What Hello Light does

Hello Light (operated by Hello Technologies Inc., formerly Hello Light Inc.) is a Tokyo-based IoT company that sells a SIM-integrated LED light bulb capable of detecting its own on/off state and pushing real-time notifications via email. The bulb embeds a SORACOM IoT SIM, enabling direct cellular connectivity without Wi-Fi, electrical work, or gateway hardware, which means a customer only needs to screw the bulb into a standard E26 (or E17 with adapter) socket and scan a QR code to activate. Hello Light sells primarily to families with elderly relatives living alone, to municipalities running elderly or operations monitoring programs, and to enterprises through the Yamato Transport 'Kuroneko Monitoring Service Hello Light Visit Plan' channel.

The product line centers on the Hello Light bulb (HL01 from October 2019, HL03 from November 2021) paired with a software subscription. The Standard Plan is ¥495/month per bulb and supports up to five notification email addresses and configurable detection windows; a B2B tier is ¥580/month per unit (corporate only). A companion Hello App (released September 2024) adds sound-based light-on notifications, and a kintone integration (announced September 2022) lets enterprise customers route Hello Light events into Cybozu workflows. Hardware is sold via Amazon Japan and BIC Camera; B2B and municipal deals move through direct inquiry and procurement.

Hello Light monetizes through a hardware-plus-subscription model (¥10,780 hardware + ¥5,940 first-year Standard plan on Amazon) and B2B subscriptions, with distribution anchored by Yamato Transport's national service, municipal pilots in Hino City, Mutu City, and Fukuoka City, and a real estate partnership with StyleACT. The company holds Japanese Patent No. 7489050 and US Patent 11,968,764 for the SIM-integrated bulb design, with international filings in Europe, China, and South Korea. As of September 2025, cumulative lighting activations exceeded 100 million events. Sales remain Japan-only despite compatibility with 84-country cellular networks.

Name

Hello Light

Legal name

ハローテクノロジーズ株式会社 (Hello Technologies Inc.)

Website

https://hellolight.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Hello Light, operated by Hello Technologies Inc. in Tokyo, sells SIM-integrated LED light bulbs that detect on/off state and send email notifications via cellular networks without Wi-Fi. The product serves elderly-monitoring households, municipalities, and enterprises including Yamato Transport's national monitoring service.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

IoT Smart Lighting

NAICS

Electric Lamp Bulb and Other Lighting Equipment Manufacturing (335139)

SIC

Electric Lighting & Wiring Equipment (3640)

akta.pro primary industry

Smart Lighting & Electrical (Bulbs, Switches, Outlets, Panels) (HSAPAQAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Lighting Controls & Smart Lighting Systems (BPABAGAC), Lighting Controls & Building Integration (Drivers, sensors, dimming, lighting control panels, networked lighting) (IMAGAIAI)

Keywords

• IoT light bulb
• Cellular IoT monitoring
• Elderly monitoring devices
• Smart lighting sensors
• Remote activity detection

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Hardware + Subscription Bundle: Customers purchase the Hello Light hardware unit (¥10,780) bundled with a 1-year Standard plan subscription (¥5,940 for 12 months = ¥495/month). The hardware and subscription are sold together as a package on Amazon and through other channels. Annual subscription renewals provide recurring revenue.
2. Enterprise/B2B Subscription (法人向け): B2B subscription plan offered at ¥580/month per unit (minimum 1 unit), available exclusively to corporations and organizations. Includes configurable detection times and multiple notification email addresses. Managed through a dedicated B2B subscription inquiry portal.
3. Standard Plan (Individual): Standard plan at ¥495/month billed monthly via credit card. Allows configurable detection windows and up to 5 notification email addresses. Basic plan (discontinued for new customers as of March 2023) sent notifications only for abnormal status at a fixed 10:00 AM daily report time.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Hello Light manufactures a SIM-integrated LED light bulb that detects its own on/off state and sends real-time email notifications without requiring Wi-Fi, network setup, or electrical work. The bulb uses a SORACOM IoT SIM for standalone cellular connectivity, plugs into any standard E26 socket (or E17 with adapter), and is sold bundled with subscription plans for elderly monitoring, security, and business activity use cases.

Product overview

Hello Light is a single unified IoT hardware product — a SIM-integrated LED light bulb — paired with a software subscription service (Standard Plan). The core Hello Light bulb detects its own on/off state using built-in SIM connectivity and sends email notifications. A companion app (Hello App) provides visual confirmation of bulb status. For enterprise customers, a kintone integration module allows Hello Light event data to feed into kintone workflows. The product is available in HL01 and HL03 models sold through Amazon, and supports two subscription tiers (now only the Standard Plan; the Basic Plan was discontinued in March 2023).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Hello Light LED Bulb (HL01 / HL03) A SIM-integrated LED light bulb (using SORACOM IoT SIM) that detects its own on/off state via embedded cellular connectivity. The bulb screws into a standard E26 (or E17 with adapter) socket, requires no Wi-Fi, electrical work, or power outlet installation, and is sold to individual consumers, corporations, real estate operators, and municipal governments.
• Hello Light Standard Plan (Individual Subscription) Monthly subscription service at ¥495/month per bulb with configurable detection windows and up to 5 notification email addresses. Includes both period detection (no light-on event in a defined window) and light-on detection (real-time on notification) features. Billed via credit card and managed through a self-serve web portal.
• Hello Light B2B Enterprise Subscription (法人向け) Corporate/organization-only subscription plan priced at ¥580/month per unit, offering configurable detection times and multiple notification email addresses. Sold via dedicated B2B inquiry form and targeted at corporations, real estate operators, care service providers, and municipal government programs.
• Hello App A companion mobile application released in 2024 that delivers sound notifications when a Hello Light bulb is turned on, allowing users to receive audible alerts in addition to the standard email notifications.

