Fourth Valley raises approximately 300 million yen to strengthen its SaaS business - Promoting cross-border recruitment and DX for the foreign economic zone.
Force Valley raises approximately 300 million yen to strengthen its SaaS business.
-Promoting cross-border recruitment and DX for the foreign economic zone.
Fourth Valley Concierge Corporation (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Founder and CEO: Yohei Shibasaki; hereinafter referred to as “Fourth Valley”), a global recruitment support company raised approximately 300 million yen from corporations, funds, and individual investors via third-party allocation of shares on March 14, 2022. The following is a summary of the results.
Investors in this round (in no particular order)
- Benesse Holdings, Inc.
- Japan Property Management Center Co., Ltd.
- Orchestra Investment Inc.
- THE STAND Inc.
- Aristoteles Partners, Inc.
- SASAKI FOOD Co., Ltd.
- RyukyuInteractive, Inc.
- Hideki Furusho
- Various corporations
- Various private investors
Background and objectives
Since its inception, Fourth Valley has helped Japanese companies attract talented people from all over the world. Due to the global spread of Covid-19, conditions have remained difficult regarding the entry of foreigners, but with the easing of entry restrictions, the acceptance of foreign nationals is beginning to expand once again. Meanwhile, with Covid-19, we have been dramatically moving forward with the transformation of our business into an SaaS, while at the same time preparing to sequentially release new business models such as online Japanese language education, remote recruitment of personnel, and cross-border crowdsourcing, in anticipation of another Covid-19 wave.
Armed with the extensive network cultivated through Connect Job, which supports the recruitment of highly skilled personnel from around the world with a focus on IT talent, in 2021, Fourth Valley will launch two direct matching platforms: Connect Job WORKERS, which links specified skilled workers with Japanese companies, and Connect Study ABROAD, which links international students with Japanese educational institutions. We are looking to scale up our business for the expanding foreign economic zone by providing support on a common DX platform not only for the recruitment of foreign talent, but also for study abroad, higher education, employment and job changes, as well as visa procurement and even support for starting a new life in Japan.
How the matching platform works.
Recruitment support for highly skilled foreign professionals: Connect Job https://job.connectiu.com/for-employers
Recruitment support for specific skilled workers: Connect Job WORKERS https://workers.connectiu.com/
Support for acquiring study abroad students: Connect Study ABROAD https://studyabroad.connectiu.com/school_top
The funds raised will be used for the following:
Investing in software development, marketing, and strengthening of the operational structure of Connect Job WORKERS and Connect Study ABROAD.
Comments from investors
*The titles and comments from the investors are translated. The original is in Japanese so for official comments, please refer to the Japanese version HERE
Benesse Corporation Executive Officer, Head of University and Working Adult Business Sector Masanori Fujii
We strongly share the Founder and CEO Shibasaki's aspiration for Japan to become the happiest country for foreign human talent to live in. We’ve had many conversations about opportunities for collaboration and how we can contribute. We feel that because we’re working together with Fourth Valley, a company that has been involved with foreign talent for many years, we can provide better services that are in line with the feelings of our customers and the challenges they face. We see the current situation in Japan, where the ratio of foreign workers is overwhelmingly low among major developed countries, as an opportunity, and would like to deliver cross-border emotional experiences that make full use of digital technology and the strengths of both companies.
Japan Property Management Center Co., Ltd.
JPMC Japan Management Center is pleased to have invested in Fourth Valley Concierge. As social issues such as the serious labor shortage in Japan become more apparent, we are convinced that the acceptance of foreign talent will increase at an accelerating pace in the future. We feel that Fourth Valley Concierge can be a game changer in all areas, as it can provide not only recruitment support for foreign personnel but also lifestyle support on Connect Job WORKERS, one of the largest platforms in Japan. We look forward to working together with Fourth Valley Concierge to solve social issues by providing a comfortable home for foreign workers.
Orchestra Investment Inc.
We invested in Fourth Valley Concierge because we sympathize with its philosophy of creating a world-class multicultural society. I hope that the strong leadership of the Founder and CEO Shibasaki, who is a visionary leader, and the talented and highly capable team that supports him, will work together as a game changer to realize a clean working environment and change Japan into a country that makes foreign people living in it the happiest in the world.
THE STAND Inc.
When thinking about the future working environment in Japan, the aim of Fourth Valley Concierge is to be a game changer in achieving a clean working environment in all fields, and to provide the best possible match between Japanese companies and talent from around the world through an online platform that makes full use of the power of technology. We invested in the company because we share that same passion. We also believe that Founder and CEO Shibasaki is one of Japan's most global business leaders. We will do our best to support him through means other than investment as well.
Aristoteles Partners, Inc., Representative Director, Satoshi Koga
Founder and CEO Shibasaki is a passionate and dedicated individual who is committed to realizing happy encounters between Japanese companies and talented people from all over the world. As the CVC of CELM, a professional human resources development company, we joined the company as a shareholder in order to accompany Founder and CEO Shibasaki's aspirations. Together, we would like to share the challenges individual client companies face and contribute to their sustainable growth through the recruitment and development of human talent.
Recruitment
Fourth Valley is looking for people in a variety of positions to strengthen the organization in line with the expansion of the business.
Positions available: Corporate Planning, Sales, Customer Success, Engineers, etc.
Recruitment information https://www.wantedly.com/companies/4th-valley/projects
Fourth Valley Concierge Corporation
Fourth Valley Concierge operates a cross-border global recruitment support business under the brand name “Connect Job,” which connects companies with talent from all over the world. In April 2021, the company launched Connect Job WORKERS, an online matching platform for specified skilled workers. The company is also expanding its services in the SaaS domain, with the launch of the international student recruitment platform Connect Study ABROAD in November. We have also been commissioned to undertake projects by ministries and local governments, including the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Okinawa Prefecture, Toyama Prefecture, Shizuoka Prefecture, and Nagano Prefecture. We welcome talented individuals from countries with a shortage of employment to Japan, where there is a serious shortage of labor resources, and contribute to solving social problems around the world through the power of business.
Please contact us for more information.
Fourth Valley Concierge Corporation
http://www.4th-valley.com/
WeWork Kojimachi, Bancho Kojimachi Building 5F, 6-6-2, Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Ms. Takeda 080-5474-1390
*Please feel free to contact for interview to Founder and CEO Shibasaki