Sponsors Boost

What Sponsors Boost does

Sponsors Boost (株式会社スポンサーズブースト) is a Japanese online marketplace, founded in August 2023, that connects companies with university sports clubs for small-scale sponsorship investments. The platform enables corporate buyers to browse a directory of university clubs, review member profiles and activity records, and initiate sponsorships with minimum commitments of 30,000 yen per club — positioned as a cost-effective alternative to traditional graduate hiring (referencing an average recruitment cost of 936,000 yen). It serves two primary customer segments: Japanese companies seeking recruitment and employer-branding channels, and university sports clubs seeking financial and motivational support. The company is headquartered in Osaka with a Tokyo office.

The platform is built on a role-based architecture with three distinct portals: a corporate portal for sponsor discovery and management, a club administrator portal for club profile and sponsorship administration, and a club member portal for direct engagement with sponsors. It integrates Mikiwame (ミキワメ), a third-party aptitude diagnostic service, allowing companies to screen club members against company-specific criteria. Club onboarding is facilitated through LINE, Japan's dominant messaging platform, lowering friction for student-facing acquisition. Content marketing through club interview articles supports mid-funnel credibility building.

Sponsors Boost monetizes primarily through transaction fees on sponsorship commitments, supplemented by two human resources training service offerings. Distribution is self-serve and digital, with no disclosed sales-led motion despite enterprise-level buyers. The company has raised 15 million yen from FCE Co., Ltd. in July 2024, has registered capital of 45 million yen, and operates with 1-10 employees. Revenue is not publicly disclosed. Notable data gaps include customer counts, transaction volume, churn, and any AI-native capabilities.

Name

Sponsors Boost

Legal name

株式会社スポンサーズブースト

Website

https://sponsors-boost.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Sponsors Boost is a Japanese online marketplace, founded in 2023, that enables companies to make small sponsorship commitments (from 30,000 yen) to university sports clubs as a low-cost recruitment channel. It serves corporate sponsors seeking graduate hiring pipelines and university clubs seeking funding.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Corporate Sponsorship Marketplace

NAICS

Agents and Managers for Artists, Athletes, Entertainers, and Other Public Figures (7114), Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events without Facilities (711320)

akta.pro primary industry

Athletics Fundraising, Sponsorships & NIL Support (EDALAIAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

Sports Fundraising & Development Services (Foundations, NIL Collectives Support) (MPAKAKAK)

Keywords

• University club sponsorship
• Sports sponsorship platform
• Recruitment marketing marketplace
• Employer branding platform
• Student talent pipeline

Headquarters

HQ city

Yokohama

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Sponsorship Commission: Companies pay sponsorship fees to university clubs through the platform. The minimum investment starts from 30,000 yen per club, with pricing varying by club.
2. Human Resources Training Services: Talent development and training services listed as part of business operations, including two training service offerings referenced in company materials.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Sponsors Boost operates an online marketplace platform that enables Japanese companies to make small-scale sponsorship commitments (minimum 30,000 yen per club) in university sports clubs. Through dedicated corporate, club administrator, and club member portals, the platform surfaces student profiles, club activity records, and aptitude assessment results (via the integrated Mikiwame service) so that sponsoring companies can engage students early for recruitment and employer-branding purposes.

Product overview

Sponsors Boost operates as a unified platform with multiple role-based portals connecting companies with university clubs for sponsorship investments. The core platform (sponsors-boost.com) serves as the main entry point and corporate service portal, while dedicated portals exist for club members (club-member.sponsors-boost.com) and club administrators (club.sponsors-boost.com). The platform integrates Mikiwame aptitude testing services for recruitment support. Additional features include a club directory, interview articles content section, and registration/login workflows for both companies and clubs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sponsors Boost Platform Online marketplace platform where Japanese companies browse university sports club profiles, view student member profiles and activity records, integrate Mikiwame aptitude testing, and commit to small-scale sponsorship investments (minimum 30,000 yen per club) for employer branding and early-stage new-graduate recruitment.
• Human Resources Training Services Two distinct talent development and human resources training service offerings for organizations, referenced on the company's official 'About' page as a separate business line alongside the sponsorship platform.

Quantifiable outcome

• Cost savings: If one hire is made per club per year, the platform beats average recruitment costs of 936,000 yen with minimum investment of 30,000 yen

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature3 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Wantedly: Japanese employer-branding and recruitment platform using a community/PLG motion similar to Sponsors Boost's corporate-side flow. While Wantedly operates at vastly greater scale and broader scope, it shares the same DNA: helping companies build authentic relationships with future hires, which is the same underlying value proposition Sponsors Boost sells into sports clubs.
• Recruit Holdings: Japan's dominant recruitment and HR services conglomerate (Indeed, Rikunabi, etc.). Competes indirectly by absorbing graduate-recruitment budgets that Sponsors Boost targets; any move into sports-based employer branding would directly threaten Sponsors Boost's niche.
• BizReach: Japanese direct-recruitment and HR-tech platform serving enterprises and mid-career professionals. Operates in the same corporate HR budget pool Sponsors Boost targets, and its enterprise sales reach could quickly displace niche employer-branding plays if it expanded into sports-club channels.
• Dentsu Sports Partners: Sports marketing arm of Dentsu, Japan's largest advertising group. Brokers sports sponsorship deals between brands and sports properties at a much larger scale; represents a higher-end incumbent in the sports sponsorship intermediation space Sponsors Boost is democratizing.
• Indeed Japan: Japanese arm of the global job-search giant, competing for the same corporate recruitment spend. While its model (job listings vs. sports club sponsorship) differs, it represents the default channel against which Sponsors Boost must justify corporate buyers' incremental spend.

Direct peers

• SponsorUnited: US-based sponsorship intelligence and marketplace platform connecting brands with sports, esports, and entertainment sponsorship opportunities. Most comparable business model in the West — a data-driven intermediary that helps corporates discover and evaluate sponsorship inventory, analogous to how Sponsors Boost matches companies with university sports clubs.

Others

• Mikiwame: Aptitude assessment service already integrated into the Sponsors Boost platform. Functions as an enabling partner — its diagnostics underpin the recruitment-grade value Sponsors Boost promises corporates, making it a strategic dependency rather than a competitor.

Emerging players

• Unipos: Japanese peer-bonus and employee-recognition platform that, like Sponsors Boost, uses employer-brand and engagement angles to reach HR buyers. Comparable in Japanese HRTech maturity stage and PLG flavor; competes indirectly for HR/people-ops budget rather than directly for sponsorship transactions.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Sponsors_Boost

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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 Sponsors Boost