Fes Co., Ltd.
Fez raises 1.8 billion yen in series D round (1st close)
Accelerate promotion of DX for the growth of the retail industry
Fez Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Junpei Itami, hereinafter Fez), which promotes retail DX, is the first close of the Series D round, Dentsu Group Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, CEO (President and CEO: Hiroshi Igarashi) and Sumitomo Corporation (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Masayuki Hyodo) raised 1.8 billion yen through a third-party allotment of new shares. We have implemented.
In addition, in order to accelerate the promotion of retail DX, we have concluded a business alliance agreement with Dentsu Promotion Plus Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Masaaki Yukawa) and Sumitomo Corporation.
[Image 1
Background and overview of funding and business alliance
Since its founding in 2015, Fez has formed partnerships with multiple major retailers, starting with drugstore chains, with a strong desire to transform the retail industry with data. Currently, we are developing and providing “Urumo”, a retail data platform that manages and analyzes purchase data and storefront data in cooperation with ID-POS data* for about 100 million IDs.
Due to changes in consumer behavior and diversification of customer needs, retailers and manufacturers are required to take effective measures to increase the value of customer experience, and there is a greater need than ever to formulate and implement data-based business strategies and verify their effectiveness. is increasing.
Under these circumstances, we will promote retail DX by further expanding the one-stop solution of information (advertisement) x product (sales promotion) x sales floor (storefront) using “Urumo” and providing it to more retailers and manufacturers. We have raised funds and formed business alliances to accelerate and contribute to the growth of the retail industry.
The funds raised will be invested in recruiting and training human resources for business expansion, strengthening product development, etc.
Under the vision of “scientific information, products and sales floors to create a new common sense in the retail industry”, Fez actively collaborates with affiliated companies and works on product
development, for the growth of the retail industry. keep evolving. * ID-POS data linked with Fez can be used with permission from each retailer. Comments from investors and business partners (in no particular order) Dentsu Promotion Plus Inc. President and CEO Masaaki Yukawa
Through a business alliance with Fez, who supports DX in the retail industry, has the power to analyze purchase data and product development, and has extensive knowledge in the retail area, we will work toward the sophistication and provision of sales promotion solution development. Accelerate your efforts. We develop sales promotion measures that link store-guided advertisements and sales floors, propose measures with accountability based on purchase data and advertisement contact data, and develop solutions that visualize the return on investment in sales promotions to meet the sales promotion needs of customers. We will continue to answer. Together with the energetic Fez employees who are trying to create the future of this field, we will work with the aim of becoming the “No. 1 partner in sales promotion solutions” for our customers.
Hiroki Takeno, Executive Officer, General Manager, Lifestyle Business Division, Sumitomo Corporation
We have decided to subscribe for a series D capital increase and conclude a business alliance agreement. Empathizing with Fez’s vision of “scientific information, products, and sales floors to create a new common sense in the retail industry.” Therefore, we would like to support the growth of Fez by providing our retail business base and know-how.
Comments from our representative
We, Fez, are a retail tech company with a vision of “creating a new common sense in the retail industry by scientifically researching information, products and sales floors.”
The retail industry is a huge market with over 10 million people involved and said to be on the scale of 140 trillion yen. That’s why I feel that transforming this retail market has a huge social impact and is worth it. In the seven years since our founding, we have invested approximately 3 billion yen in everything we do to transform the retail industry, while promoting businesses such as “Urumo.” We believe that through this capital and business alliance, we will be able to achieve business scalability that cannot be achieved by Fez alone, and that we will be able to provide further returns to everyone in the retail industry. In the future, Fez will continue to lead the market responsibly as a leading retail tech company by creating a platform for all data related to the retail business in addition to the data currently linked, and providing optimal products for the retail industry.
About the retail data platform “Urumo”
“Urumo” is a retail data platform that manages and analyzes purchase data, storefront data, buyer policy data, sales promotion data, etc. By forming partnerships with multiple major retailers, in addition to linking ID-POS data* for about 100 million IDs, we also have the industry’s largest product information database owned by INTAGE Co., Ltd. and about 1,200 chain stores nationwide. We provide solutions for retailers and manufacturers by linking with the store information database “i-Store DB(R)︎” covering about 100,000 stores and real behavior data owned by unerry Co., Ltd.
-Main solutions of “Urumo”-
・Urumo Ads
: An advertising solution that enables not only optimal targeting design and advertisement distribution by reinforcement learning but also verification of the effect of visits and purchases
・Urumo Shopper
: Speeds up and simplifies ID-POS analysis, realizing data-driven decision-making and consensus building
・Urumo Explorer
：By visualizing the out-of-store behavior trends of customers (product axis/store axis) with data, we can refine our understanding of personas and greatly improve the accuracy of strategies and measures. ・Urumo Rounder Platform
：Realization of cost-sharing cost-sharing improvements that will lead to long-term improvements by building a foundation for PDCA through direct sales increase through the realization of storefronts and data conversion of storefront conditions.
[Image 2
-About Fez Co., Ltd.-
・ Company name: Fez Co., Ltd.
・Representative Director: Junpei Itami
・Established: December 3, 2015
・Number of employees: 131 (as of November 1, 2022)
・Business description: Retail tech business, etc.
・Head office location: 15 Kanda Konyacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Grand First Kanda Konyacho 3F
・Capital: 1,009 million yen (as of the end of October 2022)
・ URL: https://fez-inc.jp/
Fez is a retail tech company with a vision of “creating a new common sense in the retail industry by scientifically researching
information, products and sales floors.” We develop and provide one of Japan’s largest retail data platforms, Urumo, and are working to promote retail DX through information (advertisement) x products (sales promotion) x sales floor (storefront) solutions.
Details about this release:
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000037.000056777.html