ipassion

What ipassion does

ipassion (株式会社アイ・パッション) is a privately held Japanese recruitment services firm founded in 2005/2006 by Asai Shingo, a former seven-year top salesperson at a Recruit advertising agency. The company specializes in recruitment consulting, talent introduction, and recruitment BPO for venture and small-to-mid-sized enterprises in Japan — a segment it argues is underserved by mainstream job portals dominated by large employers and prone to a 30%+ three-year turnover among new graduates. Its core products include the ENOWA talent introduction platform (operated by a separately incorporated entity, 株式会社ENOWA, established February 2026 under paid placement license 13-ユ-318941), a recruitment consulting practice covering requirement analysis through post-hire advice, and a recruitment BPO offering; its signature marketing and matching format is the proprietary Mahjong就活FESTA event, which uses mahjong gameplay to surface candidate traits beyond resume screening, and which reached its 30th iteration in June 2025.

Revenue is generated through four streams: (1) transaction-fee commissions as a top-tier Mynavi job advertisement agency — a 20-consecutive-year partnership renewed most recently in March 2025 and the company's primary channel; (2) placement fees from the ENOWA licensed introduction business; (3) professional-services fees for recruitment consulting engagements with venture and SMB clients; and (4) managed-services fees for outsourced recruitment (BPO). Distribution combines direct sales to mid-market employer clients, a self-serve platform layer (ENOWA), and the Mynavi reseller relationship, all concentrated in Japan. The company's technology stack is built on owned job and career websites (historically Passion Navi, then CheerCareer, then ZERO CANVAS, now ENOWA), event-management tooling for Mahjong就活FESTA, and standard marketing analytics (Google Analytics, Google AdSense); no proprietary AI/ML capabilities are disclosed.

Following the July 2021 divestiture of its employment media and event operations to cheer社 and the February 2026 spin-off of the placement business into ENOWA, ipassion has concentrated its operations on consulting, BPO, the ENOWA placement line, and the Mahjong就活FESTA community. The firm is bootstrapped, founder-controlled, and remains private, with a cumulative footprint of more than 2,000 supported companies over its 20-year history.

Name

ipassion

Legal name

株式会社アイ・パッション

Website

https://ipassion.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ipassion is a Tokyo-based, privately held Japanese recruitment services firm that provides talent introduction (ENOWA), recruitment consulting, and recruitment BPO for venture and SMB companies, plus the proprietary Mahjong就活FESTA networking event.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

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. Job Advertisement Agency (人才网広告代理): As a top-tier Mynavi agent (20-year consecutive partnership), ipassion earns commissions on job advertisement placements sold to client companies. This is the primary revenue stream, supported by the company's established distribution relationship with Mynavi.
2. 有料職業紹介 (Fee-based Employment Placement): Licensed placement service (Permit No. 13-ユ-318941) matching job seekers with companies for a placement fee. Both fresh graduates and mid-career professionals are served through the ENOWA brand. Commission is charged on successful placement.
3. 採用コンサルティング (Recruitment Consulting): Custom consulting engagements for venture and SMB clients including: active candidate requirement analysis, media/event strategy for recruitment pipeline building, selection process design, motivation formation, and post-hire placement advice.
4. 採用アウトソーシング (Recruitment BPO): Outsourcing of recruitment processes for client companies. ipassion manages the end-to-end hiring process on behalf of employers, providing a turnkey solution.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

ipassion is a Japanese recruitment services firm that provides talent introduction (ENOWA), recruitment consulting, recruitment BPO (outsourcing), and a proprietary mahjong-based career event (Mahjong就活フェスタ) targeting venture and small-to-medium sized companies in Japan. The company operates as a top-tier Mynavi job advertisement agency and helps employers and job seekers achieve growth-oriented matches through dedicated career advisors and specialized platforms.

Product overview

ipassion operates a multi-service HR platform spanning three core divisions: (1) Staffing/recruitment services through ENOWA, (2) Recruitment consulting for SMEs and venture companies, and (3) The unique 麻雀就活フェスタ (Mahjong Career Festival) event business. The company maintains strategic partnerships with Mynavi (a major Japanese recruitment media platform), operates the alumni network program Ipassion Alumni Network, and previously developed and operated the job portal brands パッションナビ/CheerCareer before transferring that business. The portfolio is unified by a shared mission of connecting talented individuals with growth-oriented companies, emphasizing human-centric matching over volume-based placement.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ENOWA: 人材紹介事業品牌，提供專業專職職業顧問及招募顧問服務，為學生和企業進行深度匹配。
• 麻雀就活フェスタ

