About SmartHR
SmartHR is a company based in Minato (Japan) founded in 2013 by Kensuke Naito. It operates as a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service). SmartHR has raised $328.21 million across 10 funding rounds from investors including KKR, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Light Street Capital. SmartHR has completed 1 acquisition, including x-bit. SmartHR offers products and services including SmartHR. SmartHR operates in a competitive market with competitors including Workday, Kronos, Paylocity, Darwinbox and Sage Group, among others.
- Headquarter Minato, Japan
- Founders Kensuke Naito
- SectorsTechnology
- Website category Business and Consumer Services · Marketing and Advertising
- Email••••••••
- Website smarthr.co.jp
- Social LinkedIn X Facebook YouTube
- Legal Name Smarthr, Inc.
Products & Services of SmartHR
SmartHR offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, including SmartHR.
Cloud-based HR software for efficiency and talent management.
Apps and channels of SmartHR
its YouTube channel SmartHR has 3.58K subscribers and 30 videos.
Videos from SmartHR
The most watched videos on SmartHR's YouTube channel, SmartHR (3.58K subscribers). Click a video to play it here.
More on SmartHR.
Funding Insights of SmartHR
SmartHR has successfully raised a total of $328.21M across 10 strategic funding rounds. This substantial capital infusion reflects strong investor confidence in the company's business model, growth potential, and market opportunities. The funding enables strategic expansion, product development, market penetration, and operational scaling to drive long-term value creation and competitive advantage.
- Total Funding $328.21M
- Total Rounds 10
- First Round $300,000
(Apr 2015)
- Investors Count 19
All 10 funding rounds of SmartHR with amounts and investors; the two latest post-money valuations are shown, the rest are part of the premium plan.
| Date | Amount | Transaction Name | Valuation | Lead Investors | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2025 | – | Series E | – | – | |
| Jun 2024 | $140M | Series E | – | KKR, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan | |
| Jun 2021 | $114.28M | Series D | – | Light Street Capital | |
| Apr 2019 | $54.93M | Series C | – | ALL STAR SAAS FUND, Light Street Capital | |
| Jan 2018 | $13.3M | Series B | – | 500 Global | – |
| Sep 2017 | – | Series A | – | – | |
| Aug 2016 | $5M | Series A | – | World Innovation Lab | |
| Jan 2016 | $400,000 | Seed | – | Beenext, East Ventures | – |
| Nov 2015 | – | Grant | – | – | – |
| Apr 2015 | $300,000 | Seed | – | Open Network Lab | – |
19 investors in total: 16 institutional and 3 angel.
Investors in SmartHR
SmartHR has secured backing from 19 investors, including venture fund, institutional, and angel investors. Prominent investors backing the company include KKR, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Light Street Capital.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Multiple sectors are invested in by this private equity firm. | 1976 | kkr.com | New York, United States | |
Venture capital firm focused on SaaS, mobile tech, AI, and multiple sectors | – | wilab.com | Palo Alto, United States | |
Sequoia Capital is engaged in venture capital investments. | 1972 | sequoiacap.com | - | |
Private equity firm focused on private and public companies | – | arenaholdings.com | New York, United States | |
- | – | greyhound capital | - | |
Investment and support are provided to SaaS ventures. | – | allstarsaas.com | - | |
Venture capital and acceleration are provided to tech startups. | – | 500.co | Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam | |
Early-stage venture capital fund | – | beenext.com | Singapore, Singapore | |
Coral Capital is engaged in venture capital investments for startups. | – | coralcap.co | Japan | |
DG Ventures is engaged in investing in startup companies. | – | dgventures.com | San Francisco, United States |
Investor details for SmartHR
The complete investor list, round-by-round participation and investor portfolios require an active premium plan.
- Complete investor list
- Round participation
- Investor portfolios
- Co-investor network
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
People of SmartHR
2 people are tracked at SmartHR (2 in leadership).
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
Kensuke Naito | Founder & Chief Information Officer | Leadership |
Masato Serizawa | CEO & Chief Technology Officer | Leadership |
Complete people profiles for SmartHR
Full employee and board profiles, team structure, tenure and professional contact details require an active premium plan.
- Full employee list
- Team structure
- Board tenure
- Professional contacts
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Investments & Acquisitions by SmartHR
SmartHR has strategically engaged in corporate development activities, having acquired 1 company. Notable acquisitions include x-bit.
| Company Name | Description | Domain | Location | Founded | Acquired | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Store shift management solution | x-bit.co.jp | Shinagawa, Japan | 2016 | May 2026 | •••• |
Complete acquisition details for SmartHR
Acquired stakes, deal sources and the complete acquisition history require an active premium plan.
- Acquired stakes
- Deal sources
- Complete history
- Exports
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Timeline of SmartHR
4 dated milestones of SmartHR across 13 years, from founding to its latest funding, stage changes and deals.
- Founded SmartHR is founded.
- Funding First funding round of $300K.
- Funding Latest funding round, Series E,.
- Acquisition Acquires x-bit.
