Next Star

What Next Star does

Next Star (株式会社NeXT STAR) is a privately held Japanese recruitment consulting and outsourcing firm founded in November 2013 and headquartered in Tokyo's Minami-Aoyama district, with additional offices in Osaka and Hiroshima. The company serves Japanese small-to-medium enterprises and growing companies, providing an integrated five-line service portfolio: Recruitment Consulting (strategy design, KPI and persona design, interview design, HR evaluation systems, market research, interviewer training), Recruitment Process Outsourcing/RPO (including specialized Agent Direction and Direct Recruiting operations), Job Advertising & Process Support (including recruitment management and interview scheduling tool implementation), Recruitment Event Planning (in partnership with national universities and educational institutions), and Recruitment Creative (recruitment sites, pamphlets, and video production). Its client base is notably diverse, spanning Money Forward, SUZUKI, JR East, Yamato, PASONA, TERASS, Mikimoto Pharmaceutical, SAINTMARC, and others across real estate, FinTech, automotive, railway, logistics, pharmaceutical, HR services, and F&B industries, as well as universities for student recruitment events.

The company's business model is professional services revenue, with customized engagements delivered directly through consultant-led teams. Pricing is not publicly disclosed, and services are scoped per client. Go-to-market is sales-led direct engagement, supported by a corporate website with detailed service pages, a Herp-hosted careers portal, and Form.run contact forms for inquiries. The company is founder-controlled, with Sakamoto Toshiki (坂本 俊樹) serving as Representative Director; registered capital is only 5 million JPY (~$33K), and no external equity investors, funding rounds, parent companies, or M&A activity are disclosed. The firm operates as a service delivery organization rather than a technology platform, with no proprietary AI/ML, patents, software products, or API integrations identified. Its stated differentiators are hands-on, embedded partnership with client teams ("deep-going accompaniment power") and breadth of integrated recruitment capabilities spanning strategy through creative execution.

Name

Next Star

Legal name

株式会社NeXT STAR

Website

https://next-star.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Next Star is a privately held Japanese recruitment consulting and outsourcing firm, founded in 2013 and headquartered in Tokyo, that delivers integrated consulting, RPO, job advertising, event planning, and creative services to SMEs and growing mid-market companies across Japan.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Recruitment Consulting & Outsourcing Services

NAICS

Employment Placement Agencies (561311), Management Consulting Services (54161)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Talent Acquisition (Recruiting) & Applicant Tracking (ATS) (BPACAPAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Campus / Early Careers RPO (BPACABAJ)

Keywords

• Recruitment consulting
• Recruitment process outsourcing
• Talent acquisition services
• Job advertising management
• Employer branding creative

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Recruitment Consulting Services: Strategic consulting services including recruitment strategy design, KPI design, persona definition, interview design, HR evaluation system design, market research, briefing design, interviewer training, selection flow design, and onboarding support.
2. Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO): Full-cycle recruitment process outsourcing covering agent direction, direct recruiting operations, job advertising and process optimization. Services include new agent development, relationship building, candidate management, and closing support.
3. Job Advertising & Process Efficiency: Job advertisement planning and operation for mid-career and new graduate positions, plus implementation and operation of recruitment management tools and interview scheduling tools.
4. Recruitment Event Planning & Operation: Event and guidance planning and operation in cooperation with national universities and educational institutions, addressing challenges for students, companies, and universities.
5. Recruitment Creative Services: Creative services including recruitment sites, pamphlets, videos - from strategic planning and concept development through design, production, operation and improvement.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Next Star provides integrated recruitment consulting and outsourcing services to Japanese companies, covering recruitment strategy design, full-cycle RPO (including agent direction and direct recruiting operations), job advertising planning and recruitment management tool implementation, university-based recruitment event planning, and recruitment creative production (sites, pamphlets, videos). The firm acts as a hands-on partner, customizing its service portfolio to each client's hiring challenges from strategy through execution.

Product overview

Next Star is a recruitment consulting and outsourcing services firm that operates as a unified service portfolio rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The company offers five core service lines: (1) 採用コンサルティング (Recruitment Consulting) for strategic design and execution support, (2) 採用代行・RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) which includes エージェントディレクション (Agent Direction) and ダイレクトリクルーティング運用 (Direct Recruiting Operations) as sub-services, (3) 求人広告・業務効率化 (Job Ads & Process Support) for advertising and tool integration, (4) 採用イベント企画・運営 (Recruitment Event Planning) for university collaboration events, and (5) 採用クリエイティブ (Recruitment Creative) for content production. These services are designed to work independently or be combined as a comprehensive end-to-end recruitment solution.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Recruitment Consulting (採用コンサルティング)

Named customers15 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• 国立大学・教育機関 (National Universities and Educational Institutions)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNeXT STAR partners with national universities and educational institutions to plan and operate recruitment events and guidance. This partnership addresses challenges for students, companies, and universities - providing students with opportunities for career choice, companies with new talent touchpoints, and universities with enhanced career support.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• en Japan: Japanese recruitment services company operating multiple job boards (en-japan) and talent acquisition platforms serving SMEs and mid-market employers in Japan. Directly comparable because it competes in the same Japanese mid-market recruitment segment with overlapping service breadth.
• Works Japan: Japanese mid-career job platform (Works) and recruitment services company serving SMEs and mid-market employers in Japan. Comparable as a Japan-focused mid-market recruitment services firm with overlapping customer segments.
• ManpowerGroup Japan: Global staffing and RPO provider operating in Japan via ManpowerGroup Japan and Experis, offering permanent placement, contract staffing, and RPO services. Comparable as an international RPO and recruitment outsourcing player serving the Japanese mid-market and enterprise segments.
• Hays Japan: Global specialist recruitment firm providing permanent placement and RPO in Japan, focused on professional and technical skill categories. Comparable as an international recruitment services peer with overlap in direct recruiting and recruitment outsourcing offerings.
• Robert Walters Japan: Specialist professional recruitment and RPO firm in Japan focused on mid-career and senior placements across technology, finance, and corporate functions. Comparable as a recruitment consulting and direct-hire firm operating in the Japanese mid-market for professional roles.

Broad incumbents

• Pasona Group: One of Japan's largest HR services groups offering staffing, RPO, recruitment consulting, and BPO across all sizes of Japanese employers. Comparable as a broader incumbent operating across the recruitment services stack that NeXT STAR also targets.
• Persol Holdings: Major Japanese staffing and HR solutions group (Temp Holdings successor) providing temporary staffing, RPO, and recruitment services across Japan and APAC. Comparable as a broad incumbent competitor in Japanese RPO and recruitment outsourcing.
• Recruit Holdings: Japan's largest HR/recruitment conglomerate (Indeed, LinkedIn parent in Japan historically, plus HR media and staffing). Comparable as the dominant incumbent whose RPO and HR consulting offerings overlap with NeXT STAR's full-stack recruitment services.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/nextstar.jp

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 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 Next Star