[Capsule Hub Inc.] DXing the Massive 150-Billion-Yen Gacha Market. Game Change Driven by NFC Add-on Payment, Data Utilization, and Powerful Chinese Manufacturing Network

Responding to the Disconnect at Tomica Expo: Confronting a Black-Boxed 150-Billion-Yen Market

Hello everyone, I am Toru Kanaya, CEO of Capsule Hub Inc. Today, I would like to share our journey to redefine the "random experience" of capsule toys (Gacha) through technology and data, establishing a new purchasing infrastructure for real-world entertainment.

First, let me share what inspired me to start this business. I have two children, aged six and three. Two years ago, we visited "Tomica Expo" together. From the entrance to the exit, almost all payments for experiences and shopping were completed via seamless contactless methods. I was deeply impressed by the progress of DX in Japan.

However, at the very end of the route, right next to the exit, we arrived at the Gacha corner. There stood a traditional coin-changing machine, with a long line of families waiting. In an event hall where almost everything was digitized, Gacha alone remained analog, relying solely on cash and coins. Experiencing this sudden disconnect in user experience gave me a strong sense of urgency.

Upon research, I found that the Japanese Gacha market has grown to approximately 150 billion yen and is expanding year by year. It is a highly attractive entertainment market. However, because payments are heavily cash-dependent, operators cannot track which machine is selling what or how much stock remains in real-time. The only way to manage it is for staff to physically visit the site and peek inside the machines. The market is completely black-boxed.

To address this and close the loop between manufacturing, distribution, customer experience, and data feedback, we founded Capsule Hub in April 2025.

My career began at Dentsu Group, where I worked on TV collaborations and the advertising business. Later, I joined popIn Inc., the developer of "popIn Aladdin," a globally acclaimed smart projector, where I launched its in-device advertising business. After popIn was acquired by Baidu, I engaged in global collaborations as a member of Baidu's team. Following that, I co-managed Smart Share, an SNS marketing company, before founding Capsule Hub last year. Privately, I co-produced a movie project with film director Kazuya Kiriya (Kazuaki Kiriya) to learn the essence of global entertainment production. These experiences have shaped my dual expertise in business and entertainment.

3-Minute Smart Upgrade with NFC Tags: How "Link" Eliminates Lost Sales Opportunities

At the core of our solution is "Link," a product that adds cashless payments and data tracking directly to existing Gacha machines without requiring hardware replacement.

We developed an attachment utilizing NFC tags that can simply be pasted onto the front of major Gacha machines, such as those made by Bandai. Users touch the tag with their smartphone, which instantly launches payment screens (such as PayPay). Once the payment is complete, the machine's physical lock is released, allowing the user to turn the dial.

This system does not disrupt the machine's appearance or its traditional coin mechanism. It captures 100% of the lost sales opportunities where customers gave up simply because they did not have coins, requiring minimal initial cost.

Furthermore, we provide operators and retailers with a dashboard. It visualizes sales, payment methods, transaction timestamps, and real-time inventory levels.

Recently, we introduced our cashless machines at a professional sports team's fan appreciation event for two days. With traditional analog coin Gacha, staff had to manually collect, carry, and count heavy coins after the event. With our system, however, the dashboard visualized the total sales, quantity, and trend data in just one second with a single click. The team's management was highly impressed by the sheer efficiency and smoothness of our solution.

Synergies of "Dock" for E-Commerce Integration and "Base" for Visualizing Foot Traffic

Our solutions go beyond upgrading existing Gacha machines.

For merchandising (MD) in sports team events, concerts, live houses, and pop-up stores, we offer "Dock," an event-specialized smart machine.

Dock is not just a payment gateway; it integrates with web promotions and controls customer traffic. For example, operators can issue a digital coupon allowing users who spent over 5,000 yen on the artist's online store to spin the Gacha once for free at the venue. This design enables a seamless transition of customers from online to offline.

We have also launched "Base," a specialized Gacha map and search media to visualize industry-wide data. It surpassed 10,000 PVs in just one year since launch, mapping out where and what Gacha products are being played across Japan.

As the adoption of Link and Dock increases, the accuracy of the data collected in Base will improve dramatically. Real-time centralized management of demand trends and inventory across Japan—this is our core strength as a platform.

Breaking the 500-Yen Price Cap: Game-Changing "Capsule Craft" Made in China's Premium Factories

Based on the accumulated trend data, we also run "Craft," a division that designs and manufactures original figures and toys.

Traditional cash-only Gacha machines had a physical price cap of 500 or 600 yen due to coin slot limitations. Consequently, the quality of figures was inevitably compromised to keep manufacturing costs extremely low.

With cashless payments, however, price caps disappear. We can set prices at 1,000 yen, 10,000 yen, or even 100,000 yen. We established "Capsule Craft," a premium capsule toy brand focusing on the physical weight and exceptional details that make users feel true value.

This brand is supported by my strong supply chain network in China built during my time at Baidu. We partner directly with top-tier mold and molding factories that manufacture licensed figures for global IPs like Disney. This bypasses traditional domestic intermediaries, achieving outstanding quality, low costs, and small-batch production. This manufacturing power—the capability to produce anything—is our second key competitive advantage.

We plan to raise 300 million yen by March 2026. Leveraging data, we will actively execute M&As with Gacha and entertainment companies globally to accelerate the update of this 150-billion-yen market. We look forward to hearing from interested investors, IP holders, and store operators. Thank you very much.

Questions & Answers

Commentator (Mr. Toyama): Thank you, Mr. Kanaya. While Gacha has grown into a massive 150-billion-yen market, pointing out that sales and inventory management remain a complete black box was very intriguing. Gacha corners, like the one at Bic Camera in Yurakucho, are always packed with crowds. Connecting all of them via cashless payments and data seems like a highly powerful business.

Looking at your product list, you have about six categories on your website, including sundries, accessories, figures, and novelties. In which scenarios and with which customer segments do you think your approach is most effective?

Mr. Kanaya: Thank you for the question. Actually, we are not limited to the six categories listed on our website. Our stance is that "we can manufacture anything."

Our greatest asset is our partnership with premium figure and toy factories in China, which we connected with during my time at Baidu. These factories manufacture products for global brands like Disney. We can maintain high quality while keeping costs significantly lower than going through Japanese agencies.

Therefore, if a client wants to create original novelties or produce IP figures but has budget constraints, we can provide a one-stop solution from planning to mold creation and production with competitive pricing and quality. For clients who do not know how to sell their products, we can suggest placing our cashless Gacha machines at their venues. Being able to offer a one-stop solution from upstream (manufacturing) to downstream (sales and experience) is our unique strength.

Mr. Toyama: I see. You have the assets to manufacture high-quality products at low costs and can sell them via cashless Gacha. Since it is digitized, as data accumulates, you will be able to recommend optimal products for each location. What used to be an analog process of inserting coins and spinning at random can now be optimized scientifically.

Mr. Kanaya: Exactly. That is the world we want to create by combining cashless payments and data.

Furthermore, while Gacha culture attracts attention globally, the main barriers to international expansion have been cash handling and security. Placing machines that store cash on the streets overseas poses high risks of theft and vandalism. However, with our fully cashless systems like Link and Dock, the risk of theft is zero. We are already planning international expansion, approaching sports leagues like Major League Baseball (MLB) and European football clubs.

Mr. Toyama: Cashless systems acting as a security measure and driving global expansion is a great perspective. I can see a future where Gacha culture spreads worldwide through your system. I have high expectations.

Mr. Kanaya: Thank you. We will continue our challenge toward the global market.