【Crassone Co., Ltd.】Transforming the Demolition Industry Through a B2B SCM Platform and Smart Demolition in a 1.5 Trillion JPY Market

Cultivating a Culture of Urban Regeneration: The Market Potential of a Growing Demolition Industry Amid Aging Infrastructure

My name is Teppei Kawaguchi, representative of Crassone Co., Ltd. We are on a mission to transform the Japanese demolition industry under our vision of "Cultivating a Culture of Urban Regeneration."

Historically, urban development in Japan has focused heavily on new construction. However, looking at our current landscape, buildings erected during the high-growth era and the bubble economy are rapidly aging, leading to a nationwide "vacant home" (akiya) crisis. Moving forward, properly dismantling and recycling these obsolete structures will be essential. We aim to establish demolition as a natural, seamless part of the urban lifecycle.

After graduating from university, I joined Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. (Sekisui Heim), a major housing manufacturer, where I managed numerous demolition projects. During this time, I witnessed firsthand the industry's severe information asymmetry, complex and opaque pricing, and the multi-tier subcontracting structures that generate wasteful margins. These pain points inspired me to launch our service.

Today, we operate with a team of approximately 100 professionals. We bring together top-tier talent from BCG (Boston Consulting Group) and Sony, alongside industry veterans with 25 years of experience in demolition, combining tech expertise with deep domain knowledge.

The demolition market is currently valued at approximately 1.5 trillion JPY in Japan, driven by the end of life for bubble-era structures and the rising number of abandoned homes. Growing at an annual rate of 5%, we project the market to expand to over 4 trillion JPY in the future.

Structural Inefficiencies and Analog Practices Amid Surging Demolition Demand

Despite the growing demand, the demolition sector is facing severe structural strain.

Property owners naturally prefer spending capital on new construction rather than demolition. Consequently, their primary demand is to minimize demolition costs as much as possible.

Meanwhile, construction cost structures are rising due to severe labor shortages and stricter environmental regulations for industrial waste recycling and disposal.

Caught between the pressure to lower prices and rising operational costs, the industry remains heavily analog, suffering from low efficiency and narrow margins. This has led to critical issues, such as contractors hiring undocumented workers or resorting to illegal dumping. Addressing these structural bottlenecks requires a complete digital transformation (DX) of the industry.

Two Strategic Verticals: Transforming Demolition SCM Through Our Marketplace and Smart Demolition Services

To tackle these challenges, we operate two synergistic business lines:

First, our "Platform Business" is a marketplace connecting property owners with over 2,000 vetted, high-quality demolition contractors nationwide. Over 150,000 users have utilized the service to obtain transparent, competitive quotes.

Recently, our platform has been officially adopted by 131 municipalities across Japan as an authorized akiya solution. Major cities like Yokohama, Kobe, and Sapporo promote our service at their municipal consultation desks to address regional vacant home challenges.

Second, our "Smart Demolition Business" is an end-to-end B2B supply chain management (SCM) service where Crassone acts as the prime contractor. We digitize and manage the entire workflow—from initial sales and project estimation to on-site management and final waste disposal.

By guaranteeing strict compliance, scheduling, and recycling quality, we have gained strong traction among corporate clients (B2B) who prioritize risk management and ESG compliance.

Securing Strategic Alliances and Joint Ventures for a One-Stop "Property Wind-down" Ecosystem

Today, we are seeking new opportunities for strategic alliances and joint ventures, including capital-business partnerships.

To date, we have raised 2.77 billion JPY in venture capital and established collaborations with major Japanese corporations, including Japan Post, Daiwa House, and Zenrin. We are now looking to expand our partner network across several verticals:

- Real Estate & House Builders (sharing demolition leads for land sale and rebuilding)
- Regional Banks & Credit Unions (offering solutions for inheritance and asset liquidation desks)
- Insurance Companies (developing joint services for property risk and inheritance)
- Multi-store Retailers & Corporates (optimizing scrap-and-build cycles and corporate relocation)

Furthermore, we founded the "National Vacant Home Countermeasures Consortium" (comprising major real estate companies, Airbnb, and property resellers), where Crassone serves as the representative director enterprise. This allows us to offer a customized, one-stop service for property wind-downs, ranging from inheritance and demolition to property resale and land reutilization. We look forward to exploring partnership opportunities with you.

質協応答・フィードバック

Interviewer (Mr. Fujiki): Mr. Kawaguchi, thank you for the great presentation. Looking back at our records, I realized we first met in 2017. It has been a long time. Your presentation skills were excellent back then, but they have become even sharper. Hearing about your cumulative funding and strong growth is truly impressive.

Given your stage of growth, I have a simple question: How do you plan to scale the "Platform Business" and the "Smart Demolition Business" respectively, and which vertical will be the main growth engine going forward?

Mr. Kawaguchi: Mr. Fujiki, it is wonderful to see you again. Thank you for the encouraging remarks.

Regarding our growth strategy, for the "Platform Business," we aim to expand our municipal partnerships from the current 131 local governments to all 1,717 municipalities nationwide. With projections indicating that 1 in 3 homes in Japan will eventually become vacant, local governments face massive resource constraints. Our marketplace acts as a public-private infrastructure to absorb this demand.

For the "Smart Demolition Business," this is our primary focus and where we are aggressively allocating capital and resources. Unlike the marketplace, the smart demolition model allows us to control the entireバリューチェーン. By digitizing workflows, we can optimize on-site efficiency, reduce costs, and pass these savings on to our corporate clients. This will be our main engine to capture the B2B market.

Interviewer (Mr. Fujiki): I see. So Smart Demolition is the primary driver to capture B2B market share by leveraging digital efficiency.

We also have a question from the audience: "Why are banks and financial institutions considered key strategic partners, and what does a typical alliance look like?"

Mr. Kawaguchi: Excellent question. Regional banks and credit unions receive daily consultations from business owners and individuals regarding asset management, inheritance, and business restructuring, where dismantling old facilities or homes is often a critical blocker.

Rather than just introducing a local demolition contractor, we partner with banks to embed our end-to-end "property wind-down" workflow directly into their inheritance and asset liquidation consulting services. By leveraging our consortium network, banks can offer a seamless experience for their clients, helping them liquidate idle real estate faster, which in turn creates new financing and asset management opportunities for the bank. We can customize these integrations based on each partner's requirements.

Interviewer (Mr. Fujiki): Integrating the property wind-down process with a bank's wealth management and inheritance desk makes perfect sense. I look forward to seeing your continued expansion. Thank you.

Mr. Kawaguchi: Thank you very much. I appreciate your support.