What Nowcast does

Nowcast (株式会社ナウキャスト) is a Tokyo-based alternative data analytics company founded in February 2015 as a spin-off from the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Economics (Watanabe Laboratory) and operating as a consolidated subsidiary of Finatext Holdings. The company processes big-data sources — multi-channel supermarket, drug-store, and electronics-retailer POS data; JCB credit card transaction data; CCC Marketing T-Point loyalty data (65 million members, over 7 trillion yen in annual consumer spending); job posting data; and satellite, GPS, and AIS location data — into near-real-time economic and consumption indices. Its flagship products include NikkeiCPINow (a daily price index using the Törnqvist formula, covering 1989 to present), JCB消費NOW (real-time consumption index segmented across 38 sectors, age, gender, and prefecture), and HRog賃金Now (granular wage trend indices). The company has invested heavily in AI/ML capabilities across predictive analytics, NLP-based sentiment analysis, generative AI applications, and AI agent infrastructure, including a Local LLM text processing platform launched in 2026 and an AI agent governance platform branded MCPass.

Nowcast generates revenue primarily through monthly subscription-based membership fees for alternative data services (Investment Research and Economic Research) with pricing varying by contract scope, plus professional services revenue from data business support for data owners seeking monetization assistance. The go-to-market is sales-led, targeting institutional investors, government agencies, securities firms, think tanks, and enterprise data consumers in Japan. The company has expanded into enterprise AI infrastructure products (DataLinc, DataLensHub, SnowCast, MCPass) and now distributes datasets through the Snowflake Marketplace. Notable enterprise clients include the Cabinet Office and Bank of Japan (Nikkei CPINow is cited in monthly economic reports and the BOJ's Economic and Monetary Observations), Nomura Securities, Mitsubishi Estate, Ryohin Keikaku (MUJI), Daiwa Asset Management, Tokyo Stock Exchange, and overseas hedge funds.

Name

Nowcast

Legal name

株式会社ナウキャスト

Website

https://nowcast.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Nowcast (株式会社ナウキャスト) is a Tokyo-based alternative data analytics company that delivers real-time economic, consumption, and wage indices to institutional investors, government agencies, and financial institutions using POS, credit card, and big-data sources, with proprietary AI/ML methodology.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Alternative Data Analytics

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Delayed/End-of-Day Market Data & Reference Data Services (FSAFAIAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Data Distribution, Connectivity & Market Data Platforms (Entitlements, Normalization, APIs) (FSAFAIAJ)

Keywords

• Alternative data
• Economic indices
• POS data analytics
• Credit card data
• Data infrastructure

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Subscription-based Alternative Data Services: Monthly membership fees for access to alternative data services including Investment Research and Economic Research. Pricing varies by contract content. Services include POS data, credit card data, and derived indices like Nikkei CPINow and JCB消費NOW.
2. Data Business Support Services: Comprehensive support for data vendors including data maintenance, analysis, product development, and customer support for monetization of alternative data assets.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Nowcast provides alternative-data-based economic and investment analysis services, primarily built on POS data, credit card transaction data, and other big-data sources. Its flagship products include NikkeiCPINow (daily price index), JCB消費NOW (real-time consumption index), and HRog賃金Now (wage trend index), offered via subscription-based memberships to financial institutions, government agencies, and securities firms. The company also offers DataLensHub and MarketLens as vertical SaaS for store/site analysis, and DataLinc as enterprise data integration infrastructure.

Product overview

Nowcast is a Tokyo University-launched fintech company and Japan's leading alternative data provider, offering a portfolio of data-as-a-service products and subscription analytics services. The core offering consists of NikkeiCPINow (daily price indices from supermarket POS data), JCB消費NOW (real-time consumption indices from credit card transactions), and HRog賃金Now (wage trend indices from job posting data). These are complemented by AI-powered vertical SaaS tools: DataLensHub (store/office development), MarketLens (site analysis), DataLinc (corporate data integration), AlternaData (investment analysis), and Finatext Advisory Assist (AI financial advisory). The company also provides raw data products (POS data, credit card data) and supports data monetization for data owners. In 2026, Nowcast rebranded DataLinc as an 'AI-Ready Fact Infrastructure' and launched MCPass (AI agent governance) and a local LLM text processing platform, signaling an expansion into enterprise AI infrastructure.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Nikkei CPINow (日経CPINow): POSデータから日次物価指数を算出する物価統計サービス
• JCB Consumption NOW (JCB消費NOW)
• HRog Wages NOW (HRog賃金Now)
• DataLinc (データリンク)
• DataLens Hub (データレンズハブ)
• AlternaData (オルタナデータ)
• MarketLens (マーケットレンズ)

