SmartNews Revenue, Valuation, Funding & Investors
SmartNews is valued at $2B as of September 2021.
Last SmartNews valuation
$2B
Series F · Sep 2021
Last SmartNews funding round
$230M
Series F · Sep 2021
SmartNews revenue
$100M
Series E · Nov 2019
Key investors in SmartNews
Globis Capital Partners
SMBC Venture Capital
Atomico
mixi
GREE Holdings
Asian Capital Alliance
About SmartNews
SmartNews is a Tokyo-headquartered news aggregator app powered by machine learning algorithms that curate personalized feeds from thousands of sources. Available on iOS and Android, it prioritizes diverse content to counter filter bubbles, covering topics from US politics to Japanese tech. The company operates offices in San Francisco and New York, serving millions of daily users with offline reading capabilities and instant notifications for breaking stories.
Founded
2012
HQ
TokyoWebsite
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2C
Revenue model
Advertising, Subscription
Revenue
$100M (Nov 2019)
Valuation
$2B (Sep 2021)
SmartNews Valuation
SmartNews is currently valued at $2B, based on its Series F in September 2021.
The $230M round included JIC Venture Growth Investments, Asian Capital Alliance, Green Co-Invest Investment, Princeville Capital, Woodline Partners and 2 other investors.
SmartNews' valuation has grown 20x from $100M at its Series B in August 2014 to $2B in September 2021, across 5 priced rounds.
SmartNews valuation by funding round
Revenue multiple| Date | Stage | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2021 | Series F | $2B | - |
| Nov 2019 | Series E | $1.2B | 12.0x |
| Jul 2016 | Series D | $550M | - |
| Mar 2015 | Series C | $330M | - |
| Aug 2014 | Series B | $100M | - |
SmartNews Revenue
SmartNews' latest recorded revenue is $100M, as of its Series E in November 2019. At a $1.2B valuation, that implies a 12.0x revenue multiple.
SmartNews revenue by funding round
| Date | Revenue * | Valuation | Revenue Multiple | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2019 | $100M | $1.2B | 12.0x | Series E |
* Revenue (or ARR) figures are the values recorded alongside each funding round. Typically run-rate revenue at the time of the deal, or a reported LTM (last 12 months) revenue.
SmartNews Funding History
SmartNews has raised a total of $410M across 6 funding rounds.
SmartNews' first fundraising round was a $4M Series A in August 2013. The most recent completed round was a $230M Series F in September 2021.
SmartNews funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2021 | Series F | JIC Venture Growth Investments; Asian Capital Alliance; Green Co-Invest Investment; Princeville Capital; Woodline Partners; Yamauchi-No.10 Family Office; SMBC Venture Capital | $230M | $2B | SmartNews, a Japanese news discovery and aggregation app founded in 2012 by Ken Suzuki and Kaisei Hamamoto, raised $230 million in its Series F funding round on September 15, 2021, achieving a post-money valuation of $2 billion. The round included investors such as Princeville Capital, Woodline Partners, JIC Venture Growth Investments, Green Co-Invest Investment, Yamauchi-No.10 Family Office, ACA Investments, and SMBC Venture Capital, bringing total funding to over $400 million. The company operates an ad-based model, partnering with over 3,000 publishers worldwide to deliver curated, machine-learning-driven news content across mobile and web, emphasizing speed, relevance, and features like SmartView for higher engagement. SmartNews reported more than 20 million monthly active users globally in 2019, with U.S. MAUs doubling in the year prior to the round, and Apptopia data showing 85 million lifetime downloads by 2021, predominantly in Japan. At the time, it employed around 500 staff, with plans to double its U.S. headcount from 100 using the new capital for American expansion, product innovation including health and safety features, and growth investments. The company focuses on a healthy media ecosystem, directing traffic to smaller sites and rewarding high-engagement content without subscription models, as 85-90% of U.S. news consumers do not pay for subscriptions. This funding doubled SmartNews' valuation from $1.1 billion in its 2019 Series E round of $28 million, positioning it as one of the most valuable independent news aggregators amid competition from Apple News and others. While exploring an IPO per reports, CEO Ken Suzuki declined to share specific revenue, ARR, or profit figures, prioritizing growth over immediate profitability. The round supported scaling in the U.S. market, where it aggregates news from over 200 local sites across categories like politics, sports, and entertainment. |
