Under our mission and vision, our group aims to contribute to Japan's sustainable industrial development and the creation of an innovation-driven society by supporting the growth of startups and other companies. Recognizing that our business growth contributes to the creation of a sustainable society, we publish our "Value Creation Story," which outlines how our group achieves sustainable business growth and contributes to solving social issues.
Three Essential Capitals Driving Our Strengths and Competitive Advantages
Among the "Six Capitals" defined by the IIRC (International Integrated Reporting Council), our group identifies the following three as our core strengths and key priorities:
- Human Capital: An organization driven by overwhelming passion and ambition to tackle the challenging goal of "growth industry support."
- Social and Relationship Capital: Strong relationships and communities built with key stakeholders, including entrepreneurs, VCs, government agencies, and major corporations.
- Intellectual Capital: Quantitative and qualitative data accumulated in "STARTUP DB," combined with proprietary hands-on support expertise.
By leveraging these strengths, we build a "Growth Industry Support Platform" centered on our Human Capital business. Supporting challengers in the startup ecosystem enables us to achieve both sustainable corporate growth and solutions to social issues.
Key Challenges to Further Strengthen Our Advantages
The foundation of this value creation story rests on our team members and their extensive human networks. To further solidify our strengths, we are actively addressing three key management priorities:
- Human Capital: Creating an organizational culture and environment where individuals share, inspire, and foster one another's personal ambitions.
- Social and Relationship Capital: Expanding our human networks and institutionalizing opportunities for value creation.
- Intellectual Capital: Maximizing individual productivity by fully leveraging our accumulated data.
Specific Examples of Human Capital Initiatives
Our group maintains a lean, competitive, and high-performance organization by fostering healthy organizational dynamics. This is driven by a meritocratic culture that grants "rewards, opportunities, and responsibilities" based on performance regardless of age or tenure, as well as a culture that aligns our corporate mission and vision with the personal "ambitions" of our employees.
Based on this philosophy, we conduct an annual "Ambition Survey" to continuously enhance our human capital value, executing a robust PDCA cycle to identify issues and implement measures for improvement based on the survey results.
"Ambition Survey" Overview
We quantify and monitor how employees discover and nurture their ambitions using the "Kokorozashi Index" through our annual "Ambition Survey." The survey evaluates key factors such as encountering ambition, proactive efforts toward realizing it, and organizational support.
- Latest survey period: March 2026
- Participants: Full-time employees as of the end of February 2026 (excluding those on leave or scheduled to resign)
- Response rate: 100%
Key Survey Findings
- Fostering Ambition and Enhancing Engagement
79% of employees responded that they have "encountered their ambition" through work (remaining at the same level as the previous year), with the ratio increasing alongside tenure. Additionally, the proportion of responses indicating "envisioning a long-term career at the company" increased, and the newly introduced "satisfaction with performance evaluation" recorded a high level of 81%.
- Challenges in Organizational Culture and Internal Dialogue
Conversely, indices regarding "proactive efforts toward realizing ambition over the past year," "colleagues' understanding of personal ambition," and "awareness of gender gaps" experienced a decline of 5% or more. - Analysis of Attrition Drivers for Retention Improvement
Analysis of past survey responses from former employees revealed significantly higher negative response rates regarding "encountering ambition through work" and "career motivation" compared to active employees.
Future Actions Based on Survey Results
- Career Development & Support
We will continue strategic job rotations and personnel system refinements to build an environment supporting sustainable, long-term employee performance.
- Sharing Ambition & Open Dialogue
To address the decline in "colleagues' understanding of personal ambition," we will increase dialogue opportunities—such as "Ambition Workshops"—to foster a culture where employees mutually inspire each other. - Strengthening Management Capabilities
We will conduct management training programs and company-wide workshops to enhance the alignment of employee ambitions with goals, as well as improve gender-inclusive communication.
Based on these findings, we will continuously refine our HR policies and environment to maintain and improve the "Kokorozashi Index," empowering ambitious talent to build long-term careers with us.
Detailed numerical data from the "Ambition Survey" and overall HR development strategies are disclosed in our latest Annual Securities Report.
