RISO
RISO KAGAKU CORPORATION is a privately held Japanese printing-technology company that designs and globally distributes high-speed inkjet printers, digital duplicators, and proprietary oil-based pigment inks. It serves education, print service providers, logistics, government, and enterprise customers across more than 190 countries.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1954
- HeadquartersBurlington, United States
- Headcount1,001–5,000
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What RISO does
RISO KAGAKU CORPORATION, founded in 1954 and headquartered in Tokyo, is a privately held Japanese printing-technology manufacturer that designs, produces, and globally distributes high-speed inkjet printers, digital duplicators, and proprietary oil-based pigment inks. The company's portfolio is anchored by three flagship lines: the VALEZUS production presses (T1200, T2100, T2200) for high-volume cut-sheet color production printing up to 330 A4 duplex pages per minute; the ComColor high-speed inkjet printer series (GL, FT EII, GD, FW, X1) for office, school, and transactional use; and the RISOGRAPH/MH/SF digital duplicators for low-cost stencil-based printing in education and office settings. Supporting offerings include GOCCOPRO and MiScreen digital screen makers, Integlide print engines for OEM integration, and the RISO Remote Agent (RRA) cloud service for remote diagnostics. Branding is split across sub-brands — VALEZUS, ComColor, RISOGRAPH, GOCCOPRO, MiScreen a4, ORPHIS, Integlide, and CEREZONA — with regional name variants by market.
The company's core technology is an oil-based pigment inkjet system delivered through proprietary FORCEJET line-type print heads in a straight-path paper-feeding architecture. Unlike toner-based or water-based inkjet systems, RISO's cold, heatless imaging process eliminates drying time, reduces power consumption, prevents paper curling, and supports specialty media including card stocks, NCR forms, and envelopes at standard office power outlets. RISO is one of the few manufacturers that develops both printers and ink in-house, leveraging ~70 years of ink chemistry expertise (since 1954) and roughly two decades of inkjet-ink development. The ComColor FW Series was awarded Germany's Blue Angel eco-label in 2016 for low VOC emissions, validating the energy- and emissions-efficiency claims against an external standard.
RISO operates a hybrid direct-and-channel go-to-market: wholly-owned regional subsidiaries in the US, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the UK, Japan, China, India, Korea, and Latin America, supplemented by independent distributors across Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Turkey, South Africa, Russia, the Iberian peninsula, and other markets, reaching customers in 190+ countries. Revenue is generated through capital-equipment sales of printers, digital duplicators, and screen makers, plus a recurring annuity from RISO Genuine Ink cartridges and consumables, with after-sales service and remote diagnostics monetized through RRA. Documented enterprise and institutional customers include Debeka (German insurance/building society), Paragon (UK print service provider), an unnamed logistics customer running 8 machines at ~90–100M pages/year, East Baton Rouge Parish School System (~40,000 students across ~80 schools, 1–1.5M pages/month), DocTutorials India (medical education publisher, 10M+ pages since November 2023), and a Japanese notary office. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed; brochures are gated behind lead-capture forms on riso.com.
RISO firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- RISO
- Legal name
- RISO KAGAKU CORPORATION
- Website
- https://riso.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1954
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1,001–5,000 employees
- Short description
- RISO KAGAKU CORPORATION is a privately held Japanese printing-technology company that designs and globally distributes high-speed inkjet printers, digital duplicators, and proprietary oil-based pigment inks. It serves education, print service providers, logistics, government, and enterprise customers across more than 190 countries.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
RISO industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Production Printing Equipment
- NAICS
- Printing and Related Support Activities (323), Printing Ink Manufacturing (32591)
- SIC
- Printing Trades Machinery & Equipment (3555)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Production & High-Volume Printing Systems (HDACAEAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Inkjet Printers (HDACAEAA), Printing Inks (IMAEAHAG)
Keywords
Where RISO is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Burlington
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices4 records
Markets served
RISO business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Hardware Sales: RISO generates revenue primarily from selling its production inkjet printers, digital duplicators, and related hardware. Products include VALEZUS high-speed cut-sheet inkjet presses, ComColor GL/FT series inkjet printers, and MH/SF digital duplicators.
- Ink and Consumables: RISO manufactures and sells proprietary RISO genuine ink cartridges and consumables. Oil-based pigment ink is specifically formulated for RISO inkjet printers and is sold as a recurring consumable.