| Nov 2019 | Series E | Asian Capital Alliance (lead); Japan Post Capital (lead); D.A.Consortium; Dentsu; Globis Capital Partners | $92M | $1.2B | SmartNews is a Japan-based news aggregation app that uses machine learning to curate and personalize news feeds from thousands of publishers, directing users to original articles without mirroring content. It focuses on markets in Japan and the US, aiming to combat media bias with features like 'News From All Sides' showing diverse political perspectives. The app had over 40-45 million downloads by late 2019, with 20 million monthly active users globally as of August 2019, including rapid US growth. In November 2019, SmartNews closed a $92 million Series E funding round, including a prior $28 million tranche from August, bringing total funding to $182 million. The round was led by Japan Post Capital and ACA Investments (Asian Capital Alliance), with participation from Globis Capital Partners, Dentsu, and D.A. Consortium. It valued the company at a **$1.2 billion** post-money valuation, up from $1.1 billion in the earlier Series E portion. Around the funding, SmartNews generated **9 figures** (approximately $100 million) in annual revenue, primarily from advertising, establishing it as Japan's largest news aggregator while expanding in the US to capitalize on mobile news consumption trends and distrust in polarized sources. The funds were earmarked for enhancing product features and accelerating US market growth ahead of the 2020 election. Competitively, SmartNews differentiates from Google and Facebook through thoughtful ML-driven discovery over human curation, achieving unicorn status as one of few news startups to do so amid industry challenges like layoffs at BuzzFeed and Vice. |
| Jul 2016 | Series D | Development Bank of Japan (lead); Kotaro Chiba; Japan Co-Invest Limited Partnership; SMBC Venture Capital | $38M | $550M | SmartNews, a news discovery app founded in 2012, raised $38 million in a funding round on July 7, 2016, led by the Development Bank of Japan, with participation from SMBC Venture Capital and Japan Co-Invest L.P., bringing total funding to about $90 million. The post-money valuation reached between $500 million and $600 million, up from $320 million in the prior Series C round the previous year. The company, with nearly 20 million downloads at the time, focused on expanding its user base, revenues, machine learning technology for news curation, and hiring. Japan remained SmartNews' largest market with 10 million users, while efforts continued to grow in the U.S. and internationally. The Japanese operations were monetized through inline advertising, video ads, and publisher deals for 'SmartViews'—fast-loading news formats predating similar technologies from Google and Facebook. U.S. and other international markets remained ad-free to prioritize growth over immediate monetization. Leadership, including VP of Content Rich Jaroslavsky, emphasized the strength of the Japanese business, which reduced pressure to monetize abroad quickly. The app had won multiple 'App of the Year' awards and competed in a crowded space with platforms like Apple News and Google News by using machine learning to surface high-quality, impartial stories from millions of articles. |
| Mar 2015 | Series C | GREE Holdings (lead); mixi; Social Venture Partners; Globis Capital Partners; Atomico | $10M | $330M | SmartNews is a Japanese news discovery app that uses machine learning to deliver personalized news feeds from publishers, sending users to original articles. Launched first in Japan, it expanded to the U.S. in October 2014 with 1 million monthly active users there and 4 million in Japan by March 2015. The app had reached 10 million total downloads at that time. In March 2015, SmartNews raised $10 million in a bridge round ahead of Series C, led by Gree with participation from Atomico, Globis Capital Partners, mixi, and Social Venture Partners. The funding was completed at a pre-money valuation of $320 million, tripling from its $100 million valuation six months prior. This brought total funding to $50 million, aimed at U.S. expansion including a new office. |
