Visional, the Japan-headquartered operator of online recruitment service BizReach, which is backed by a host of corporate investors, has been approved to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Mothers Market.
The initial public offering (IPO) will involve the company issuing some 21 million shares with approximately 267,000 more for the overallotment option. Nomura Securities and Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities are lead underwriters for the listing, which is set to take place on April 22.
Founded in 2009 as human resources software platform operator BizReach, the company was transferred to the auspices of holding group Visional in February 2020.
The group’s other businesses include Calitre, a career change app for users in their 20s, and Standby, an online job search engine. It also operates investment initiatives including an incubator dubbed Visional Incubation and BizReach Founder Fund, which targets early-stage developers of artificial intelligence, blockchain and digitalisation technologies.
BizReach secured $11m in October 2016 from Globis Capital Partners, Mizuho Capital, SBI Investment, SMBC Venture Capital and Tokyo University of Science Innovation Capital, on behalf of education services provider Globis and financial services firms Mizuho Bank, SBI and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, as well as Japanese university Tokyo University of Science.
Internet company Yahoo Japan’s YJ Capital unit had led a $32.8m series B round for BizReach seven months before, investing alongside digital media company Gree, consultancy Link and Motivation and e-commerce group Rakuten, in addition to Dentsu Digital Holdings and Salesforce Ventures, representing marketing group Dentsu and enterprise software producer Salesforce respectively.
The company’s earliest funding took place in 2010 when it raised $2.2m from Jafco Super V3 Investment Limited Partnership. Its other shareholders include Japan Entrepreneur Collaboration and Japan Co-Invest.
