2. 沿革■ Company Overview of Smart Support <9342>
1. Company Overview
The company provides solutions for property management companies and operates apps for long term rental tenants. The company's management philosophy is to "support a smart lifestyle" by revitalizing communication between property management companies and tenants, helping property management firms acquire revenues they previously could not obtain and digitizing communication, which was mostly one-way contact via notices and phone calls, thereby improving the operational burden of property management companies.
2. History
Established in April 2012 as a 100% subsidiary of Takuto Holdings Co., Ltd. (now Takuto Investment Co., Ltd.), which is a property management company based in the Kansai area centered in Osaka Prefecture, the company was originally known as Global Agent Co., Ltd. The management team, led by President and CEO Shinzo Oda, changed the company name to the current name in September 2016 to provide solutions for issues faced by property management companies, which had previously only been offered internally, and launched the tenant satisfaction survey service 'Smart Support Thank You Call.'
In January 2017, the company began offering a new electricity service called 'Smart Support Electricity,' where it purchases electricity from a new power company and sells it to customers, aiming for diversification and synergy with existing businesses. Although the number of contracts was steadily increasing, a sudden surge in electricity procurement prices in December 2020 led to an increase in the cost of goods sold, resulting in an operating loss for the period ending September 2021. Due to continued volatility in procurement prices, the company decided to downsize its operations, switching to an agency contract model from January 2022, and it is now largely completed its withdrawal.
In October 2019, a business partnership contract was signed with And Factory Co., Ltd. <7035>, which handles app development, and in August 2020, the company began providing a tenant app called 'Totono' to facilitate smooth communication between property management companies and tenants. In August 2021, the company acquired the 'Totono' business from And Factory and is now promoting business development to expand the number of implementing companies.
Regarding the core service 'Smart Support Thank You Call,' in August 2022, a capital and business partnership contract was signed with ENECHANGE <4169> to strengthen the product, and in August 2023, a business partnership contract was concluded with Recruit Co., Ltd. to expand sales channels.
(Written by: Fisco Guest Analyst Takuma Jilin)