Products and services

• NikkeiCPINow Daily consumer price index derived from supermarket POS data using the Törnqvist (T-index) formula, providing next-day prices and sales volume indices with a 2-day lag, covering 1989 to present. Used by government agencies and securities firms for economic analysis and monetary policy.
• JCB消費NOW Real-time domestic consumption index built from JCB credit card transaction data, providing 38 sector-level consumption indices segmented by age group, gender, and prefecture, with a publication lag of approximately 2 weeks.
• HRog賃金Now Wage trend index service powered by job posting big data, providing real-time granular wage indices by prefecture, industry, company size, and employment type. Available via Snowflake Marketplace.
• DataLinc Corporate data integration DaaS that unifies and reconciles internal enterprise data with external third-party datasets for sales prospecting, credit risk management, and business intelligence.
• DataLensHub Industry-specific data-driven SaaS series providing AI-powered property auto-ingestion, real-time evaluation, and filtering for site selection and sales prospecting (store development, office sales modules).
• MarketLens

Quantifiable outcome

• Daily price indices published 2 days after observation vs monthly official statistics with 1.5-month lag
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability9 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• JCB (株式会社ジェーシービー)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2017Joint development and provision of 'JCB consumption NOW' index using anonymized JCB credit card transaction data for real-time consumption trend analysis in Japan. Nowcast processes and analyzes the data to provide industry-specific and demographic consumption indices.
• Nikkei (日本経済新聞社)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-producer of Nikkei CPINow daily price index. Nikkei provides editorial partnership while Nowcast provides the analytical methodology and data processing for the daily consumer price index.
• CCC Marketing (CCCマーケティング)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership leveraging 65 million T-card members and over 7 trillion yen in consumer spending data for financial information services development including sales trend prediction for listed companies.
• SnowflakecoreTechnology or IntegrationSnowflake Service Partner with Select certification. Nowcast provides data infrastructure solutions leveraging Snowflake platform and operates Snowflake Marketplace for data distribution including HRog wage trend data.
• TrueDatamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerConsumer purchase data provider used by Nowcast for B2C company analysis including food, daily goods, and retail sector analysis.
• T-Point (Tポイント)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerConsumer purchase data provider integrated into Nowcast's alternative data services for investment and economic analysis.
• BCNmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPOS data provider partnered with Nowcast for alternative data services.
• Finatext Holdings (株式会社Finatextホールディングス)coreOthersParent company of Nowcast. Finatext Holdings is the holding company providing group synergies including Finatext, Teqnological, SmartPlus, and other subsidiaries in the fintech and data analytics space.
• KDDImajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for utilizing location data in investment decision-making. KDDI provides location information data for economic analysis applications.
• Toshiba Data (東芝データ)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for electronic receipt data services targeting institutional investors. Leverages electronic receipt data for investment analysis.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• MacroMicro: Taiwan-headquartered macroeconomic and market data platform offering proprietary indices built from alternative data sources. Closest direct competitor to Nowcast in the APAC alternative economic data segment, with overlapping investor and analyst customer base.
• Earnest Research: US-based alternative data provider specializing in credit card transaction data analytics for institutional investors. Directly comparable to Nowcast's JCB Consumption NOW product and overall business model of selling card-derived insights to asset managers.
• Bloomberg Second Measure: Bloomberg-owned alternative data firm offering credit and debit card transaction analytics for company performance benchmarking. Closest large-cap analogue to Nowcast's card-data index franchise, with comparable institutional investor customer base.
• M Science: Alternative data provider offering consumer transaction-derived insights for investment research, comparable to Nowcast's AlternaData service targeting equity research analysts at hedge funds and asset managers.
• YipitData: Alternative data marketplace and analytics platform aggregating panels including credit card, receipt, and web data. Directly comparable to Nowcast's data aggregation and distribution model, particularly the Snowflake Marketplace and subscription-based delivery.
• Placer.ai: Foot-traffic and location analytics firm using panel data for retail and real estate site selection. Comparable to Nowcast's MarketLens and KDDI location-data-powered commercial area analysis offerings.
• Eagle Alpha: Alternative data marketplace and analytics provider connecting data vendors with institutional investors. Comparable as a discovery and distribution layer for alternative datasets, mirroring Nowcast's Snowflake Marketplace role.

Emerging players

• Veraset: Mobility and location data provider for retailers and investors. Comparable to Nowcast's KDDI-powered location analytics component used for store development and economic nowcasting applications.

Broad incumbents

• Infutor / Verisk Consumer Data: Large-scale consumer and identity data provider. Comparable to Nowcast's DataLinc corporate-data integration layer, though Verisk serves broader marketing, insurance, and risk use cases beyond economic analysis.

Others

• Finatext: Parent holding company and sibling fintech entity within the Finatext group. Thematically adjacent as Nowcast's parent and group-level distribution partner for joint fintech and data analytics offerings to Japanese financial institutions.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

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 Nowcast