What SALTWORKS does

SALTWORKS is a Sapporo, Hokkaido-based privately held company founded in October 2008 that operates a portfolio of consumer-facing mobile applications and web services under what it labels its "Memory Entertainment Business" (想い出エンターテインメント事業). Its core products center on photo-based greeting cards, photo printing, and memory preservation tools targeting individual Japanese consumers. The company's flagship offerings include 年賀家族 (Nenga Kazoku), a photo New Year's card creation service with approximately 2,000 original design templates that celebrated its 15th anniversary, the つむぐ (Tsumugu) app series for year-round greeting cards and postcards (over 5 million cumulative downloads), and コンビニフォト！ (Conveni Photo!), which enables photo printing at multi-function printers across major Japanese convenience store chains (over 1 million cumulative downloads). Supporting infrastructure includes the SALT PRINT app for high-quality FUJIFILM silver halide prints delivered to homes, the recently launched MiTE KiiTE app for creating NFC-chip-embedded acrylic keyholders (February 2025 launch), and the SPARK-CAMPUS programming school for iOS development (launched 2024).

The underlying technology stack is built around native iOS and Android mobile application development, with proprietary features including AI-assisted automatic photo subject cutout for background removal, NFC chip integration for physical-to-digital content bridging in the MiTE KiiTE product line, and integration with Spotify and YouTube APIs for music and video registration onto NFC tags. The company also accepts joint development and OEM commissioned projects under a "New Business" (新規事業) initiative. Business model is almost entirely direct-to-consumer with transactional revenue: free app downloads drive funnel, with monetization through per-unit print fees (¥11–500 per print for SALT PRINT, ¥30–40 per L-size convenience store print), hardware sales for MiTE KiiTE keyholders (¥1,800–2,300 per unit), shipping fees, and OEM/development contracts.

The company is headquartered in central Sapporo with approximately 53 named employees, is bootstrapped with no disclosed external funding or institutional investors, and operates exclusively within Japan under terms of service restricting usage to domestic customers. Leadership is led by co-founder and CEO Yasushi Tsuruo, supported by a COO and multiple General Managers across functions.

Name

SALTWORKS

Legal name

株式会社ソルトワークス

Website

https://saltworks.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Short description

SALTWORKS is a Sapporo-based private company operating a portfolio of Japanese consumer mobile apps and web services centered on photo greeting cards, convenience-store photo printing, and memory preservation products, with over 6 million cumulative downloads across its app portfolio and approximately 53 employees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Sapporo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Product sales (per-order print and merchandise): One-time transaction fees from print orders (year-end cards, postcards, photo prints) and physical product sales (acrylic keyholders). Users pay per item or per print. Primary revenue driver.
2. Hardware product sales (MiTE KiiTE): Sale of physical NFC-enabled acrylic keyholder hardware. Products come in three sizes (S/M/L) at different price points. One-time purchase model.
3. Shipping and fulfillment fees: Delivery fees charged per order for physical goods shipped to customers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

SALTWORKS develops and operates consumer-facing mobile applications and web services that enable individuals to create personalized photo greeting cards, photo prints, and NFC-enabled physical merchandise. The core revenue comes from per-order transaction fees on physical photo products (New Year's cards, postcards, photo prints) and hardware sales (NFC-embedded acrylic keyholders under the MiTE KiiTE brand), distributed through free app downloads on iOS/Android and a nationwide convenience-store printing network.

Product overview

SALTWORKS (株式会社ソルトワークス) is a Sapporo, Hokkaido-based company operating a portfolio of consumer web and mobile services under its '想い出エンターテインメント事業' (Memory Entertainment Business). The core offering consists of photo greeting card services 年賀家族 and つむぐ年賀/つむぐポストカード, convenience store photo printing via コンビニフォト！, and high-quality photo prints through SALT PRINT. The flagship innovation is MiTE KiiTE, an NFC-enabled acrylic keyholder creation app. The company also previously offered collaborative photobook creation (PICNICS, ended August 2025), video DVD dubbing (想い出ビデオDVDダビング工房), and accepts new business joint development projects (新規事業). Together these services aim to create small moments of happiness by helping users preserve and celebrate everyday memories.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• つむぐ (Tsumugu): 年賀状・ポストカード作成アプリ series with apps for New Year's cards and greeting postcards
• 年賀家族
• コンビニフォト！ (Conveni Photo!)
• SALT PRINT (ソルトプリント)
• PICNICS (ピクニックス)
• MiTE KiiTE (ミテキイテ)
• 想い出ビデオDVDダビング工房
• FamilyPrint
• SPARK-CAMPUS

