forest inc. raises 1.5 billion yen in a Series A round to accelerate Japanese e-commerce brand acquisitions

forest inc. – headquartered in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Shingo Yuhara, CEO; hereinafter “forest”, an e-commerce accelerator focused on the acquisition and growth of Japanese e-commerce brands, has raised approximately 1.5 billion yen in equity financing from Headline Asia (hereinafter “Headline”), The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners Co. (hereinafter “UTEC”), Nordstar Partners limited (hereinafter “Nordstar”), DBJ Capital Corporation (hereinafter “DBJ Capital”), and FFG Venture Business Partners, Inc. (hereinafter “FFG Venture Business Partners”). Going forward, forest seeks to raise additional debt and equity capital to rapidly scale its business.

Background

forest was founded with the vision of “creating high quality, functional and sustainable world-class Japanese brands”. Since raising a seed round of approximately 900 million yen in October 2021, the company has successfully acquired and grown multiple Japanese brands.

In addition, forest has successfully built a foundation for sustainable growth by helping e-commerce entrepreneurs solve common business challenges and building a comprehensive team capable of supporting a variety of business needs, such as product development, sales and marketing and customer support. Moreover, many of the former owners of the acquired brands have chosen to continue to work with forest post-acquisition.

* some of our brand acquisitions: https://www.forest-inc.jp/press-release/1119/

Purpose of Series A Round & Future Outlook

forest will utilize the capital from this round to accelerate the acquisition of e-commerce brands, enhance advertising initiatives, grow our expert team, and expand our cross-border e-commerce initiatives. In addition, we will continue to strengthen our relationships with both domestic and international equity and debt providers to support our future growth.

Ultimately, forest will continue to build e-commerce brands that bring sustainable, high quality Japanese products to the global market, in pursuit of our mission to bring joy and satisfaction to consumers around the world.

Comments from existing investors

“forest has made incredible progress since we led the company’s Seed round. In 1.5 years, the team proved their ability to not only identify and acquire great brands, but also to take them to the next level post-acquisition. We are very pleased to see encouraging organic growth across the portfolio and are looking forward to seeing forest brands go global as part of the company‘s recent international expansion efforts. Nordstar’s continued support of forest is testament to our firm’s conviction in Japan’s startup ecosystem and focus on enabling local winners to grow into global champions.”

“We believe forest has built an impressive team unlike any other in the industry to pursue the e-commerce acceleration business in Japan. Their ability to leverage technology and business best practices to enhance a brand’s value while rapidly growing revenue and profits is truly exceptional. We look forward to seeing forest leading the growth of the e-commerce industry in Japan, and in turn positively impacting many of the social issues facing the country.”

Comments from new investors

“Japan is a country with a long tradition of craftsmanship, which has served as the foundation for many successful direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands. However, the brand owners who develop these products often lack the expertise or resources needed to break the bottleneck of growth, and hence fail to put together a viable succession plan.
That’s where Forest comes in. Its platform offers a solution that empowers brand founders to supercharge their products and brands using expertise in areas such as capital markets, marketing, and supply chain management. With Forest, these entrepreneurs can take their creations to the next level and capitalize on the hard work they have put into building their brands. We believe that Forest’s innovative platform will be a catalyst for a more prosperous e-commerce ecosystem in Japan. By unlocking the potential of D2C brands, we hope to pave the way for a brighter future in which entrepreneurs can thrive and realize their dreams”

“The business model of the e-commerce accelerator will help solve many of the challenges faced by small and medium-sized businesses grappling with Japan’s diminishing workforce. forest effectively addresses these challenges whilst making high-quality Japanese products more widely available both domestically and internationally, contributing to the strengthening of Japan’s international competitiveness.”

“We have decided to participate in this round to invest in forest as a result of our shared understanding of the challenges facing Japanese e-commerce brands selling quality products and trying to realize sustainable growth. As the Fukuoka Financial Group (FFG), we look forward to supporting the future development and growth of forest”

About forest

forest is a company engaged in acquiring high quality Japanese e-commerce brands and helping them grow through implementing technology and business best practices.
Specifically, we focus on improving marketing and advertising strategies within e-commerce malls such as Amazon and Rakuten, expanding product lineups, improving supply chain efficiencies, and proactively engaging in cross-border e-commerce.

Interested in working with us? Contact us for inquiries regarding brand succession, growth realization and cross-border e-commerce expansion:https://www.forest-inc.jp/business/


Interested in joining forest? We are always looking for great people to join our team. Please refer to the following URL for more details.

■forest Culture Deck:https://speakerdeck.com/forest_inc/culture-deck-pilot
■Contact for employment information:https://www.forest-inc.jp/careers/


Company name: forest Inc.
Location: 6F, Theatre Jinnan Office Building, 1-4-9 Jinnan, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Representative: Shingo Yuhara, CEO
URL: https://www.forest-inc.jp/