クリーマ
Tokyo, JP · Public · 14 known investors
Creema operates a creator empowerment platform and related businesses, serving creative professionals and artisans. The company builds marketplaces and services in the creator economy space.
Also known as Creema · Creema Inc. · 株式会社クリーマ
Investors · 14
Also in the syndicate · 12
Company profile
researched Aug 2026株式会社クリーマ (Creema Inc.) is a Tokyo-based company whose stated business is the operation of various services aimed at empowering creators. Its core service is Creema, a C2C handmade marketplace where creators and consumers buy and sell original works directly online; the company describes it as Japan's largest handmade marketplace on the basis of gross merchandise value in the fiscal year ending February 2024, and operates it in Japan and in Chinese-language markets.
Around the marketplace the company runs a portfolio of adjacent services: InFRAME, an online shop-building service that can be linked with Creema; Creema SPRINGS, a crowdfunding service dedicated to creative and craft projects; Creema GIFT CATALOG, a curated gift catalogue; FANTIST, a lesson-video platform; and an alliance business covering regional revitalization and PR support. It also combines web and offline activity through craft events, including Handmade In Japan Fes (HMJ), Creema YAMABIKO FES and regional markets. Creema Brand Canvas is an alliance program through which companies and local governments can run promotional activity, including tie-up article planning, production and distribution, on the Creema platform.
The company was established in March 2009 and is headquartered in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (Sumitomo Fudosan Harajuku Building). It is led by founder and representative director Kotaro Marubayashi, who also serves as creative director. Group companies include 可利瑪股份有限公司 in Taipei, Taiwan, and 株式会社FANTIST.
Founding story
The company name derives from "Creators' New Market" (創作者たちの新しい場所). Founder and representative director Kotaro Marubayashi previously served as a business unit head at a company under Septeni Holdings; Septeni founder and honorary chairman Mamoru Nanamura later invested in Creema.
Business model
Creema operates marketplaces and platforms connecting creators with consumers, alongside offline craft events, a crowdfunding service, a gift catalogue, a lesson-video platform, an online shop-building tool, and an alliance/PR program sold to companies and local governments that use the Creema platform for promotion.
Revenue is derived from the handmade marketplace transactions between creators and consumers, plus event, crowdfunding, gift catalogue, shop-building and alliance/PR services.
Traction
Around 150,000 creators and more than 7 million original works listed on the Japanese and Chinese-language versions of Creema as of 2019, up from more than 60,000 creators and 2.4 million items in 2016. The company reported over 450% year-on-year growth versus 250% for the Japanese handmade C2C market in 2016 and targeted JPY 10 billion in annual GMV for that year. Its Handmade In Japan Fes event has drawn more than 50,000 attendees, with about 3,000 exhibiting creators, and the Creema platform is described as attracting 20 million users per month.
Latest developments
The company continues to publish IR and media-coverage announcements, with television and radio features noted in mid-2026. As of the end of July 2026 it reported capital of JPY 541 million and 95 employees, and is hiring across engineering, business, creative, event and customer-support roles including a 2027 new-graduate intake.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Creema describes itself as Japan's largest handmade marketplace by gross merchandise value in the fiscal year ended February 2024, and its events as among Japan's largest creator gatherings. Coverage in 2016 described the Japanese handmade C2C market as crowded with roughly 40 operators, with transactions concentrating among Creema, minne, tetote and iichi. The company states an aim to become Asia's largest handmade marketplace, and reports average transaction value per item more than twice that of competitors, attributed to a concentration of professional and aspiring-professional creators.
Creema attracts handmade professionals and creators aiming to become professionals rather than hobbyists, which the founder cites as its differentiation from other handmade marketplaces and which results in higher average item prices. InFRAME is described as the only online shop-building service that can be linked with the Creema marketplace.
Technology
Web and mobile applications for the Creema marketplace; the company recruits web application, iOS, Android, cloud/infrastructure and QA engineers.
Go-to-market
Growth relied largely on word of mouth until 2016, when the company said it would begin full-scale marketing activity. The company also uses a high frequency of offline events (about 20 per year at the time of 2019 reporting) and permanent retail stores to raise engagement among both sellers and buyers, plus alliance tie-ups with corporates and municipalities.
Creators and makers (primarily professionals and those aiming to turn professional) selling handmade works, consumers buying those works, and companies and local governments purchasing alliance/PR and regional revitalization services.
Geography
Headquartered in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, with services offered in Japan and Chinese-language markets; expansion to Taiwan and Hong Kong has been reported, and the group includes a Taipei-based subsidiary.
History
The company was established in March 2009 and launched the Creema service in 2010. It raised JPY 100 million from KDDI Open Innovation Fund in June 2014, about JPY 1.1 billion in a fourth round led by Globis Capital Partners in May 2016, and a fifth round totalling JPY 1.1 billion in June 2019, bringing cumulative funding to roughly JPY 2.4 billion. It expanded into Taiwan and Hong Kong, operated permanent editorial stores in Shinjuku, Futako-Tamagawa and Sapporo, and later added stores in Nihonbashi and Kumamoto. The company is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market under code 4017.
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 クリーマ for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 5
launches, deals, and filingsUsing the 2019 round, Creema planned to open permanent editorial stores in Nihonbashi (inside Eslite Spectrum at Coredo Muromachi Terrace) and Kumamoto, in addition to existing stores in Shinjuku, Futako-Tamagawa and Sapporo, and to enter new service areas beyond handmade goods.
Creema announced the completion of a third-party allotment totalling JPY 1.1 billion from funds managed by Japan Post Capital, SBI Investment and Global Brain, plus 31VENTURES Global Innovation Fund, Mitsui Fudosan, i-mercury capital and Mamoru Nanamura (founder and honorary chairman of Septeni Holdings), with existing shareholders KDDI Open Innovation Fund II and SMBC Venture Capital also participating. Cumulative funding reached about JPY 2.4 billion.
Funding round led by Globis Capital Partners with participation from KDDI, Global Brain, SMBC Venture Capital and founder Kotaro Marubayashi; proceeds allocated to system development and marketing, targeting JPY 10 billion in annual GMV for 2016.
Creema received JPY 100 million from the KDDI Open Innovation Fund, operated by KDDI and Global Brain.
Creema, a C2C marketplace where creators and consumers trade original works directly online, began service in 2010.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- クリーマcreema.co.jp · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does クリーマ do?
- Japanese operator of the handmade marketplace Creema, plus craft events, crowdfunding and creator-focused services.
- Who are クリーマ's investors?
- クリーマ's investors include Global Brain, Globis Capital Partners.
- Where is クリーマ headquartered?
- クリーマ is headquartered in Tokyo, JP.