Uzabase

Uzabase Announces Partial Carve-Out of AlphaDrive

02/19/2024

Uzabase Announces Partial Carve-Out of AlphaDrive

Uzabase, Inc. (hereafter “Uzabase”) announces that it has entered into a basic agreement with Yoichi Aso, Representative Director of wholly-owned subsidiary AlphaDrive, Inc. (hereafter “AlphaDrive”), to execute a partial carve-out. With this strategic alignment, 50.1% of the shares in AlphaDrive will be sold on May 1, 2024 to a legal entity substantially controlled by Aso. Uzabase aims to divest the remaining 49.9% stake in AlphaDrive by October 31, 2024, with which the capital affiliation between the two companies will be terminated.


AlphaDrive joined the Uzabase Group in November 2019 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uzabase. It has since contributed to the growth of the Group via activities centered on consulting services for new business development and NewsPicks Enterprise, a corporate-focused service offered under the brand of social business media NewsPicks.

The decision for a carve-out was made after careful consideration of AlphaDrive’s strategic growth needs. It was agreed that the best path forward for both companies was to separate the business activities, with Aso taking the lead for those associated with new business development consulting, and Uzabase and NewsPicks focusing on NewsPicks-related products for stronger business integration.

In pursuit of our purpose—to Awaken a World of Play in Business, with Our Insights—Uzabase will continue its collaboration with AlphaDrive as we move forward to create customer value together as business partners.

Main Businesses Subject to the Carve-Out
・Innovation
・Acceleration
・Regional Co-Creation (includes the following subsidiary and branches)
  – AlphaDrive Kochi (subsidiary)
  – AlphaDrive Tokai (branch)
  – AlphaDrive Kansai (branch)
・Startup Industry Support (includes the following subsidiary)
  – UNIDGE, Inc.
・Ambitions (both Ambitions magazine and Ambitions Web)
・Incubation Inside
・Incubation Suite
・POT Institute
・POT Assessment

All involved AlphaDrive businesses are committed to the quality of value provided to their customers and will pursue a new organizational structure post-carve-out, aiming for optimized customer value.

Other businesses and services currently operated by AlphaDrive and its subsidiaries—specifically, the corporate transformation business, the media production business, NewsPicks Learning, NewsPicks Enterprise, NewsPicks+d, and JobPicks—will remain part of the Uzabase Group under the management of a new group company to be established, effective May 1, 2024. These businesses and services will aim to leverage synergies with Uzabase to maximize customer value while continuing their established service delivery practices. 

NewsPicks for Business, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AlphaDrive, is set to undergo a name change. This will take place after its transfer to the new company (excluding the Ambitions business), following the effective date of the carve-out.

AlphaDrive customers will be provided with explanations from their respective service managers.

We extend our sincere gratitude to all customers and stakeholders for their support of AlphaDrive during its tenure within the Uzabase Group.

We hope for your continued support of both Uzabase and AlphaDrive.


Inquiries
Uzabase, Inc. (Corporate PR)
https://www.uzabase.com/contact/


About Uzabase
The Purpose of Uzabase is “Awaken a world of play in business, with our insights.” The Uzabase Group operates nine businesses, including the business intelligence platform SPEEDA, social business media NewsPicks, startup data platform INITIAL, B2B customer strategy platform FORCAS, and organizational strategy platform AlphaDrive/NewsPicks.
Company Overview
Company Name: Uzabase,Inc. Date of establishment: April 1, 2008 Representatives: Co-CEOs Yusuke Inagaki / Taira Sakuma Address: Mitsubishi Building, 2-5-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo, 100-0005, Japan