Competitors of SmartHR
SmartHR operates in a dynamic and competitive business environment, facing competition from various established players and emerging companies in the market. The competitive landscape includes prominent companies such as Workday, Kronos, Paylocity, Darwinbox and Sage Group, among others.
| Company Name | Domain | Founded | HQ Location | Total funding | Employees | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| workday.com | 2005 | Pleasanton, United States | $352.3M | 11,805 | Cloud-based HR and financial software is delivered to enterprises. | |
| kronos.com | 1977 | Lowell, United States | $855M | 86 | HCM software solutions for enterprise workforce management are provided. | |
| paylocity.com | 1997 | Arlington Heights, United States | $37.28M | 4,150 | Cloud-based payroll and HR solutions are provided for businesses. | |
| darwinbox.com | 2015 | Hyderabad, India | $319.51M | 1,022 | Human capital management platform is provided for HR process automation. | |
| sage.com | 1981 | United States | – | 1,877 | Cloud-based accounting and payroll solutions for small and medium businesses | |
| peoplestrong.com | 2005 | Gurugram, India | $30.68M | 998 | Cloud-based human resource management software is offered. | |
| ceridian.com | 1992 | Minneapolis, United States | $150M | 1 | Cloud-based human capital management software is provided for enterprises. | |
| successfactors.com | 2001 | San Francisco, United States | $79.84M | 18,910 | Cloud-based human capital management software is delivered globally. | |
| justworks.com | 2012 | New York, United States | $147.52M | 55,459 | Benefits administration and payroll management are provided for businesses. |
Detailed competitors of SmartHR
The full competitor set, operating metrics and side-by-side benchmarks require an active premium plan.
- Full competitor set
- Operating metrics
- Benchmarks
- Competitive positioning
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Web traffic of SmartHR
The website of SmartHR (smarthr.co.jp) receives about 58.3K visits a month and ranks #387,940 among all websites worldwide, #1,672 in Marketing and Advertising.
- Monthly visits58.3K
▼ 36.1% vs previous month
- Unique visitors60.5K
per month
- Global rank#387,940
among all websites
- Category rank#1,672
Business and Consumer Services · Marketing and Advertising
- Bounce rate51%
- Pages per visit2.4
- Average visit55 sec
- DevicesDesktop 43% · Mobile 57%
Websites whose visitors overlap most with SmartHR. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.
| Website | Domain | Audience affinity | Monthly visits | Global rank | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| jinjer.co.jp | 100% | 22.9K | #954,821 | View details | |
youtrust.jp | youtrust.jp | 97% | – | #126,010 | – |
| pa-consul.co.jp | 97% | – | #468,865 | View details | |
future-s.com | future-s.com | 96% | – | #1,279,195 | – |
ms-aws.com | ms-aws.com | 95% | – | #4,332,165 | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
All 40 similar websites and full traffic analytics for SmartHR
The complete similar-websites list, audience overlap and engagement analytics require an active premium plan.
- 40 similar websites
- Audience overlap
- Engagement analytics
- Traffic by brand
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Latest news on Smarthr
Complete news archive for SmartHR
Full article history, source details, and older brand coverage require an active premium plan.
- Full article archive
- Source and publication date
- Older coverage
- Brand-specific news history
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Similar companies to SmartHR
10 companies that operate in the same segment as SmartHR (HR & Workforce Technology), ranked by their profile score on The Company Check.
| Company | Description | Founded | Location | Total funding | Revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Anonymous employee reviews and job search platform are operated. | 2007 | San Francisco, California, United States | USD 201.5 M | – | – | |
Cloud-based LMS platform for IT industry | 2004 | Farmington, United States | USD 235.41 M | USD 4.95 M | 260 | |
Employee health benefits are facilitated via a cloud-based platform. | 2007 | Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, United States | USD 228.3 M | – | – | |
Business spends, payments, and rewards are streamlined by automated workflows. | 2011 | Hyderabad, Telangana, India | USD 13.75 M | USD 149.43 M | 431 | |
Virtual physical therapy and digital pain care solutions are provided. | 2015 | San Francisco, California, United States | USD 854.44 M | – | – | |
Cloud-based HR and financial software is delivered to enterprises. | 2005 | Pleasanton, California, United States | USD 352.3 M | USD 9.53 B | 20,400 | |
Businesses are connected with freelancers via an online marketplace. | 1999 | San Francisco, California, United States | USD 140 M | USD 787.78 M | 600 | |
Tech-enabled mental health solutions for employers are provided. | 2016 | New York, New York, United States | USD 508.73 M | – | – | |
SaaS-driven credit card and spend management solutions platform for businesses | 2017 | Draper, Utah, United States | USD 1.16 B | – | 1 | |
Cloud-based HRMS software is offered for small and medium-sized businesses. | 2016 | Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain | USD 369.25 M | – | – |
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Frequently Asked Questions about SmartHR
SmartHR was founded in 2013 and raised its 1st funding round 2 years after it was founded.
SmartHR is headquartered in Minato, Japan. It is registered at Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Masato Serizawa is the current CEO of SmartHR.
SmartHR is a funded company, having raised a total of $328.21M across 10 funding rounds to date. The company's 1st funding round was a Seed of $300K, raised on Apr 2015.
SmartHR is focused on creating a society where everyone can work authentically by addressing labor-related social issues. The company is involved in the development of cloud-based HR and labor management software, aiming to improve operational efficiency and support talent management. Efforts are made to expand business beyond HR domains while fostering a workplace that balances ease and fulfillment for employees. Technology and innovation are utilized to update labor practices in Japan step by step.
SmartHR's top competitors include Workday, SuccessFactors and Sage Group.
SmartHR offers SmartHR.
SmartHR has made 1 acquisition, including x-bit.
SmartHR has 19 investors. Key investors include KKR, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Light Street Capital, World Innovation Lab, and Sequoia Capital.
SmartHR operates through Smarthr, Inc..