Grooves
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2004
- HeadquartersMinato, Japan
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
Grooves firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Grooves
- Legal name
- 株式会社Grooves
- Website
- https://grooves.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2004
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Grooves industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Recruitment / HR Technology Platform
- NAICS
- Employment Placement Agencies (561311)
- SIC
- Services-Employment Agencies (7361)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Gig / On-Demand Generalist Staffing Platforms (BPACACAK)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Marketplace & On-Demand Platform Recommendations (rideshare, delivery, services) (HDAAAGAK)
Keywords
Where Grooves is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Minato
- HQ country
- Japan
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices3 records
Markets served
Grooves business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Crowd Agent Subscription: Cloud service subscription model connecting recruitment agencies with hiring companies. Companies pay for access to the platform's database of recruitment agencies and job listings.
- Job Posting and Recruitment Services: Fee-based job posting and recruitment matching services through Crowd Agent platform, with over 14,000 companies using the service and 10,000+ job listings
- Forkwell Career Platform: Career support and recruitment matching platform for IT engineers, providing scouting services to companies seeking technical talent
- PERSONA ATS Integration Revenue: Integration fees from seamless job posting coordination between ATS systems and Crowd Agent recruitment network
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Enterprise recruitment platform subscription |
| Subscription | Monthly | PERSONA ATS integration |
| Unit Pricing | One time/ perpetual license | Video recruitment service |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels8 records
Grooves product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Grooves operates Crowd Agent, a cloud-based recruitment platform that aggregates relationships between hiring companies and Japan's nationwide network of recruitment agencies (8,000+ agents, 14,000+ client companies, 10,000+ active job listings). It also operates Forkwell, an IT engineer-focused career and scout platform with 50,000+ registered engineers, providing AI-matched scout services and skill-level classification for tech hiring.
Product overview
Grooves operates a dual-core product portfolio in the HR technology space: Crowd Agent serves as the enterprise-facing cloud recruitment platform connecting companies with 14,000+ businesses and 8,000+ recruitment agencies nationwide, handling job distribution and administrative consolidation. Forkwell functions as the IT engineer-focused career platform providing scout services and career development, with over 50,000 registered engineers. The two platforms are designed to address different segments of the recruitment market - Crowd Agent for general recruitment needs and Forkwell for specialized IT engineering talent acquisition. The company also offers ancillary services including recruitment video production, and has previously operated products like GRIP ON, Skill Shift, and Career Pro.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Forkwell: A tech-focused recruitment platform and job marketplace for IT engineers, operated as a subsidiary of Grooves.
- Forkwell SOURCER
Products and services
- Crowd Agent (クラウドエージェント) A cloud-based recruitment platform that connects Japanese hiring companies with a nationwide network of 8,000+ recruitment agencies, consolidating fragmented agency relationships under one contract. Used by 14,000+ companies with 10,000+ active job listings; integrates with PERSONA ATS, supports AI-driven resume parsing, KPI reporting, and calendar-based self-scheduling.
- Forkwell (フォークウェル) IT engineer-focused career support and recruitment platform providing AI-matched scout services, engineer skill-level classification (Level 1-3), career trajectory visualization, and job matching. Over 50,000 registered engineers (73.4% at Level 2+ battle-ready), with industry-leading 65.2% scout open rates and 16.9% response rates.
- Forkwell Scout Service Subscription scout service for hiring companies targeting mid-level and senior IT engineers via Forkwell, achieving approximately 65.2% scout open rate and 16.9% response rate. Uses AI matching and prevents mass-mailer outreach through an individual-focused scout approach; integrates with HRMOS ATS.
- Forkwell Senior Engineer Agent (フォークウェル 上級エンジニアエージェント) Specialized scout service focused on connecting companies with highly experienced senior IT engineers; extends Forkwell's scout offering to a more senior talent segment.
- Recruitment Video Production Service Video production service for employer branding, starting at 150,000 JPY per video. Provides quick and affordable recruitment video content for client companies' hiring marketing.
Quantifiable outcome
- 65.2% scout open rate and 16.9% scout response rate (industry-leading)
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Grooves
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Grooves technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability8 records
Feature5 records
Grooves partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Piaz Co., Ltd. (株式会社ピアズ)coreStrategic capital alliance for Forkwell business spin-off. Piaz acquired majority stake in newly established company Forkwell Inc., with Grooves maintaining minority shareholder position. Forkwell will leverage Piaz's listed company infrastructure for enhanced investment capacity and credibility.
