HOKUTO

What HOKUTO does

HOKUTO (株式会社HOKUTO) is a Japanese medical technology company founded in March 2016 and headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. The company operates a clinical decision support platform serving Japanese physicians and medical students, anchored by three interconnected products. Its flagship HOKUTO clinical support app, launched in November 2019, provides physicians with mobile and web-based access to evidence-based medical information across pre-consultation, consultation, and post-consultation workflows, incorporating features such as medical calculation tools and nomograms developed with medical societies. As of February 2024, the platform surpassed 100,000 physician members — approximately one in three practicing physicians in Japan — reached in roughly four years from launch. HOKUTO resident, launched in January 2018, is the largest training hospital review site for medical students in Japan and registers more than 80% of medical school graduates annually, functioning as a user-acquisition pipeline that transitions residents into the physician app after graduation.

The company operates a freemium, two-sided business model. The physician app and the medical student site are free to end users, while revenue is generated through HOKUTO Marketing Solutions, a direct-sales offering to pharmaceutical and medical device companies that provides digital marketing support leveraging the physician member base. The company has built its content authority through comprehensive partnerships with five major Japanese medical societies: the Japan Society of Clinical Oncology, WJOG (West Japan Oncology Group), the Japan Rheumatology Society, the Japanese Circulation Society, and the Colorectal Cancer Society, each of which operates an official account on the platform distributing guidelines, conference information, specialist commentary, and in some cases clinical tools. Technology integrations are primarily off-the-shelf analytics (Firebase, Google Analytics, AppsFlyer), marketing automation (Braze, Meta, Google Ads, LINE Yahoo Ads, X Ads), and stability tooling (Sentry), with no disclosed proprietary AI or ML models.

As of May 2026, HOKUTO has 85 employees including contractors and has raised approximately ¥2.025 billion across four funding rounds between July 2019 and March 2024 — comprising seed rounds of ¥100M (July 2019) and ¥200M (November 2020), a Series A of ¥825M (December 2021), and a Series B of ¥900M (March 2024). The company was featured in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun's 2024 NEXT Unicorn Survey of unlisted companies with enterprise value exceeding $1 billion. HOKUTO has held ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification (Registration No. IS 762662) since May 2022, with current validity through May 2028, covering the development and operation of applications for medical students and healthcare professionals. The company is privately held and operates exclusively within Japan.

Name

HOKUTO

Legal name

株式会社HOKUTO

Website

https://corp.hokuto.app

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

HOKUTO operates a clinical decision support platform serving Japanese physicians and medical students. Its flagship app has over 100,000 physician members (approximately one in three Japanese physicians), with revenue generated through pharmaceutical and medical device company marketing partnerships.

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

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Marketing Solutions for Pharmaceutical Companies: Digital marketing support services for pharmaceutical and medical device companies leveraging the physician member base
2. Physician User Base (Platform): Free clinical support app for physicians and medical students; revenue derived from pharmaceutical company marketing partnerships

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

HOKUTO develops and operates a mobile and web-based clinical decision support platform used by Japanese physicians to acquire, store, search, and retrieve medical information across pre-consultation, consultation, and post-consultation workflows. The company's three product lines are: (1) the physician-facing HOKUTO clinical support app (free), (2) the HOKUTO resident hospital review site for medical students (free), and (3) the HOKUTO Marketing Solutions B2B service that sells digital marketing access to the platform's physician member base for pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

Product overview

HOKUTO operates a platform consisting of three main products: (1) HOKUTO clinical support app - a core platform for physicians providing medical information access, saving, and search capabilities with 100,000+ physician members; (2) HOKUTO Marketing Solutions - a digital marketing add-on leveraging the physician member base for pharmaceutical and medical device companies; and (3) HOKUTO resident - a medical student platform serving as the largest training hospital review site and a pipeline for the core physician product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• HOKUTO resident: The largest training hospital review media in Japan for medical students, with over 80% of medical school graduates registering annually.
• HOKUTO Marketing Solutions

