Ceres

Internet Marketing Servicesceres-inc.jp

Ceres Inc. (TYO: 3696) is a Tokyo-based public holding company operating Mobile Services (Moppy point site with 14M+ users, studio15 TikTok agency, Bacchus D2C health products) and Financial Services (CoinTrade crypto exchange, AI-powered labol factoring, Bitbank affiliate, Sobit global SIM top-up), targeting Japanese consumers, freelancers, and brand advertisers.

Company typePublic
Founded2005
HeadquartersTokyo, Japan
Headcount501–1,000
GTM typeB2B and B2C
OfferingServices

What Ceres does

Ceres Inc. is a publicly traded Japanese internet marketing and financial services holding company headquartered at Shibuya Sakura Stage in Tokyo, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market (ticker: 3696) since April 2022. Founded in 2005 and IPO'd in October 2014, the company operates two integrated business segments: Mobile Services and Financial Services. The Mobile Services segment is anchored by Moppy, Japan's largest point site with over 14 million cumulative registered users (6.48 million active users as of end-2025), where users earn points through shopping, surveys, content registration, and ad viewing that are redeemable for cash, electronic money, or charitable donations. The segment also includes studio15 (a TikTok-focused short-video advertising agency with 300+ creators and 500M+ views on self-operated media), Bacchus (D2C health products including the hit Pitsole functional insole series with 2.5M+ pairs sold), and the Pitme walking rewards app.

The Financial Services segment is built on a token-economy thesis — Ceres explicitly defines Moppy points as a type of cryptocurrency/token — and includes the CoinTrade cryptocurrency exchange operated by subsidiary Mercury (featuring CoinTrade Stake proof-of-stake rewards and CoinTrade Lending), the AI-powered labol online factoring service that achieves funding in as little as 60 minutes through proprietary machine learning credit assessment, the equity-method-affiliated Bitbank exchange (Japan's third-largest), Sobit (Bitcoin-based international SIM top-up in 140+ countries), and Apollo Capital CVC investments in consumer and Fintech/Web3 startups. The company's revenue model is diversified across advertising and affiliate fees (Moppy and studio15), D2C product sales (Bacchus), transaction fees (CoinTrade, labol), and CVC returns. In April 2026, Ceres extended beyond its core by acquiring SQUIZ (online medical consultation) and Oops as consolidated subsidiaries, executing the Medium-term Management Plan 2030 announced at its 2025 20th anniversary.

Ceres firmographics

Firmographics

Name: Ceres
Legal name: 株式会社セレス
Website: https://ceres-inc.jp
Company type: Public
Founded year: 2005
Operating status: Operating
Headcount range: 501–1,000 employees
Short description: Ceres Inc. (TYO: 3696) is a Tokyo-based public holding company operating Mobile Services (Moppy point site with 14M+ users, studio15 TikTok agency, Bacchus D2C health products) and Financial Services (CoinTrade crypto exchange, AI-powered labol factoring, Bitbank affiliate, Sobit global SIM top-up), targeting Japanese consumers, freelancers, and brand advertisers.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

Where Ceres is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city: Tokyo
HQ country: Japan
HQ region: Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

Ceres business model

Business model

GTM type: B2B and B2C
Offering type: Services
Cost components: Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure

Revenue model

Mobile Services — Advertising & Affiliate: Revenue from internet media services including point site advertising sales, influencer marketing agency fees, and web advertising agent commissions. The Moppy point site (14M+ registered users) and studio15 short-video TikTok agency business generate advertising and affiliate fees.
D2C Product Sales: Direct-to-consumer e-commerce sales of proprietary health products, notably the Bacchus functional insole brand Pitsole (2.5M+ units sold), as well as beauty and health products.
Cryptocurrency Exchange (CoinTrade): Revenue from cryptocurrency exchange services operated by subsidiary Mercury, including trading fees and staking service rewards.
AI Factoring (labol): Online invoice purchase (factoring) service for freelancers and businesses, generating fees on funded invoices. AI-based assessment enables rapid decision-making.
Investment Returns (CVC): Venture capital returns from Apollo Capital (CVC) investments in toC startups and Fintech/Web3 companies, with exit targets including IPO and share transfers.

Pricing tiers

Model	Billing	Price
Freemium	Pay-as-you-go	Moppy point site: free for users to join and earn points; monetized through advertising and affiliate commissions from merchants.

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Ceres product offering

Product offering

Core offering

Ceres operates an integrated Mobile Services and Financial Services platform. Mobile Services centers on the Moppy point site (14M+ cumulative users), the studio15 short-video/TikTok advertising agency, and D2C health products led by Bacchus's Pitsole functional insoles (2.5M+ units sold). Financial Services centers on the CoinTrade cryptocurrency exchange (trading, lending, staking), the labol AI-powered online factoring service enabling funding in as fast as 60 minutes, the bitbank equity-method affiliate crypto exchange, Sobit Bitcoin SIM top-up, and Apollo Capital CVC investments.

