What Zaico does

Zaico (ZAICO Inc.) is a Japanese cloud-based inventory management SaaS company founded in 2016 and headquartered in Yonezawa City, Yamagata Prefecture. The platform serves SMB and mid-market customers across manufacturing, healthcare, government, transportation, retail, and electronics, with a product-led growth model that has accumulated more than 190,000 accounts by April 2026. Customers span a wide variety of operational contexts where physical-stock accuracy and traceability are commercially or regulatorily important.

The core product, zaico core, provides barcode-based inventory tracking augmented by AI features including image-recognition-based SKU identification, AI-OCR for invoice and inbound document processing, video-based inventory counting (AI Inventory via Video, launched March 2026), predictive analytics for replenishment, and an NLP chatbot for user interaction. Zaico has expanded beyond core inventory into adjacent workflow products (zaico order management, zaico purchase order management) and IoT hardware (ZAICON weight scale, R-ZAICO RFID reader). The platform integrates with the major back-office systems used by Japanese operators — freee, kintone, Salesforce, Next Engine, Square, and Uberegi — and in June 2026 added an MCP-protocol integration with ChatGPT, making inventory data and actions callable from external AI agents.

The business model is tiered monthly SaaS subscriptions at ¥8,980 (Starter), ¥49,800 (Basic), and ¥150,000+ (Professional), with a 98% monthly paid continuation rate observed between May 2025 and April 2026. Go-to-market is primarily self-serve product-led, supplemented by partnerships (e.g., Aegis for pharmacy operations, March 2026). Zaico is recognized by METI's "Habataku 300" program (June 2026) and has raised approximately $3.3M across a Series 2 led by Archetype Ventures (November 2024) and a Japan Finance Corporation round (May 2025).

Name

Zaico

Legal name

株式会社ZAICO

Website

https://zaico.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Zaico is a Japanese cloud inventory management SaaS platform founded in 2016, serving more than 190,000 cumulative SMB and mid-market accounts across manufacturing, healthcare, retail, and government with AI-powered barcode, image-recognition, and IoT hardware solutions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cloud Inventory Management Software

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)

SIC

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

akta.pro primary industry

Order Visibility, Status Notifications & Customer Tracking Portal (TLAEACAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Document Capture, Scanning, OCR/ICR & Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) (HDAEAGAD), Fleet, Asset Tracking & Telematics Location Platforms (BPAMANAF)

Keywords

• Cloud inventory management
• AI-powered inventory software
• Barcode scanning systems
• Order management software
• Multi-location stock tracking

Headquarters

HQ city

Yamagata

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Subscription Revenue: Three-tier subscription model (Starter, Basic, Professional) with monthly billing. Additional revenue from user add-ons and optional features like ZAICON and R-ZAICO hardware.
2. Professional Services: Initial data import support service for Basic plan (paid option), dedicated staff onboarding support for 6 months (Professional tier).
3. Integration Add-ons: NexTE engine integration app costs ¥3,300/month (tax included) separately from zaico subscription.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Zaico operates a cloud-based inventory management SaaS platform that enables real-time synchronization of inventory data between mobile devices (used in warehouses, factories, and field operations) and desktop computers in offices. The platform leverages AI for image recognition, OCR document parsing, and predictive analytics to automate data entry, item identification, and reorder point optimization. It is offered via a tiered subscription model (Starter, Basic, Professional) and complemented by IoT hardware add-ons (ZAICON weight scale, R-ZAICO RFID) and order/procurement modules.

Product overview

Zaico offers a cloud-based inventory management platform as its core product, complemented by specialized modules and IoT hardware. The main zaico system provides real-time multi-location inventory tracking with AI-powered features. Related offerings include zaico受注管理 (order management with AI-OCR automation), zaico発注管理 (purchase order management), ZAICON (IoT weight scale for automated counting), and R-ZAICO (RFID-based inventory scanning). The product portfolio supports various business sizes through tiered pricing plans (Starter, Basic, Professional) and serves industries including manufacturing, retail, healthcare, government, and logistics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ZAICON: IoT weight scale for automated inventory measurement. Place items on the scale and inventory quantities are automatically reflected in the zaico system.
• zaico受注管理
• zaico発注管理

