Milestones
1998
August 3
KAYAC begins
KAYAC founded as a limited partnership corporation by three school friends, Daisuke Yanasawa, Masanori Kaihata, and Tomoyoshi Kuba, with initial capital of 33,000 JPY.
1999
July 7
Initiate "777 KAYAC Festival" to create 7 services on July 7th, eventually becoming regular annual event.
August 3
We increase our capital funds to 60,000 JPY.
2000
July 7
Launch T-Select for "2nd 777 KAYAC Festival", a website showcasing designers' t-shirts.
2001
July 7
Establish a group company CUPPY Inc.
Client work unit splits into a separate company to concentrate on client work. * CUPPY merges back to KAYAC in 2008.
2002
May 31
Our first On-the-Move Office travels to Florence, Italy.
September 1
Company HQ moves to Kamakura (near current seaside office).
2004
August 3
On-the-Move Office heads to Hawaii.
Conclusion is that resort zones do not fit On-the-Move Office.
2005
January 6
We separate and sell T-Select business.
January 21
KAYAC Inc. changes organizational structure and becomes a joint-stock corporation.
2006
April 1
We start new series of annual events for April Fools' Day named "Mission 4.1"
May 18
On-the-Move goes back to Florence, Italy to launch a service.
2 months. 20 members.
November
Release of THANKS, a website for expressing messages of gratitude.
2007
January 1
"BM11" Bukkomi Evelen gets initiated to focus on new business projects
April 28
June 1
Sell out "Soumu-no Mori" project to Kaunet Co., Ltd.
July 7
Capital increase to 50 million JPY.
September 18
Settle a new branch in Shizuoka
Office with main purpose to accommodate trainee engineers
* This branch office closes after 2 years
October 29
November 12
December 11
December 12
DONBURI CAFE DINING bowls is open
Café located on the 1st floor of HQ building
2008
February 22
KAYAC assembles mobile development business unit
First time we enter mobile business
March
Recruitment project for 2009 fresh grads "FIND FAKE"
A puzzle to find a non-employee
June 27
Our CEO has his first book published
July 7
KAYAC's 10th anniversary. Release of Special Site & Special Movie & Special Goods for 10th KAYAC 777 Festival
Start of new service – agricultural magazine "ZACKZACK"
July 11
Open up a beach restaurant at Yuigahama
Collaboration with footwear maker "crocs"
September 1
KAYAC acquires back CUPPY and increases capital to 60 million JPY.
Integration of businesses and concentration on growth
October 8
November 10
Our CEO's inspiring work "KAYAC Company Guide" gets published as a book.
December 18
KAYAC acquires "dododay" business from Gakken Co., Ltd.
* the project closes after 2 years
2009
March 3
Birth of "Pocket Friends Konchi"
The most controversial project we launched ever.
April 24
Manufacture and launch an actual electronic product "YUREX" for Creative Beat.
Collaboration project with Maywa Denki
July 7
Full renewal of KAYAC corporate site
The project becomes the key content for 11th 777 KAYAC Festival.
November 19
"Look for ideas, not an idea" – 3rd book of our CEO gets published.
KAYAC's best-selling book up to date
2010
January 1
We launch an unordinary recruiting campaign with "Sushi Interview"
Offering sushi to anyone who applies within first 3 days in Kamakura generated 16 times more applications compared to preceding year.
January 27
We start providing mobile game apps on Mobage platform
February 13
Start of "Eiyu" social game series
Significant leap forward in social apps and games. Our original and creative titles quickly connect with people across major platforms like DeNA, Gree and Mixi: "Eiyu-ni naritai series" surpass a million registered users.
April 19
Opening of annex office "Manguunchi"
The office design was provided via HOUSECO bidding
August 2
Release of social game "Bokura no Koshien!"
Be one of the youngsters aiming for victory at the famous Koshien schools baseball tournament!
September 17
Recruiting campaign "Kamakura relocation support for web engineers" kicks off
Great support from Inamuragasaki R Real Estate
December 10
Fresh grads recruiting campaign "3 x 9 = 27 THANKS" starts
We publish a page featuring 27 KAYAC employees saying thanks to each other.
November 11
Our agricultural magazine "ZACKZACK" gets acquired by a team of avid farmers.
December 15
2011
January 1
KAYAC's Facebook Fan Page is open.
The page is completely maintained in English.
January 26
We announce a recruiting campaign - 'sotsusei'.
The campaign requires only presenting graduation project (or thesis) as a main medium for selection, thus freeing applicants from writing long statements of purpose or any other self-promotional stuff.
February 9
Opening of "smiledog" cafe on Yuigahama Beach
We've used only organic ingredients from local farmers. Hotdogs are also hand-made.
February 14
Jiyugaoka office relocates to Ebisu"
February 16
Release of Android app "Unko Enzan"
An app with a bit of controversial motif, that made a lot of fuss even prior to release. Great to do math drills.
February 18
We hold an online recruiting session for 2012 grads.
The session is live-streamen in 5 languages simultaneously - Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean and Uzbek.
February 25
Our game "Eiyu-ni naritai" is published as a light novel.
Swift, geo-mapped, group-chat
March 9
2nd branch of "smiledog" cafe "VEGE" opens
March 24
We appoint new board members and auditors.
April 4
On-the-move office in Kyoto opens
April 8
Fundraising by allocation of new shares to third parties.
April 12
KAYAC project "SVG Girl" gets featured at MIX 11
SVG Girl joins a few projects those were featured at opening keynote of Microsofts's MIX 11 in Las Vegas.
April 25
Launch of "Social Graph Recruiting" campaign.
We launch a Facebook friendly tool, which measures how close you are to KAYAC by combining different factors, such as having KAYAC employees on your network.
May 11
Release of smartphone app "Reengo"
Facebook-integrated number-free phone app "Reengo" says hello.
May 13
On-the-move office in Sendai starts.
This is an initiative to assist web creators in Tohoku area and support quick recovery after The Tohoku Earthquake.
July 7
Complete renewal of KAYAC corporate site.
Reinvigorated with SVG and number of unique HTML5 elements.
July 30
Wasteful use of skills encouraged! 1st Interesting Business Idea Competition held
October 18
THE KING OF FIGHTERS ENCOUNTER, a social game for iPhone and iPod Touch released simultaneously in the U.S. and Japan
November 2
Kayac’s new graduate recruitment slogan for FY2013 is "Sesshu (simple application) Declaration"
November 11
Deli store "Fun Okazu by Kamakura bowls" opened
November 24
"What’s interesting about Kayac? Contradictory business" released
2012
January 25
"Photo Bag" released - an app for easy sharing of photos using magic phrase
February 1
"One Click Recruitment" launched, second project of Sesshu Declaration for students graduating in 2013
February 28
"On-the-move Career Meetings" launched, third project of Sesshu Declaration for students graduating in 2013
