DuoTech
DuoTech builds character-driven AI agents via its Nico Character OS platform, unifying Nico Guide, Nico Explainer, and Nico Sales on a shared knowledge base to serve Japanese enterprises and government with persona-consistent conversational experiences.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersTokyo, Japan
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What DuoTech does
DuoTech is a Tokyo-headquartered AI company that builds character-driven conversational agents through its Nico Character OS platform. Founded in August 2019 and operating with 1-10 employees, the company targets both Japanese government and enterprise customers with persona-consistent AI agents that maintain a single character identity across customer-facing touchpoints. Leadership is bilingual, with CEO 成吉斯格 (Nariyoshi Sige) overseeing strategy and CTO 呂杰 (Lyu Jie) leading technology, supported by specialized roles in product quality, UX design, AI research, marketing, and business development.
The core product is the Nico Character OS, which unifies three services on a shared knowledge base: Nico Guide (web-widget customer-support agents), Nico Explainer (multi-channel explanation agents), and Nico Sales (sales-conversation agents). The underlying architecture comprises four layers — a Character Bible for persona definition, a knowledge layer for factual grounding, guardrails for response safety, and an operations layer for deployment and analytics. The platform uses Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), supports multiple-LLM switching, and handles multimodal inputs including text, video, and audio, enabling the same character to operate consistently across web, voice, and video surfaces.
DuoTech monetizes through a tiered enterprise pricing model: Proof-of-Concept engagements at JPY 800K-1.5M, Web Widget deployments at JPY 1-3M initial plus JPY 200K-500K/month, and full Installation deployments at JPY 2.5-6M initial plus JPY 300K-800K/month. Named customers include Sagamihara City (local government), Weathernews (weather media), JANGA TECH (SaaS), an unnamed pharmaceutical company, Truck王国 (automotive retail), and BELMISE (beauty retail), with channel distribution now augmented by a March 2026 partnership with Fun Factory. The company is headquartered at H¹O Shibakoen in Minato-ku, Tokyo, and is pursuing ISMAP cloud certification to access regulated-industry workloads.
DuoTech firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- DuoTech
- Legal name
- 株式会社DuoTech
- Website
- https://duotech.ai
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- DuoTech builds character-driven AI agents via its Nico Character OS platform, unifying Nico Guide, Nico Explainer, and Nico Sales on a shared knowledge base to serve Japanese enterprises and government with persona-consistent conversational experiences.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
DuoTech industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Conversational AI / Character AI Platform
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132), Computer Systems Design Services (541512)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Conversational AI Platforms (chat/voice bots, orchestration) (HDAAAFAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- AI Integration & Orchestration Platforms (Connectors, Workflow, iPaaS for AI) (HDAEANAI), Contact Center Speech AI (agent assist, IVR automation) (HDAAAFAL)
Keywords
Where DuoTech is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Tokyo
- HQ country
- Japan
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices1 record
Markets served
DuoTech business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- PoC Implementation Services: Fixed-price PoC engagements lasting 4–6 weeks, priced at JPY 800,000–1,500,000. Includes KPI design, data scoping, conversation design, initial RAG setup, and minimum guided pathway implementation.
- WEB Widget Subscription: Recurring monthly subscription (JPY 200,000–500,000/month) plus one-time initial implementation fee (JPY 1,000,000–3,000,000). Provides chat, RAG-powered answers, related page guidance, form/survey routing, and multilingual support. Sold as a subscription with annual or multi-year billing implied.
- Installation Type / On-site Deployment: Recurring monthly subscription (JPY 300,000–800,000/month) plus one-time initial fee (JPY 2,500,000–6,000,000). Includes avatar display, voice conversation, hands-free interaction, facility guidance, multilingual support, and continuous operation. Hardware procurement and integration billed separately.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | PoC (Proof of Concept) — 4–6 weeks fixed engagement to validate KPI design, data scoping, guided pathway, and self-resolution / CVR / work reduction metrics |
| Subscription | Monthly | WEB Widget Type — embeddable FAQ/chat widget for existing websites and landing pages; entry-level deployment |
| Subscription | Monthly | Installation Type — on-site/touchscreen/signage deployment for facilities, showrooms, retail, and events; full-service ongoing deployment |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
DuoTech product offering
Product offeringCore offering
DuoTech develops and sells the Nico Character AI platform, an integrated system that transforms static FAQ, PDF, and web content into character-driven conversational AI contact points. The platform comprises Nico Character OS as the core layer managing character personality, knowledge grounding, guardrails, and multilingual delivery, with three commercial services built on top: Nico Guide for AI-guided FAQ and facility navigation, Nico Explainer for AI-generated explanation videos, and Nico Sales for standardized in-store AI sales assistance. Deployments are available as embeddable web widgets or on-site installations for retail, tourism, municipal, and enterprise buyers.
