What Imbesideyou does

Imbesideyou Inc. is a Tokyo-based private AI company founded in June 2020 by three former NTT DATA employees (CEO Shozo Kamiya, CTO Yasuhiro Nose, and CSO Kotaro Ando). The company builds a proprietary multimodal AI emotion analysis platform that simultaneously processes text, image, audio, and video data to detect and visualize the emotional states of individuals in online communication environments. This core engine is packaged into vertical-specific modules for online education (student performance and churn analysis), online sales (meeting and win/loss pattern analysis), HR (recruitment and 1-on-1 analysis), and mental health (facial expression and voice tone monitoring). The technology is protected by over 280 international patent applications and includes a custom Indian English speech recognition engine developed in collaboration with the Indian Institutes of Technology.

The company monetizes primarily through B2B SaaS subscriptions and usage-based fees under purchase-order contracts, with enterprise field sales as its go-to-market motion. Customers span online education platforms (Benesse, Banzan, Megasta, Sensei Place, Musashino University), healthcare and corporate buyers (AstraZeneca, NTT DATA, NTT West Japan, DENSO, DeNA, Kotry), and government pilots (Yorii Town well-being study), plus Zoom integration via partner certification. The company operates a wholly-owned Indian subsidiary (established September 2021) and launched a US-focused immigration mental healthcare business in April 2025, signaling cross-border scaling. Total disclosed funding is approximately ¥475 million (¥115M seed in January 2021 led by Beyond Next Ventures and Japan Finance Corporation; ¥360M in April 2025 for US expansion), and KLab Inc. acquired a minority equity stake alongside a business partnership in February 2026.

Operationally, Imbesideyou is a small team (11-50 employees) pursuing horizontal distribution across multiple use cases rather than a single vertical, with strategic emphasis on international expansion (India, US), deep patent defensibility, and academic partnerships to secure AI engineering talent. The company holds ISO 27001 certification (IS 754070) and has accumulated significant recognition, including J-Startup selection by METI, J-TECH STARTUP, SXSW Pitch finalist, Entrepreneurial World Cup Top 40, and TechCrunch Japan CTO of the Year for its CTO.

Name

Imbesideyou

Legal name

株式会社I'mbesideyou

Website

https://imbesideyou.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Imbesideyou is a Tokyo-based AI company (founded 2020) that provides a proprietary multimodal AI platform analyzing text, image, audio, and video to detect emotional states in online communication, serving enterprise customers across online education, sales, HR, and mental health in Japan, India, and the US.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI-based Multimodal Emotion Analysis Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Emotion, Sentiment & Paralinguistic Intelligence (HDAAAFAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Conversational AI Platforms (chat/voice bots, orchestration) (HDAAAFAC), End-to-End Enterprise AI Platforms (MLOps & Model Lifecycle Management) (HDAEANAA), Contact Center Speech AI (agent assist, IVR automation) (HDAAAFAL)

Keywords

• Multimodal emotion AI
• Online education analytics
• HR communication analytics
• Mental health monitoring
• Sales meeting analysis

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. B2B SaaS / Enterprise Subscriptions: The company provides AI analysis services to enterprise clients including online education platforms, online sales companies, HR departments, and mental health providers. Revenue is generated through service subscriptions and usage-based fees, with pricing determined via purchase orders and invoicing.
2. AI Development Services & Collaboration: Revenue from business partnerships and AI development collaboration agreements, such as the partnership with KLab Inc. aimed at enhancing AI development capabilities and accelerating new product creation.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Imbesideyou provides a multimodal AI-based emotion analysis platform that integrates text, image, audio, and video data to visualize and deeply understand the personality and emotional state of each individual in online communications. The platform is sold as a B2B enterprise SaaS to online education providers, online sales organizations, HR departments, and mental health providers, with vertical-specific AI analysis modules for each use case.

Product overview

I'mbesideyou is an AI-powered emotion analysis platform that provides multimodal analysis of text, images, audio, and video data to visualize and deeply understand each individual in online communications. The core platform consists of the Emotion Analysis Engine that processes multiple data modalities simultaneously. Built on top of this core are vertical-specific modules: Online Education AI Analysis (for student performance and retention), Online Sales AI Analysis (for meeting analysis and sales optimization), HR AI Analysis (for recruitment and team communication), and Mental Health AI Analysis (for well-being monitoring). The company holds over 280 international patent applications and serves clients across education, sales, HR, and healthcare sectors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• I'm beside you Emotion Analysis Platform Multimodal AI platform that analyzes text, images, audio, and video to detect and understand emotional states of individuals in online communications, enabling personalized support across education, sales, HR, and mental health applications for enterprise clients.
• Online Education AI Analysis AI service that discovers characteristics of students whose grades have improved or who have cancelled services, helping online education providers improve student performance and reduce cancellation rates. Used by online tutoring platforms such as Benesse, Banzan, Sensei Place, Mega Sta, and Musashino University.
• Online Sales AI Analysis AI service that discovers common patterns in winning and losing orders from past business meeting videos, improving sales efficiency by sharing daily analysis results with supervisors and subordinates and reducing sales training and reporting costs.
• HR AI Analysis AI service that analyzes recruitment interviews and 1-on-1 meetings to reduce organizational 'black boxes' and subjective management decisions, supporting the creation of healthier organizational culture. Deployed at enterprises including AstraZeneca Japan, NTT DATA, and DENSO.
• Mental Health AI Analysis AI service that captures daily changes in facial expressions and voice tones to understand mental states of subjects, sending appropriate encouragement and alerts to third parties for well-being promotion and preventive mental-health care. Deployed with healthcare and government clients such as AstraZeneca, Kotry, Musashino University, and Saitama Prefecture Yokote Town.
• US Immigration Mental Healthcare Service Mental healthcare service for immigrants in the United States, applying Imbesideyou's multimodal emotion-analysis AI to provide culturally appropriate emotional support and well-being monitoring.

