READYFOR Inc.
2 known investors
Japanese crowdfunding and fundraising-consulting company operating the READYFOR donation platform for nonprofits, universities and public bodies.
Also known as Readyfor · READYFOR INC. · READYFOR株式会社
Founders & leadership
Investors · 2
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Company profile
researched Aug 2026READYFOR Inc. (READYFOR株式会社) is a Tokyo-based operator of the READYFOR crowdfunding platform, which supports fundraising and activities of nonprofit organizations. Alongside the crowdfunding marketplace, the company builds its business around fundraising consulting: "READYFOR ファンドレイジングサービス", which helps clients design fundraising strategies and execute them with hands-on support, and the planning and administration of funds and grant programs. The company also runs a donation and subsidy matching business.
A second pillar is legacy giving. READYFOR has operated a Legacy Donation Support Service (レディーフォー遺贈寄付サポートサービス) since April 2021, acting as a consultation window for bequest and inheritance donations. It supports NPOs, universities and medical institutions in accepting legacy donations and advises individuals considering bequests or lifetime gifts, working with partner foundations to handle non-cash assets such as real estate that recipients may find difficult to accept directly. The company also builds region-specific crowdfunding sites, such as SHIMANECTION for Shimane Prefecture, established under a three-party agreement with San-in Godo Bank and San-in Chuo Television Broadcasting, and "FANTo!" for Nagano Prefecture with Hachijuni Bank, Nagano Bank and Shinano Mainichi Shimbun. Its stated purpose is to gather people's intentions and create flows of money that improve society.
Founding story
Founder Haruka Mera, a Tokyo native, conceived the idea while a graduate student at Keio University. A 2010 trip to Silicon Valley and Stanford University, including a computer-programming boot camp, exposed her to entrepreneurship; an earlier meeting with University of Tokyo assistant professor Yutaka Matsuo, a web-mining and AI researcher who later became an angel investor and adviser, informed an initial concept around data mining, payments and internet-based donations. A Japanese-language Google search for "crowdfunding" returning no results confirmed the market gap. Mera, then 23 and in her first year of graduate school, launched the platform in 2011, a few days after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
Business model
READYFOR combines an online crowdfunding platform for donation-type and purchase-type projects with fee-based fundraising consulting, the design and operation of funds and grant programs, and a legacy/inheritance donation advisory service that matches donors with recipient organizations. The company describes itself as both BtoB and BtoC, and positions fundraising consulting as the axis of its business.
Traction
According to company research cited in 2018, roughly 50 percent of the Japanese population was aware of crowdfunding platforms, up from close to zero when the service launched. The company has publicly announced more than 80 partnership agreements since 2019 with universities, research institutes, banks, securities firms, credit unions and municipalities.
Latest developments
Partnership activity through 2025 and 2026 has concentrated on legacy giving: agreements with Kansai Mirai Bank, Yokohama Bank, Hokkaido University, Hiroshima Bank, Mizuho Bank (philanthropy advisory for benefactors), Saitama Resona Bank, and, in August 2026, a comprehensive partnership with Ashiya City under which READYFOR's Legacy Donation Support Service helps the municipality accept bequests, including real estate and universal bequests, and provides fee-free consultations to prospective donors.
▸Full profile — market position, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
READYFOR describes itself as having the highest achievement level in the Japanese crowdfunding industry on the strength of its hands-on support, and supports initiatives in areas that are difficult to fund under existing market mechanisms. An investor describes it as one of the largest crowdfunding platforms in Japan, and press coverage describes it as Japan's first crowdfunding platform.
READYFOR emphasises hospitable, hands-on support for fundraisers and focuses on causes that are hard to finance through conventional capital markets, pairing the platform with consulting, fund/grant program operation and legacy-giving infrastructure rather than offering a self-service platform alone.
Go-to-market
Growth is driven largely by institutional partnership agreements. The company has signed business tie-ups with dozens of national and private universities (including Hokkaido University, Kyoto University, Waseda University, Keio, Tohoku University and many medical schools), research bodies such as RIKEN, KEK and the National Museum of Nature and Science, and financial institutions including Mitsui Sumitomo Banking, Mizuho Bank, Mizuho Trust Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Yokohama Bank, Hiroshima Bank, Kansai Mirai Bank, Saitama Resona Bank, SBI Securities and Mizuho Securities, typically launching a first crowdfunding project or a legacy-giving referral channel with each partner. Regional partnerships with local banks and media companies produce prefecture-specific crowdfunding sites, and a 2026 comprehensive agreement with Ashiya City extended the legacy-giving model to municipal government.
Nonprofit organizations, universities and research institutes, medical institutions and hospitals, museums and cultural bodies, local governments, regional financial institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises, high-net-worth individuals interested in philanthropy, and individual project creators.
Geography
Japan-focused, headquartered at Sumitomo Fudosan Ichibancho Building 7F, 8 Ichibancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, with prefecture-specific platforms and partnerships spanning Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kansai, Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu.
History
The platform launched in 2011 in the immediate aftermath of the March 11 earthquake; initial users were startup founders and creatives, with social entrepreneurs added early given the disaster context. Corporate registration is dated July 2014. Globis Capital Partners invested in 2018. Mera was diagnosed with cancer in autumn 2017 and took a six-month break, during which the team continued to run the company. Series B and Series C rounds followed in 2021 and 2022, after which the company expanded heavily into university, medical, financial-institution and local-government partnerships and into legacy giving.
Compiled by commissioned research from 7 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 · 19
launches, deals, and filingsREADYFOR and Ashiya City entered a comprehensive partnership under which the company's Legacy Donation Support Service helps the city accept bequest donations, including real estate and universal bequests, provides consultations without a consultation fee, and works with partner foundations on liquidation and management of non-cash assets.
Partnership to offer a philanthropy advisory service connecting benefactors with social-contribution organizations.
First project raised funds to restore and preserve materials of historic value in Japanese science.
READYFOR carried out a third-party allotment of shares, raising a total of 1.7 billion yen in a Series C round.
READYFOR began operating its Legacy Donation Support Service, supporting NPOs, universities and medical institutions in accepting bequests and advising individuals on legacy and lifetime donations.
READYFOR carried out a third-party allotment of shares, raising approximately 1 billion yen in a Series B round.
Globis Capital Partners announced an investment in READYFOR INC., operator of the Readyfor crowdfunding platform.
Haruka Mera, then a 23-year-old first-year graduate student, launched the Readyfor platform a few days after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 7
primary sources listed
- READYFOR INC.｜J-Startup英語版j-startup.go.jp · web
7 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does READYFOR Inc. do?
- Japanese crowdfunding and fundraising-consulting company operating the READYFOR donation platform for nonprofits, universities and public bodies.
- Who founded READYFOR Inc.?
- READYFOR Inc. was founded by Haruka Mera.
- Who are READYFOR Inc.'s investors?
- READYFOR Inc.'s investors include Globis Capital Partners, Aozora Corporate Investment.