Product overview
DuoTech offers an integrated Character AI platform centered on the Nico Character OS core, which manages character personality, knowledge, tone, guardrails, and operational logs. Three service offerings — Nico Guide (AI guidance), Nico Explainer (AI video generation), and Nico Sales (AI sales staff) — are built on this shared foundation and share knowledge, conversation design, escalation rules, and continuous improvement loops. Both web widget and installed deployment forms are available. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, was founded in August 2019, and has raised 50 million yen in funding.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Nico: Common AI platform that serves as the core infrastructure supporting Guide / Explainer / Sales services. Manages character personality, knowledge, tone, NG expressions, official information, approval, updates, and log improvement.
- Nico Guide
- Nico Explainer
- Nico Sales
- Nico Character OS
- 説明負債診断
Products and services
- Nico Character OS
Quantifiable outcome
- FAQ self-resolution rate: 30–60%
- +11 more outcomes
Companies that use DuoTech
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
DuoTech technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration7 records
AI capability8 records
Feature8 records
DuoTech partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Fun FactorycoreDuoTech entered a solutions alliance with Fun Factory focused on AI agent × digital signage deployment. Fun Factory handles Dise (digital signage), spatial production, and delivery operations, while DuoTech provides Nico character AI, conversational guidance design, and contact point implementation. The alliance targets local government DX, retail DX, and hospitality DX markets, covering AI guidance counters, character-based facility navigation, and signage-integrated sales/guidance pathways.
Scale indicators1 record
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
DuoTech competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Yellow.ai: Conversational AI platform spanning customer support, sales, and marketing across voice and digital channels — directly comparable to DuoTech's Guide/Sales conversational offerings for enterprise buyers.
- Soul Machines: Builds autonomous digital humans / AI avatars for customer engagement, brand experience, and sales support — closely overlaps with DuoTech's Character OS-driven avatar guidance and sales use cases.
- Cognigy: Enterprise conversational AI platform for customer service automation and AI agents with orchestration, guardrails, and multi-channel deployment — comparable to DuoTech's Nico Guide for enterprise/government contact automation.
- Synthesia: AI avatar video generation platform that converts documents/URLs into character-based explainer videos — directly comparable to DuoTech's Nico Explainer offering for enterprise marketing and education content.
- PKSHA Technology: Japanese AI/NLP platform company serving enterprise customer service, recommendation, and conversational AI — the closest domestic peer to DuoTech in the Japanese enterprise/government conversational AI space.
- D-ID: AI avatar and video generation platform for customer experience, training, and marketing — comparable to DuoTech's avatar-based Nico Explainer and on-premise Nico Sales deployments.
Emerging players
- HeyGen: AI video generation platform with avatar creation and multilingual localization — comparable to Nico Explainer's URL/document-to-character-video workflow, with broader consumer-grade distribution.
- boost.ai: Enterprise conversational AI focused on virtual agents for customer service and self-service — overlaps with DuoTech's Nico Guide but skews toward Northern European enterprise rather than Japanese government/retail.
Broad incumbents
- rinna (Microsoft Japan): Microsoft Japan's character-based conversational AI brand offering chat characters and enterprise partnerships — overlaps with DuoTech's character AI positioning but backed by Microsoft's scale and ecosystem.
- SoftBank Robotics: Robotics and AI platform provider (Pepper, etc.) deployed in retail, hospitality, and government facilities — comparable channel and use cases to DuoTech's on-premise avatar deployments but operates at vastly larger scale.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
DuoTech social profiles
Digital presenceDuoTech compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
DuoTech financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
DuoTech leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles7 records
DuoTech funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
DuoTech M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about DuoTech
What does DuoTech do?
DuoTech develops and sells the Nico Character AI platform, an integrated system that transforms static FAQ, PDF, and web content into character-driven conversational AI contact points. The platform comprises Nico Character OS as the core layer managing character personality, knowledge grounding, guardrails, and multilingual delivery, with three commercial services built on top: Nico Guide for AI-guided FAQ and facility navigation, Nico Explainer for AI-generated explanation videos, and Nico Sales for standardized in-store AI sales assistance. Deployments are available as embeddable web widgets or on-site installations for retail, tourism, municipal, and enterprise buyers.
Is DuoTech a public or private company?
DuoTech is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was DuoTech founded?
DuoTech was founded in 2019. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is DuoTech based?
DuoTech is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, in the Asia region.
How does DuoTech make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. PoC Implementation Services are the primary driver. The others are WEB Widget Subscription and installation Type / On-site Deployment.
Who are DuoTech's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Yellow.ai, Soul Machines, Cognigy, Synthesia, PKSHA Technology and D-ID. Emerging players are HeyGen and boost.ai. Broad incumbents are rinna (Microsoft Japan) and SoftBank Robotics.
Does DuoTech have an API?
No public API is recorded for DuoTech.
What industry is DuoTech in?
DuoTech's product category is Conversational AI / Character AI Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAAAFAC, Conversational AI Platforms (chat/voice bots, orchestration), with a secondary code of HDAEANAI, AI Integration & Orchestration Platforms (Connectors, Workflow, iPaaS for AI). Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7373.