Engate

Engate Inc., established in February 2018, operates a digital platform designed to financially empower sports teams and individual athletes. The company was founded by Koichiro Kido, whose career includes roles in human resources at SoftBank and a 17-year tenure at Rakuten, where he served as an executive officer overseeing regional branches and international operations. Kido’s motivation to start Engate stemmed from a personal experience witnessing his friend, an Olympic sailing representative, struggle to secure funding for his athletic career. This highlighted the financial challenges many athletes face, inspiring a solution to connect them directly with their supporters.

The core of Engate's business is its sports-focused gifting service, which allows fans to directly support teams and athletes by purchasing and sending digital gifts. This model provides a new and direct revenue stream for the sports industry, catering to a wide array of clients from professional organizations like the NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) and J-League (Japan Professional Football League) to amateur and university teams. The platform facilitates enhanced fan engagement through features like live streaming, exclusive events, and the ability for athletes and teams to offer unique rewards. Revenue is primarily generated from the sale of these digital gifts, called "Engate points," which users purchase to send to their chosen athletes. The company also offers an "Engate Sponsorship Model," a tool for sponsors to measure the return on investment from their contributions, and provides its gifting system as an OEM or API solution for businesses to integrate into their own services.

Engate's platform is more than a simple donation tool; it aims to deepen the relationship between fans and athletes. Supporters can gift during live events or in response to specific plays, creating a dynamic and interactive experience. In return for their support, fans can receive exclusive goods, experiences, and even NFTs of rewards like replies from athletes. The company has secured significant funding, including a 460 million yen Series A round, to fuel its growth, enhance its services, and pursue global expansion, particularly into the U.S. market. Engate was recognized as one of the "TOP 10 JAPANESE STARTUPS 2023" by STARTUP CITY, underscoring its potential for global expansion.

Keywords: sports fundraising, fan engagement, athlete funding, digital gifting, sports technology, direct-to-fan, sports sponsorship, livestreaming, fan monetization, athlete support, sports finance, fan community, NFT rewards, Japanese startups, Koichiro Kido, sports platform, professional sports, amateur sports, team funding, J-League, NPB