- After-market Services and Support: RISO provides product support, maintenance services, and software updates through its global network. RISO Remote Agent (RRA) is used for remote diagnostics and service provision.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels8 records
RISO product offering
Product offeringCore offering
RISO KAGAKU CORPORATION designs, manufactures, and sells high-speed inkjet printers (VALEZUS T2200/T1200, ComColor GL/FT/GD series), digital duplicators (RISOGRAPH MH, SF EII, SF, CV, RE series), digital screen-making systems (GOCCOPRO QS/QS100) and proprietary consumables — including FORCEJET oil-based pigment ink and RISOGRAPH masters — to schools, corporates, print service providers, and government agencies worldwide. The line is rounded out by software utilities (Integlide, MiScreen a4, RISO Barcode & OCR Area Generator) and remote-monitoring/automation add-ons (RISO Remote Agent, optional RICA Robotics integration) for end-to-end high-speed and transactional printing workflows.
Product overview
RISO KAGAKU CORPORATION is a printing technology company offering a diversified product portfolio spanning production inkjet presses, high-speed inkjet printers, digital duplicators, digital screen makers, and supporting software. The VALEZUS production press line delivers high-volume cut-sheet printing with tandem print engine architecture (T2200: 330 ppm duplex; T1200: 165 ppm simplex) for production environments. The ComColor high-speed inkjet printer series (GL, FT, GD) targets business and office printing with speeds from 140-165 ppm and five-color ink capabilities. The MH digital duplicator series provides cost-effective two-color stencil printing at 150 ppm for educational and office markets. Supporting offerings include GOCCOPRO and MiScreen digital screen makers for screen printing, Integlide print engines for industrial integration, RISO Remote Agent cloud service for device management, and proprietary oil-based pigment inks. The company operates globally across the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East/Africa through subsidiary and distributor networks.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- VALEZUS: High-speed full-color cut-sheet inkjet press for production printing
- ComColor
- RISOGRAPH
- GOCCOPRO
- MiScreen a4
- ORPHIS
- Integlide
- CEREZONA
Products and services
- VALEZUS T2200 high-speed cut-sheet inkjet press High-speed, cut-sheet inkjet production press for high-volume transactional and commercial print jobs, based on RISO's proprietary FORCEJET inkjet technology. Targeted at print service providers, corporate in-plants, and other high-throughput production environments.
- VALEZUS T1200 high-speed cut-sheet inkjet press High-speed cut-sheet inkjet production press positioned for high-throughput production environments, leveraging the same FORCEJET inkjet technology as the T2200 but at a different speed/format configuration.
- ComColor GL series inkjet printer High-speed inkjet printer within the ComColor family, targeted at schools, offices, and other environments needing high-volume, low-cost color and B&W output with low per-page consumable cost.
- ComColor FT EII series inkjet printer Production-class cut-sheet inkjet printer within the ComColor line, positioned for high-volume transactional printing and short-run production for commercial and corporate customers.
- ComColor GD series inkjet printer Inkjet printer within the ComColor family of high-speed printers, marketed for office and production environments needing reliable high-volume color and B&W output.
- RISOGRAPH MH series digital duplicator High-volume digital duplicator within the RISOGRAPH line, built on RISO's heatless imaging process and using proprietary RISOGRAPH masters and ink; suited to schools, offices, and print rooms with heavy duplication workloads.
- RISOGRAPH SF EII series digital duplicator High-volume digital duplicator within the RISOGRAPH SF family, using heatless imaging and proprietary RISOGRAPH masters and ink for high-volume B&W and spot-color duplication.
- RISOGRAPH SF series digital duplicator High-volume digital duplicator in the RISOGRAPH SF family, designed for high-volume B&W and spot-color duplication in office, school, and in-plant print environments.
- RISOGRAPH CV series digital duplicator Digital duplicator within the RISOGRAPH CV family, using heatless imaging and proprietary consumables for high-volume B&W and spot-color duplication in offices, schools, and print rooms.
- RISOGRAPH RE series digital duplicator Digital duplicator within the RISOGRAPH RE family, using heatless imaging and proprietary RISOGRAPH consumables for high-volume B&W and spot-color duplication.
- GOCCOPRO QS series digital screen maker Digital screen maker in the GOCCOPRO QS family, used to produce screens and stencils for apparel, educational, and craft printing applications. Built on RISO's high-precision cutting/perforation technology.
- GOCCOPRO QS100 digital screen maker Digital screen maker in the GOCCOPRO QS100 family, offering higher-spec screen-making capabilities for apparel, educational, and small-batch production use cases.
- RISO genuine FORCEJET oil-based pigment ink Proprietary oil-based pigment ink formulated by RISO for use in its FORCEJET-based ComColor and VALEZUS inkjet printers, supplied as a recurring consumable for installed RISO inkjet equipment.
