# FreakOut

Startup profile on Capital Atlas: https://capitalatlas.ai/startups/freakout

- Industry: Marketing/Advertising
- Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan
- Website: https://www.fout.co.jp/freakout/
- Total disclosed funding: $6.7M
- Latest round: Series B (Mar 11, 2013)
- Investors on record: 2

## About

Based in Tokyo, Japan, FreakOut, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of FreakOut Holdings, inc. In 2010, the company was founded by Honda, after becoming interested in real-time bidding (RTB), a new advertising transaction mechanism created in New York. Honda applied his entrepreneurial and M&A experience in the ad technology field and started up his second company. He based his office from his home in Chiba after deciding that he would devote himself to the development at the initial stage. In 2011, Honda had proposed to several advertising companies in which he had personal investments that they start supply-side platforms (SSP). In the same year, Honda opened an office in Tokyo to begin full-fledged business activities. The company only had 10 employees in August, but by November they were almost 20, so they moved again to an office that could accommodate 30.  In 2012, they established their first US branch office in New York, and relocated their headquarters again, in offices that could accommodate 100 people. In the same year, they established their first Board of Directors, Yusuke Sato and Kotaro Yokoyama are appointed as Directors.  In 2014, they moved headquarters once again to its current location in 2021. Later that year it became listed in the Mothers section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.  Also established a branch in Osaka, to capture the West Japan (Kansai) market.  In 2017, the management structure was changed, Tomohiro Yasukura and Shusuke Nagai were appointed as Directors, in order to expand business in new areas such as overseas and FinTech.  In 2020, a 3-year medium-term management plan was formulated for 2023, and the company was again restructured. Keiji Tokiyoshi and Makoto Takeuchi were appointed Directors.  

 FreakOut mainly manages the following products: Red, a marketing platform for mobile phones outfitted with an advanced unique machine learning engine; FreakOut DSP, a demand-side platform which buys only advertising opportunities that advertisers need at a reasonable price and optimize their efficacy; MOTHER, a data management platform that turns various user data into assets and directly analyze and apply those information as marketing data; ASE, a position information marketing platform that can make distribution, attracting retail customers and customer analysis effective as well as improve their user-friendliness; LayApp is a marketing platform that supports the maximization of earning opportunities; Poets, a premium ad platform that provides advertising experience without losing user experience by using content UI and advertising formats with high affinity; Red for Publishers constructs ad platforms for digital media, and supports development of a premium ad framework with high CPM unit value, and even supports the sales and operations that are necessary for the advertising business.  

The FreakOut Group will strive to increase corporate value under the corporate vision of “Give people work that requires a person.” In particular, in the domestic Internet advertising market, which is expected to continue to grow, FreakOut will expand the contribution to earnings through the “Red For Publishers” and “Poets” in addition to the DSP business, which is their traditional mainstay business. Additionally, FreakOut will accelerate growth by actively pursuing alliances with ITOCHU Corporation, large-scale alliances aimed at acquiring new prime media, and diversifying our digital signage business. The company will proceed with additional investments from the fiscal year ending September 2021 onward to maximize its earnings. In Southeast Asia and major Southeast Asian countries that have entered a phase of earning, FreakOut will strive to strengthen profitability by selecting businesses and bases. FreakOut will continue to invest in FinTech areas and RetailTech areas, as well as in the Internet advertising business, which they have worked on in the past, by utilizing their technological foundation, and strive to improve their corporate value for the future.

## Funding rounds

- Series B, Mar 11, 2013, $5.2M — Z Venture Capital
- Series A, Feb 1, 2012, $1.5M — GMO VenturePartners

## Investors

- GMO VenturePartners (https://capitalatlas.ai/funds/gmo-venturepartners) — Series A
- Z Venture Capital (https://capitalatlas.ai/funds/z-venture-capital) — Series B