What FOURDIGIT does

FOURDIGIT Inc. is a Japanese design and digital transformation consultancy founded in July 2001 and headquartered in Tokyo. The company provides six integrated service lines — Business Design, Customer Experience Improvement, MVV (Mission/Vision/Values) Design, Employee Experience Design, Branding, and Design Ops — targeting enterprise clients seeking user-centered digital transformation. Its service methodology is grounded in extensive user research, including 2,144+ user interviews and 344K+ survey responses conducted across 10 cities, supported by multidisciplinary teams combining designers, engineers, and consultants.

The company operates a project-based professional services model with revenue derived from consulting engagements, supplemented by wholly-owned subsidiaries in Thailand (2022), Vietnam (2023), and Malaysia (August 2023) for cross-border delivery. Named enterprise clients include AEON Financial Service, NTT DATA, JCB, Japan Airlines, Hoshino Resorts, NTT DOCOMO, and Japan Post Bank, spanning financial services, telecommunications, aviation, and hospitality verticals. Group revenue for FY2025 (consolidated, as of June 2025) was ¥2.71 billion (~approx $18M USD), with 156 total staff including part-time employees.

FOURDIGIT distributes via direct enterprise sales, industry conference participation (NIKKEI Digital Forum in ASIA, DigiTech ASEAN, FTI events), and thought leadership content, while building talent pipelines through service design education partnerships with Thai universities including Chulalongkorn, Assumption University, KMUTT, and KOSEN-KMITL. The firm's competitive positioning is reinforced by 24+ international industry awards including Good Design Award, iF Design Award, German Design Award, and DFA Design for Asia Awards for projects such as JAL's corporate website and JCB's MyJCB App. Group subsidiary SHIFT BRAIN Inc. extends capabilities into digital design and technology services.

Name

FOURDIGIT

Legal name

株式会社フォーデジット

Website

https://4digit.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

FOURDIGIT is a Tokyo-headquartered Japanese design consultancy providing service design, UX/UI, branding, and digital transformation services to enterprise clients across financial services, telecom, aviation, and hospitality, with regional subsidiaries in Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Design Consulting Services

NAICS

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (541), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Process & Case Management Low-Code Platforms (HDAEAKAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Low-Code/No-Code Application Platforms (HDAEAKAA)

Keywords

• Service design consulting
• UX design services
• Digital transformation consulting
• Brand identity design
• Customer experience design

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Professional Services - Digital Design and Consulting: FOURDIGIT generates revenue through project-based professional services engagements including digital design, service design, UX/UI design, branding, and digital transformation consulting. The company works with enterprise clients on new business creation, existing business process improvement, customer experience improvement, MVV design, employee experience improvement, and branding initiatives.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

FOURDIGIT is a design consultancy that provides service design, UX/UI design, digital transformation consulting, and branding services to enterprise clients. Its portfolio includes Business Design, Customer Experience Improvement, MVV Design, Employee Experience Design, Branding, and Design Ops services, delivered through project-based engagements grounded in user research and field studies. The firm serves large enterprises across financial services, telecommunications, aviation, hospitality, and technology sectors in Japan and Southeast Asia.

Product overview

FOURDIGIT is a design services company offering a portfolio of six interconnected service offerings centered on user-centered design. The core services include Business Design (strategic experience creation), Customer Experience Improvement, MVV Design (vision/values/mission), Employee Experience Design, Branding, and Design Ops (continuous improvement). These services work together as a comprehensive design solution, from initial strategy and vision-setting through to continuous operational improvement and branding. The company operates as a service-based consultancy rather than a software product company.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Business Design Strategic design service that creates new experiences centered around user understanding, generating ideas for features and strategies without being constrained by existing structures, while considering business and technical feasibility. Targeted at enterprise clients undertaking new business creation.
• Customer Experience Improvement Service that analyzes usage data and conducts user research to identify gaps between current service experience and user needs, redefining the ideal user experience and planning continuous improvement. Targeted at enterprise clients seeking to enhance their digital customer experiences.
• MVV Design Service that defines organizational or service vision and formulates core concepts to serve as foundations for future initiatives, guiding business decisions and employee work ethics while communicating direction to stakeholders. Targeted at organizations undertaking strategic visioning.
• Employee Experience Design Service that researches operations and employees from multiple perspectives to define ideal employee experience, considering both productivity and psychological aspects of working, supporting UI/UX development for operational systems. Targeted at organizations improving internal employee-facing systems.
• Branding Service that designs communication strategies accurately conveying brand value by understanding company, product, service characteristics and target customers, from brand concept formulation to logo design, visual identities, and content. Targeted at enterprises and consumer brands seeking brand strategy and identity development.
• Design Ops Service that drives continuous service operations and commits to medium and long-term business growth, implementing improvement cycles including usage analysis, user-perspective measures, function implementation, and effectiveness verification. Targeted at enterprises seeking ongoing design-driven operational improvement.

