Cluster
Cluster operates a Unity-based, cross-device metaverse platform headquartered in Tokyo, enabling consumers to create and join virtual worlds and events, and delivering bespoke digital-twin and simulation solutions to Japanese government, education, and enterprise clients.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersTokyo, Japan
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Cluster does
Cluster, Inc. is a Tokyo-based metaverse platform operator founded in 2014 that enables users to create, host, and participate in virtual worlds, live events, and social gatherings across smartphones, PCs, and VR devices. The platform is built on Unity and emphasizes cross-device accessibility via dedicated apps for iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, and Meta Quest, with proprietary large-scale simultaneous connection infrastructure that allows hundreds to thousands of users to occupy a single virtual space concurrently. Core product surfaces include user-generated Worlds, scheduled and live Events, and a social Feed, supported by a Creator Hub and Discord community for world-builders.
The business operates a hybrid model combining a freemium consumer experience with an enterprise/government services line. On the consumer side, the platform is free to download and play, with revenue captured through item sales, premium features, and creator marketplace commissions. On the enterprise side, Cluster develops bespoke metaverse solutions for municipal and corporate clients through a dedicated B2B portal (biz.cluster.mu), including a disaster simulation platform for Sendai City, the Peace Foundation Metaverse digital twin for Okinawa Prefecture, the Metaverse Toyota program with Toyota City, virtual campuses for Japanese universities, and virtual retail experiences for retailers such as Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores.
The company has raised approximately $13.8M across six funding rounds since 2014, with investors including Global Brain Corporation, KDDI, Skyland Ventures, East Ventures, Avex Ventures, DeNA, 31Ventures, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, TV Asahi, Wright Flyer Live Entertainment, and X Tech Ventures. Leadership comprises founder and CEO Naoto Kato, CTO Johnson Tanaka (also listed as Tanaka Hiroki), and COO/CFO Iwasaki Tsukasa. The company maintains a Japan-focused operating geography with no disclosed international expansion or revenue figures.
Cluster firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Cluster
- Legal name
- Cluster, Inc.
- Website
- https://cluster.mu
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Cluster operates a Unity-based, cross-device metaverse platform headquartered in Tokyo, enabling consumers to create and join virtual worlds and events, and delivering bespoke digital-twin and simulation solutions to Japanese government, education, and enterprise clients.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Cluster industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Metaverse Platform
- NAICS
- Business Associations (813910), Civic and Social Organizations (813410)
- SIC
- Services-Membership Organizations (8600)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Metaverse & Social Virtual Worlds (BPAMAKAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Virtual Worlds & Social Sandbox Experiences (persistent social spaces) (MPAFAIAG), Virtual Conferences & Summits (Webinars, Keynotes) (MPAGAOAA)
Keywords
Where Cluster is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Tokyo
- HQ country
- Japan
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices1 record
Markets served
Cluster business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Platform Access (Freemium): Free platform access for users to create and join worlds, events, and social spaces. Revenue generated through item sales, premium features, and creator monetization tools.
- Enterprise/Corporate Solutions: B2B services for government and corporate clients including disaster simulation platforms, urban planning digital twins, and virtual memorial spaces.
- Creator Economy: Creators can sell items, accessories, and craft items on the platform, with the company taking a marketplace commission on transactions.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free platform access with optional item sales and premium features |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels5 records
Cluster product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Cluster operates a Unity-based metaverse platform that lets users create, host, and join virtual worlds, events, and social spaces across smartphones, PCs, and Meta Quest VR headsets. It monetizes via a freemium model with item sales, premium features, and creator marketplace commissions, and provides B2B enterprise solutions including metaverse disaster simulation platforms for municipalities and 3D digital twin recreations of real-world monuments and campuses.
Product overview
Cluster operates a unified metaverse platform that provides tools for users to create virtual worlds, host events, design avatars, and sell digital items. The platform is accessible across multiple devices including Windows PCs, macOS computers, iOS and Android smartphones/tablets, and Meta Quest VR headsets. Core offerings include user-generated virtual spaces (Worlds), live and scheduled events, and social features. The platform also serves enterprise clients with specialized solutions including disaster simulation platforms for municipal governments and digital twin recreations of significant locations like the Peace Foundation monument in Okinawa.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Cluster Platform A metaverse platform enabling users to create, explore, and participate in user-generated virtual worlds, live events, and social spaces with avatar customization, accessible across smartphones, PCs, and VR devices.
- Cluster Worlds (ワールド) User-created virtual spaces and environments within the Cluster metaverse, ranging from social gathering spaces, games, art galleries, and entertainment venues, accessible to general users and creators.
- Cluster Events (イベント) Virtual events hosted within the Cluster metaverse, including music performances, talk shows, DJ sessions, radio shows, games, social gatherings, and educational events for individual users and organizers.
- Peace Foundation Metaverse A 3D digital twin recreation of the Peace Foundation monument in Itoman City, Okinawa, allowing users to search among over 240,000 engraved names of war victims and participate virtually in memorial events, supporting hundreds to thousands of concurrent users.
- Disaster Simulation Platform Metaverse-based disaster simulation platform developed with Sendai City using hazard maps, allowing residents to report hazardous areas and simulate flooding impacts for disaster preparedness and training.
- Digital Twin Solutions Enterprise B2B solutions for creating 3D digital twins of real-world locations, monuments, and urban areas for purposes including memorial sites, urban planning, and disaster simulation, delivered through biz.cluster.mu.
