsumasa Hosaka Address: 25F Shibuya Cross Tower, 2-15-1 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Established: May 2016 Website: https://star-career.co.jp/

Group Companies
Interview

2024.11.08

COLUMN

[Entrepreneur Interview #03] Kazusuke Obi (X-Locations)

The Challenge of Turning Location Information into “Big Data” in the Age of Smartphones

① What was the impetus for founding your company?

② Please give us a brief summary of your services.

③ What points make you superior to any similar companies?

④ What have been your biggest challenges since starting the company?

⑤ What do you most expect from shareholders?

⑥ What is the best part about receiving investment from D-POPS GROUP?

⑦ What aspects of realizing a Venture Ecosystem resonate with you?

⑧ What is your ideal vision for the company 10 years from now?

⑨ What challenges do you foresee in achieving that future?

⑩ Any closing comments you’d like to briefly share?

Company Information

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