Caulis Inc.

Business Details

Under the mission of "co-creating information infrastructure to make the world a better place," the company primarily operates "Fraud Alert," a cloud-based unauthorized access detection service for corporate clients that combines crime big data with proprietary algorithms. The service has been adopted by 48 financial institutions, including banks, securities firms, and credit card companies, and the company's competitive advantage stems from network externalities generated by sharing blacklists across customers. In September 2025, the company launched a new KYC service, "Grid Data KYC," which utilizes electricity contract information, aiming to diversify its revenue sources.

Recent Overview

1Q net sales up 22.4% and operating profit up 33.9%, with MRR up 24.3% year-on-year; full-year forecast maintained

In 1Q FY2026 (ending December 2026), upselling to existing securities company customers contributed significantly to MRR, resulting in net sales of ¥401 million (up 22.4% year-on-year) and operating profit of ¥130 million (up 33.9% year-on-year). Infrastructure rebuilding aimed at reducing server costs was completed in March, ahead of schedule, contributing to profit. SG&A expenses decreased year-on-year, improving the operating margin to 32.4%. The number of contracted companies remained flat at 48, with one new addition and one cancellation. Grid Data KYC began a PoC with one new company. A new sales and recruitment office was opened in Fukuoka Prefecture. The company repurchased 129,900 shares of treasury stock (¥152,302 thousand). The full-year earnings forecast remains unchanged from the figures announced on February 13, 2026.

Key Products

Growth Drivers

• Expanding demand for transaction monitoring and upselling to existing customers amid a sharp rise in securities account takeover incidents (damages from special fraud and SNS-type investment fraud in 2025 totaled approximately ¥334.34 billion)
• Strengthened AML obligations for financial institutions following FATF's 4th Mutual Evaluation of Japan classifying it under "Enhanced Follow-up," alongside medium- to long-term regulatory tightening ahead of the 5th evaluation in 2028
• Growing need for more sophisticated, real-time fraud detection and enhanced KYC amid an increase in fraud cases exploiting advanced technologies such as generative AI
• Steady expansion of recurring revenue and improved ARPU (up 24.3% year-on-year) driven by upselling amid increasing traffic
• Diversification of revenue sources and entry into the financial institution KYC market through expansion of PoCs for the new Grid Data KYC business
• Strengthened sales foundation for regional financial institutions through the opening of a new sales office (Fukuoka) covering the Kyushu, Chugoku, and Shikoku areas

Risks

• Customer concentration risk, with only 48 contracted companies and high revenue dependence on specific customers
• Lengthening decision-making periods when approaching financial institutions that jointly use core banking systems, making short-term acquisition of new customers more difficult
• Grid Data KYC remains in the PoC stage, with the timing of full-scale revenue contribution uncertain
• A shortage of specialized personnel for anti-money laundering countermeasures is a common industry-wide challenge, posing ongoing hiring and organizational risk
• Cash and deposits decreased by ¥377,660 thousand due to treasury stock repurchases (¥152,302 thousand) and dividend payments (¥31,334 thousand), reducing liquidity on hand
• While the gross revenue churn rate has improved to 0.4%, the number of contracted companies has remained flat, making accelerating growth through new customer acquisition a key challenge