- Virtual Campus Solutions Educational virtual campus environments delivered for universities such as Osaka University of Electro-Communications and Aoyama Gakuin University, including multiple studio areas such as audio editing, video editing, motion capture, and full campus recreation.
Quantifiable outcome
- 10,000+ visitors within one week for virtual retail launches
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Cluster
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Cluster technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Cluster partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Sendai CitycoreTokyo startup Cluster partnered with Sendai city to develop a metaverse-based disaster simulation platform that simulates flooding impacts using hazard maps, allowing residents to report hazardous areas.
- Toyota CitycoreCluster collaborated with Toyota City for the Shinagawa Tech Showcase 2026 exhibition, marking the company's first joint exhibition. The partnership is part of Toyota City's broader 'Metaverse Toyota' program, promoting metaverse adoption among youth.
- Takeoff Tokyo 2026minorCluster CEO Naoto Kato spoke at Asia's largest startup conference, discussing the future of virtual spaces and industry integration, highlighting company efforts to promote virtual environment utilization.
- Okinawa PrefecturecoreOkinawa Prefecture and Cluster developed the Peace Foundation Metaverse, a 3D digital twin recreation of the Peace Foundation monument in Itoman City, marking 80 years after the Okinawa War. The platform allows users to search among over 240,000 engraved names of war victims and participate virtually in memorial events.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Cluster competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- VRChat: User-created social VR platform supporting cross-device access (PC VR, standalone headsets, mobile-friendly). Most direct competitor to Cluster in the social-virtual-worlds category and the platform through which Cluster has hosted enterprise retail deployments (e.g., Daimaru Matsuzakaya).
- Rec Room: Cross-platform social VR/2D platform with user-generated worlds, events, and a creator economy. Closely comparable to Cluster in business model (UGC + marketplace + creator monetization) and target audience (social, gaming, events), though Rec Room operates globally with a larger user base.
Broad incumbents
- Meta Horizon Worlds: Meta's social metaverse product available on Quest headsets, backed by one of the largest consumer-tech R&D budgets in the world. Competes with Cluster in the social-VR/metaverse category but as part of Meta's much broader Reality Labs portfolio rather than as a focused standalone platform.
- Roblox: Dominant UGC gaming/metaverse platform with a mature creator-economy and marketplace commission model. Comparable to Cluster on the UGC-platform and creator-monetization dimensions, but vastly larger scale and broader demographic reach.
- Microsoft Mesh: Enterprise-oriented metaverse/immersive-spaces offering from Microsoft, integrated with Teams. Comparable to Cluster on cross-device enterprise virtual-spaces use cases (meetings, training, collaboration), backed by Microsoft's enterprise distribution.
Emerging players
- Mozilla Hubs: Browser-based social VR/spatial collaboration platform. Comparable to Cluster as a cross-device virtual-event and social-space tool, with stronger enterprise-meeting positioning though smaller consumer footprint.
- Spatial: Metaverse platform focused on spatial collaboration, virtual events, and NFT/gallery use cases. Comparable to Cluster on cross-device virtual-events and creator/brand activations, with a stronger art-NFT and enterprise-meeting tilt.
- Engage VR: Enterprise-focused immersive collaboration and training platform for education, healthcare, and corporate customers. Comparable to Cluster on the enterprise/education virtual-campus and virtual-training vertical.
- Manticore Games (Core): UGC metaverse/gaming platform (Core) with creator monetization tools. Comparable to Cluster on the UGC-platform, creator-economy, and marketplace-monetization dimensions, though Core skews more toward gaming than events/memorials.
Regional players
- HIKKY: Tokyo-based VR/metaverse company that organizes the annual Virtual Market (Vket) on Cluster-compatible and proprietary infrastructure. Comparable to Cluster as a Japan-domestic social/metaverse operator with overlapping event and creator-community activities.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Cluster social profiles
Digital presenceCluster financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Cluster leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Cluster funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds6 records
Investors13 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Cluster M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments2 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Cluster
What does Cluster do?
Cluster operates a Unity-based metaverse platform that lets users create, host, and join virtual worlds, events, and social spaces across smartphones, PCs, and Meta Quest VR headsets. It monetizes via a freemium model with item sales, premium features, and creator marketplace commissions, and provides B2B enterprise solutions including metaverse disaster simulation platforms for municipalities and 3D digital twin recreations of real-world monuments and campuses.
Is Cluster a public or private company?
Cluster is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Cluster founded?
Cluster was founded in 2014. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Cluster based?
Cluster is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, in the Asia region.
How does Cluster make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Platform Access (Freemium) is the primary driver. The others are enterprise/Corporate Solutions and creator Economy.
Who are Cluster's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are VRChat and Rec Room. Broad incumbents are Meta Horizon Worlds, Roblox and Microsoft Mesh. Emerging players are Mozilla Hubs, Spatial, Engage VR and Manticore Games (Core). HIKKY is listed as a regional player.
Does Cluster have an API?
No public API is recorded for Cluster.
What industry is Cluster in?
Cluster's product category is Metaverse Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAKAF, Metaverse & Social Virtual Worlds, with a secondary code of MPAFAIAG, Virtual Worlds & Social Sandbox Experiences (persistent social spaces). Its NAICS code is 813910 and its SIC code is 8600.