株式会社BitStar
Tokyo, JP · 11 known investors
BitStar is a Japanese company operating creator support and content production businesses, including influencer marketing solutions for brands and businesses. It works with YouTubers and other creators to build and manage marketing campaigns and content.
Also known as BitStar Inc. · Bizcast · ビットスター · 株式会社Bizcast
Founders & leadership
Investors · 11
Also in the syndicate · 7
Company profile
researched Aug 2026株式会社BitStar (BitStar Inc.) is a Tokyo, Shibuya-headquartered company built around creator support and content production. Its core lines are social media/influencer marketing under the BitStar Agent brand, service and data development (the BitStar Match SaaS platform and the BitStar Database influencer data service), creator production (BitStar Production and the women's label OOO Entertainment), content production (BitStar Studio for YouTube programmes and corporate promotional video, and BitStar Anime for animation and IP development), and P2C, in which the company supports creator-originated brands from product planning through manufacturing and sales.
The influencer marketing offer is delivered end to end: requirement gathering, planning using quantitative and qualitative data, casting (including influencers unaffiliated with BitStar or signed to other agencies), production by an in-house creative team using internal tools, and posting plus effect measurement and reporting. Supported platforms include YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X/Twitter, and produced tie-up videos can additionally be run as paid advertising for a secondary-use fee. Adjacent products include BitStar Short for short-form video marketing and BitStar AI Marketing, an AI-based service that consolidates website production, Instagram operation and Google Maps (MEO) management for店舗-style local customer acquisition. The group also runs the beauty media property Suki-na and has launched BitStar Next (2025) for developing next-generation digital creators, with the creator development function renamed from BitStar Academy to BitStar Boost in April 2026.
Founding story
Founder and CEO Taku Watanabe graduated from Keio University's Graduate School of Science and Technology and joined a startup as a new graduate, working on new business launches. After going independent he began supporting a friend who was a YouTuber, and founded the company in July 2014.
Business model
BitStar monetises the creator economy from several sides at once: paid influencer marketing campaigns and content production work for brands and agencies; a SaaS platform (BitStar Match) and influencer data service (BitStar Database); talent management, in which the production arm supports affiliated creators on channel growth, corporate deals, mass-media exposure, events, merchandise, music and back-office matters; and P2C/consumer brands where the company holds in-house manufacturer functions and sells products (e.g. FASHIRU, anchic, SHIKI STYLE, rumii) through its own stores. Management describes the businesses as mutually reinforcing, allowing combined value across creators, clients and consumers.
Revenue comes from influencer marketing campaign and content production fees, secondary-use fees when tie-up videos are used as advertising, SaaS/data subscriptions for BitStar Match and BitStar Database, creator management and monetisation (corporate deals, events, merchandise sales, advertising operations) and product sales from P2C brands.
Traction
Company disclosures list capital of about JPY 1.029bn including capital reserve and 162 employees (Wikipedia cites JPY 1.379bn and 160 employees; a recruiting profile lists 216 members and about 400 affiliated creators). Reported campaign outcomes include ROAS of 1,138% for a beverage manufacturer, a 500% increase in e-commerce visits for an underwear maker, 120+ units sold in three days for a beauty appliance, and 4.08m total views for a tourism campaign. The BANDAI MANIA! programme produced for Bandai's official YouTube channel exceeded 40m cumulative views. The company states it has executed 11 M&A transactions.
Latest developments
In January 2025 BitStar launched an AI-driven influencer marketing product in Indonesia, its first international expansion. It began BitStar Next, a new business to develop next-generation digital creators, in January 2025 and released it with a large-scale audition in May 2025. In March 2026 the skincare brand rumii began pre-sales, and in April 2026 the company launched BitStar AI Marketing, an AI-based service combining website production, Instagram operation and MEO measures; the same month it renamed its creator development function BitStar Academy to BitStar Boost.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Positioned as a creator-support and social media marketing company operating what it describes as Japan's largest influencer database, with a diversified footprint spanning marketing services, SaaS, talent management, animation/IP and P2C brands. Strategic alliances with large corporates — including Dentsu Group companies, Marui Group, KDDI, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners and Persol — accompany its financing rounds.