Products and services

• zaico (Cloud Inventory Management System) Core cloud-based inventory management platform enabling real-time inventory tracking across multiple locations via smartphone and web applications. Features AI-powered item identification from photos and videos, barcode/QR code scanning, automated data entry, order management, lot/expiration tracking, predictive analytics (zDASH), and external system integrations. Sold via tiered subscription (Starter ¥8,980/month, Basic ¥49,800/month, Professional ¥150,000+/month) to businesses of all sizes including manufacturing, retail, healthcare, logistics, and government.
• zaico Order Management (zaico受注管理) Order reception management module that automates manual order data entry using AI-OCR, streamlining incoming order processing. Centralizes order information and supplier communications and integrates with the zaico inventory platform for businesses with order-intensive operations.
• zaico Purchase Order Management (zaico発注管理) Purchase order management module integrated with zaico inventory system. Manages supplier ordering information and purchase order delivery with template-based order creation and automated status tracking, enabling streamlined procurement-to-receiving workflows.
• ZAICON (IoT Weight Scale) IoT-enabled weight scale that automatically reflects inventory quantities in the zaico system when items are placed on or removed from the scale. Eliminates manual counting and data entry, enabling fully automated inventory tracking.
• R-ZAICO (RFID Inventory Scanning) RFID-based inventory management solution using wireless communication with IC tags embedded in items. Enables scanning multiple inventory items at once by waving a dedicated RFID reader, significantly improving inventory management efficiency over manual scanning methods.

Named customers9 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

AI capability11 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• AegiscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Aegis (top share in inventory outsourcing) for pharmacy operations optimization. Combines AI capabilities with BPO services to reduce pharmacy operational burden and achieve optimal inventory levels through AI × BPO approach.
• freee Accounting (freee会計)coreTechnology or IntegrationCloud accounting software integration. Automatically creates transaction data from receiving/shipping records - purchase amounts from receiving data, sales amounts from shipping data. Reduces accounting workload and human errors.
• kintonecoreTechnology or IntegrationBidirectional data sync between kintone and zaico. Invoice customization capability in kintone. Data synchronization available on all plans; invoice linkage requires Pro plan.
• Salesforce (zaico for Salesforce)coreTechnology or IntegrationView inventory numbers directly from Salesforce. Register delivery schedules based on zaico inventory data. Sales staff can check inventory without logging into zaico.
• Next Engine (ネクストエンジン)coreTechnology or IntegrationEC operations management tool integration. Import sales data from Next Engine to reflect inventory decreases. Sync zaico receiving/shipping data to update Next Engine inventory. Monthly fee ¥3,300 (tax included) applies.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• LOGILESS: Japanese cloud-based warehouse and inventory management SaaS serving SMB retailers and 3PLs — most direct domestic competitor to zaico with overlapping features and shared Japan-only geographic focus.
• BALES (Subsidy Cloud): Japanese cloud inventory management solution with barcode/IoT features, targeting SMB manufacturers and distributors — comparable to zaico's Starter/Basic tier functionality within the same Japan market.

Direct peers

• Fishbowl Inventory: Inventory management solution popular with QuickBooks-using manufacturers; comparable to zaico in manufacturing vertical targeting with QuickBooks-like accounting integrations, whereas Zaico integrates with freee in Japan.
• Brightpearl: Cloud retail and inventory management platform serving SMB/mid-market merchants with order, warehouse, and accounting workflows; directly comparable to zaico's cloud inventory + order management proposition.
• Cin7: Cloud inventory and order management platform for product sellers, popular in mid-market; directly comparable to zaico's inventory + order management positioning with broader multi-channel commerce integrations.
• inFlow Inventory: Cloud and on-premise inventory management software targeting SMBs with barcode scanning and order fulfillment — overlapping with zaico's Starter/Basic SMB tiers and similar workflow automation use cases.
• Unleashed Software: Cloud inventory management platform for SMBs and wholesalers with real-time stock control and Xero/QuickBooks integrations — directly comparable to zaico in cloud inventory + accounting integration model.
• Zoho Inventory: Global cloud inventory management SaaS with multi-channel order, warehouse, and shipping features; competes head-to-head with zaico in the SMB cloud inventory space, though Zaico's AI image/video capabilities and Japan-focused integrations differentiate it.

Emerging players

• kintone (Cybozu): Japanese no-code business app platform with inventory management templates that overlaps with zaico's market; while a current integration partner, kintone could expand native inventory features that compete directly with zaico's core offering.
• Square Inventory: POS-integrated inventory management offering from Block; comparable to zaico's Square POS integration use case and overlapping in SMB retail/POS-driven inventory workflows.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/zaico_inc
• Facebookfacebook.com/zaico.inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 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 Zaico