ENVALITH
株式会社ぐるなび logo

Gurunavi, Inc.

2440・Standard Market・Services

Official website
株式会社ぐるなび logo
Gurunavi, Inc.2440

Business

Gurunavi, Inc. launched the restaurant information site "Gurunavi" (now "Rakuten Gurunavi") in 1996 and has since operated a platform connecting restaurants and consumers for nearly 30 years. The company currently focuses on online reservation and customer-acquisition support services for restaurants (Stock-type and Spot-type Service) as its core business, alongside Marketing Agent Service such as outsourced management of Google Business Profiles, promotions for government ministries and municipalities, and Related Businesses including kitchen equipment sales and store development. Its main customers are restaurants nationwide (33,881 paying member restaurants), and with Rakuten Group as its largest shareholder and business partner, it maintains a customer-referral infrastructure leveraging Rakuten IDs. In November 2025, the company transferred its listing from the TSE Prime Market to the Standard Market.

Business Model

The core of revenue is the Stock-type Service (equivalent to net sales of ¥9,899 million in FY2026 (ending March 2026)), a structure in which restaurants continuously pay monthly membership fees, online reservation commissions, and various product usage fees. Revenue accumulates as growth in ARPU (contract value per store) combines with expansion in the number of paying member stores. Spot-type advertising, promotions, and related businesses are added as complementary components in this composite model.

Company Strengths

Under the capital and business alliance concluded in 2019, Rakuten Group became the largest shareholder, securing a customer referral channel to Rakuten ID-linked members. In October 2025, the company began linking the "Rakuten Card Premium Program" with its "Executive Rank System," building a mechanism to promote repeat bookings among Rakuten members. This represents an institutional and capital-based alliance that competitors cannot easily replicate in a short period.

After recording an operating loss of ¥4,786 million in FY2022 (ended March 2022), the company achieved a turnaround to profitability in FY2025 (ended March 2025) through thorough cost management and revenue recovery. In FY2026 (ending March 2026), the company continued to post higher revenue and profit, with net sales of ¥14,132 million (up 5.0% year on year) and operating profit of ¥400 million (up 52.7% year on year). The number of paying stock-type member stores also turned upward, reaching 33,881 stores, up 1.2% from the previous fiscal year-end.

The Marketing Agent Service, centered on support for operating Google Business Profile, saw both the number of stores using the service and the average revenue per store exceed the previous period's levels. The company has also added new services such as providing coupon information to GBP and supporting the creation of short videos targeting inbound foreign visitors, establishing itself as a unique revenue source that captures restaurants' demand for outsourcing operational tasks.

ENVALITH's Perspective

FY2026 (ending March 2026) achieved expanded profitability with net sales of ¥14,132 million (up 5.0% year on year) and operating profit of ¥400 million (up 52.7% year on year). However, for FY2027 (ending March 2027), the company expects an operating loss of ¥830 million and net loss of ¥1,000 million, due to approximately ¥1,000 million in strategic investment in the restaurant support domain (hiring of around 70 people, partner system development, etc.) and head office relocation costs. While the company advocates a J-curve growth trajectory, the probability and timeline of investment recovery are at the core of the investment decision.

Stock-type revenue grew a solid 8.3% year on year, but this was mainly driven by growth in ARPU (contract value per store), while the increase in the number of paid member stores (up 1.2% from the previous fiscal year-end) remained limited. The Medium-Term Management Plan 2028 targets a total of 60,000 paid member stores (up approximately 77% from the current level) by FY2029 (ending March 2029), but the gap with the current pace of increase is large, raising questions about the effectiveness of strengthened sales operations. The 8.5% year-on-year decline in Spot-type revenue also indicates the intensity of competition in online reservations.

In FY2026 (ending March 2026), the company recorded a gain on sale of investment securities of ¥103 million as extraordinary income, while also recording an impairment loss of ¥234 million on fixed assets related to Related Businesses (Store Development Business), resulting in profit before income taxes of only ¥239 million. In the previous fiscal year as well, the company recorded business structure improvement expenses of ¥94 million and impairment losses of ¥66 million, indicating continued volatility in extraordinary gains and losses. Underlying profitability should be assessed based on operating profit of ¥400 million (operating margin of 2.8%), and even amid a tailwind from increasing consumer spending on dining out in the restaurant industry market environment, the low profit margin remains a challenge.

Growth Strategy

Transitioning from a customer acquisition media to a restaurant management platform, aiming for net sales of ¥18,900 million and operating profit of ¥1,300 million in FY2029 (ending March 2029)

Linking the Rakuten Card Premium Program with the organizer rank system (starting October 2025) to promote repeat bookings by Rakuten members. Stock-type paid member stores increased to 33,881 stores and stores supporting online reservations to 36,000 stores, marking a shift to an upward trend. Promoting seamless integration of reservations, visits, and payments through Rakuten ID.

Added new services such as Google Business Profile management support and short video creation support for inbound foreign visitors, achieving both the number of stores using the service and average usage fee per store exceeding the previous fiscal year's levels. Phased introduction of generative AI achieves both operational efficiency and expansion of the number of stores served, capturing outsourcing demand from restaurants.

Through collaboration with Rakuten Group, adding CRM functions (repeat customer promotion) and payment-related functions to membership services, diversifying the reasons restaurants choose the company from a customer acquisition media to a business support partner. Aiming to minimize cancellation risk and strengthen the customer base.

Plans to hire approximately 70 sales personnel in FY2027 (ending March 2027). Promoting the formation of an organization dedicated to new customer acquisition, reducing proposal preparation workload and shortening onboarding through generative AI utilization, and expanding prospective customer acquisition channels with external partners, to accelerate the pace of increase in the number of paid member stores.

Developing a data infrastructure centered on generative AI to realize predictive support for restaurants. Improving operational productivity and creativity under the "Gurunavi NEXT Project." The AI Agent App "UMAME!" underwent a major update in January 2026, with the release of an Android version and the launch of an English-language version to capture demand from inbound foreign visitors.

Last updated: July 19, 2026