| Aug 2014 | Series B | Atomico (lead); GREE Holdings (lead); mixi; William Lohse; Shogo Kawada; Social Venture Partners; Globis Capital Partners | $36M | $100M | SmartNews, a Japan-based developer of a curated news discovery app for iOS and Android, raised $36 million in its Series B funding round on August 8, 2014, led by Atomico and GREE, with participation from investors including Globis Capital Partners, mixi, and others. The funding brought the company's total raised to over $40 million at that time, following a Series A of JPY 420 million in August 2013 led by Globis Capital Partners. SmartNews uses machine learning to aggregate and personalize news feeds from sources like Associated Press, Yomiuri, and Nikkei, driving traffic to original publishers while planning U.S. launch and international expansion, recruitment, and content partnerships. The round supported scaling the platform's technology and user base in Japan, where it had strong media partnerships, and preparing for global growth including a U.S. version that fall. Investors like Atomico provided expertise in international expansion from experiences such as growing Skype, while GREE offered support through its San Francisco unit. Kaisei Hamamoto and Ken Suzuki co-founded the company, positioning it as a user- and publisher-friendly news service amid rising mobile consumption. A follow-on $10M bridge round in March/April 2015 led by GREE with Atomico, Globis, mixi, and Social Venture Partners brought total funding to $50M, focusing on machine learning advancements and a San Francisco office. |
| Aug 2013 | Series A | Globis Capital Partners (lead); Social Starts | $4M | - | SmartNews, originally operating as Gocro Inc., is a news aggregation app founded in May 2012 that delivers high-quality information from around the world. Globis Capital Partners made its initial investment in August 2013, investing 420 million yen. Social Starts participated alongside Globis as an investor in this early-stage round. The company focused on smartphone applications, with SmartNews enabling users to read articles quickly. This funding marked an early milestone before later rounds, such as a $10 million round in March 2015 where Globis also participated. |
Who has invested in SmartNews?
21 investors have backed SmartNews across its funding rounds, including Globis Capital Partners, SMBC Venture Capital, Atomico, mixi, GREE Holdings and Asian Capital Alliance.
Lead investors include Asian Capital Alliance, Japan Post Capital, Development Bank of Japan, GREE Holdings, Atomico and 1 other investor.
SmartNews Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | 4 | Lead | Aug 2013 | |
| Tokyo | 2 | Lead | Aug 2014 | |
| Tokyo | 2 | Lead | Nov 2019 | |
| Tokyo | 2 | Participant | Aug 2014 | |
 Seattle, WA | 2 | Participant | Aug 2014 | |
| Tokyo | 2 | Participant | Jul 2016 | |
 London | 2 | Lead | Aug 2014 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 1 | Participant | Aug 2013 | |
| Tokyo | 1 | Participant | Nov 2019 | |
| Tokyo | 1 | Participant | Sep 2021 | |
![](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20"><rect fill="%23e5e7eb" width="20" height="20" rx="4"/></svg>){kind=small} Green Co-Invest Investment | -- | 1 | Participant | Sep 2021 |
| Tokyo | 1 | Lead | Jul 2016 | |
| Kotaro Chiba | Tokyo | 1 | Participant | Jul 2016 |
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 21 SmartNews investors. Start Free Trial | ||||
Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples
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Start Free TrialAcquisitions by SmartNews
SmartNews has acquired 3 companies to date.
Last acquisition by SmartNews was on September 26th 2024. SmartNews acquired re:collect AI for undisclosed valuation.