- RISO genuine RISOGRAPH master Proprietary thermal imaging master consumable used in RISO's RISOGRAPH digital duplicators, produced and supplied by RISO as a recurring consumable for the RISOGRAPH family of duplicators.
Quantifiable outcome
- 1–1.5 million pages per month printed at East Baton Rouge Parish School System with three ComColor printers
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use RISO
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles6 records
RISO technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
Feature4 records
RISO partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Solimar SystemscoreSolimar Systems, a provider of workflow automation solutions, partnered with RISO to showcase integrated solutions at PRINTING United Expo 2025 in Orlando, FL (booth 3915). The partnership leverages Solimar's Chemistry Platform alongside RISO's inkjet printing technology to address industry challenges including talent shortages and increasing automation demand in print production environments.
- Pitney BowescoreRISO partnered with Pitney Bowes to develop printing and envelope management solutions for production printers. The collaboration aims to help industry professionals improve productivity through innovative, eco-responsible technology. Solutions address automated inserting and envelope handling workflows in print production environments.
- Pitney Bowes AustraliaminorPitney Bowes Australia Pty Ltd distributes RISO full-color inkjet printers in Australia, located at Level 1, 68 Waterloo Road, Macquarie Park NSW 2113.
- Smartech Business SystemsminorSmartech Business Systems distributes RISO full-color inkjet printers in Australia, located at Unit 1, Block Q Regents Park Estate, Princes Road East, Regents Park NSW 2143.
- CDA Business TechnologyminorCDA Business Technology distributes RISO digital duplicators in Australia, located at 7 Naples Place, Wyong NSW 2259.
- Konica Minolta Business Solutions VietnamminorKonica Minolta Business Solutions Vietnam distributes RISO digital duplicators and full-color inkjet printers in Vietnam, located at Level 2, Pearl 5 Tower, 5 Le Quy Don Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City.
- NEOSYS DOCUMAIL (S) PTE LTDminorNEOSYS DOCUMAIL distributes RISO digital duplicators and full-color inkjet printers in Singapore, located at 30 Kallang Place, #07-04 Singapore 339159.
- Pitney Bowes NZ LimitedminorPitney Bowes NZ Limited distributes RISO full-color inkjet printers in New Zealand, located at 72 Apollo Drive, Building B Units 2 & 3, Rosedale Auckland 0754.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
RISO competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Xerox:
- Ricoh: Ricoh produces production inkjet presses (RICOH Pro series) and high-speed office inkjet systems targeting the same commercial print and enterprise in-plant customers as RISO ComColor and VALEZUS. Both companies emphasize cost-per-page economics and high-speed color output.
- HP Inc. HP is the global leader in printing hardware and a dominant player in production inkjet via its PageWide Web Press and PageWide XL lines. It is broadly comparable to RISO as a printer OEM with a high-margin captive consumables model, though at much greater scale and broader portfolio scope.
- Canon: Canon's Production Printing division competes directly with RISO VALEZUS in cut-sheet and continuous-feed production inkjet (varioPRINT, ColorStream). Both companies serve commercial print service providers and enterprise in-plant operations with high-volume color printing systems.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
RISO social profiles
Digital presenceRISO compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
RISO financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
RISO leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
RISO subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries6 records
RISO funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
RISO M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about RISO
What does RISO do?
RISO KAGAKU CORPORATION designs, manufactures, and sells high-speed inkjet printers (VALEZUS T2200/T1200, ComColor GL/FT/GD series), digital duplicators (RISOGRAPH MH, SF EII, SF, CV, RE series), digital screen-making systems (GOCCOPRO QS/QS100) and proprietary consumables — including FORCEJET oil-based pigment ink and RISOGRAPH masters — to schools, corporates, print service providers, and government agencies worldwide. The line is rounded out by software utilities (Integlide, MiScreen a4, RISO Barcode & OCR Area Generator) and remote-monitoring/automation add-ons (RISO Remote Agent, optional RICA Robotics integration) for end-to-end high-speed and transactional printing workflows.
Is RISO a public or private company?
RISO is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was RISO founded?
RISO was founded in 1954. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.
Where is RISO based?
RISO is headquartered in Burlington, United States, in the North America region.
How does RISO make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Hardware Sales are the primary driver. The others are ink and Consumables and after-market Services and Support.
Who are RISO's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Xerox, Ricoh, HP Inc. and Canon.
Does RISO have an API?
No public API is recorded for RISO.
What industry is RISO in?
RISO's product category is Production Printing Equipment. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDACAEAJ, Production & High-Volume Printing Systems, with a secondary code of HDACAEAA, Inkjet Printers. Its NAICS code is 323 and its SIC code is 3555.