Academist

What Academist does

Academist Inc. (アカデミスト株式会社) is a Tokyo-based venture company that operates Japan's first academic-focused crowdfunding platform, launched in 2014 and incorporated on April 17, 2013 in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo. The platform (academist-cf.com) enables individual researchers — graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and independent scholars based in Japan — to run "spot" (one-time) crowdfunding campaigns and "monthly fanclub" recurring funding programs, while individual supporters register and pledge directly to projects they wish to back. Per company disclosures, the platform has supported over 400 research crowdfunding projects with an approximately 90% success rate across roughly a decade of operation. Beyond the core platform, Academist runs the academist Prize research acceleration program (currently in its 6th edition, with up to ¥5M Humanities/Social Sciences and ¥10M DeepTech matching pools allocated via a Quadratic Funding mechanism), and in April 2026 jointly launched "academmune" — an online researcher-corporate community developed with Infomart — to cultivate pre-transaction relationships between companies and academic researchers.

The company's revenue model is anchored on a 7% operating fee plus a 3% payment-processor fee on settled pledges (researchers net 90%), supplemented by corporate sponsorship of the academist Prize through a tiered Vision Sharing Partner (Platinum/Gold/Individual) program featuring partners such as Infomart (Platinum, since October 2024), bitmeister (Gold), and individual patron Yutaka Ishihara. Additional revenue lines include outsourced donation-acquisition and PR agency services for Japanese universities and research institutions (registered as businesses #5 and #6), managed services around the academmune community (monthly events, quarterly journal), and joint grant programs such as AlphaDrive × academist Grant (4 recipients selected from 136 applications in May 2026). Eligibility for challengers requires a domestic Japan address, bank account in own name, and government-issued or student ID, restricting the service to the Japanese market.

Academist is a privately held Japanese venture (kabushiki kaisha) with disclosed headcount in the 1-10 range. Disclosed capital history includes a $183,024 round from Japan Finance Corporation in January 2020, a Beyond Next Ventures round in January 2019, and a TomyK round in April 2018; revenue and detailed financials are not publicly disclosed. Operations are concentrated in Japan — no overseas offices or international services are referenced. Leadership is led by founder/CEO Ryosuke Shibato (柴藤亮介), supported by Chairman Yuki Torii, CTO Kimiyasu Morikawa, and COO Miho Otsuka. The company remains actively operating, with press releases and program cycles continuing into mid-2026.

Name

Academist

Legal name

Academist Inc. (アカデミスト株式会社)

Website

https://academist-cf.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Academist Inc. operates Japan's first academic-focused crowdfunding platform (academist-cf.com), enabling Japanese researchers to raise funds from individuals and companies via spot and monthly fanclub campaigns, supplemented by the academist Prize acceleration program and the academmune researcher-corporate community.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Platform transaction fee on funded projects: academist charges a 7% operating fee plus a 3% payment-processor fee on total settled pledge amount; 90% is paid out to the researcher/challenger. Applied to both one-time and monthly recurring projects.
2. academist Prize program sponsorship (VSP): Corporations (e.g., Platinum VSP Infomart, Gold VSP bitmeister) and individuals (Individual VSP) sponsor the academist Prize program, contributing to its matching pool (e.g., ¥5M for Humanities/Social Sciences track, ¥10M for DeepTech track in the 6th cohort).
3. University / research institution donation-acquisition agency: Service (business #5 in corporate registration) where academist acts as an outsourced fundraising agent for universities and research institutions seeking donations.
4. University / research institution PR agency: Service (business #6) where academist handles PR/communications on behalf of universities and research institutions.
5. academmune community operations and events: Trial online community plus monthly events and a quarterly magazine ("academmune Magazine") connecting researchers and corporate participants; initial launch funded jointly with Infomart.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion5 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels11 records

Core offering

Academist operates Japan's first academic-focused crowdfunding platform (academist-cf.com) that lets researchers raise funds directly from individual supporters, companies and foundations via one-time "spot" projects and recurring "monthly fanclub" subscriptions, retaining 7% of settled pledges (plus 3% payment processor fee, 90% to the researcher). It also runs the academist Prize young-researcher acceleration program with Quadratic Funding-based matching pools, the academmune online researcher-corporate community (with Infomart), and ancillary donation-acquisition and PR agency services for universities and research institutions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• academist Prize: Young-researcher acceleration program pairing crowdfunding with Quadratic Funding-based matching pools and corporate sponsors (Infomart, AlphaDrive, etc.). Editions have run annually from 2021, with the 6th edition split into Humanities/Social Sciences and DeepTech tracks.
• academist Fanclub (月額支援型ファンクラブ)
• academmune (アカデミューン)

Products and services

• academist Crowdfunding Platform (Spot & Monthly Fanclub) Web-based academic crowdfunding marketplace (academist-cf.com) that lets Japanese researchers ("challengers") raise funds from individual supporters, companies and foundations through one-time "spot" projects and recurring "monthly fanclub" subscriptions, with the platform retaining 7% of settled pledges and the researcher receiving 90% (3% payment-processor fee also applies).
• academist Prize (Researcher Acceleration Program) Annual young-researcher acceleration program that pairs mandatory participation in academist crowdfunding with a Quadratic Funding matching pool (up to ¥5M Humanities/Social Sciences track and up to ¥10M DeepTech track in the 6th cohort) plus corporate awards from Vision Sharing Partners, structured as a 6-month cycle covering vision articulation, messaging/PR planning, crowdfunding execution and networking/pitch events.
• academmune (Researcher-Corporate Online Community) Online researcher-corporate community co-developed with Infomart Inc. that combines a digital platform with monthly meetups and a quarterly magazine to nurture long-term relationships between Japanese researchers and corporate participants ahead of specific research collaborations or funding deals.
• University / Research-Institution Donation-Acquisition Agency Outsourced fundraising service for Japanese universities and research institutions, in which Academist Inc. acts as an agent to acquire donations on the institution's behalf, leveraging the academist platform's supporter base and academic-crowdfunding expertise.
• University / Research-Institution PR Agency Outsourced public-relations and science-communications service for Japanese universities and research institutions, in which Academist Inc. handles PR strategy and execution on the institution's behalf, drawing on its note.com, podcast, social-media and event programming.

