Ascenders株式会社
Tokyo, JP · 8 known investors
Ascenders is a Japanese company focused on the sports industry, aiming to build infrastructure and services that help people pursue and achieve their dreams and self-realization through sports. It positions itself around a sports-centered lifestyle.
Also known as Ascenders, Inc. · ASCENDERS.INC · アセンダーズ
Founders & leadership
Investors · 8
Also in the syndicate · 5
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Ascenders株式会社 (Ascenders, Inc.) is a Tokyo-based company building services for the sports industry under the vision "Creating the Dreamland of Sports" and the mission of "becoming the infrastructure of the sports world." Its core offering is Ascenders Partners, a registration-based platform that connects specialist professionals who support athletes — such as trainers and sports nutritionists — with teams, individual athletes and companies. The company states more than 200 registered partner professionals, matching them to assignments based on their experience and career orientation, and also co-launches businesses with clients and handles communications through social and mass media.
Alongside the matching platform, Ascenders runs Ascenders College, a school business intended to give people who want to work in sports the knowledge, know-how and on-site experience needed to build a career in the field. A third line, sports asset management, operates sports assets held by owners — gyms, dormitories, facilities, academies and content — together with professional specialist staff. A performance support business provides individually tailored programs to athletes in Japan and abroad. The company previously operated a group-lesson Pilates studio business, which it transferred to Fitcrew Inc.
Ascenders serves a broad range of sports clients including gyms, sports facilities, schools, dormitories, sports clubs, corporate (jitsugyodan) teams, professional teams, management companies and educational institutions, and has contracted with more than 30 professional athletes, forming support teams around them. It is registered as an unlisted company (corporate number 1011101077314) with an office in Higashi-Gotanda, Shinagawa, Tokyo, and is categorized by startup databases under IT services, entertainment/content and sports, serving both B2B and B2C customers.
Founding story
Founder Takatomo Hashimoto, born 1991 and a former captain of the Hachioji High School basketball team, entered Waseda University's School of Social Sciences after two years as a ronin. As a second-year student he organized a university basketball all-star event that was cancelled on 8 February 2014 due to heavy snow, leaving him with roughly 9 million yen of debt. Conversations with a childhood friend who had turned professional about second-career anxiety, and with co-founder Miyashiro — an independent trainer heading a 200-member Kansai trainers' association who was considering quitting because of the economics of the profession — led him to pursue a sports business. A short internship in San Francisco and Las Vegas, including visits to Google and Zappos, shaped his emphasis on company culture. He founded Ascenders in 2016 immediately after graduating; the name derives from "ascend" plus "-er" and "-s", meaning "people who rise."
Business model
Ascenders operates a mix of B2B and B2C sports-sector businesses: a registration-based matching platform (Ascenders Partners) placing freelance sports specialists with teams, athletes and companies; a paid school business (Ascenders College) training people for sports careers; sports asset management, in which the company operates owners' gyms, dormitories, facilities, academies and content alongside specialist staff; and performance support delivering customized programs to individual athletes.
Revenue is derived from placing and connecting specialist sports professionals with clients (teams, athletes and companies), from school/education programs for aspiring sports professionals, and from operating sports assets on behalf of owners; the company has also described plans to build SPCs and funds for asset management. Its earlier community business was run on a monthly membership fee (15,000 yen per month at launch).
Traction
As of the July 2022 announcement, Ascenders reported more than 200 registered partner professionals and cumulative transaction volume (流通額) exceeding 250 million yen, and contracts with more than 30 professional athletes including members of Japan's national football team. Startup database listings put headcount at 10 or fewer; a Wantedly profile lists 9 members. Partnerships include FC Osaka (conditioning partner, June 2023), Akita Northern Happinets (new studio, June 2023), Japanese women's national basketball player Maki Takada (August 2023, who also appears as a shareholder), Austrian club SKN St. Polten (October 2023), and women's professional badminton team Gifu Bluvic (fan club partnership, August 2024). An earlier partnership with Nishikawa on a sleep-themed exercise program was reported in September 2020, and a partner contract with footballer Kaoru Mitoma was reported in 2021.
