kubell Co., Ltd.
4448・Growth Market・Information & Communication
Business
Kubell Corporation operates under the mission of "Making work more enjoyable and creative," developing a DX support business targeting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for 99.7% of all Japanese companies. Its core service, the business chat application "Chatwork," boasts the No.1 domestic user base (as of a July 2025 survey), with 8.066 million registered IDs and 973,000 companies using the service. The business consists of two domains: the SaaS domain (Chatwork and related SaaS offerings) and the BPaaS domain (Takushita (Chatwork Assistant), MINAGINE Labor Outsourcing / Attendance Management, etc.), providing comprehensive support for improving operational efficiency and productivity among SMEs that lack IT literacy or resources. The company changed to its current name in July 2024 and aims to evolve into a super app for business use.
Business Model
Over 95% of net sales are subscription-type revenue, with ARR of ¥7,343 million (as of the end of FY2025, December 2025). The company acquires users at low cost through Chatwork's free plan, then builds up SaaS revenue by upselling to paid plans and expanding the number of billed IDs (838,000). It further leverages its existing customer base for cross-selling to guide customers toward BPaaS, layering recurring revenue from fixed monthly fees and usage-based charges to improve ARPU and maximize LTV.
Company Strengths
Chatwork boasts 8,066 thousand registered IDs, 973 thousand companies deployed, and DAU of 1,241 thousand, ranking No.1 in domestic users (Nielsen survey, July 2025). The network effects generated by its open platform design form a barrier to competitor entry, while the freemium model enables large-scale user acquisition at low CAC (customer acquisition cost).
Over 95% of net sales consist of subscription-based revenue, with ARR continuing to expand from ¥5,876 million at the end of FY2023 (ending December 2023) to ¥7,343 million at the end of FY2025 (ending December 2025). The number of paid IDs has also steadily increased from 731 thousand to 838 thousand over the same period, providing a predictable revenue base premised on continued usage by existing customers.
Leveraging Chatwork's extensive customer touchpoints as a starting point, the company promotes cross-selling of Takushita (Chatwork Assistant, back-office BPaaS) and MINAGINE Labor Outsourcing / Attendance Management. By standardizing operations and utilizing AI and technology to eliminate labor intensiveness, the company has built a highly profitable operating model that can be offered at low prices even to small and medium-sized enterprises that previously could not adopt BPO.
ENVALITH's Perspective
Performance Trend
Revenue achieved five consecutive years of growth, rising from ¥3,372 million in FY2021 to ¥9,529 million in FY2025. Operating profit turned positive for the first time in FY2024 (¥97 million) and expanded to ¥485 million in FY2025, with Q1 FY2026 confirming entrenched profitability at ¥280 million (versus ¥76 million in the same quarter of the prior year). Gross margin improved to 72.7% in Q1 FY2026, with efficiency gains in cost of sales driving profit expansion. On the other hand, the revenue growth rate has continued to decelerate, moving from 36% in FY2022 to 41% in FY2023, 31% in FY2024, 12% in FY2025, and 15.8% in Q1 FY2026. As an external factor, DX demand among domestic SMEs remains ongoing, but as penetration of the business chat market rises, the marginal efficiency of new customer acquisition is declining, which warrants close monitoring.
Growth Strategy
Aiming to become the No.1 BPaaS company for small and medium-sized enterprises through BPaaS roll-up strategy and M&A, starting from the Chatwork platform
Continuing user acquisition and conversion to paid plans through a freemium model. As of the end of 1Q FY2026 (ending December 2026), the number of paid IDs reached 845 thousand and ARR reached ¥7,322 million, representing increases of +38 thousand and +¥401 million, respectively, compared to the same quarter of the previous year. ARPU improvement is being promoted in conjunction with BPaaS cross-selling.
Promoting a roll-up strategy that expands functionality through M&A, centered on BPaaS that embeds Chatwork into customers' business processes. In 1Q FY2026 (ending December 2026), the company acquired Fintech capabilities (Paytner Invoice) and Cloud Mail Service (atena), strengthening the BPaaS value proposition in the accounting and mail domains.
Since organic growth alone makes it difficult to achieve the mid-term plan's CAGR of 30%, financial targets were revised from 1Q FY2025 (ending December 2025) onward to include M&A execution. The acquisition of the Paytner Invoice business and the resolution to make atena a wholly owned subsidiary have already been executed. Early realization of integration synergies through cross-selling to existing customers and BPaaS operational efficiency improvements remains a challenge.
Progress is being made in building a structure capable of generating profit through efficiency improvements in cost of sales (¥705 million in 1Q FY2026 (ending December 2026), down from ¥744 million in the same quarter of the previous year) and improved gross margin (72.7%). Against a full-year EBITDA forecast of ¥1,500 million or more, 1Q progress exceeded 31%, proceeding smoothly.
Last updated: July 17, 2026