Our History

Established in 2000s

In 2004, Takahiko Yunokawa engaged in franchise support and direct operation of private tutoring schools at C&I Holdings Co., Ltd. (formerly Venture Link Co., Ltd.). While marketing for student recruitment was going well, he faced challenges in improving students’ academic performance, especially those with poor grades. In 2005, he began developing ideal e-learning materials. In the development process, he realized that adequate solutions for improving the academic performance of students with low intellectual ability did not exist in the world. He began full-scale business development because enhancing the academic performance of such students has great social significance and is a blue ocean market that no other companies entered.

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2005	Begin designing and developing the e-learning material “Surala” at CatchOn Co., Ltd.
2007	Release “Surala” for junior high school students for cram school and school market
	Open directly managed school “Independent School CatchOn” in front of Komazawa Daigaku Station in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
2008	Establish SuRaLa Net Co., Ltd.
	Release ”Surala" for high school students
2010	Hold the first “Surala Cup,” in which “Surala” users compete in terms of their effort
	Hand over all shares of SuRaLa Net Co., Ltd. to Takahiko Yunokawa and complete MBO

2010s

In 2010, taking over the business from C&I Holdings, Inc., Takahiko Yunokawa acquired all FC Education, Inc. shares, and the MBO was completed. We then expanded sales channels in the cram school market, targeting independent operators and home learners, and obtained a patent for "Adaptive Learning," a function incorporated into our service, in 2013. Continually brushing up on "Surala," we introduced "Surala" to Japanese schools overseas in 2013 and participated in the JICA Private Partnership Project to correct educational inequality in Sri Lanka in 2014, followed by the start of full-scale activities in overseas markets such as Indonesia and India. Accelerating growth by expanding the domain of sales channels, SuRaLa Net Co., Ltd. was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Mothers market in 2017.

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2011	Launch sales of “Surala” for the independent operator market
2012	Launch sales of “Surala” for the BtoC market
2013	Introduce "Surala" in China (Shanghai), making it the first entry into an overseas market
September 2014	Being adopted as a JICA private-sector partnership, launch a project to correct educational inequality in Sri Lanka
November 2014	Open directly operated school ("NEXT Learners," next-generation private cram school) in Kikukawa, Sumida-ku, Tokyo
February 2015	Being selected for the JICA's Small and Medium Enterprise Overseas Business Development Support Project - Expansion and Verification Program - launch a project to strengthen children's academic performance in Indonesia through industry-academia collaboration.
May 2015	Open four cram schools for children from low-income families in Sri Lanka
September 2015	Hold the first “Active Learning” event to foster the skills for the 21st century across grade levels and geographic regions
October 2015	Takahiko Yunokawa, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, becomes an expert member of the Council for the Implementation of Education Rebuilding
December 2017	Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (Mothers)
March 2018	Launch sales of “Surala" for after-school daycare service centers
September 2018	Selected as an official project of “EDU-Port Nippon,” a public-private cooperative program
June 2019	Selected as an official project of “EDU-Port Nippon,” a public-private cooperative program for the second straight year
July 2019	Selected for the METI’s “Future Classrooms” demonstration project (Sakaki High School, Nagano)
December 2019	Selected to conduct a case study for strengthening the mathematics skills of children in Egypt under the JICA Small and Medium Enterprises and SDGs Business Support Project

2020s

In 2020, we provided IDs free of charge to elementary and junior high schools nationwide that were temporarily closed due to COVID-19 and to cram schools nationwide that planned to provide home-based learning programs. At the same time, due to the government's GIGA school initiative, the introduction of personal computers and tablet terminals in educational institutions accelerated, which further increased awareness of our services. Selected for the verification project for EdTech introduction subsidies, its use by local governments also expanded. We have also participated in several demonstration projects of METI's "Future Classrooms" project utilizing ICT and been actively engaging in developing new educational perspectives and learning methods to date.

Having acquired Fantamstick Ltd. as a subsidiary in 2022, we will continuously leverage cutting-edge technology and focus on developing new features and services.

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February 2020	Provide free IDs to schools and cram schools in response to COVID-19
June 2020	Selected as an official project of “EDU-Port Nippon,” a public-private cooperative program for the third straight year
July 2020	Selected for METI/JETRO’s “Future Classrooms” overseas deployment support program (Indonesia and the Philippines)
August 2020	Selected as a support provider for METI’s “IT Introduction Subsidy 2020.” Contribute to the start of learning at 672 schools with approximately 250 thousand students
September 2020	Selected for the METI’s “Future Classrooms” demonstration project (Karuizawa High School and Sakaki High School, Nagano)
November 2020	Implement a pilot activity for "Digital Education" in Myanmar as part of a research project for the introduction of decentralized smart infrastructure.
March 2021	Obtain a third-party certificate for ISMS (Information Security Management System)
May 2021	Release the first issue of the Impact Management Report
August 2021	Selected as a support provider for METI’s “IT Introduction Subsidy 2021.” Contribute to the start of learning at 503 schools with approximately 160 thousand students
October 2021	Selected for the METI’s “Future Classrooms” demonstration project for the third straight year (Sakaki High School, Nagano)
January 2022	Acquire partial shares of Fantamstick, Ltd. and make it a subsidiary
February 2022	Selected for Theme D of METI’s “Future Classrooms” demonstration project (Kusu Seisho Junior High School in Kusu-machi, Oita, and cram schools introducing “Surala”)
April 2022	Participate in a pilot project conducted by the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) in cooperation with external organizations Provide “Surala Ninja!” to public junior high schools in Indonesia
July 2022	Selected as an official project of “EDU-Port Nippon,” a public-private cooperative program for the fourth time
August 2022	Selected as a support provider for METI’s “IT Introduction Subsidy 2022.” Contribute to the start of learning at 261 schools with approximately 77 thousand students
September 2022	Selected for Theme A of METI’s “Future Classrooms” demonstration project (collaboration with Kochi Prefecture)
November 2022	Start the official operation of "Surala" at a model school of the project organized by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of Cambodia
April 2023	Achieve success in the demonstration project for the ICT education promotion model in the islands of Tokyo
June 2023	Selected for the personalized and optimized learning demonstration project with ICT learning materials by the Elementary and Junior High School Division of the Board of Education of Kochi Prefecture
July 2023	Selected as a demonstration support operator for the METI's "Exploratory Learning Support Subsidy 2023"
November 2023	Selected by METI's for "Future Classrooms" demonstration project Theme: Creation of DX Human Resource Development Model by Linking Inquiry Based Leaning and Curriculum Learning Using EdTech