Quantifiable outcome

• Higher student grades and lower cancellation rates in online education
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability10 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• KLab Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 February 2026KLab Inc. entered into a share transfer agreement to acquire a minority stake in Imbesideyou and simultaneously entered into a Business Partnership Agreement. The partnership aims to enhance KLab's AI development capabilities and accelerate new product creation, including automated trading systems and entertainment services, amid intensifying competition for AI engineers in Japan. The transaction involves 900 common shares and 230 Class A1 preferred stock.
• Kotry (Online Counseling)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 October 2022Partnership with online counseling company Kotry to officially begin 'Mental Health Evaluation Research in Video Calls.' Joint research initiative applying Imbesideyou's emotion analysis AI to video call mental health assessment.
• Junya Yokota (Former Mercari Senior Executive)minorOthers · 3 October 2022Former Mercari senior executive and SVP Corporate, Junya Yokota, joined Imbesideyou as an advisor, bringing extensive experience in Japanese technology company growth and corporate development.
• Indian Institute of Technology (General)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 February 2022Exclusive provision of Indian English speech recognition engine through joint research with Indian Institute of Technology. Imbesideyou began providing its unique speech recognition service for Indian English, developed collaboratively with IIT researchers.
• Indian Institute of Technology HyderabadcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 November 2021Imbesideyou signed an MOU with IIT Hyderabad for joint research and co-creation in image analysis, voice analysis, psychology, and design. This partnership supports the company's India-Japan collaboration strategy and provides access to world-class AI research talent.
• Zoom (Video Conferencing Platform)coreTechnology or IntegrationImbesideyou is a certified Zoom Partner, integrating its AI emotion analysis capabilities with the Zoom video conferencing platform to provide real-time analysis of participants in online meetings, classes, and events.
• Banzan (Online Education)coreTechnology or IntegrationBanzan, a leading online tutoring company in Japan, integrated Imbesideyou's AI video analysis into its online group classes. The service analyzes students in real-time to improve the quality of education unique to online learning, helping students achieve their goals.
• Megasta (Online Tutoring)coreTechnology or IntegrationMegasta, an online tutoring platform operated by Banzan, adopted Imbesideyou's AI video analysis service to support student goal achievement through real-time AI analysis of online tutoring sessions.
• Anand Kumar (SUPER30 Founder)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Anand Kumar, founder of SUPER30 (renowned Indian mathematics education program), for online lesson analysis. Agreement established in April 2021. Featured in Times of India.
• AstraZenecacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerImplementation of Imbesideyou's mental health monitoring AI at AstraZeneca Japan, providing employee well-being support through emotion and behavioral analysis.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• HireVue: AI video interview and assessment platform used by HR teams to analyze candidate communication and behavior. Directly competes with Imbesideyou's HR AI analysis module (recruitment interview and 1-on-1 analytics).
• Affectiva (Smart Eye): MIT spin-out that pioneered facial emotion recognition from video and audio; acquired by Smart Eye in 2021. Direct competitor to Imbesideyou's multimodal emotion analysis engine for online communications, education, and market research.
• Realeyes: Emotion AI platform analyzing facial expressions and voice to measure attention and emotion during video, used by advertisers and online learning platforms. Closely comparable to Imbesideyou's video/audio emotion analytics use cases.
• Cogito (now part of Genesys): Real-time conversational AI that analyzes voice tone and behavior to coach call center agents. Comparable to Imbesideyou's online sales meeting analysis use case for improving sales rep performance.

Emerging players

• Behavioral Signals: Conversational AI for contact centers and online meetings that detects emotion and behavior from voice to improve sales outcomes. Overlaps with Imbesideyou's online sales analytics and Zoom-meeting use cases.
• Sensely: Conversational AI platform for telehealth that combines voice/text analysis with avatar-driven patient engagement for mental health and chronic care. Comparable in the mental health monitoring and well-being vertical Imbesideyou addresses.
• Hume AI: Research-driven emotion and paralinguistic AI API for measuring well-being and expression from voice and face. Emerging competitor in the same multimodal sentiment/emotion intelligence space, with a developer-platform go-to-market.
• Uniphore: Enterprise conversational AI and emotion/sentiment analytics platform for sales, service, and HR conversations. Comparable multimodal analytics targeting similar B2B buyers as Imbesideyou's sales and HR modules.

Broad incumbents

• NICE Ltd. Large enterprise vendor of contact center analytics, voice, and interaction analytics. Overlaps with Imbesideyou's online sales meeting analysis as part of a much broader CX/analytics portfolio.
• Microsoft Azure AI (Face/Cognitive Services): General-purpose cloud AI services including face, speech, and language APIs that can be assembled into emotion-aware solutions. Competes as an incumbent infrastructure alternative to Imbesideyou's platform for enterprise customers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BesideIm
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/imbesideyou

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors4 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Imbesideyou