STORES株式会社
3 known investors
STORES 株式会社 provides tools for small and mid-sized retailers to digitize their operations, including online store creation, POS registers, cashless payments, online booking systems, and app building. The company serves Japanese shop operators, offering combinable services to run and grow their businesses more efficiently.
Also known as Coiney · hey · hey株式会社 · STORES, Inc. · コイニー · ストアーズ · ストアーズ・ドット・ジェーピー
Founders & leadership
Investors · 3
Also in the syndicate · 1
Company profile
researched Aug 2026STORES株式会社 (STORES, Inc.) operates the STORES platform, a digital-enablement suite for small and mid-sized store operators in Japan. Products include STORES ネットショップ (online store builder), STORES レジ (cloud POS register app), STORES 決済 (in-store cashless payment, also branded STORESターミナル), STORES 予約 (booking system with payment and customer-management features), STORES モバイルオーダー (mobile ordering with no initial or monthly fee), STORES ブランドアプリ (own-brand store apps), STORES ロイヤリティ (point programs), STORES データ分析 (sales-data consolidation and analytics dashboard), STORES ビジネスあと払い by Digital Garage (B2B deferred-payment settlement built on Digital Garage's invoice card-payment infrastructure), and マキトリ by STORES, a store-management platform connecting headquarters and branches for multi-location operators.
The company positions the individual services as combinable, so merchants can run physical and online sales channels on one stack. It states the mission "Just for Fun" and frames its purpose as building software and platforms for an economy driven by enthusiasm and personal interests. Headquarters are at 3-16-3 Higashi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (F-Nissay Ebisu Building 4F); the corporate number is 8010401098864 and the English name is STORES, Inc.
Business model
B2B SaaS combined with payment processing. Plans range from a free tier (月額0円 フリープラン) to a paid スタンダードプラン (quoted at ¥3,300 per month including tax on an annual contract) that carries reduced processing rates. Revenue is described as coming from monthly subscription fees, face-to-face and online payment processing fees (online store from 3.6%, in-person payments from 1.98%) and sales of dedicated payment hardware.
Monthly service fees for platform plans, transaction/processing fees on online and in-store payments, and hardware sales (payment terminals and accessories such as the printer dock).
Traction
Startup databases report an employee headcount in the range of up to about 1,000 as of 2026-08-04, and a post-money valuation (including potential shares) estimated at ¥78,798 million as of 2023-01-15. The company has accumulated a long series of alliances with regional financial institutions and business partners dating back to its Coiney era.
Latest developments
In 2026 the company launched おまかせスタート, a service that handles system setup on behalf of merchants (2026-08-03), refreshed its logo (2026-08-03), began offering a printer dock for STORES 決済 (2026-08-19), and extended a special cashless-payment consultation desk and free STORES payment terminal offer for Zentoshin member merchants through 2026-09-30 (2026-08-27). It added automatic translation of video and PDF manuals to マキトリ by STORES (2026-06-08), ran STORES AI Week (2026-07-03) and formed a business alliance with ZigZag to support overseas sales expansion for small merchants (2026-07-06). The company was named a grand prize winner of the Ruby biz Grand prix 2025.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Described by startup databases as a platform provider for the digitalization of commerce (店舗DX/RetailTech, FinTech), serving small and mid-sized merchants alongside other Japanese store-DX and cloud POS vendors. Investors listed include Google LLC, Z Venture Capital, PayPal Pte. Ltd., Goldman Sachs International, Anatole Investment Management and CyberAgent Capital.
Breadth of an integrated, combinable product set — online store, POS, payments, booking, mobile ordering, branded app, loyalty and analytics under one plan structure — with a free entry tier and lower processing rates on the paid plan, allowing merchants to unify online and physical store operations on a single platform.
Technology
Cloud-based multi-product stack spanning e-commerce site creation, cloud POS, payment processing with dedicated terminal hardware, reservation/booking, mobile ordering, branded mobile apps, loyalty points and a sales-data analytics dashboard. The company runs an engineering organization with a product blog and technical community activity, and in 2026 ran a two-week internal program ("STORES AI Week") to redesign development to be AI-native; it also consolidated project management onto Notion.
Go-to-market
Direct online self-service sign-up complemented by partnerships with financial institutions (shinkin banks, credit unions, regional banks) and business organizations such as the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry to reach small merchants, plus product tie-ups with third parties (e.g. Digital Garage for deferred B2B payments, ZigZag for cross-border sales, RESTAS for original goods production, TASNET's POS). The company also runs seminars for merchants and a setup-assistance service, おまかせスタート, that performs system setup on the customer's behalf.
Small and mid-sized store operators and merchants in Japan, including retail shops, restaurants and food-service businesses, wellness/personal-training and other appointment-based businesses, and multi-location chains needing headquarters-to-store coordination.
Geography
Japan-focused, headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo; a 2026 business alliance with ZigZag is aimed at helping small merchants expand overseas sales channels.
History
The company was established in March 2012 (2012-03-23). It was formed through the business integration of Coiney (コイニー株式会社), a smartphone card-payment company, and Stores.jp (ストアーズ・ドット・ジェーピー株式会社), an online store creation service. Operating as hey株式会社 (hey, Inc.), it renamed itself STORES株式会社 effective 2022-10-01. Coiney-era financings included roughly ¥500 million with Credit Saison in 2013, about ¥800 million in October 2013, about ¥800 million in equity and debt in February 2017 and ¥300 million in August 2017; hey raised a Series E via third-party allotment in August 2020, and STORES announced a further raise in February 2023 alongside a Google partnership.
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 · 19
launches, deals, and filingsPart of the 2026 summer update; STORES performs system setup on behalf of merchants.
Partnership aimed at helping small and mid-sized merchants expand sales channels overseas.
Alliance intended to reduce merchants' costs related to producing original merchandise.
STORES raised about 3 billion yen from Google and entered a partnership under which STORES product data is automatically linked to Google Merchant Center, enabling free listings across Google services.
The company changed its corporate name from hey to STORES, Inc. effective October 1, 2022.
Partnership to digitalize shops run by SMEs and small businesses.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- STORES株式会社st.inc · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does STORES株式会社 do?
- Japanese company behind the STORES platform, offering online stores, POS, cashless payments, booking and apps to small merchants.
- Who founded STORES株式会社?
- STORES株式会社 was founded by 佐俣奈緒子.
- Who are STORES株式会社's investors?
- STORES株式会社's investors include Globis Capital Partners, Seibu Shinkin Capital.