Products and services

• ENOWA (人材紹介事業) Professional talent introduction and placement service for new graduates and mid-career professionals. Dedicated career advisors and recruiting specialists match candidates with venture and SMB companies based on authentic aspirations and growth potential. Spun off as a separate legal entity (株式会社ENOWA) in February 2026.
• Recruitment Consulting (採用コンサルティング事業) Consulting service leveraging expertise from supporting thousands of companies. Includes active candidate requirement analysis, media/event recruitment pipeline building, selection process design, motivation formation, and post-hire placement advice. Targets venture and SMB clients.
• Mahjong就活フェスタ (Mahjong Career Festival) Proprietary career fair event using mahjong as a networking medium. Business-relevant skills including strategic thinking, judgment, communication, and personality are revealed through gameplay, enabling authentic connections between company executives and students beyond traditional resume and interview formats. Held 30 times as of June 2025.
• リクマケ (Recruitment Landing Page Service) Landing page production service specifically designed for recruitment marketing, producing hiring-focused landing pages for client companies to support their candidate attraction efforts.
• Job Advertisement Agency (Mynavi Top Agency) As a top-tier Mynavi agent for 20 consecutive years (renewed March 2025), ipassion sells Mynavi job advertisement placements to client companies across Japan, generating commission revenue on each placement.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 2,000 companies supported with recruitment (cumulative over 20 years)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• 株式会社ENOWAcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2026On February 1, 2026, ipassion officially spun off its talent introduction business into a new company, 株式会社ENOWA. ENOWA operates as a separately incorporated entity (license: 13-ユ-318941) under the ipassion group, continuing the talent introduction and placement services. This is the company's most significant structural partnership/spin-off, establishing a dedicated entity for the placement business.
• 特定非|TYPe非活動法人ジャパンハート (Japan Heart)minorOthers · 5 September 2024ipassion has been an annual sponsorship supporter of Japan Heart, an NPO providing medical aid in Southeast Asia and Africa, for 11 consecutive years (since approximately 2014). This is a CSR/community sponsorship rather than a commercial partnership.
• 株式会社プロフィフティーン (Profittheen Co., Ltd.)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2021In December 2021, ipassion entered into a business partnership with Profittheen to launch the 'HR Trade' service. HR Trade appears to be a recruitment-related service offering. Details of the partnership structure are limited.
• cheer社 (Cheer Company)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2021In July 2021, ipassion completed the business transfer (事業譜渡) of its employment media and event business to cheer社. This included the CheerCareer platform. The transfer was part of ipassion's strategic focus on its core consulting and ENOWA businesses.
• SOOLminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2013In April 2013, ipassion entered into a business partnership with SOOL (announced again in April 2014) to strengthen venture company new graduate recruitment. The partnership was aimed at enhancing recruitment solutions for venture companies by combining ipassion's job platform with SOOL's services.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Indeed Japan: Global job search engine operating in Japan, competing for the same SMB and venture hiring budgets that ipassion serves. Although it does not offer the consulting or event-based services that ipassion provides, it is a constant source of pricing pressure on recruitment marketing fees.
• Recruit Holdings (リクルートホールディングス): Parent of Mynavi, Indeed, and other major recruitment platforms globally. The ipassion founder previously worked at a Recruit subsidiary, and Mynavi is ipassion's largest channel partner. A structural incumbent that both enables and threatens ipassion's distribution model.
• BizReach (ビズリーチ): Japanese high-end job platform and recruitment services company operating BizReach and HRMOS brands. Overlaps with ipassion in placement services but targets more experienced candidates and larger corporate clients rather than venture/SMB new graduates.
• en Japan (エンジャパン): Major Japanese job media and recruitment services company operating brands such as en tenshoku and en engineer. A broader incumbent that overlaps with ipassion in SMB/venture hiring but at much larger scale and with diversified revenue across multiple job platforms.

Direct peers

• Wantedly: Japanese job platform focused on startups, venture companies, and SMB employers, with a culture-fit matching model. Most directly comparable to ipassion on the venture/SMB candidate-employer matching segment and target user (new graduates and young professionals seeking mission-driven work).
• Neo Career (ネオキャリア): Japanese recruitment and HR services firm offering placement, outsourcing, and consulting across SMB and mid-market segments. Comparable to ipassion in its multi-service HR model and focus on placement plus consulting engagements.
• Tsunagu Group Holdings (ツナググループ・ホールディングス): Japanese staffing and recruitment services group focused on SMB and mid-market employers across multiple verticals. Comparable to ipassion in serving smaller employers with placement, BPO, and consulting services, with similar revenue mix.
• Leverages (リーヴァイズ): Japan-based recruitment agency group operating multiple specialized placement brands for venture, IT, and SMB hiring. Directly comparable to ipassion in its multi-brand approach to serving venture/SMB employers with fee-based placement and consulting services.

Regional players

• HR Solutions (HRソリューションズ): Japanese recruitment and HR services firm that serves SMB and mid-market clients, including placement and consulting. Functionally similar to ipassion's ENOWA and consulting services but with limited overlap in the venture niche and event-driven candidate engagement.

Others

• Cheer Company (cheer社): Operator of the CheerCareer job platform that ipassion originally developed and transferred to cheer社 in July 2021. Not a direct competitor but a closely related party that now owns ipassion's former media business and shares brand equity with the ipassion group.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/FESTA_mahjong

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 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 ipassion