Quantifiable outcome

• 400+ research crowdfunding projects implemented on the platform over ~10 years
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.

• 株式会社アルファドライブ (AlphaDrive, Inc.)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 May 2026Co-implements the "AlphaDrive × academist Grant" research grant program; 4 grant recipients selected from 136 applications. AlphaDrive provides funding plus mentoring/incubation toward social implementation and new business creation led by researchers.
• 理化学研究所 数理創造研究センター (RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences, iTHEMS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 March 2026Co-hosts the annual online event "数理で読み解く科学の世界" (Mathematical Science for Everyone) every April since 2020; academist handles planning, operations and promotion for the event (4 young iTHEMS researchers speak). iTHEMS is hosted at RIKEN's Wako campus in Saitama, directed by Akira Iso.
• NPO法人 数理の翼 (NPO Tsubasa of Mathematical Sciences)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 31 March 2025Listed as "特別協力" (special cooperation) for the 2025 edition of the iTHEMS-co-hosted "数理で読み解く科学の世界" online event.
• 株式会社インフォマート (Infomart Co., Ltd.)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 October 2024Infomart acts as Platinum Vision Sharing Partner of the academist Prize (4th edition onward). Jointly launched the online researcher–corporate community "academmune" on April 9, 2026 (co-creation with academist's CEO 柴藤亮介 and Infomart's president 木村慎 / 中島健). Provides corporate sponsorship funding and corporate awards to prize recipients.
• bitmeister (Gold VSP logo displayed on prize site)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as Gold Vision Sharing Partner of the academist Prize on the prize site's partner section (logo with link to bitmeister.jp).
• 石原 裕 (Yutaka Ishihara)minorOthersListed as an Individual Vision Sharing Partner supporting the academist Prize on the prize site.
• 一般社団法人ラ・プロンジェ深海工学会 (Society La Plongee for Deep Sea Engineering)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorResearch organization that has run 9 projects on the platform, cumulatively raising ¥27,977,830; listed as a top organizational customer in the "Organization Projects" directory on the home page.
• 京都大学 (Kyoto University)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUniversity partner with 10 projects on the platform, cumulative ¥16,497,401 raised; featured in the "Organization Projects" directory.
• 東海大学 (Tokai University)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUniversity partner featured in "Organization Projects" directory with cumulative ¥16,624,007 raised.
• 静岡県 (Shizuoka Prefecture)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorGovernment partner with 8 projects on the platform, cumulative ¥7,048,434 raised; featured in the "Organization Projects" directory.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• READYFOR Inc. READYFOR is Japan's largest general-purpose crowdfunding platform and operates an explicit 'academia' / research project category. It directly competes with Academist in academic/research crowdfunding in Japan, but with a broader (charity, social, regional) project mix rather than an academic-only focus.
• CAMPFIRE: CAMPFIRE is one of Japan's largest domestic crowdfunding platforms and similarly handles creative, social and research-adjacent projects. It competes for the same Japanese researcher and individual-supporter pool as Academist, though without Academist's academic-only specialization or QF-based prize program.
• Experiment.com: Experiment.com (formerly Microryza) is a US-based crowdfunding platform dedicated exclusively to academic research. It is the closest international analogue to Academist in product scope and target user, though operating in a different geography.

Broad incumbents

• Makuake: Makuake is a major Japanese crowdfunding platform owned by CyberAgent, focused on consumer products, technology and design. While not academic-focused, it overlaps with Academist's researcher-friendly project format and competes for the same Japanese backer wallet.
• Kickstarter: Kickstarter is the global benchmark for all-or-nothing crowdfunding and pioneered the 'spot' project format that Academist replicates with its goal/stretch-goal/progress UI. It is a category reference point rather than a direct Japan-market competitor.

Emerging players

• Patreon: Patreon's recurring monthly-support model is structurally similar to Academist's 'monthly fanclub' (月額支援型ファンクラブ) — backers pay recurring fees to creators/researchers in exchange for ongoing content. Both monetize long-tail patronage rather than one-off purchases.
• Open Collective: Open Collective provides transparent recurring funding infrastructure for communities, open-source projects and research collectives. It overlaps conceptually with Academist's monthly fanclub and academic-patronage mission, though primarily serves open-source rather than academic users.

Others

• AlphaDrive, Inc. AlphaDrive is a named joint partner of Academist on the 'AlphaDrive × academist Grant' research acceleration program. As a Japanese deeptech/incubation specialist, it shares the researcher-support mission and is a comparable ecosystem player rather than a competitor.
• ResearchGate: ResearchGate is a global academic-networking platform that, while not a crowdfunding platform, serves the same Japanese-academic persona that Academist targets and is a complementary 'Open academia' infrastructure rather than a competitor.
• Infomart Corporation: Infomart is Academist's Platinum Vision Sharing Partner and co-developer of the academmune researcher-corporate community. As a B2B SaaS platform serving enterprise back-office, it is a strategic partner and customer rather than a competitor.

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/academist_cf
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCBoGH-TW-6_Oq9nFxbLozrw/featured
• Facebookfacebook.com/academistcf
• Instagraminstagram.com/academist_cf

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors3 records

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Academist