Tangerine

Market position

A specialist retail-technology vendor in the Japanese OMO and offline behavioral-data segment, characterized by startup databases as a startup developing retail SaaS. Its differentiators are cited as its own beacon standard and hardware, Google Certified Beacon Partner status in Japan, and multi-year store deployment experience; it competes for retailer app and in-store analytics budgets alongside app platform and CDP vendors with which it also integrates.

The company frames its edge as accurate, real-time detection of store visits and in-store movement — attributing most failures of earlier sensor-based visit programs to inaccurate real-time detection — achieved by jointly optimizing IoT sensors, SDK and cloud. It also cites proprietary beacon hardware it describes as five times the performance and half the price of other products (company comparison), a battery life of about two years or more, and the ability to change in-store campaigns without app modification.

Technology

Bluetooth beacons and other offline IoT sensing devices, an in-app SDK, and a cloud back end that jointly determine store entry and in-store movement in real time. The architecture flows from beacon reception on the shopper's phone, to notification of that reception to the cloud, to server-side determination of the action to execute, to action execution in the app. Data output feeds analytics and dashboards; Store360 Insight applies AI-based automated analysis of offline behavior data. The company's own beacon hardware (X1) supports LINE Beacon, and Tangerine states it was certified as Japan's first Google Certified Beacon Partner in 2017. Integrations reported include Snowflake, ThoughtSpot, Braze, Yappli, b→Dash, Optex OMNICITY, and M-Data TV metadata for combined analysis in Snowflake.

Go-to-market

Direct enterprise sales supported by downloadable product collateral, inbound inquiry forms, webinars and trade-show presence (Next-Generation EC & Store EXPO; co-exhibiting at NRF 2025 Retail's Big Show Asia Pacific in NEC's booth). Growth is also channelled through capital and business alliances and technology partnerships — including Aplix, Optex, DAC, TIS, Wireless Gate, Asahi Net, Tokyu Agency, and a 2024 collaboration with NEC — that provide cross-selling and distribution to partners' retail customers.

Physical retailers and chain store operators in Japan that already run an official consumer smartphone app, including enterprise accounts; disclosed deployments span convenience stores, apparel/fashion retail and specialty chains.

Geography

Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo (Shibuya Mark City W 22F) with a second office in Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo. Operations and customers are Japan-centric; the company exhibited at an Asia-Pacific retail industry event in 2025.

History

Founded in March 2014 (incorporated 2014-03-04) and launched nearME Retail Engagement the same year. It obtained Google Certified Beacon Partner certification in Japan in 2017, released its original X1 beacon and added LINE Beacon support in 2018, released nearME Retail Analytics and began a partnership with Yappli in 2019, and launched the Safe Shopper store-congestion visualization service plus Optex OMNICITY and b→Dash integrations in 2021. In 2022 the nearME line was rebranded to Store360 with the release of Store360 UX and Store360 Insight, alongside partnerships with Snowflake, ThoughtSpot and Braze. In 2023 it announced a capital and business alliance with Aplix, and in 2024 it began offering in-store services for retail media and started a collaboration with NEC on retail customer experience and store operational efficiency. Earlier capital ties date to 2014 (Webcrew), 2016 (TIS; Asahi Net, Wireless Gate, Tokyu Agency), 2017 (Wireless Gate) and 2018 (Digital Advertising Consortium).

Risks & controversies

Sources indicate a small organization (about 10 or fewer employees) serving enterprise retail accounts, and dependence on partner platforms and app vendors for distribution and integration. Funding details, valuation and financial performance are held behind paywalls in the startup databases, and Speeda's post-money valuation figure is labelled an estimate rather than a disclosed number.