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Makuake
Purchase-type crowdfunding · Tokyo · CyberAgent-born · TSE:4479
👤 Ryotaro Nakayama (Ex-CyberAgent VC (Vietnam) who pitched crowdfunding in-house in 2013 — inheriting the parent's capital, media ties, and PR reach.)🌐 siteLinkedIn

Japan reinvented crowdfunding as test-marketing: makers pre-sell new gadgets before retail, and Makuake keeps 20%.

Will it work? · our read
Curation, not code. A 20% cut holds only while hands-on vetting and PR stay scarce. Campaigns are one-and-done, so growth means constantly finding new makers — a launch channel, not a repeat habit.
01How the money moves
Maker submits a new product; Makuake vets it (about 30% rejected)
Backers pre-order during a 30-60 day campaign
Makuake keeps about 20% of funds, pays makers the rest
02The numbers
about $30M
net sales, FY2025
TSE 4479
20%
take on funds raised
DisruptingJP
about 50%
of campaigns funded
DisruptingJP
GMV is not broken out; net sales is the roughly 20% commission plus ad services. Makuake FY2025
about JPY 4.48B net sales (about $30M), FY2025, TSE-listed
03Weight class — CENTStap an axis
ControlEntryNeedTimeScale
Control Mid
Sets the 20% rate and gatekeeps every listing, but makers own the product and can relaunch elsewhere afterward.
04The key move
Not for startups
Nakayama saw Japanese startups don't crowdfund. So he sold Makuake to makers and importers as paid test-marketing plus pre-order cash — justifying a 20% cut (4x Kickstarter) funded by hand-vetting and free PR.
fact
The counter-intuitive move
But test-marketing is a one-time job: once a product proves out, makers move on to Amazon and Rakuten and rarely return.
our read
05Where the moat is
The moat is the trust and PR around the platform, not the platform.
20% take, justified by service not softwareFace-to-face vetting builds real trustCyberAgent media + PR relationshipsFirst-mover brand in JP crowdfunding
06How it diesmedium confidence
If vetting can't scale and makers churn after one campaign, GMV stays cyclical and capped — as in 2022-2023, when post-COVID gadget demand dropped, net sales fell, and Makuake added ad services to recover. our read
Show evidence · counter
Evidence: FY2022-2023 net sales dipped after the COVID gadget surge; FY2025 net sales rebounded about 25% to about JPY 4.48B (about $30M) on higher unit price plus ad services.
Counter: It recovered by raising per-project value and adding ad-agency revenue — proof the model is not limited to campaign fees.
07Against rivals
Makuake20% take
CAMPFIREabout 17% take
GREEN FUNDINGabout 20% take
Kickstarter5% + fees
Japan purchase-crowdfunding is a two-horse race: Makuake vs CAMPFIRE. our read
08Who uses it
Consumer-gadget makersImporters of overseas productsBig brands test-launching (e.g. Sony)Food & craft producersEarly-adopter shoppers
Would it work for you?
Do you have insider access to makers, or a niche where 'launch + demand proof' is the real pain — not just another audience?
Its moat was trust and PR, not code — a clone with neither dies. We don't score you — you answer.
🚀Use it as a launchpada prompt for your own AI
Copy → paste into your AI → then develop it freely in the conversation.
You are a sharp, honest startup strategist. Use the proven case below as a launchpad for MY idea — help me find my own angle, not copy it. <my_profile> Domain I know: [your domain] My unfair advantage (access/audience): [your edge] Interests: [your interests] Resources & goal: [your resources] · [your goal] </my_profile> <case name="Makuake" model="marketplace"> What it does: Makuake is a Japanese purchase-crowdfunding marketplace where makers pre-sell and test-market new products, keeping about 20% of funds raised. Why it won (moat): Its edge is hands-on curation — face-to-face vetting, about 30% of applicants rejected — plus CyberAgent-backed PR and trust, not the platform software that rivals copy. Weakest axis (CENTS): Campaigns are one-shot, so makers rarely return; revenue is cyclical and re-earned each quarter from new supply, and the vetting is deliberately non-scalable. How it could die: Makuake stalls if the vetting team cannot scale and repeat-campaign rates stay low, leaving GMV capped and tied to a fickle gadget-novelty cycle. </case> <task> Be a skeptical operator, not a cheerleader. No generic startup platitudes. If my angle is weak, say so plainly. First, a reality check: markets like this mostly fail. State the honest base rate (how crowded/hard is this?) and the ONE specific thing that would have to be true for ME to be the exception — grounded in my profile above. Then a compact table: - Fit — does this pattern suit my edge, or fight my gap? - Angle — my sharpest differentiation vs Makuake (concrete, not "better UX") - Distribution — exactly where my first 100 users come from (this is the hardest part — be specific, not "content marketing") - Risk — its "how it dies" (above) in MY situation Finish with one line: "The single thing to do next." Use only the facts above; if data is thin, say so — never invent numbers. Then stay with me and go deeper on whatever I ask — tech stack, rough cost & time, the smallest MVP to test, pricing, or timing. </task>
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Sourcesupdated · daily
Net sales (about JPY 4.48B / about $30M, FY2025 ended Sept 2025) are FILED, from Makuake's TSE-listed results and revised guidance; the 20% take, 50% funding rate, and 30% rejection are from Nakayama's Disrupting Japan interview. GMV is NOT separately restated as revenue here. Yen-to-USD converted at about 150. The 2022-2023 dip and recovery are documented in company forecast revisions. Rival bar weights are illustrative relative size (Makuake and CAMPFIRE lead), not audited market share. We never score you.