Squad
SIVA Inc. is a Tokyo-based vertical SaaS holding company that acquires and accelerates niche-leading Japanese software businesses across digital advertising, auto aftermarket, hospitality, and retail, currently operating four subsidiaries serving 2,000+ enterprise customers.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2024
- HeadquartersTokyo, Japan
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Squad does
SIVA Inc. is a Tokyo-based vertical software holding company founded on August 9, 2024, that acquires and accelerates niche-leading Japanese software companies through a proprietary Post Merger Integration (PMI) methodology. Founded by Toshiyuki Sugiura in partnership with JGIA (Japan Growth Investment Alliance), the group consolidated four operating subsidiaries spanning four distinct verticals: digital advertising (Squad, operating the Squad beyond platform with 900 billion yen in annual advertising circulation), auto aftermarket (VERTICE, with the extreme management system holding #3 market share and supporting 500,000+ vehicles annually), travel and hospitality (Business Brain, operating FrontCreue PMS with 20+ year customer relationships), and retail/supermarket e-commerce (menu magazine, operating URIBACO).
The group's core technology stack consists of industry-specific SaaS platforms differentiated by deep domain specialization rather than horizontal features. Squad beyond provides an end-to-end workflow for digital advertising agencies covering planning, production, distribution, analysis, and improvement. FrontCreue offers configurable PMS solutions for hotels, ryokans, banquets, and restaurants. URIBACO enables net-supermarket e-commerce operations with low fixed-cost deployment. The group has also built an internal HR-portal system that visualizes employee conditions, skills, and work progress to optimize personnel allocation and accelerate cross-subsidiary integration post-M&A.
SIVA's business model combines a holding-company M&A engine with recurring SaaS subscription revenue. Within its first year, the group raised approximately 100 billion yen (combining equity from JGIA and debt) to execute four acquisitions totaling over 100 billion yen in transaction value, serving more than 2,000 corporate customers across the four verticals. Revenue streams are predominantly subscription-based with fixed-fee pricing customized per enterprise client, though no public pricing tiers are disclosed. The group sells direct to enterprise clients in each vertical through field sales and implementation support, with a stated ambition to expand several-fold to several-ten-fold over the next five years and pursue an IPO.
Squad firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Squad
- Legal name
- 株式会社SIVA
- Website
- https://siva-s.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2024
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- SIVA Inc. is a Tokyo-based vertical SaaS holding company that acquires and accelerates niche-leading Japanese software businesses across digital advertising, auto aftermarket, hospitality, and retail, currently operating four subsidiaries serving 2,000+ enterprise customers.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Squad industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Digital Advertising Software
- NAICS
- Advertising Agencies (54181), Advertising Agencies (541810), Media Buying Agencies (54183)
- SIC
- Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Advertising (7310)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Marketing Automation & Campaign Management CRM (HDAEAFAB)
Keywords
Where Squad is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Tokyo
- HQ country
- Japan
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices1 record
Markets served
Squad business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- SaaS Subscription Revenue: Recurring subscription fees from vertical SaaS products across 4 industry segments: digital advertising (Squad beyond), auto aftermarket (extreme), travel/hospitality (FrontCreue), and retail (URIBACO). Subscription-based model with high retention rates.
- Subscription Revenue: Fixed-fee subscription model for Squad beyond, with no usage-based or delivery volume charges. Allows unlimited data utilization and testing without cost fluctuations.
- EC Platform Transaction Revenue: Revenue from supermarket EC platform services including setup support and operational services for net supermarket businesses.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels3 records
Squad product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Squad develops and sells "Squad beyond," an all-in-one SaaS platform that lets digital advertising agencies and advertisers run the full advertising workflow—planning, landing page production, distribution, analysis, and improvement—on a single platform. The platform pioneered Japan's first paid membership ASP model for digital advertising tools (2017) and now processes over 90 billion yen in annual advertising circulation. Sold to enterprise digital advertising clients on a fixed-fee subscription basis with no usage-based charges.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Squad beyond: Digital advertising LP production and analytics SaaS platform with over 9,000 billion yen in annual ad circulation volume.
- extreme
- フロントクルー (FrontCreue)
- URIBACO (ウリバコ)
Products and services
- Squad beyond All-in-one SaaS platform for digital advertising agencies and advertisers that handles the full advertising workflow—planning, landing page production, distribution, analysis, and improvement—on a single platform. Processes over 90 billion yen in annual advertising circulation and holds No. 1 market share in Japan's content-type advertising category. Sold on a fixed-fee subscription basis with no usage-based charges.