BitStar emphasises one-stop execution — influencer selection, negotiation and planning through implementation and verification — with casting not restricted to its own roster, proprietary data analysis for planning and reporting, an in-house creative production team, and in-house manufacturing capability for P2C brands. Site claims of superiority reference a 2020 internet image survey of 1,026 respondents comparing nine influencer marketing services and a self-conducted January 2023 comparison.
Technology
The company positions a proprietary data analysis foundation at the centre of its business, citing a database of about 3 million social accounts. BitStar Database applies AI and big-data analysis to provide follower attributes and influencer evaluations for planning and casting; BitStar Match organises influencer and PR-post data with search and list-management features to streamline campaign operations. BitStar AI Marketing uses AI to centralise and automate website, Instagram and MEO operations.
Go-to-market
Brands and enterprises seeking influencer or social-media marketing (advertising agencies, production companies, BtoB and BtoC advertisers, media companies), local/store businesses for its AI marketing service, plus creators and influencers who join its agent, production and P2C programmes, and end consumers of its P2C brands. Disclosed client references include Ajinomoto, Dentsu, Wacoal, I-ne, Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Memory-Tech and Bandai.
Geography
Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo (Shibuya Higashiguchi Building 10F, 2-22-3 Shibuya), with a Kansai branch in Kita-ku, Osaka (Grand Green Osaka North Building 9F). Overseas expansion began in January 2025 with an AI-driven influencer marketing product launched in Indonesia, the company's first global expansion.
History
Founded on 10 July 2014 as 株式会社Bizcast, after founder Taku Watanabe began supporting a YouTuber friend's work. It launched the BitStar YouTuber–brand matching platform in June 2015, announced a Series A in August 2016, established the creator production E-DGE (now BitStar Production) in July 2017, renamed itself 株式会社BitStar in September 2017, and raised Series B (about JPY 300m, October 2017), Series C (about JPY 1.3bn, August 2018) and Series D (about JPY 1bn, August 2020). It acquired the SAPPORO COLLECTION fashion-event trademark from DSLDO in February 2019, acquired Maison One to enter the live-streamer business in March 2019, and launched BitStar Studio in August 2019. In April 2021 it acquired Fun and JOINT LABEL and started the BitStar D2C business, and in December 2021 announced funding from Hankyu Hanshin Holdings' CVC and others. It took over Viibar's content produce business in April 2022, released BitStar Match in April 2023, acquired Garou in August 2023 to form OOO Entertainment, and raised JPY 1.83bn in October 2023. FINC's anchic business joined the group in December 2024, Indonesian operations began in January 2025, BitStar Next launched in May 2025, and BitStar Academy was renamed BitStar Boost in April 2026.
Risks & controversies
The company's website carries a warning about impersonation messages sent by parties posing as BitStar. Its Japanese Wikipedia article carries maintenance notices questioning whether the organisation meets notability criteria and stating the article reads as promotional and needs rewriting from a neutral point of view.
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.
Competitors · 1
by search overlapCompanies competing with 株式会社BitStar for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 33
launches, deals, and filingsInvestors included Dentsu Group, Marui Group, For-it (a Full Speed subsidiary), SKIYAKI, Beemap, Sega Sammy Holdings, existing shareholders Colopl Next and ABC Dream Ventures, and individual investors; strategic collaboration with major corporates began.
Reported as JPY 300 million from Global Brain for the operator of influencer support platform BitStar.
Alongside the name change, the company also raised funding from funds affiliated with TBS and Asahi Broadcasting to promote collaboration with mass media.
Reported as funding from Colopl for Bizcast, operator of the BitStar platform, with overseas expansion in view.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- 株式会社BitStarbitstar.tokyo · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does 株式会社BitStar do?
- Tokyo-based creator economy company running influencer marketing, creator management, content production and P2C brand businesses.
- Who founded 株式会社BitStar?
- 株式会社BitStar was founded by 渡邉 拓, 原田 直.
- Who are 株式会社BitStar's investors?
- 株式会社BitStar's investors include Colopl Next, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, Regrowth Capital Management, TBS Innovation Partners.
- Where is 株式会社BitStar headquartered?
- 株式会社BitStar is headquartered in Tokyo, JP.