Products and services

• 年賀家族 (Nenga Kazoku) Photo greeting card (年賀状) creation service allowing users to select a photo and design template to create personalized New Year's greeting cards, with approximately 2,000 original designs and integrated address printing and mail delivery. Targeted at Japanese households and families for annual New Year's communications.
• つむぐ年賀 (Tsumugu Nenga) Smartphone app (iOS/Android) for creating original New Year's greeting cards, mourning cards (喪中はがき), and seasonal greetings (寒中見舞い). Features design templates, stamps, and integrates with address printing and mail delivery. Part of the tsumugu series which has surpassed 5 million cumulative downloads.
• つむぐポストカード (Tsumugu Postcard) Year-round greeting card and postcard app covering occasions such as wedding announcements, birth announcements, moving notices, thank-you cards, Valentine's Day, and seasonal greetings. Includes over 500 postcard design templates.
• コンビニフォト！ (Conveni Photo!) Convenience store photo and sticker printing app compatible with multi-function printers at Seven-Eleven, Lawson, FamilyMart, Ministop, and Poplar Group stores across Japan. Supports L-size photo prints and sticker prints with approximately 3,000 stamps and frame designs. As of 2025, cumulative downloads exceed 1 million.
• SALT PRINT Photo printing app offering six print sizes (L-size, Square, Card, 2L, KG, A4) using FUJIFILM silver halide printing technology. Pricing starts from ¥11 per print. Supports frame printing on all sizes, color filters, and a date counter feature. Ships prints directly to customer homes via Yamato Transport and Japan Post.
• MiTE KiiTE iOS app that enables users to create custom NFC chip-embedded acrylic keyholders. Users design the keyholder in-app and register music (via Spotify), videos (via YouTube), URLs, or text messages. Tapping the keyholder to an NFC-equipped smartphone triggers the registered content. Three sizes offered (S/M/L), priced ¥1,800 to ¥2,300. Approximately 40 design templates. iOS 14+ required.
• 想い出ビデオDVDダビング工房 (Memorial Video DVD Dubbing Studio) Video tape to DVD dubbing service that restores and digitizes old VHS and other video tapes. Customers send in tapes and receive digitized content on DVD for preservation of memorial videos.
• FamilyPrint Photo printing service targeting families, offering discounted rates on various print products. Referenced as one of SALTWORKS' active consumer-facing photo printing services.
• SPARK-CAMPUS iOS app development programming school operated as an MHLW (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)-certified job seeker support training school. Targets aspiring iOS developers seeking structured technical education and employment assistance.

Quantifiable outcome

• 5 million+ cumulative downloads across the つむぐ app series
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration11 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Seven-Eleven JapancoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 5 December 2022コンビニフォト！ is integrated with Seven-Eleven's multi-function printer network nationwide, enabling users to print photos at any of the ~20,000+ Seven-Eleven locations in Japan at 40 yen per L-size print.
• LawsoncoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 5 December 2022コンビニフォト！ is integrated with Lawson's Multi复印機 network, enabling users to print at Lawson stores nationwide at 30 yen per L-size print.
• FamilyMartcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 5 December 2022コンビニフォト！ is integrated with FamilyMart's multi-function printer network, enabling users to print at FamilyMart stores nationwide at 30 yen per L-size print.
• MinistopminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 5 December 2022コンビニフォト！ is integrated with Ministop convenience store chain's printing network.
• Popura GroupminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 5 December 2022コンビニフォト！ is integrated with Popura Group convenience store network's printing services.
• FujifilmcoreTechnology or IntegrationSALT PRINT uses FUJIFILM's silver salt printing technology, providing high-quality photographic prints with superior color reproduction and durability compared to inkjet printing.
• Ambitions General Law Office (アンビシャス総合律师事务所)minorOthersAppointed as company counsel, providing legal advisory services. Located at Dai-2 Odori Fujii Building 8F, Chuo-ku, Sapporo.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Snapfish: Online photo printing service offering prints, photo books, cards, and personalised gifts through web and mobile channels. Comparable consumer photo product taxonomy and transaction-fee-based business model to SALTWORKS' SALT PRINT and つむぐ.
• Shutterfly: U.S. photo-printing and personalised greeting card platform (greeting cards, prints, photo books, home décor) sold direct-to-consumer via apps and web. Closest large-scale international analog in product mix, mobile-app-first GTM, and content-library-driven positioning.
• 日本郵便 スマホで年賀状 (Japan Post Smartphone Nengajo): Japan Post's official smartphone-based nengajo creation and mailing service — the publicly-blessed incumbent in the exact same category as SALTWORKS' つむぐ年賀 and 年賀家族. Same target customer (Japanese households sending New Year's cards), same smartphone-first creation flow, with the unique advantage of integrated Japan Post mail delivery.
• Shimauma (しまうまプリントシステム): Japan's most direct convenience-store photo printing competitor, operating a near-identical mobile-to-convenience-store print pickup model (L-size prints at Seven-Eleven/Lawson/FamilyMart) with freemium app downloads and per-print pricing. Directly comparable product, customer, and business model to SALTWORKS' コンビニフォト.

Emerging players

• プリモ工房 (Primo Koubou): Japanese personalised acrylic photo/figure maker using photo data for custom prints and merchandise. Most directly comparable peer to SALTWORKS' MiTE KiiTE in the physical-custom-merchandise category; an emerging player expanding into NFC-linked and digital hybrid products.
• Decosmile: Japanese photo printing and app-based personalised goods service. Overlaps with SALTWORKS on photo printing and personalised product creation, particularly for fan/oshi-culture use cases; smaller in scale than the major retailers but operating in the same niche.

Broad incumbents

• カメラのキタムラ (Kitamura): Japan's largest dedicated photo-specialty retail chain (300+ stores). Offers photo prints, photo books, nengajo, and other memory products across both in-store and online channels — overlapping with SALTWORKS across the entire memory-photo product set but as a much larger, store-based incumbent.
• パレットプラザ (Palette Plaza): Long-running Japanese photo printing/dry-wet retail chain offering photo prints, photo books, nengajo, and photo merchandise through app + retail store channels. Directly comparable product menu to SALTWORKS' SALT PRINT, つむぐ, and PICNICS (now discontinued) categories, with broader retail store footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/saltworks_inc
• Facebookfacebook.com/saltworks.jp
• Instagraminstagram.com/mite_kiite

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 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 SALTWORKS