Z Venture Capital (“ZVC”) is pleased to announce that Xbit (“Xbit”), a portfolio company we have supported since its early stage through seed investments, will join the SmartHR Group following SmartHR’s acquisition of all outstanding shares of Xbit.

ZVC first invested in Xbit in February 2017 and continued to support the company through follow-on investments in 2018 and 2020, completing a total of four investments to date.

Xbit’s cloud-based shift management platform, Rakushifu, combines a highly intuitive user experience — including LINE integration — with robust management capabilities designed to meet the operational needs of large-scale organizations. The platform has seen growing adoption among multi-location businesses across the restaurant, retail, and service industries. Today, Rakushifu serves more than 1.2 million users nationwide and has become a widely trusted solution supporting digital transformation at frontline workplaces.

By joining the SmartHR Group, Rakushifu’s frontline-focused shift management capabilities are expected to integrate seamlessly with SmartHR’s HR and labor management platform. Together, the combined offering aims to deliver a fully integrated back-office experience spanning shift scheduling, attendance management, payroll, labor administration, and talent management.


SmartHR's announcement here


Comments Regarding This Transaction：Masaki Yuda (Partner)

To everyone at Xbit, congratulations on this exciting new chapter and milestone through the acquisition.

Our relationship with CEO Mr. Kokubo goes back to 2017, when Xbit applied to the second batch of “Code Republic,” a seed accelerator program launched by the former YJ Capital (now Z Venture Capital) together with East Ventures.

We’ve had the opportunity to work closely with the team since the company’s earliest days, and as the business continued to grow steadily over the years, ZVC was fortunate to deepen our partnership through three follow-on investments.

What stood out about Mr. Kokubo from the very beginning was his calm and disciplined approach — always staying focused and consistently executing on what needed to be done. We believe that steady accumulation of effort ultimately earned the trust of more than 30,000 business locations and led to this remarkable outcome of joining the SmartHR Group, one of Japan’s leading software companies.

As the corporate venture capital arm of LY Corporation, we are also especially pleased to see the continued success of Rakushifu, a service built around LINE integration. We are excited to see the company continue expanding its impact and delivering value to even more users going forward.

Once again, congratulations on this significant milestone. We look forward to Xbit’s continued growth and success in the years ahead.

At ZVC, we remain committed to actively investing in and supporting seed-stage startups, and we will continue to accelerate these efforts going forward.