Products and services

• HOKUTO Clinical Support App (臨床支援アプリHOKUTO) Mobile and web clinical decision support app for Japanese physicians that consolidates medical information acquisition, storage, and search across pre-consultation, consultation, and post-consultation workflows. Free to physicians; surpassed 100,000 physician members (~1 in 3 Japanese physicians) by February 2024.
• HOKUTO resident Largest training hospital review media in Japan for medical students, supporting hospital selection during career planning. Over 80% of medical school graduates register annually; most transition to the HOKUTO clinical support app upon becoming physicians.
• HOKUTO Marketing Solutions B2B digital marketing support service offered to pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers, leveraging the HOKUTO app's physician member base to create new approaches for pharmaceutical and medical device information provision at the clinical site.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100,000+ physician members (1 in 3 Japanese physicians) achieved in approximately 4 years
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• 日本循環器学会 (Japanese Circulation Society)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 April 2026Comprehensive partnership for cardiovascular medical information dissemination through the HOKUTO platform.
• 大腸癌研究会 (Colorectal Cancer Society)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2026Comprehensive partnership including integration of colorectal cancer treatment nomograms developed by the society, plus dissemination of guidelines and specialist commentary.
• 一般社団 日本リウマチ学会 (Japan Rheumatology Society)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 January 2026Comprehensive partnership for rheumatology medical information dissemination. The society's official account provides information on academic conferences, guidelines, and specialist commentary.
• 認定特定非公益法人 西日本がん研究機構 (WJOG)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 May 2025Comprehensive partnership for cancer-related medical information dissemination. WJOG's official account shares latest research, clinical trial information, interviews with institutions, and oncology commentary content.
• 一般社団 日本癌治療学会 (Japan Society of Clinical Oncology)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 December 2024Comprehensive business partnership for medical information dissemination. The society's official account operates on the HOKUTO platform, distributing academic conference information, educational seminars,诊疗 guidelines, and specialist commentary articles.
• BSIグループジャパン株式会社 (BSI Group Japan)minorOthers · 11 May 2022ISMS certification body providing ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification (Registration No. IS 762662) for information security management.
• 株式会社日本アルトマーク (Ultmark)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-use of MDB (Medical Database) with pharmaceutical and medical device companies for member authentication and management.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• M3 (m3.com): M3 operates m3.com, Japan's largest physician-facing platform with pharma marketing solutions (MR-kun, QOL-kun, etc.) reaching the majority of Japanese physicians. It is HOKUTO's closest direct competitor in Japanese physician digital channels + pharma marketing.
• CareNet: CareNet is a Japanese medical information platform serving physicians with clinical news, learning content, and pharma-sponsored educational programs, directly competing with HOKUTO for Japanese physician attention and pharma marketing budgets.
• MedPeer: MedPeer is a Japanese physician community platform where doctors consult peers on clinical cases, supplemented by pharma marketing services — analogous to HOKUTO's combination of physician engagement and pharma revenue.
• Doximity: Doximity is the largest US physician network with news, clinical tools, and a major pharma marketing solutions business, functionally analogous to HOKUTO's physician-only platform + pharma marketing model, though operating in the larger US market.
• Sermo: Sermo is a global physician community offering peer-to-peer clinical case discussion plus pharma market research services, comparable to HOKUTO's combination of physician engagement and pharma services.
• UpToDate (Wolters Kluwer): UpToDate is a leading evidence-based clinical decision support resource widely used by physicians globally, overlapping with HOKUTO's clinical support and evidence-based medical information features, though UpToDate is a paid subscription product while HOKUTO is freemium.
• Epocrates (athenahealth): Epocrates is a clinical decision support and point-of-care drug reference app for physicians, now part of athenahealth, overlapping with HOKUTO's clinical information and drug information features for physicians.

Broad incumbents

• Medscape (WebMD): Medscape is a long-established global physician information, education, and point-of-care decision support platform owned by WebMD, overlapping with HOKUTO's clinical information and pharma marketing offerings but serving multiple geographies with broader content.
• Nikkei Medical: Nikkei Medical is a Japanese physician information portal operated by Nikkei BP providing medical news, clinical articles, and pharma-sponsored content, competing with HOKUTO for Japanese physician attention in a similar content category.

Emerging players

• Figure 1: Figure 1 is a physician case-sharing and medical image platform connecting healthcare professionals globally, overlapping with HOKUTO's physician engagement mission but with a narrower clinical-case focus rather than broad medical information.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/HOKUTOmed

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 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 HOKUTO