Product overview

Ceres operates a dual-segment business model comprising Mobile Services and Financial Services. The Mobile Services segment centers on the flagship point site 'moppy' (Japan's largest with 14+ million users) as the core platform, supported by studio15 short-video agency services, Bacchus D2C health products (including the hit Pitsole insole series with 2.5M+ sales), and related services like Pitme walking app. The Financial Services segment is anchored by Mercury's CoinTrade cryptocurrency exchange with its CoinTrade Stake staking service, extends to the AI-powered online factoring service 'labol' for rapid 60-minute funding decisions, and includes bitbank exchange, Sobit international remittance, and Apollo Capital venture investments. These product lines function as an integrated token economy ecosystem connecting points, crypto assets, and next-generation financial services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

モッピー (Moppy): Japan's largest point site with over 14 million registered users, allowing users to earn points through shopping, content registration, surveys, and ad viewing
studio15
バッカス (Bacchus)
Pitme
CoinTrade
ビットバンク (Bitbank)
Sobit
ラボル (Labol)
資金調達プロ (Shikin-pro)
ポイントインカム (Point Income)
AD.TRACK

Products and services

Moppy (モッピー)

Quantifiable outcome

Over 14 million cumulative registered users on Moppy point site
+4 more outcomes

Companies that use Ceres

Customer profile

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Ceres technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API: No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Ceres partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

Keio UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2019Ceres co-endowed the 'Beyond Blockchain Basics/Advanced' course at Keio University's Faculty of Environment and Information Studies (Sakurai Lab) from April 2019 to March 2020. The course, covering blockchain fundamentals, Bitcoin, Ethereum, smart contracts, and governance, was open to up to 200 students. Ceres defines its Moppy points as a type of cryptocurrency/token, and the partnership supports blockchain talent development in Japan.
Bitbank (ビットバンク)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBitbank is an equity-method affiliate of Ceres and operates Japan's third-largest cryptocurrency exchange (bitbank.cc). Ceres and Bitbank co-develop the crypto/blockchain ecosystem — CoinTrade (Mercury) and Bitbank together form the backbone of Ceres's financial services segment. Post-SBI acquisition of Bitbank (~$289M, expected Oct 2026 close), Ceres will retain equity-method treatment.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Ceres competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Broad incumbents

Coinbase: Largest U.S. publicly listed crypto exchange; provides a global benchmark for exchange economics, staking, and the regulatory trajectory that influences Japanese-licensed exchanges like CoinTrade.
Money Forward: Japan's leading personal-finance and SaaS fintech, offering accounting, invoicing, and lending-adjacent services to SMBs; comparable to Ceres in the breadth of its fintech stack aimed at Japanese consumers and small businesses.
Recruit Holdings: Japanese digital media and marketing-platform conglomerate (Indeed, HotPepper Beauty, etc.) operating large point/promotional platforms; comparable to Ceres's Moppy and AD.TRACK business in internet marketing and point-media monetization.

Direct peers

coincheck: Major Japanese cryptocurrency exchange (CBOE-listed parent Coincheck Group NV) that directly competes with CoinTrade in spot trading, staking, and on-ramp services for Japanese retail crypto users.
SBI VC Trade: Japanese crypto exchange operated by SBI Holdings, currently combining with Bitbank; directly competes with CoinTrade in the Japanese retail crypto market and influences the regulatory and competitive context Ceres operates in.
bitFlyer: One of Japan's largest licensed crypto exchanges, directly competing with CoinTrade on spot trading, staking, and retail customer acquisition in the Japanese market.
OLTA: Japan-focused online invoice factoring platform for SMBs; directly competes with labol in AI/online factoring, with similar target customer (freelancers and small businesses) and fee-based business model.
GMO Internet Group (GMO Coin): Japanese internet conglomerate operating GMO Coin, a licensed crypto exchange; comparable to Ceres in combining internet-marketing scale with crypto exchange services for Japanese retail customers.

Regional players

Digital Holdings: Japanese digital advertising agency group with strong influencer/creator marketing capabilities; comparable to studio15 in Gen Z-focused short-form video and influencer agency services for brand advertisers.

Emerging players

freee: Japanese cloud accounting and fintech SaaS for SMBs and freelancers; comparable to labol's user base of freelancers/sole proprietors and represents an adjacent fintech play in the same customer segment.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Ceres compliance and trust

Trust signal

Compliance1 record

Ceres financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Ceres leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Ceres subsidiaries and ownership

Company hierarchy

Subsidiaries8 records

Ceres funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Ceres M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A2 records

Investments48 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Ceres

What does Ceres do?

Is Ceres a public or private company?

Ceres is a public company. It is classified as public and is currently operating.

When was Ceres founded?

Ceres was founded in 2005. It employs 501 to 1,000 people.

Where is Ceres based?

Ceres is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, in the Asia region.

How does Ceres make money?

Five revenue lines are on record. Mobile Services — Advertising & Affiliate is the primary driver. The others are D2C Product Sales, cryptocurrency Exchange (CoinTrade), AI Factoring (labol) and investment Returns (CVC).

Who are Ceres's main competitors?

Broad incumbents on record are Coinbase, Money Forward and Recruit Holdings. Direct peers are coincheck, SBI VC Trade, bitFlyer, OLTA and GMO Internet Group (GMO Coin). Digital Holdings is listed as a regional player. freee is listed as an emerging player.

Does Ceres have an API?

No public API is recorded for Ceres.