Wantedly
Category: AI in HR & Talent
Tokyo-listed business social network and HR-tech company. In September 2026 it launched Mendy, an AI job-change agent app that scores recruiter offers against a candidate's profile and drafts email replies. Wantedly was founded in 2010. The company is led by Akiko Naka. Based in Tokyo, Japan. Team size: 101-500. Latest round: IPO. Key investors include Nikkei Inc., Shogo Kawada, Masanori Sugiyama, Kosuke Matsumoto.
- Founded
- 2010
- Headquarters
- Tokyo, Japan
- Team size
- 101-500
Value proposition
Wantedly helps people find the right job and team through mission and culture fit rather than salary-led matching. It also supports hiring, onboarding, engagement and retention. Mendy, its new AI app, centralises messages from multiple recruiting agencies, scores how well each scout offer matches the user's career history and preferences (up to 100%, with reasons) and drafts replies.
Products and solutions
Wantedly business SNS / company-visit recruiting platform, Wantedly People (contact and business card management), Wantedly Assessment, Engagement Suite (Perk benefits, Story internal newsletter, Pulse team management), Wantedly Hire applicant tracking system (2024), Mendy by Wantedly AI job-change agent app for iOS and Android (2026).
Unique value
Empathy-based recruiting built on company mission and culture, combined with AI that works for the job seeker. Mendy evaluates recruiter offers from the candidate's side instead of the agency's.
Target customer
Job seekers and young professionals in Japan, plus startups and SMEs that hire on culture and mission fit. Mendy targets job seekers who use recruitment agencies.
Industries served
HR / recruiting, talent engagement, employee experience
Technology advantage
Large proprietary network of 4.5M+ individual users and 45,000+ registered companies built since 2012. This gives Wantedly first-party matching and behavioural data, and covers the full employee lifecycle from hiring through engagement. Mendy uses LLM-based email parsing, reply drafting and profile-to-offer match scoring, and Wantedly plans autonomous next-action recommendations.
How they differentiate
Matching is driven by mission and culture fit, and job seekers can make casual company visits instead of only applying. Wantedly bundles an SNS, ATS and engagement tools in one ecosystem. Mendy is a candidate-side AI agent that audits offers from incumbent recruitment agencies rather than competing with them.
Main competitors
BizReach (Visional), LinkedIn, Recruit Holdings (Rikunabi / Indeed)
Key partnerships
Capital and business alliance with Nikkei Inc. (2015)
Notable customers
COVER Corporation (documented Wantedly Visit customer), Voicy, Inc. (documented Wantedly Visit customer)
Major milestones
2010-09 founded as Fuel Inc., 2012-02 Wantedly launched, 2015 capital alliance with Nikkei, 2016 Wantedly People launched, 2017-09 IPO on TSE Mothers (3991), 2017 Singapore launch and 1M users, 2021 Engagement Suite launched and 3M users, 2022 moved to TSE Growth market, 2024-11 Wantedly Hire ATS launched, 2026 HQ moved to Ebisu Garden Place and 4.5M users, 2026-09-28 Mendy AI job-change agent launched.
Growth metrics
4.5M+ individual users and 45,000+ registered companies (2026). About 134 employees (Nikkei). Market capitalisation about ¥9.1B. Reported revenue roughly $25-50M (LeadIQ estimate). Mendy targets 10,000 users in its first year (per the Nikkei article that surfaced this company).
Market positioning
Mid-sized listed Japanese HR-tech platform (TSE Growth: 3991) focused on startups, SMEs and younger professionals. It is extending into AI agents for job seekers.
Geographic focus
Japan primarily; Singapore subsidiary (Wantedly Singapore Pte. Ltd.)
Patents and IP
Wantedly's 2019-07-16 announcement identifies Japanese patents JP6447890 (registered 2018-12-14) and JP6399371 (registered 2018-09-14) for Wantedly People business-card extraction and multi-card scanning animations. Current legal status not verified.
About Akiko Naka
Ex-Goldman Sachs Japan; early member of Facebook Japan; Kyoto University, BA Economics. Founded Wantedly (originally Fuel Inc.) in September 2010 and took it public on TSE Mothers in 2017.
Latest news about Wantedly
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Official website: https://www.wantedly.com