- Squad ASP Japan's first paid membership ASP (Application Service Provider) model for digital advertising tools, providing subscription-based access to digital advertising software tools for agencies and advertisers.
Quantifiable outcome
- 60+ months continuous growth in user count and MRR for Squad beyond
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Squad
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Squad technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
Squad partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators6 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Squad competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Constellation Software: Canadian listed company that pioneered the vertical software (VMS) roll-up model, acquiring hundreds of niche-top software businesses globally. Most cited public-market analogue to SIVA's 'acquire, integrate, hold' vertical SaaS strategy, though vastly larger and diversified across geographies.
- Cox Automotive (Dealertrack): Global automotive vertical SaaS roll-up including Dealertrack (DMS) and related dealer technology. Comparable as the dominant global player in the used-car/dealer management software category that VERTICE's extreme system competes against at a Japan-localized level.
- Roper Technologies: US-listed diversified vertical software acquirer with a long-running buy-and-hold model. Comparable to SIVA at a strategic/structural level as another publicly listed serial acquirer of niche vertical software assets, though at much larger scale and across broader verticals.
Regional players
- Sansan: Japanese vertical SaaS leader in business card/contact management, publicly listed. Comparable as a Japan-headquartered vertical SaaS company that built a category-leading product and is expanding via Eight and Bill One adjacencies, but does not pursue an M&A roll-up model.
- freee K.K. Japan-focused cloud accounting and HR/payroll SaaS company, publicly listed. Comparable as a domestic vertical SaaS champion with deep workflow specialization, though serving different verticals (accounting/HR vs. SIVA's industries).
- Money Forward: Japanese fintech/SaaS company offering accounting, HR, and financial workflows. Comparable as a publicly listed Japan-headquartered SaaS platform that expanded from a single vertical into multiple business/finance workflows, though via product build rather than M&A.
- Yayoi Holdings: Japan's largest accounting/ERP SaaS provider for SMEs, KKR-backed. Comparable as a Japanese vertical SaaS roll-up created by consolidating multiple legacy accounting software assets under a holding structure with PMI-driven modernization.
Direct peers
- Smartly.io: Digital advertising creative/operations SaaS platform serving agencies and advertisers globally. Most direct functional peer to Squad beyond, addressing creative production, ad operations, and analytics for performance advertisers.
- Celtra: Creative automation and ad production platform for digital advertising. Closely comparable to Squad beyond's LP production and analytics capabilities for agency and brand marketing workflows.
Emerging players
- Mews: Modern cloud-native hotel PMS challenging legacy on-premise systems like the FrontCreue platform Business Brain sells. Comparable as a vertical SaaS in hospitality property management pursuing the legacy-to-cloud transition that SIVA Group enables through PMI.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Squad social profiles
Digital presenceSquad financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Squad leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Squad subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries4 records
Squad funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Squad M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Squad
What does Squad do?
Squad develops and sells "Squad beyond," an all-in-one SaaS platform that lets digital advertising agencies and advertisers run the full advertising workflow—planning, landing page production, distribution, analysis, and improvement—on a single platform. The platform pioneered Japan's first paid membership ASP model for digital advertising tools (2017) and now processes over 90 billion yen in annual advertising circulation. Sold to enterprise digital advertising clients on a fixed-fee subscription basis with no usage-based charges.
Is Squad a public or private company?
Squad is a private company. It is classified as private equity controlled and is currently operating.
When was Squad founded?
Squad was founded in 2024. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Squad based?
Squad is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, in the Asia region.
How does Squad make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. SaaS Subscription Revenue is the primary driver. The others are subscription Revenue and EC Platform Transaction Revenue.
Who are Squad's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Constellation Software, Cox Automotive (Dealertrack) and Roper Technologies. Regional players are Sansan, freee K.K., Money Forward and Yayoi Holdings. Direct peers are Smartly.io and Celtra. Mews is listed as an emerging player.
Does Squad have an API?
No public API is recorded for Squad.
What industry is Squad in?
Squad's product category is Digital Advertising Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEAFAB, Marketing Automation & Campaign Management CRM. Its NAICS code is 54181 and its SIC code is 7311.