■Company Overview

1. Company Overview and History

Optim ＜3694＞ is a venture enterprise specializing in AI/IoT technology that was started with friends in 2000 when Mr. Sugaya, the current president and representative director, was a student at Saga University. Our mission is to “turn the internet into air,” and we aim to be an enterprise that plays a central role in the 4th Industrial Revolution through de facto standardization of “OptiM Cloud IoT OS.” We believe that the creation and realization of innovation is the only reason our company exists, and it is also a characteristic of the company that it has carried out numerous inventions since the beginning of its establishment, and the number of patent applications has reached 1,129, and the number of registrations has reached 548 (as of 2024/3). The number of employees is 406 (as of 2024/4/1), and most of them are development personnel.

At the beginning of its establishment, it was mainly an internet video advertisement service, but it switched to an optimal business (a term coined for a business aiming to change the internet into air and optimize tomorrow's world) when a technology license agreement with East Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (hereinafter, NTT East) was provided with an automatic internet connection tool utilizing AI in 2006. In 2009, we started providing the management platform “Optimal Biz” for personal computers. Furthermore, the company has developed various products and services up to the present, but the value provided by “smartly operating a remote terminal” is consistent even when target fields and technology change.

From around 2011, a management platform compatible with multiple devices, including smartphones, etc. was developed in response to the trend of the world shifting from PCs to mobile phones. It is “OptiM Cloud IoT OS,” which has expanded and evolved that platform, and factual standardization is currently being promoted. Since 2013, it has also expanded into an unlimited use service for software and content, expanding the range of business models.

In 2015, the initiative “00×IT,” which uses IT to cause changes in the industry, began in earnest, and projects with partner companies and organizations began in fields such as construction and agriculture. In the construction industry, four companies, including Komatsu, jointly launched a new platform “LANDLOG” for construction production processes in 2017. In 2020, provision of the world's first application “OptiM Land Scan” (now “OptiM Geo Scan”) that allows anyone to easily perform high-precision three-dimensional surveying using the iPad Pro began, and currently the cumulative number of contract licenses has exceeded 1,000. In agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, a demonstration experiment of pest control using drones was successful in the agricultural field in 2016. Also, in 2018, the “Smart Agriculture Alliance” led by the company was carried out on a nationwide scale, and crops such as rice and soybeans were harvested in earnest. Progress is also remarkable in the medical field, and the company's AI/IoT platform “Optim Cloud IoT OS” is being used as a network support system for the first domestically produced surgical support robot system “HinotoriTM Surgical Robot System” developed by Medicaroid.

Major companies in various industries are the company's partners, and their technical capabilities and potential are highly praised from inside and outside. In 2020, in collaboration with the Bank of Saga ＜8395＞, they established a joint venture “Optim Bank Technologies Co., Ltd.” for the purpose of planning and selling solutions utilizing AI and IoT, etc., and participated in the establishment of NTT e-Drone Technology Co., Ltd. to promote the use of domestic drone services with NTT East and others in 2021, and a joint venture to support corporate DX with KDDI ＜9433＞ and product planning utilizing AI and IoT Business expansion efforts in cooperation with major companies are accelerating, such as establishing “DXGoGo Co., Ltd.”

It was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mother's in 2014, and quickly promoted to Division 1 of the same market in 2015. It transitioned to the prime market due to the reorganization of the same market division in 2022/4.

2. Business content

The company's main business is “IoT platform services,” which constitute 88.6% (fiscal year ending 2024/3) of company-wide sales. The breakdown is classified into “mobile management services,” which are conventional strengths, and “X-Tech services,” which have actively invested in recent years. In “mobile management services,” “Optimal Biz,” which manages various devices such as smartphones and tablets on the cloud and performs operation management within the organization, asset management, and security policy settings, etc. is the main service. It is distributed through proxy sales by partner companies, OEM provision, etc., and license fees corresponding to the number of terminals are received. “X-Tech Service” utilizes the AI/IoT platform “OptiM Cloud IoT OS” to develop initiatives and services that realize DX in all industries, such as agriculture, construction, and medical care.

“Remote management services” make up 7.3% (same) of company-wide sales. The remote work support service “Optimal Second Sight” is used not only for on-site work support, but also as a support device for disaster countermeasures such as smooth relief activities and site grasping during disasters. Field video sharing and remote control are core technologies, and license fees are received according to the number of terminals of the introducing company.

“Support services” constitute 0.8% (same) of company-wide sales. There is a downward trend due to a slowdown in PC market growth. “Optimal Diagnosis & Repair,” which automatically detects and repairs problems with smartphones, tablets, etc., and “Optimal Setup,” which automatically analyzes the router and performs operation/settings, are provided, and customization fees and license fees associated with adding functions at the time of introduction are received.

“Other services” constitute 3.2% (same) of company-wide sales. They offer an “unlimited use series” for individuals, such as “unlimited use of computer software” and “unlimited use of tablets (tabho),” an all-you-can-read service for popular magazines, and they mainly charge a fixed monthly fee.

When sales are divided into stock sales and flow sales, the composition ratio is stock sales: flow sales = 68:32. As the company's basic strategy, it prioritizes establishing in-house products and services in order to maximize stock sales (license revenue), which is stable income. Therefore, customized development (flow sales) leading to stock sales in the future will be carried out, but priority for other customized development has been lowered. Flow sales tend to increase in the second half of every year.

(Written by FISCO Visiting Analyst Hideo Kakuta)