Latest developments
In September 2024 Ascenders closed the second tranche of its Series A round, raising a total of 230 million yen from Japan Post Capital, TOPPAN and BSP, with proceeds earmarked for strengthening the organization and expanding asset management capability, including building SPCs and funds and pursuing M&A. It also stated plans to use debt finance to raise further capital for sports asset expansion. In December 2025 the company transferred its group-lesson Pilates studio operating business to Fitcrew Inc., with a related notice on future business direction published on its site in July 2026.
▸Full profile — market position, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Ascenders describes itself as operating one of Japan's largest platforms for specialist professionals working in sports, and states it aims to become a leading company in domestic and international sports business. Startup databases classify it as a Series A-stage, VC- and corporate-backed unlisted company in the HR tech, matching and sports segments.
The company focuses exclusively on the sports vertical, combining a registered pool of over 200 specialist professionals with an education arm that trains new entrants and an asset management arm that operates physical sports assets, positioning the specialist-talent supply as infrastructure for the industry rather than a general HR marketplace.
Go-to-market
Clients include professional and amateur sports teams, corporate teams, individual athletes, sports-related companies, gyms, sports facilities, schools and academies, dormitories, sports clubs, management companies and educational institutions. On the supply side, its users are freelance sports professionals — trainers, coaches, instructors, nutritionists, managers, sales, marketing and creative staff — and people seeking to build careers in sports.
Geography
Headquartered in Tokyo — historically at Shinjuku 7-26-7 and more recently at 4-7-27 Higashi-Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku. Operations are primarily domestic across Japan, with performance support offered to athletes both in Japan and overseas and at least one European club partnership (SKN St. Polten).
History
Ascenders was established in June 2016 (incorporation date given as 9 June 2016; a Wantedly profile lists 2016/12). The first business was a paid online community for sports professionals, which grew from about 70 to over 100 members in its first year and later to roughly 400. An attempt to become an IT company through a mobile app, funded by a startup loan and developed with overseas engineers and designers, was released on iOS and Android but closed within months after funds ran out; investors questioned its fit with the vision. The company then went through a period of near-insolvency while testing multiple business models, before launching MERCI, a sports-industry recruitment platform, ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and closing a seed round with two VCs at the end of 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic halted much of the sports market, prompting the company to end the founding community business and pivot. On 9 June 2021, its fifth anniversary, Ascenders carried out its first rebranding, changing its logo and announcing three new services. In 2022 it completed a pre-Series A round bringing cumulative funding to 160 million yen, and in 2024 it closed the first and second tranches of a Series A. In December 2025 it transferred its group-lesson Pilates studio business to Fitcrew Inc.
Risks & controversies
The founder's account describes repeated near-failures: an app project closed within months of release after funds were exhausted, a period in which the company was roughly one month from collapse amid difficulty raising capital, personal borrowing of several million yen and delayed payments, and organizational instability during the 2020 pivot when a co-founder considered leaving. Investors repeatedly cited a small addressable market and unclear demand in the sports vertical. Competitors emerged in the recruitment platform segment (MERCI), and the COVID-19 pandemic halted much of the sports market in 2020.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 13
launches, deals, and filingsAscenders transferred its group-lesson Pilates studio operating business to Fitcrew Inc.
Ascenders raised a total of JPY 230 million in the second close of its Series A from Japan Post Capital, TOPPAN and BSP, to strengthen its organization and asset management capability, build SPCs and funds, and pursue M&A.
Ascenders announced the first close of its Series A round; the amount was not disclosed.
Pre-Series A equity from W ventures, Nanto Capital Partners and several individual investors, combined with debt finance from Japan Finance Corporation and Mizuho Bank, brought cumulative funding to JPY 160 million.
On its fifth anniversary the company executed its first rebranding, changing its logo and announcing three new services, including a renewed app effort.
Ascenders began supporting the implementation of an exercise program themed on quality sleep with Nishikawa.
Ascenders closed a seed round at the end of 2019 with two VCs; W ventures and KVP (now ANOBAKA) are named as the prior seed-round investors.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Ascenders株式会社ascenders.co.jp · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Ascenders株式会社 do?
- Japanese sports-sector startup operating a specialist talent platform, a training school and sports asset management services.
- Who are Ascenders株式会社's investors?
- Ascenders株式会社's investors include ANOBAKA, Japan Post Capital Co. Ltd., W Inc..
- Where is Ascenders株式会社 headquartered?
- Ascenders株式会社 is headquartered in Tokyo, JP.