ENVALITH
株式会社POPER logo

POPER Co.,Ltd.

5134・Growth Market・Information & Communication

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株式会社POPER logo
POPER Co.,Ltd.5134

Business

POPER Inc. was founded in 2015 and mainly operates the SaaS platform "Comiru," which streamlines back-office operations and optimizes communication with guardians for education providers, primarily cram schools. Its core customers range widely from individual cram schools with fewer than 300 students to major cram school chains with 5,000 or more students, and as of the end of FY2025 (ending October 2025), the number of paying contracted companies stood at 1,939. Building on its foundation in the cram school segment (approximately 90% of net sales), the company is expanding into lesson-based segments such as English conversation, music, and sports, as well as the school and government (GaaS) segment. It listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market in November 2022.

Business Model

The core of revenue is a usage-based model of ¥300 per month per student ID for "Comiru BASIC." This structure means the company's ARR automatically expands as education providers increase their number of students. In addition, high-unit-price recurring revenue from "ComiruPRO" and "ComiruERP" targeted at large operators, along with payment processing fee income (¥58 per transaction) from "ComiruPay" (released January 2025), accumulate through cross-selling. The company maintains a direct sales ratio of 97%, building a system that directly links customer needs to product development. A high retention rate, with a monthly churn rate of 0.6% (as of end-October 2025), underpins the stability of recurring revenue.

Company Strengths

Since its release in 2015, the company has continuously evolved its UI/UX specialized for cram school operations, expanding functionality from 1 feature to 15 features. The monthly cancellation rate has been kept low at 0.6% (as of end-October 2025), achieving a level of stickiness difficult for cross-industry SaaS to replicate. The company achieved the No.1 position in the number of cram schools using cloud-based business management systems (according to a survey by Deloitte Tohmatsu Mic Research Institute).

The company has established a customer acquisition model centered on management seminars (with an average of over 200 attendees) held for small and medium-sized cram schools. Through rigorous PDCA management of web advertising, the ratio of advertising expenses to sales for the full fiscal year ended October 2025 was maintained at a low 4.9%, while the number of paying contracted companies expanded 14.8% year-on-year to 1,939. A direct sales ratio of 97% also serves as a source of competitive advantage by directly linking customer needs to product development.

Net sales expanded approximately 2.1-fold over four periods, from ¥665 million in FY2022 to ¥1,389 million in FY2025. Operating profit turned from a loss of ¥20 million in FY2022 to profitability, then rapidly expanded to ¥174 million in FY2025 (up 138.2% year-on-year). The operating margin improved to 12.6% for the full FY2025 and further to 18.4% in Q1 of FY2026 (ending October 2026), with improved productivity in the development division and scale merit strengthening the profit structure.

ENVALITH's Perspective

At the end of 2Q FY2026 (ending October 2026), ARR stood at ¥1,167,888 thousand (up 6.0% year on year) and ARPU stood at ¥46,279 (down 9.0% year on year), with both ARR and ARPU declining quarter on quarter even as the number of paying client companies expanded. The company attributes this to a rising share of the extracurricular activities/private tutoring segment and to seasonality related to the fiscal year transition (a time lag in deleting graduate IDs), but whether the slowdown in ARR growth (up 6.0% year on year) persists will be a key dividing point for share price evaluation going forward.

Operating profit for the first half of FY2026 (ending October 2026) was ¥71 million (down 39.5% year on year), with an operating margin of 10.1%, representing a substantial decline. The full-year forecast calls for net sales of ¥1,425 million and operating profit of ¥85 million (down 50.8% year on year); since ¥71 million has already been recorded in the first half, the calculation implies that the second half (3Q and 4Q) would contribute only ¥14 million in profit. While upfront investments such as server capacity expansion and personnel costs are said to be proceeding as planned, the cost level and pace of revenue recovery in the second half will be key to achieving the full-year forecast.

At present, leading indicators such as 673 companies having applied for ComiruPay and 17 ComiruERP projects proceeding in parallel are favorable, but their contribution to financial figures remains limited. As an external tailwind, the shift of education DX toward the "utilization and entrenchment" phase is supportive, but the timing at which these new services begin to actually lift ARR and ARPU will be the trigger for re-rating from the current phase of profit decline. The risk of market contraction due to the declining birthrate remains a structural challenge, and continued monitoring of progress in diversification into extracurricular activities and the GaaS domain is also necessary.

Growth Strategy

Accelerating ARR growth through Comiru penetration, ComiruPay/ERP expansion, diversification into lesson-based education and GaaS

ComiruPay, launched in January 2025, has reached 673 companies in applications (over 30% of paying client companies), with adoption accelerating as it captures demand for streamlining payment operations. While playing a strategic role in promoting Comiru adoption and curbing cancellations, the company aims to lift ARPU through future payment fee revenue.

Shifting focus from conventional labor-intensive large-scale contract development toward highly scalable recurring revenue, with 17 projects currently proceeding in parallel. Two companies began billing in Q2 of FY2026 (ending October 2026), marking the start of recurring revenue accumulation. The company continues preparing remaining projects for implementation and refining its sales pipeline.

Achieved 365 paying client companies (up 65.2% year-on-year) in the lesson-based education sector, including English conversation, programming, and calligraphy. Synergies with ComiruPay serve as a weapon for new customer acquisition, and the platform's value proposition is being increasingly demonstrated in education services beyond cram schools.

Based on a collaboration agreement with Inzai City and Sakae Town in Chiba Prefecture, the company is providing hands-on support including promotion of school administration DX, assistance with security policy formulation, and generative AI utilization training. Through building trust relationships with local governments, the company is forming the foundation for a future BtoG business. While immediate revenue contribution is limited, this is positioned as a new market for the medium to long term.

Last updated: July 17, 2026