Refcome

What Refcome does

Refcome is a Japan-based HRTech platform specializing in employee referral hiring (リファラル採用). The service is operated by Willof Partner Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Will Group Co., Ltd., and combines a cloud-based referral-hiring software product with dedicated Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) consulting. The platform comprises a Talent Pool Management System for capturing and nurturing latent candidates over time, a Three-party Communication Hub coordinating among HR, employees, and their referred contacts, and internal PR/communications tooling. A sub-brand, "Refcome Teams," addresses team-oriented referral hiring. The company claims to have supported more than 850 Japanese companies to date, with named customers spanning IT/Telecom (SB C&S), Electronics/Manufacturing (Omron), and HR Tech/Recruiting startups (Findy).

The product addresses Japan's persistent labor-shortage problem (人手不足) by enabling companies to access passive candidates through trusted employee networks. Underlying technology is workflow-oriented rather than AI-native: emphasis is on process automation, communication facilitation, and curated consulting playbooks refined across many engagements. Headcount is reported at 11–50 employees, and the platform is delivered as a cloud SaaS with optional deep-consultant engagement in the first year and a cloud-only option from year two onward.

The business model is hybrid: monthly subscription / fixed-fee plans for recurring revenue, performance-based / success-fee engagements with zero initial cost to lower buyer risk, and separately billed RPO professional services (20–50 consultant hours per month). GTM is sales-led and consultative, with a four-step enterprise cycle (consultation, tailored proposal, contract, kickoff with dedicated consultant) plus direct-inquiry-led demand generation from the company website. Distribution is single-country (Japan) via direct sales and active recruitment of channel partners, with named investors across multiple rounds (BEENEXT, ANRI, DNX Ventures, Takram, AG Capital, Oriental Land Innovations) between 2016 and 2021.

Name

Refcome

Legal name

株式会社ウィルオブ・パートナー

Website

https://refcome.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Refcome is a Japan-based HRTech platform that helps companies implement employee referral hiring through a cloud talent-pool tool and dedicated RPO consulting, serving 850+ Japanese enterprises, SMEs, and part-time-workforce employers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Recruitment Software

NAICS

Employment Placement Agencies (561311), Human Resources Consulting Services (541612)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Enterprise RPO (End-to-End Program Management) (BPACABAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Onsite / Embedded RPO (In-House Recruiter Teams) (BPACABAD), Hybrid / Selective RPO (Partial Outsourcing) (BPACABAC)

Keywords

• Referral hiring software
• Recruitment process outsourcing
• Talent acquisition platform
• Employee referral programs
• HR technology services

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Subscription / Fixed-fee Service: Monthly fixed-fee pricing model providing stable, predictable costs for clients. The fixed-fee plan allows for stable results and cost management.
2. Performance-based / Success Fee Model: Zero initial cost with a performance-based success fee. This lowers the barrier to entry for clients and aligns Refcome's compensation with hiring outcomes.
3. RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) Professional Services: Dedicated consultants deeply involved (20-50 hours/month) in planning and executing referral hiring strategies, including onboarding support, internal briefings, internal PR article and poster creation, and project management. This is provided as part of first-year support and can continue as a separate service in subsequent years.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Refcome is a referral hiring cloud platform combined with a dedicated recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) service that helps Japanese companies build and scale employee referral hiring programs. The cloud platform provides a talent pool management system for nurturing latent candidates, a three-party communication hub (HR, employees, candidates), and internal PR/communications tools. The RPO layer adds 20-50 hours per month of dedicated consultant support covering program planning, internal onboarding, internal briefings/PR materials, and execution of referral hiring strategies.

Product overview

Refcome is a referral recruitment support service offered by Willof Partner Inc. The platform consists of a referral-specialized cloud tool (Refcome) and a referral-specialized RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) service. The cloud tool features a talent pool for managing potential candidates, communication facilitation between HR, employees, and candidates, and internal PR/communications capabilities. The RPO service provides dedicated professionals who support companies from planning through execution of referral recruitment strategies, with over 850 client companies supported.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Refcome Teams: Team-oriented referral hiring solution under the Refcome service

Products and services

• Refcome Cloud Platform A referral-specialized cloud tool featuring a Talent Pool Management System for nurturing latent/passive candidates over time, a Three-party Communication Hub (HR / Employee / Friend) that coordinates referrals, and internal PR/communications capabilities to support referral hiring programs at scale. Used by HR departments at Japanese companies to operationalize employee referrals.
• Refcome RPO Service A referral-specialized Recruitment Process Outsourcing service that assigns dedicated consultants 20-50 hours per month to plan and execute referral hiring strategies. Covers onboarding support, internal briefings, internal PR article and poster creation, and project management. Typically bundled into first-year engagements; can continue as a separate service in subsequent years.
• Refcome Teams A team-oriented referral hiring solution offered as a sub-brand under the Refcome service for organizations that want to structure referral hiring at the team level.

Quantifiable outcome

• 850社以上の支援実績 — Refcome has supported over 850 companies with referral hiring programs.

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• HERP: Japan-based referral hiring and recruiting platform directly competing with Refcome in the same product category, serving Japanese enterprises with referral-driven sourcing tools.
• MyRefer: Japan-based referral hiring SaaS platform offering employee referral programs to mid-market and enterprise customers — directly overlapping with Refcome's core offering and target market.
• i-Refer (アイリファー): Japan-based referral recruitment platform serving enterprise hiring teams — directly comparable to Refcome in functionality (referral workflows, internal PR tools) and customer segment.

Broad incumbents

• HRMOS: Japan-headquartered HR tech suite (part of BizReach group) offering broader HR and recruiting functionality, increasingly bundling referral features that compete with Refcome's specialized offering.
• Workday Recruiting: Global enterprise HCM and recruiting suite whose referral features increasingly compete with standalone platforms like Refcome for enterprise HR budget allocation.
• Greenhouse: US-headquartered ATS with strong referral module capabilities serving enterprise customers globally — a comparable product architecture and target buyer, though focused on full hiring workflows rather than referral specialization.
• LinkedIn Talent Solutions: Global incumbent that offers employee referral features inside its broader talent platform, representing a bundling threat to standalone referral specialists like Refcome.

Regional players

• Talentio: Japanese ATS and hiring management platform competing with Refcome for the same enterprise HR budgets, though broader in scope (full recruiting workflow rather than referral-specialized).
• Wantedly: Japan-based hiring platform emphasizing referral-friendly employer branding and direct matching; competes for the same enterprise hiring budget as Refcome, particularly with startups and tech employers.
• Eight (Sansan): Japan-based business networking platform by Sansan that increasingly intersects with referral hiring use cases, serving overlapping enterprise customers in Japan with adjacent recruiting capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/refcome
• Facebookfacebook.com/refcome
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/refcome

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors6 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 Refcome