TWOSTONE&Sons
Public · 1 known investors
TwoStone&Sons operates platforms for freelancer support, career/job-change assistance, and technology education aimed at helping individuals build skills for the future workforce. The company is based in Japan.
Also known as Branding Engineer · TSE:7352 · TWOSTONE&Sons Inc. · 株式会社TWOSTONE&Sons
Investors · 1
Company profile
researched Aug 2026TWOSTONE&Sons Inc. is a Tokyo-based holding company (Shibuya-ku, 2-22-3 Shibuya, Shibuya East Exit Building 6F) that manages a group of operating subsidiaries active in IT engineer staffing and matching, engineer education, digital marketing and consulting. Its principal subsidiaries include Branding Engineer Co., Ltd., which carries the engineer platform business, and Digital Arrow Partners Co., Ltd., which runs marketing solutions. The group is led by co-representative directors Yasushi Kawabata (CEO) and Katsuya Takahara (COO), both in place since the 2013 founding, with Shin Kato as CFO/director since 2023.
The company reports through segments covering Engineer Platform Services, Marketing Platform Services and Consulting & Advisory Services. The engineer platform centres on Midworks, a service supporting freelance IT engineers and matching them with client companies needing systems and service development, and tech boost, a programming education service for individuals and for companies training IT staff. The marketing side operates owned media aimed at IT engineers and business people, plus advertising operation, creative production and owned-media build support, along with matching services for freelance marketers. For FY08/2024, segment sales were split roughly 89% Engineer Platform Services, 7% Consulting & Advisory Services and 3% Marketing Platform Services. Sales are generated essentially entirely in Japan.
Alongside organic growth, the group expands by acquisition, buying companies in areas adjacent to its engineer platform. Acquisitions have included Jin Earth and UPTORY (2023, via Branding Engineer), TSR Co., Ltd. (2023), MapleSystems (2024), Carecon (2024, consolidated from December 2024), SAICOOL (2025) and FAM Co., Ltd. (2025), taking the group to 12 companies as of mid-2025. The company also makes minority investments, such as in OptimAIze Consulting, and holds a stake in ROXX, Inc.
Founding story
Branding Engineer Co., Ltd. was founded on 2 October 2013 by Yasushi Kawabata and Katsuya Takahara, then university students, under the principle of questioning irrational conventions and creating new value. The pair have continued to run the business jointly as co-representatives. The later company name draws on "stone" as a metaphor for will or intent — two founders' overlapping sets of values — with "Sons" denoting the employees and group companies that share that intent.
Business model
Holding-company structure providing management oversight of group companies that supply IT engineer resources, engineer education, marketing services and consulting to corporate clients and individual professionals.
Revenue is generated from matching and staffing fees for placing freelance IT engineers and marketers with corporate clients, contract development, education and training programmes, digital marketing and advertising services, media operations, and consulting and advisory fees. Management describes the mix as reinforcing a stock-based (recurring) revenue model.
Traction
Group revenue rose from 4.28 billion yen (FY08/2021) to 6.87 billion (FY08/2022), 10.06 billion (FY08/2023), 14.29 billion (FY08/2024) and 18.08 billion yen (FY08/2025). H1 FY08/2025 (September 2024–February 2025) consolidated revenue was 8.909 billion yen (+37.3% YoY) with operating profit of 808 million yen (+1,102.2%) and net profit attributable to owners of 539 million yen. Full-year FY08/2025 guidance was 18.6 billion yen revenue (+30.2%) and 1.018 billion yen operating profit (+114.8%). Engineer platform registrations and active workers were reported at record highs.