Latest Acquisitions by SmartNews
| Description | - | Tombo is a platform that enables iOS developers to create and maintain progressive web app versions of their native apps using no-code tools. Developers import Xcode projects to generate responsive web interfaces that sync updates automatically. The service supports features like push notifications, offline access, and app store-like deployment, allowing seamless cross-platform distribution without additional coding. | Pictory is a Belgium-based mobile application for photo sharing that allows users to upload, browse, and interact with images through a community-driven platform. Launched around 2012, the app emphasizes user-generated galleries and social features for photographers and enthusiasts. Pictory facilitates discovery of visual content via tags and feeds, serving a European audience interested in casual and professional photography sharing. |
| HQ Country | | | |
| HQ City | - | San Francisco, CA | Tokyo |
| Deal Date | 26 Sep 2024 | 21 Dec 2018 | 21 May 2018 |
| Valuation | undisclosed | undisclosed | undisclosed |
| EV/Revenue | |||
| EV/EBITDA | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all SmartNews acquisitions and their M&A valuation multiples. Start Free Trial | |||
SmartNews Competitors
SmartNews competitors include listed companies like Haizhi and C3.ai, and private ones like Cloudinary, d-Matrix, DeepL and Eros Innovation.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cloudinary | San Jose, CA | Private | $100M | - | $2B | 20.0x |
| San Jose, CA | Private | - | - | $2B | - | |
 Cologne | Private | $50M | - | $2B | - | |
 Isle of Man | Private | - | $35M | $2B | - | |
 China | Publicly listed | $93M | ($30M) | $2.1B | 16.3x | |
| United States | Publicly listed | $250M | ($484M) | $1.7B | 4.5x |
SmartNews Public Comps
SmartNews is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Xinhuanet, Ziff Davis, TX Group, Haizhi, Sanoma, Ncino, C3.ai, Wenge AI, Visual China Group and TRS Information Technology.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $333M | $66M | 4.9x | 5.0x | 24.8x | 26.9x | |||
| $1.5B | $335M | 0.9x | 1.0x | 3.8x | 3.3x | |||
| $1.1B | $310M | 2.1x | 2.1x | 7.2x | 8.1x | |||
| $93M | ($30M) | 21.5x | 16.3x | (67.1x) | (440.4x) | |||
| $1.5B | $293M | 1.2x | 1.2x | 6.4x | 4.2x | |||
| $595M | $65M | 4.3x | 4.0x | 39.0x | 15.8x | |||
| $250M | ($484M) | 4.3x | 4.5x | (2.2x) | (6.2x) | |||
| $60M | ($20M) | 27.6x | - | (82.7x) | - | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all SmartNews competitors and their valuation data. Start Free Trial | ||||||||
Common questions about SmartNews
| When was SmartNews founded? | SmartNews was founded in 2012. |
| Where is SmartNews headquartered? | SmartNews is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. |
| Is SmartNews publicly listed? | No, SmartNews is a private, VC-backed company. |
| What is SmartNews' valuation? | SmartNews was last valued at $2B in its Series F in September 2021. |
| How much funding has SmartNews raised? | SmartNews has raised $410M across 6 funding rounds. |
| What was SmartNews' last funding round? | SmartNews' last funding round was a $230M Series F in September 2021. |
| Who are SmartNews' investors? | SmartNews' investors include Globis Capital Partners, GREE Holdings, Asian Capital Alliance, mixi, Social Venture Partners, SMBC Venture Capital, Atomico, Social Starts, D.A.Consortium, JIC Venture Growth Investments and 11 others. |
| What is SmartNews' revenue? | SmartNews' latest recorded revenue is $100M (November 2019). |
| What is SmartNews' revenue multiple? | SmartNews' latest valuation implies a 12.0x revenue multiple ($1.2B valuation on $100M of revenue). |
| Which companies are comparable to SmartNews? | Companies comparable to SmartNews include Cloudinary, d-Matrix, DeepL, Eros Innovation, Haizhi and C3.ai. |
| How many companies has SmartNews acquired? | SmartNews has acquired 3 companies, including re:collect AI, Tombo and Pictory. |
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