note inc.
👤 Sadaaki Kato (Star book editor at ASCII and Diamond — edited million-copy hits like Moshidora. He knew writers, their networks, and taste.)🌐 site𝕏LinkedIn
A hit book editor turned Japan's writers into paid creators: 11M members, about $140M a year flows through, no ads.
Will it work? · our read
Trust, not features. A low take rate and Japan-only reach cap the upside: FY25 profit was about $3M on $27M sales. Great culture, modest economics — the moat is love, not margin.
01How the money moves
Creators publish paid posts, magazines and memberships
→
Readers pay per item or subscribe monthly
→
note keeps about 17%, plus $530/mo note pro
02The numbers
$27M
FY25 net sales, +25%
note IR
$140M
GMV through note
note IR
11.1M
registered members
note IR
GMV is money flowing through note, not its revenue — note keeps only the about 17% take. note IR FY25
¥4.14B ($27M) FY25 net sales, +25% YoY; net profit about $3M
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note IR — business modelnote IR — FY2025 resultsnote inc. IR (TSE Growth 5243)Moshidora (Wikipedia)TheBridge — note files for IPO
Revenue (¥4.14B / about $27M, FY ended Nov 2025), GMV (¥21.3B / about $140M) and net income (¥440M / about $3M) are first-party from note's IR as a listed company (TSE Growth 5243) — FILED, verified. GMV is money flowing THROUGH the platform, not note's revenue; note earns only the about 17% take, which is why profit is thin (operating margin about 6%). Yen-to-USD at about 150. The 'no ads = trust' strategy is note's stated positioning [fact]; that it caps the ceiling is our read [infer]. No drama invented — note won on a decade of patient, editor-led culture-building (its 2022 IPO was a down-round from a ¥33.8B private mark, a valuation story, not an operating one). We never score you.