Tokyo Met. Grant Selection, Accelerating Japan Entry via Social Media Analysis

Featuring, an SNS data analysis company, is accelerating its entry into the Japanese market after being selected for 'BDCT (Business Development Center Tokyo)', an overseas promising enterprise support program organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. BDCT is a public support program operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, providing comprehensive support to selected companies, including office setup guidance, legal, tax, and labor expert consultation, and business matching with local companies. Operational costs can be supported up to a maximum of 7.5 million yen (approximately 70 million won). Leveraging this support, Featuring plans to complete the establishment of its Japanese subsidiary in the third quarter of this year. Through support for expert consultation, talent acquisition, and initial office costs, it aims to accelerate its local market entry, and further expand partnerships with local companies to solidify its position in the market. Previously, Featuring has been making localization efforts by launching 'Featuring Japan', an AI-based influencer marketing solution targeting the Japanese market, in October last year. This solution automates the entire process, from influencer discovery and recruitment to campaign operation and performance analysis, highlighting its strength in reducing existing influencer collaboration resources by approximately 90%. Jang Ji-hoon, CEO of Featuring, evaluated this selection as "a result of Featuring's recognized business growth potential and market awareness in Japan," and expressed his ambition to generate meaningful results in the Japanese market by driving Proof of Concept (PoC) projects with local brands and expanding partnerships. Meanwhile, to strengthen its Japanese business, Featuring recently recruited Hwang Seo-rim, a Korea-Japan cross-border business expert, as the head of its Japan business division. Leveraging Hwang's extensive field experience and network, the company plans to strengthen localized marketing strategies, and actively discover solution use cases and ramp up sales activities.