Candle

Candle Inc. is a digital media company that plans, develops, and operates web and video media platforms. Founded in April 2014 by Yasumasa Kanemoto, a student at the University of Tokyo at the time, along with classmates and members of a business club. The company initially launched several services, including a women's media platform covering fashion, makeup, and beauty, which was released in January 2015.

In October 2016, after about two and a half years of operation, Candle was acquired by CROOZ, Inc. for ¥1.25 billion, becoming a subsidiary of the group. Following the acquisition, the company continued to expand its media business. One of its ventures, the video media outlet MimiTV, was established as a separate company in May 2017 and subsequently sold to Trenders, Inc. in April 2018. This move was aimed at concentrating resources on its core media operations. In February 2019, founder Yasumasa Kanemoto stepped down as representative director to take on new challenges within the CROOZ group's global operations, and Kazuki Yamashita, who had experience as a director and head of a subsidiary, was appointed as the new representative director.

In August 2020, CROOZ, Inc. announced the sale of all its shares in Candle Inc. to HACK JAPAN Holdings Co., Ltd. The company primarily operated curation media platforms such as "MARBLE," which provided content on fashion, cosmetics, and lifestyle for women, and had also developed the video media "MimiTV" and the game streaming service "minetteTV".

Keywords: digital media, web media, video media, media platform, curation media, MARBLE, MimiTV, Yasumasa Kanemoto, CROOZ, content creation, online media, media development, media operation, Japanese startup