- Assignment Co., Ltd. (株式会社アサイン)coreIntegration partnership between PERSONA ATS and Crowd Agent enabling seamless job posting workflow. Companies using PERSONA can now publish and update job listings directly to Crowd Agent's nationwide recruitment agent network of 8,000+ agents, streamlining the hiring process.
- Mirai Works (株式会社みらいワークス)minorJoint venture company 'Skill Shift Inc.' established in 2019 for workforce transformation and skill shift initiatives
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Grooves competitors and assessment
Company assessmentOthers
- Eight (Sansan): Sansan's Eight business card network provides a passive talent-graph signal used in Japanese recruiting. Comparable as adjacent data infrastructure for hiring workflows where Grooves' AI classification approach competes for relevance.
Direct peers
- BizReach: Japan's leading high-end tech and managerial recruiting marketplace, directly competing with Grooves' Forkwell scout service for IT engineer talent. Both target mid-to-senior Japanese engineers with subscription-based hiring models.
- Wantedly: Japanese recruitment platform focused on tech talent and startup hiring, with strong overlap to Grooves' Forkwell in employer branding, scout messaging, and mid-market tech recruiting workflows.
- HERP / HRMOS: HRMOS (by HERP) is a Japanese recruiting ATS and HR tech platform that integrates with Forkwell. Competes directly with Grooves in tech-recruiting workflow tooling and serves overlapping enterprise customers.
- Daijob: Japanese bilingual and IT engineer recruitment platform. Closely comparable to Forkwell in targeting experienced IT talent with specialist profiles, particularly in cross-border and senior-level placements.
Broad incumbents
- Mynavi: One of Japan's largest generalist staffing and recruitment firms. Competes with Crowd Agent across generalist recruitment agency services and new-graduate hiring, with much broader scale and brand.
- En Japan: Major Japanese recruitment platform operator (en-japan, [en]career, mid-career platforms). Overlaps with Grooves' Crowd Agent on recruitment agency marketplace and SMB/mid-market hiring.
- Recruit Holdings: Global HR and classifieds giant (Indeed, LinkedIn is separately held but ecosystem-overlapping; Recruit operates Japanese recruiting brands). Defines the ceiling on Japanese HR tech competition and frames market structure for Crowd Agent.
- Link and Motivation: Japanese HR consulting and motivation cloud platform serving enterprise clients. Competes indirectly with Grooves in the HR-tech layer used by mid-to-large Japanese enterprises, particularly on employee engagement and organizational data.
Emerging players
- Lever: Global recruiting and ATS platform that overlaps with Grooves' ATS integration ecosystem. While not a direct Japanese competitor, Lever competes in the broader recruiting-tech stack that Crowd Agent integrates with.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Grooves social profiles
Digital presenceGrooves compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance5 records
Grooves financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Grooves leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles7 records
Grooves subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries3 records
Grooves funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds15 records
Investors22 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Grooves M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Grooves
What does Grooves do?
Grooves operates Crowd Agent, a cloud-based recruitment platform that aggregates relationships between hiring companies and Japan's nationwide network of recruitment agencies (8,000+ agents, 14,000+ client companies, 10,000+ active job listings). It also operates Forkwell, an IT engineer-focused career and scout platform with 50,000+ registered engineers, providing AI-matched scout services and skill-level classification for tech hiring.
Is Grooves a public or private company?
Grooves is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Grooves founded?
Grooves was founded in 2004. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Grooves based?
Grooves is headquartered in Minato, Japan, in the Asia region.
How does Grooves make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Crowd Agent Subscription is the primary driver. The others are job Posting and Recruitment Services, forkwell Career Platform and PERSONA ATS Integration Revenue.
Who are Grooves's main competitors?
Eight (Sansan) is listed as an others. Direct peers are BizReach, Wantedly, HERP / HRMOS and Daijob. Broad incumbents are Mynavi, En Japan, Recruit Holdings and Link and Motivation. Lever is listed as an emerging player.
Does Grooves have an API?
No public API is recorded for Grooves.
What industry is Grooves in?
Grooves's product category is Recruitment / HR Technology Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPACACAK, Gig / On-Demand Generalist Staffing Platforms, with a secondary code of HDAAAGAK, Marketplace & On-Demand Platform Recommendations (rideshare, delivery, services). Its NAICS code is 561311 and its SIC code is 7361.