Quantifiable outcome

• Yucho Tsucho App achieved 15 million account registrations
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Mount Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCreative direction and art direction partner for Hoshinoya branding project. Mount Inc. provided creative and art direction expertise in collaboration with FOURDIGIT's service design and implementation capabilities.
• BEES & HONEYcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategy partner for Hoshinoya branding project. Provided strategic planning expertise alongside FOURDIGIT's design and implementation services.
• Ito Research Institute Inc.supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCopywriting partner for Hoshinoya brand website project. Provided professional copywriting services for brand communication.
• SHIFT BRAIN Inc. (株式会社シフトブレイン)coreOthersRelated company (group subsidiary) providing digital design and technology services within the FOURDIGIT group ecosystem.
• Chulalongkorn UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity partnership in Thailand where FOURDIGIT's Service Design education program was adopted as a credit course in the university curriculum.
• Assumption University (มหาวิทยาลัยอัสสัมชัญ)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMOU signed for practical Service Design education curriculum development and delivery in Thailand.
• KMUTT (King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for service design education workshops and programs. KMUTT is a leading Thai technical university. The program was approved as an AOTS industry-education collaboration program.
• KOSEN-KMITL (Thailand)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint Japan-Thailand training program providing service design workshops at the National Institute of Technology in Thailand.
• AOTS (Association of Overseas Technical Scholarship)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustry-education collaboration program approved by AOTS for service design education development. AOTS supports human resource development in industrial sectors across Japan and abroad.
• FTI (Federation of Thai Industries)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerFOURDIGIT participated in FTI's COO program for Thai companies, presenting on the importance of service design in business at their invitation.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Deloitte Digital: Digital transformation and customer experience arm of Deloitte. Competes with FOURDIGIT on enterprise CX and digital strategy mandates, especially with financial services and telecom clients in Japan.
• McKinsey Design (QuantumBlack): Design capability within McKinsey & Company. Directly comparable to FOURDIGIT's Business Design and Customer Experience Improvement offerings, but bundled into McKinsey's broader strategy consulting platform.
• Accenture Song (formerly Fjord): Design and customer experience arm of Accenture, covering service design, UX, branding, and digital transformation at global scale. Overlaps FOURDIGIT's enterprise digital transformation offerings but with much broader delivery scope.
• Designit (Wipro): Global strategic design firm owned by Wipro. Comparable to FOURDIGIT in service design and customer experience offerings, but with technology delivery depth from its parent.
• HAKUHODO Inc. One of Japan's largest advertising and integrated marketing communications groups. Comparable to FOURDIGIT in branding and customer experience work, but operating at much greater scale and breadth.

Direct peers

• IDEO: Pioneer of design thinking and human-centered design consulting. Directly comparable to FOURDIGIT in offering service design, UX research, and innovation consulting to enterprise clients globally.
• Landor & Fitch: Global branding and design consultancy with strong presence in Asia-Pacific. Directly comparable to FOURDIGIT's Branding and MVV Design services for large enterprise and consumer brand clients.
• BrainPad Inc. Japanese data-driven digital marketing and UX design consultancy. Closest listed Japanese peer to FOURDIGIT in combining research-based design with enterprise digital transformation delivery.
• Frog Design (Capgemini Engineering): Global design and innovation consultancy now owned by Capgemini. Comparable in service design, branding, and digital product design for enterprise clients across financial services and consumer industries.
• Mitsue-Links Co., Ltd. Tokyo-based digital agency offering UX/UI design, web development, and digital transformation consulting. Directly comparable to FOURDIGIT's core design and consulting services for Japanese enterprise clients.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/FOURDIGIT_inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 FOURDIGIT