Japan’s Cybozu Inc to focus on Southeast Asia growth for 2026

Cybozu is prioritizing Southeast Asia over traditional markets like North America, backed by an initial US$6.4 million investment into its Kuala Lumpur operations.

Cybozu Inc will be focusing on Southeast Asia for its international investment and growth following record sales of US$240 million for its fiscal year ended December 31,2025. The leading Japanese provider of cloud-based collaborative platforms recorded a 33.9% year-on-year surge in its flagship Kintone platform, amounting to US$138.72 million.

The award-winning Kintone platform is a customizable digital workplace platform designed to meet the needs of organizations of all sizes. It currently powers over 3 million applications, allowing users to easily build, deploy and update their custom applications, all without requiring prior coding experience.

With operations in Malaysia and Thailand, Kintone has consulting and product partners providing onboarding and customization services across Asia. In 2025, the company launched Kintone AI Lab, allowing small and medium businesses in Malaysia and Thailand to quickly develop their own apps, using just simple prompts.

In Thailand, Kintone achieved 300% year-on-year growth in 2025 compared to 2024 in its customer base. Kintone has already demonstrated momentum through partnerships with organizations such as the Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC).

Investment in Southeast Asia

Given the success of Kintone in the region, Cybozu is looking to establish its regional headquarters in Malaysia, with at least US$6.4 million earmarked for investments into its regional headquarters.

Apart from a new regional headquarters, Cybozu is investing in enhanced CRM tools, including a Malay language support feature for all Kintone platforms catered to Malaysian SMEs. In Thailand, Kintone has heavily supported SMEs in sectors like manufacturing, wholesale trading, logistics and hospitality from paper based workflow and legacy systems to digital workflows using localized Thai-language interfaces.

According to Yoshihisa Aono, CEO of Cybozo Inc, Southeast Asia is the promising region for global investment.

"If asked to identify the most promising region for global investment today, Southeast Asia is the clear choice. Beyond mature hubs like Singapore, we see the highest potential for returns in Thailand and Malaysia, where the appetite for digital transformation is strong while our resources are in a high-return environment that allows for scalable growth,” Aono said.

The investment decision into Southeast Asia is further validated by Cybozu’s strong start to the year, where January 2026 consolidated sales reached US$21.17 million), a 17.0% year-on-year increase, reflecting the strong commercial viability and recurring revenue potential of the group’s cloud-centric expansion.

Southeast Asia is also Cybozo’s fastest-growing market, recording a 13.4% year-on-year increase in subscribing companies, a huge contrast to mature software markets, where high saturation and competitive entry costs have slowed customer acquisition, resulting in unchanged year-on-year growth.

Interestingly, as Southeast Asia remains a clear growth market, Cybozu is also monitoring emerging opportunities in markets including South America, where it has noted an increase in inquiries. These emerging inquiries signal a growing global demand for Cybozu’s partner-driven approach to accessible digital solutions.