Quantifiable outcome

• Cumulative lighting activation events exceeded 100 million as of September 2025
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered major, minor, flagship and core.

• Fukuoka City Economic and Cultural Affairs Bureau (福岡市 経済観光文化局)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 July 2024Fukuoka City integrated Hello Light into its 'Stall DX' initiative, deploying the IoT bulbs across all city street food stalls (屋台) to automatically detect and communicate opening/closing status via LINE and the Fukuoka City Data Collaboration Platform.
• NTT Docomo my daiz / iConcier (NTT日电 Docomo my daiz / iコンシェル)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 29 June 2022Hello Light was featured in NTT Docomo's lifestyle information service 'my daiz / iコンシェル,' delivering information about Hello Light's monitoring service to Docomo's mobile user base.
• Yamato Transport (ヤマト運輸)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 February 2021Hello Light is the core hardware component of Yamato Transport's 'Kuroneko Monitoring Service Hello Light Visit Plan,' a national elderly monitoring service launched in February 2021. The service leverages Hello Light's cellular-connected bulbs to detect activity patterns and send alerts. Yamato also partnered with UR Housing (都市再生機構) for deployment in UR rental housing from August 2022. Yamato's service won the 2023 Good Design Award, validating the partnership's market impact.
• Hino City, Tokyo (東京都日野市)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2020Hino City adopted Hello Light in its model project for monitoring single elderly residents (単身高齢者等の見守りのモデル事業). The city also incorporated Hello Light into its 'Ansun Sumai Hino' housing consultation program for housing consideration target groups, demonstrating municipal-level deployment.
• Mutu City / NTT Com / NTT레조난트 (むつ市、NTT Com、NTTレゾナント)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 February 2020An IoT monitoring pilot project in Mutu City using Hello Light technology, announced February 2020, involving collaboration with NTT Com and NTT레조난트 for network and service integration.
• SORACOM (株式会社ソラコム)coreTechnology or Integration · 21 June 2019SORACOM provides the IoT SIM card embedded in Hello Light bulbs. Hello Light is described as the 'world's first' LED and SIM integrated bulb using SORACOM IoT SIM. The partnership with SORACOM provides the cellular connectivity backbone. Hello Light has been featured prominently at SORACOM Discovery events (2019, 2021) and SORACOM Conference Connected (2020).
• Suzuyoe Shōji (鈴与商事)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 June 2019Announced field testing of Hello Light's monitoring service with Suzuyoe Shōji, a trading company, as part of a monitoring service pilot program.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• LIFX: LIFX (now part of Feit Electric) is a smart bulb competitor offering Wi-Fi-connected LED lighting with app control. It is a direct peer in the consumer smart-bulb category, though it lacks Hello Light's cellular connectivity and elderly-monitoring positioning.
• Mamoru (まもる): Mamoru is a Japanese elderly-monitoring service that integrates with Hello Light bulbs to detect 'kodokushi' (solitary death) risk within three days. It is a direct peer/ecosystem partner in the Japanese elderly-monitoring-as-a-service category that Hello Light's hardware enables.
• Nature (Nature Remo): Nature Inc. operates Nature Remo, a leading Japanese smart-home hub and IoT platform with sensors and connected appliances. It is a direct Japanese-market peer to Hello Light in the smart-home/IoT-for-elderly space, though it relies on Wi-Fi and a hub model rather than a SIM-integrated bulb.
• SwitchBot: SwitchBot is a Japanese smart home IoT brand offering retrofit devices (bot pushers, curtain openers, smart bulbs, sensors) that compete with Hello Light in the Japan-based DIY smart-home and elderly-monitoring market. It is a direct regional peer with broader product breadth but a Wi-Fi/hub-based architecture rather than cellular.
• Sengled: Sengled is a smart lighting vendor offering Wi-Fi/Zigbee connected LED bulbs with integrated features (motion sensing, cameras, speakers). Like Hello Light, Sengled packages hardware-level intelligence inside the bulb itself, making it a direct product-architecture peer even though it sells into different geographies and use cases.

Emerging players

• Yeelight: Yeelight, part of the Xiaomi ecosystem, offers connected LED bulbs and lighting products with smart-home integration. It is an emerging peer in the smart-bulb category with global distribution through Xiaomi channels, comparable in form factor and target consumer but with a Wi-Fi/cloud architecture rather than cellular.
• Secual: Secual is a Japanese IoT home-security startup offering cellular-connected sensors for intrusion and elderly monitoring. It is an emerging peer in the same Japanese cellular-IoT monitoring niche as Hello Light, but with sensor-based rather than bulb-based hardware.

Broad incumbents

• Philips Hue (Signify): Philips Hue, owned by Signify, is the global market leader in smart connected lighting. It is comparable to Hello Light as a category leader in smart bulbs but addresses a much broader consumer smart-lighting use case (ambience, color, entertainment) rather than the cellular-monitoring niche Hello Light targets.
• Tapo (TP-Link): Tapo, TP-Link's smart home brand, offers affordable Wi-Fi smart bulbs, cameras, and sensors. It is comparable as a competing smart-bulb brand targeting similar consumer/monitoring use cases but at lower price points and without cellular or Japan-specific elderly-care positioning.

Others

• SORACOM: SORACOM is the IoT cellular connectivity platform whose SIMs are embedded inside every Hello Light bulb. It is included as a peer because it is the enabling infrastructure for Hello Light's core differentiator (cellular out-of-the-box) and a deeply intertwined partner, even though it is not a competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

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 Hello Light