Laboro

What Laboro does

Laboro (Laboro株式会社) is a Tokyo-based, privately held foreign-worker staffing and recruitment agency founded in July 2019 by former Goldman Sachs securities analyst Yusuke Noguchi. The company operates two core service lines: 人材派遣サービス (temporary staffing), which deploys foreign workers with N3-or-better Japanese proficiency to Japanese enterprises on a recurring basis; and 人材紹介サービス (permanent placement), which matches mid-career, new-graduate, and management-level foreign candidates with Japanese companies across visa categories including Specified Skilled Worker (特定技能) and Engineer/Specialist in Humanities. Laboro's positioning targets Japan's structural labor shortage, claiming 10,000+ foreign workers placed since commencing operations in July 2021, a network of 300,000+ foreign residents, 83% N3+ proficiency among placed workers versus an industry average of 30%, absenteeism rates below 3%, deployment capacity of up to 300 workers per month, and a fastest-contact-to-deployment cycle of 3 days.

The underlying operational infrastructure combines community-based talent acquisition — Laboro operates 2 of Japan's 3 largest foreign-worker media channels — with pre-employment training delivered in Vietnamese and Nepali, an in-house leader/mentor program, and a temporary-to-permanent pipeline that lets clients evaluate candidates on the job before committing to a Specified Skilled Worker hire. The company has no proprietary software platform; its competitive differentiation is built on community network depth, screening and training processes, and bilingual management rather than on technology. Revenue is generated through recurring fees on temporary staffing hours and one-time placement fees on permanent hires, with all pricing negotiated individually with enterprise clients (no public rate card). The go-to-market is sales-led B2B, reinforced by website case studies featuring named customers Toridoll Holdings (Marugame Seimen parent, food service) and Itoyokado (supermarket/retail), plus earned media on TBS television and in Nikkei Shimbun.

Laboro serves Japanese companies across food service, retail, and supermarket verticals that face chronic labor shortages, low retention, and skill gaps they cannot fill with domestic workers. The business is geographically concentrated in Japan (Kanto region, headquartered in Toshima-ku, Tokyo), bootstrapped or self-funded with no disclosed institutional investment, and operates as a founder-controlled entity with Yusuke Noguchi serving as Representative Director (CEO-equivalent).

Name

Laboro

Legal name

Laboro株式会社

Website

https://laboro.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Laboro is a Tokyo-based foreign-worker staffing and placement agency that supplies Japanese-language-proficient foreign employees to Japanese enterprises in food service and retail, having placed 10,000+ workers since launching operations in July 2021.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Foreign Talent Staffing and Recruitment Services

NAICS

Temporary Help Services (561320), Employment Placement Agencies (561311)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPACABAK

Contingent Workforce / Contractor RPO (Contractor Recruiting)

Business & Public Services/HR, Staffing & Recruitment Services/Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)

SECONDARYBPACAFAO

Remote & Global/Multilingual Direct Hire

Business & Public Services/HR, Staffing & Recruitment Services/Permanent Placement & Direct Hire

SECONDARYBPADAKAE

Workforce Development, Employment Readiness & Job Placement

Business & Public Services/International Organizations & Development/Education & Skills Development Programs

Keywords

• Foreign talent staffing
• Temporary staffing services
• Permanent placement agency
• Specified skilled worker visa
• Foreign worker recruitment

Headquarters

HQ city

Toshima

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. 人材派遣サービス (Staffing/Temporary Staffing): The company provides foreign human resources to client companies on a temporary staffing basis. Companies engage Laboro's placed workers for their operations, paying for the staffing service. This is a recurring revenue model based on worker hours deployed at client sites.
2. 人材紹介サービス (Permanent Placement): The company introduces full-time foreign employees to client companies for direct hiring. This includes new graduate placement, mid-career placement, and management-level placement services. Revenue is generated through placement fees upon successful hiring, typically a one-time transaction per placement.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Laboro provides Japanese companies with foreign talent staffing (人材派遣) and permanent placement (人材紹介) services, sourcing workers from a network of 300,000+ foreign residents in Japan. The company supplies N3+ Japanese-proficient foreign workers on a temporary/contract basis and also places mid-career, new graduate, and management-level foreign candidates for direct hire. Laboro supports visa pathways including Specified Skilled Worker (特定技能) and Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services (技術人文知識国際業務), enabling clients to convert existing part-time foreign workers into full-time Specified Skilled Worker status.

