Arara, inc.

Paycloud Holdings Inc., formerly known as arara inc., operates as a multifaceted SaaS enterprise headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company's journey began in August 2006 when Yosuke Iwai founded Repica Inc. Inspired by the gift card culture he observed in North America, Iwai, who had previously co-founded and served as an executive at the mobile internet company Cybird, launched Repica to introduce similar services to the Japanese market. The firm initially focused on providing integrated promotional packages for retail stores.

A significant milestone occurred in December 2010 when Repica established a subsidiary, arara inc., to venture into the augmented reality (AR) market with the launch of its "ARAPPLI" application. This strategic move diversified the company's portfolio. In a move to streamline operations and strengthen its brand, Repica absorbed its subsidiary, arara inc., on April 1, 2016, and adopted the arara inc. name for the unified entity. The company continued its expansion, achieving a listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market in 2020. Further strategic consolidation took place in 2022 with the acquisition of Valuedesign Inc. The company underwent its latest transformation on March 1, 2024, changing its name to Paycloud Holdings Inc. to better reflect its business structure. Under the holding company, arara inc. now operates as a subsidiary focused on solution services.

The group's business is structured across several key segments, serving a broad B2B client base. The core offerings include: a cashless service providing house-brand electronic money and CRM solutions like "point+plus"; a messaging service centered on the high-speed "repica mail series" email distribution system; and a data security division offering the "P-Pointer" personal information detection software. Additionally, it continues to develop AR applications like "ARAPPLI" for promotional activities and offers a QR code reader application, "QRQR" (formerly "Q"), developed in cooperation with Denso Wave. Revenue is generated through the development and provision of these SaaS solutions to its corporate clients. The cashless services arm, in particular, leverages a pre-charge model, where customers load money onto store-specific cards, providing upfront revenue to merchants.

Keywords: Paycloud Holdings, arara inc., Repica, Yosuke Iwai, SaaS, house-brand electronic money, CRM, point+plus, cashless solutions, messaging service, email distribution, data security, P-Pointer, augmented reality, ARAPPLI, QR code reader, Japanese tech, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Valuedesign, B2B software, retail tech, customer loyalty