LINE WORKS

What LINE WORKS does

LINE WORKS Corp. is a Tokyo-based private software company founded in 2015 that operates a cloud-based business communication and collaboration platform positioned as the "business version of LINE," Japan's dominant consumer messaging application. The platform unifies business chat (Talk), Mail, Contacts, Board (notices), Calendar, Drive (file storage), Form (surveys), and centralized Admin management into a single suite, with enterprise-grade security backed by 24/7 monitoring and internationally certified systems. A distinguishing structural feature is native integration with the LINE consumer ecosystem, enabling organizations to communicate with external LINE and LINE WORKS users beyond company boundaries — a capability competitors without access to the LINE platform cannot replicate.

The company employs 11-50 staff and serves a broad customer base of 430K+ companies as of January 2023, with named enterprise adoption across financial services (Mizuho Bank, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance, MS&AD Insurance Group, Japan Post Bank), construction (Taisei Corporation), retail and consumer (Noevir Holdings, Zoff, Sapporo Breweries, Baroque Global, Mizuno, Sanjo), media (TV Asahi), sports (Urawa Reds), education (Daito Bunka University, Chiba University), and government (Shijyonawate City). LINE WORKS holds the NO.1 position in Japan's paid business chat market per Fuji Chimera Research Institute (2021 edition).

The business operates a freemium go-to-market model — "Start for free, upgrade anytime" — distributed via self-service signup through the website and mobile app stores (Google Play, Apple App Store), complemented by direct sales for enterprise accounts. Revenue is generated through recurring subscription fees on a monthly billing cadence, though specific pricing tiers and revenue figures are not publicly disclosed. The platform supports extensibility through Bots provided by service partners and APIs (developers.worksmobile.com). An ecosystem partnership with M-SOLUTIONS has produced LINE WORKS integration plugins reaching 2,000+ paid contracts by May 2026, and a GPT-powered AI plugin was launched in 2026.

Name

LINE WORKS

Legal name

LINE WORKS Corp.

Website

https://line.worksmobile.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

LINE WORKS is a Tokyo-based cloud business communication and collaboration platform that serves as the enterprise version of Japan's LINE consumer messaging app. It provides integrated chat, mail, calendar, drive, and admin tools to 430,000+ companies, holding the No.1 paid business chat market share position in Japan.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Enterprise Messaging and Collaboration Software

NAICS

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

SIC

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

akta.pro primary industry

Business Messaging & Team Collaboration (HDAIAHAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Email, Calendar & Scheduling (BPAMAMAC)

Keywords

• Business chat platform
• Team collaboration software
• Enterprise messaging
• Cloud office suite
• Workplace communication

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Subscription Licensing: LINE WORKS operates as a paid business chat service with subscription-based pricing. The platform offers a free tier with upgrade options for enhanced features. Revenue is generated through recurring subscription fees based on user seats or organizational plans.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

LINE WORKS is a cloud-based business communication and collaboration suite functioning as the business version of the LINE consumer messaging app. It sells a unified workspace combining business chat (Talk), mail, contacts, notice board, calendar, file drive, surveys, and admin management to organizational customers in Japan, with integrations enabled through partner-provided Bots. The service is offered as freemium software with subscription-based upgrades.

Product overview

LINE WORKS is a unified business communication platform operating as the business version of LINE, designed for enterprise teams in Japan. The platform is structured as a single integrated suite combining core communication features (Talk/Business Chat, Mail, Contacts) with collaboration tools (Board for notices, Calendar for scheduling, Drive for file storage, Form for surveys), plus centralized Admin management for security and permissions. The platform also supports extensible Bots provided by service partners. LINE WORKS holds the No.1 market share position in Japan's paid business chat market as of 2021, serving over 430,000 companies. The platform emphasizes LINE connectivity for external communication and enterprise-grade security with 24/7 monitoring.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• LINE WORKS Platform Unified cloud-based business communication and collaboration platform providing chat, mail, contacts, notice board, calendar, file storage, surveys, and admin management for organizational teams in Japan. Sold as a freemium SaaS workspace with subscription upgrades and optional direct sales for enterprise customers.
• Talk (Business Chat) Business chat functionality that mirrors the LINE consumer messaging experience, supporting team messaging with stamps and direct messaging, with the distinctive capability of connecting internal teams with external LINE and LINE WORKS users outside the company.
• Mail Integrated email functionality within the LINE WORKS platform enabling organizational email communication alongside chat.
• Contacts Centralized contact management within the LINE WORKS platform for managing business relationships and team member directories.
• Board Digital notice board feature within LINE WORKS for sharing announcements and information across teams organization-wide.
• Calendar Team scheduling and shared calendar functionality within LINE WORKS for tracking schedules and coordinating team activities.
• Drive Cloud file storage service within the LINE WORKS platform enabling teams to store and access files.
• Form Survey creation tool integrated into LINE WORKS for conducting polls and collecting data from team members.
• Admin Centralized administration console for LINE WORKS workspaces, enabling permission grants, usage monitoring, and device security controls to mitigate missing-device and information leakage risks.

Quantifiable outcome

• NO.1 market share in Japan's paid business chat market
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature5 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Slack (Salesforce): Slack, now owned by Salesforce, is the global incumbent in team messaging and channels-based collaboration. Although primarily Western-focused, it competes with LINE WORKS for large Japanese enterprise customers and offers overlapping chat/integration functionality.
• Zoom Team Chat: Zoom expanded from video conferencing into persistent team chat, calendar, and collaboration. It overlaps with LINE WORKS' chat and meeting capabilities, particularly for organizations where video-first collaboration is central.
• Workplace by Meta: Workplace by Meta is an enterprise social and messaging platform built on Facebook-style UX. It overlaps LINE WORKS' consumer-messaging familiarity angle, leveraging Meta's social UI for business communication.
• Microsoft Teams: Microsoft Teams is bundled with Microsoft 365 and is the dominant enterprise collaboration suite globally, including in Japan. It competes directly with LINE WORKS on chat, meetings, and file collaboration, with deep Office integration as a structural advantage.
• Google Workspace (Chat & Meet): Google Workspace bundles Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Chat, and Meet into a unified productivity suite. It overlaps LINE WORKS' Mail/Calendar/Drive/Form stack and competes for Japan-based enterprises and educational institutions migrating off on-premises tools.

Others

• Notion: Notion is a collaborative workspace spanning docs, wikis, databases, and lightweight project management. It is an adjacent productivity tool competing for workspace budgets alongside LINE WORKS rather than messaging itself.
• LINE (LY Corporation consumer app): LINE is the consumer messaging app providing the foundational user base and brand that LINE WORKS extends into the workplace. It is not a direct competitor but the strategic ecosystem on which LINE WORKS' distribution advantage is built.

Direct peers

• Chatwork: Chatwork is Japan's leading domestic business chat platform. It competes head-to-head with LINE WORKS for Japanese SMB and enterprise customers, sharing a similar freemium/PLG model and feature parity across chat, task management, and file collaboration.

Emerging players

• DingTalk (Alibaba): DingTalk is Alibaba's enterprise messaging and OA platform, dominant in China and expanding across Asia. It competes with LINE WORKS in the APAC business chat market with comparable messaging-plus-workflow features.
• Lark (ByteDance): Lark is ByteDance's collaboration suite offering chat, docs, calendar, and video. It is expanding into Japan and APAC with an integrated productivity bundle comparable to LINE WORKS' all-in-one positioning.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/worksmobile
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/works-mobile

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A1 record

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about LINE WORKS