Product overview

Laboro operates as a dual-service foreign talent recruitment platform consisting of two core offerings: (1) 人材派遣サービス (Staffing/Temporary Staffing Service), which provides on-demand foreign workers to companies with 80%+ N3+ Japanese language proficiency, average absenteeism below 3%, and the ability to deploy up to 300 workers within one month; and (2) 人材紹介サービス (Recruitment/Placement Service), which connects companies with mid-career and new graduate foreign talent for permanent positions, supporting visa categories such as 'Specified Skilled Worker' (特定技能) and 'Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services' (技術人文知識国際業務). The two services are designed to work in tandem, enabling companies to evaluate candidates through temporary staffing before offering permanent positions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Temporary Staffing Service (人材派遣サービス) On-demand foreign worker staffing service that deploys Japanese-language proficient workers (N3+ level) to Japanese client companies on a temporary or contract basis. Leverages Japan's largest foreign community network to source candidates with industry-leading low absenteeism rates. Includes placement of leader/mentor personnel to support on-site integration and workforce management.
• Permanent Placement Service (人材紹介サービス) Job placement service that matches mid-career, new graduate, and management-level foreign talent with Japanese companies for direct permanent hire. Supports visa types including Specified Skilled Worker (特定技能) and Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services (技術人文知識国際業務). Designed to work in tandem with the temporary staffing service, enabling clients to evaluate candidates before offering permanent positions.

Quantifiable outcome

• 83% of staff have N3+ Japanese proficiency vs. 30% industry average
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Will Group: Japanese staffing firm with strong exposure to blue-collar, light-industrial, and foreign-worker temporary staffing across Asia. Directly comparable to Laboro's staffing-first model and its focus on connecting Asian foreign talent with Japanese employers facing labor shortages.
• Dip Corporation: Tokyo-listed Japanese HR services company operating job advertising platform Baitai and temporary staffing/introduction business. Overlaps with Laboro's permanent placement and staffing services, particularly in SMB and mid-market segments facing labor shortages.

Broad incumbents

• Persol Holdings: Major Japanese staffing group (parent of Persol Temp Staff and Persol Career), providing temporary staffing, permanent placement, and RPO across professional and clerical segments. Comparable operating model to Laboro across both staffing and placement, but at much larger scale and broader industry coverage.
• Pasona Group: One of Japan's largest diversified HR services groups offering temporary staffing, permanent placement, BPO, and global talent solutions including foreign-worker placement. Comparable to Laboro across both staffing and placement services, but operates at much larger scale and across many industries beyond Laboro's foreign-talent niche.
• ManpowerGroup Japan: Global staffing leader's Japan operation, providing temporary and permanent placement services across industries including light industrial and skilled trades. Overlaps with Laboro's temporary staffing business but addresses a broader, less foreign-talent-specialized market.
• Adecco Japan: Japanese arm of global staffing giant Adecco, providing temporary staffing, permanent placement, and RPO across clerical, industrial, and professional segments. Competes with Laboro for enterprise staffing contracts and offers overlapping foreign-talent solutions, but as part of a much broader global portfolio.
• Randstad Japan: Japanese subsidiary of Dutch global staffing firm Randstad, offering temporary staffing, permanent placement, and RPO across professional and industrial segments. Comparable in operating model to Laboro's staffing arm but with broader industry coverage and lower specialization in foreign talent.
• Recruit Holdings: Japan's largest HR services conglomerate and parent of Indeed/Glassdoor. Operates staffing, placement, and HR-tech platforms (e.g., Rikunabi, Townwork) at massive scale. Competes with Laboro across the full staffing-placement funnel, including HR marketing channels, but as a broad incumbent rather than a foreign-talent specialist.

Regional players

• HRnet Group: Asia-headquartered recruitment and staffing firm operating across Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Greater China with strong cross-border talent placement capabilities. Comparable to Laboro on cross-border talent flows into Japan and Asia, though with different geographic focus and broader professional-services orientation.
• Fujita Resona Human Resources: Japanese staffing and HR services provider with meaningful foreign-worker placement operations, particularly for Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian nationals into Japanese manufacturing and service-sector employers. Direct functional overlap with Laboro's foreign-talent staffing model, though typically more manufacturing-skewed.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/LaboroJapan16

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Laboro