Latest developments
In April 2025 the company signed a letter of intent to acquire 70% of SAICOOL Co., Ltd. for about 580 million yen, with consolidation scheduled from Q4 FY08/2025, and revised full-year guidance upward. In June 2025 it acquired three consulting firms covering AI/IT solution development, cross-border consulting and marketing support, bringing the group to 12 companies. In November 2025 it agreed to acquire 80% of FAM Co., Ltd. from Hironori Suga for approximately 130 million yen (cash consideration of 132 million yen) and entered a share exchange agreement for a further 20% of FAM valued at 28 million yen; the 20% acquisition completed on 25 December 2025. Earlier, in January 2025, it took an equity stake in OptimAIze Consulting, Inc.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Listed on the TSE Growth market under code 7352 in the employment/outsourcing and staffing services sector, with a market capitalisation cited at 43,058 million yen in July 2025 and roughly 750 employees. It is positioned as a growth company in personnel services built on freelance utilisation, with a five-year topline CAGR of about 38%, though EBIT margins have historically been constrained by strategic investment.
Combines the full engineer career lifecycle — education (tech boost), independence support and career change, and matching/dispatch (Midworks) — with corporate-side contract development and consulting, then extends the same matching model to freelance marketers; growth is deliberately layered with acquisitions in adjacent fields under a holding structure that also creates operating-company leadership roles for young employees.
Technology
Platform services matching registered freelance IT engineers with client companies, programming education curricula delivered through tech boost, and owned web media. Management cites AI adoption as a contributor to improved operating efficiency, and acquired consulting businesses include AI/IT solution development.
Go-to-market
Direct services to individual engineers and marketers through career-support, education and matching platforms (Midworks, tech boost), owned media aimed at IT and business audiences that feed registrations, and B2B sales of engineer resources, marketing solutions and consulting; growth is supplemented by acquiring companies in adjacent domains.
Freelance IT engineers and individuals seeking engineering or marketing careers on the consumer side; on the corporate side, companies that lack in-house technical capability and need engineers, system development, IT talent training, or outsourced marketing and consulting.
Geography
Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, with an office opened in Miyazaki in 2018; reported sales are wholly attributed to Japan.
History
Founded as Branding Engineer in October 2013, the company launched the Tech Stars IT engineer job-matching service in December 2015, the Mayonez media property for IT talent in November 2016, the Midworks freelance-engineer independence service in January 2017 and the tech boost programming school in November 2017. It opened a Miyazaki office in March 2018 and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market on 7 July 2020. In June 2023 it moved to a holding-company structure and renamed itself TWOSTONE&Sons, transferring the engineer platform business to Branding Engineer Co., Ltd. In April 2025 it expanded its head-office floor space and relocated the former Shibuya satellite office into the Shibuya East Exit Building headquarters. It was added to the S&P Global BMI Index in September 2024.
Risks & controversies
Analyst commentary notes elevated earnings volatility and that continued strategic investment may constrain margins, with no assurance that high ROE and profit growth can be sustained; net profit margin and asset turnover declines had pushed ROE to about 10% in the prior year, when the share price fell 20%. Valuation is described as broadly at fair value (PBR 12.5x versus a theoretical 11.1x) with a forecast equity yield of only 1.4%, so the shares depend on market confidence in continued EPS growth. The Marketing Platform Services segment has been shrinking, from 780 million yen in FY08/2022 to 466 million yen in FY08/2025.
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 · 22
launches, deals, and filingsCash consideration of 132 million yen; expected completion 25 December 2025.
SAICOOL, a strategic consulting firm, was scheduled to be consolidated from Q4 of FY08/2025.
OptimAIze Consulting announced an equity round of funding from new investor TWOSTONE&Sons.
Carecon was consolidated into group results from December 2024 and contributed to the Consulting & Advisory Services segment.
The engineer platform service business was transferred to Branding Engineer Co., Ltd., which was itself renamed on the same date.
As Branding Engineer, the company raised a combined 100 million yen from investors including East Ventures and Vector Inc.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- ROXX Inc. announced that it has received ¥1 billion in funding from One Capital, Inc., Global Brain Co., Ltd., 90 Seconds Japan, Branding Engineer CO.,LTD., Mynavi Corporation | MarketScreenermarketscreener.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does TWOSTONE&Sons do?
- Japanese holding company whose subsidiaries match freelance IT engineers with companies and provide digital marketing services.
- Who are TWOSTONE&Sons's investors?
- TWOSTONE&Sons's investors include Skyland Ventures.