NEL株式会社

NEL株式会社 (NEL INC.) is a Tokyo-based retail-tech company operating two main lines of business: a "companion-style" marketing solution business and "osina", a platform connecting brands with consumers through the concept of "oshi" (favouring/championing a product). The marketing solution offering is positioned as end-to-end promotion support intended to move in-store sales rather than stop at social-media buzz, running full-funnel measures from awareness through store visits and cross-selling beyond hero items. Registered business activities are described as agency business and software business, and in 2024 materials as osina operation, SNS-specialised full-service advertising agency work, casting, and software.

osina lets users buy or feature products listed on the platform, post videos about them on social media, and earn rewards based on video view counts, giving brands large volumes of fan-generated content (FGC) from ordinary users rather than only professional influencers. Around this core, NEL has built adjacent products including "osina SNSジャック", a short-video UGC package for product recall around new launches and campaigns; "カスタマーAI", which uses AI to capture customer needs for improvement; "デジオリ", a digital version of insert advertising aimed at driving store visits via social media; and "Trade Lift Ads", a retail-media service launched with True Data and Thales that identifies and operates SNS creative linked to in-store sales.

The company frames its purpose as "産業革命の中心を、ここに" (placing the centre of an industrial revolution here) with the mission of continuously creating "oshi" opportunities through technology and a vision of a world where enthusiasm circulates, addressing what it describes as a roughly 150 trillion yen domestic retail market in which about 90% of retail purchases still occur in physical stores.

Founding story

NEL was founded in December 2017 by Riku Nishida and initially operated a content platform business, which was shut down within under ten months. The company then created and withdrew from several businesses, including a men's cosmetics D2C operation, during a period the founder describes as a "living dead" phase in which he worked alone from the coworking spaces of investors ANRI and W fund. A connection with creators active on TikTok led to a short-video advertising support business, out of which osina emerged as a client initiative before becoming a standalone platform.

Business model

NEL sells promotion and retail-media services to consumer brands, manufacturers and retailers, combining agency-style marketing solution engagements with the osina platform, on which participating brands' products are promoted by consumers who receive rewards tied to video view counts. The company also builds software products (customer AI, digital insert advertising, retail media ad packages) sold to the same brand and retail customer base.

Revenue comes from agency/marketing solution engagements and software and platform services for brands and retailers; the company reported full-year revenue growth of 205% year on year (Dec 2022–Nov 2023 vs Dec 2023–Nov 2024) and, in a Nov 2024 note post by the CEO, revenue on a scale exceeding 1 billion yen.

Traction

osina reportedly grew view counts more than 1,000% year on year in its first 14 months and reached 2 billion views within about a year of launch; overall company revenue grew 205% year on year in the period ending November 2024, with a stated three-year average growth of 400%. By mid-2026 the company reported osina surpassing 200,000 registered users and cumulative rewards paid to consumers exceeding 500 million yen. Brand case studies cite 6 million views and 131 posts for Shiseido's foundation serum, 5 million views and over 300 UGC pieces for Nescafé Espresso Base with a top e-commerce ranking, and over 2.3 million views for Nissin Ra-oh bagged noodles with in-store sales uplift at Don Quijote. Headcount was 9 including officers (7 employees) as of November 2024.

Latest developments

In August 2026 NEL announced a three-way collaboration with True Data and Thales in retail media, launching "Trade Lift Ads", a service to discover and operate SNS creative that drives in-store sales, with True Data purchase data integrated. In July 2026 it announced a business alliance with BIJIN&Co. covering casting selection and topic creation. In June 2026 osina passed 200,000 registered users and 500 million yen in cumulative rewards returned to consumers, and NEL formally launched "osina SNSジャック" for short-video UGC-driven product recall.