Keep innovating the vision of the contact center support operation

Tomohiro Ishii
President & CEO, Mobilus Corporation

Keep innovating the vision of the contact center support operation

Mobilus Corporation is “The Support Tech Company” which develops and offers various solutions specialized in the contact center support field. The company significantly improved the efficiency of contact center support operations, which had been heavily dependent on customer service via telephone, by adopting an automated, text-based system primarily using chat. It has solved the issues faced by many companies and listed its shares on Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market in September 2021. Mr. Tomohiro Ishii, who leads Mobilus as President & CEO, describes the company’s relationship with Mitsubishi UFJ Capital (MUCAP) and its future prospects.

Background of joining Mobilus

—“Takeoff” from a system company primarily doing contract-based development

My career as a working person started when I joined Sony after graduating from university. I was initially assigned to a department called the Latin America Section. Just before I completed the second year with the company, I flew to Panama in Central America for a posting there. At that time, Sony gave managerial positions to those who were posted abroad irrespective of their age. So, I gained training for management. I wanted to locate this experience academically, and I took temporary leave and acquired MBA in the U.S. I left the company after returning to Japan, which means I was in Sony for 11 years in total.
After coming back to Japan, I developed my career at Sawakami Asset Management Inc. and Quantum Leaps Corporation, founded by Mr. Nobuyuki Idei, a former top of Sony. While I was with Quantum Leaps, my main market was Vietnam, and I became acquainted with Lan Hoang, the founder of Mobilus, through the personal network developed in the country. After a while, he asked me to give him a helping hand to take off Mobilus’s business.
At that time, Mobilus was developing various systems on contract. But the majority of them were capable foreign engineers, including the founder, and it had something shining in server technology handling transmission of chat. I used to think it was an exciting company, and it also had good customers, primarily consisting of leading companies. I thought it had more potential than just handling contract-based development projects and decided to join the company.

Encounter with Mitsubishi UFJ Capital

—Surprised by “We will somehow make it happen” in the first meeting

To grow Mobilus, we decided to shift the direction of our business from contract-based development to licensing business, and it requires a large amount of investment in development. Since I had start-up support experience acquired during my tenure at Quantum Leaps, I thought it would not be difficult for a company with sales to procure funds. So, I began sales activities targeting investors but suffered defeat after another. No one went far enough to say “No,” but the talks did not make any headway.
Around that time, through some connection, I got introduced to Mr. Adachi, a former executive of a venture capital affiliated with a major trading firm and currently serving as our outside director. When I met him for the first time, he was quite cold towards me (laughter).
Even so, I was somehow able to build a lasting relationship and began receiving advice from him in many occasions. And in 2015, he introduced me to MUCAP.
When I met MUCAP and had a round of talks, MUCAP said, “We will somehow make it happen,” which surprised me very much, and I still remember it vividly. At that time, our policy of specializing in contact centers and the business model were not fully established, but the reason why the MUCAP supported us to that extent in the first meeting was probably the excellence of our chat-related server technology.

Relationship with Mitsubishi UFJ Capital

—VC that guides us tactfully

From my experience in the past, I thought mega bank-affiliated VCs do not take the lead so easily. However, the MUCAP said, “We will handle that, too,” and did take the initiative and moved. MUCAP introduced us to business partner candidates and found operating companies for making a joint investment. They included a company which is currently a top-class agent for us. The go signs from MUCAP served as a trigger, and other VCs and investors began taking an interest, and as a result, we were able to clear the first round.
Subsequently, MUCAP took the lead also in the second and third fund procurement. In the second and third rounds, we presented the variation and scale to operating companies on the precondition of MUCAP’s commitment, so it was straightforward to proceed in these rounds.
What was different between MUCAP and other VCs through this association was the depth of commitment.
When we started listing preparation, the auditing firm told us it could not be accepted with the current schedule, and we needed to delay our plan. We consulted with MUCAP, and they immediately brought another auditing firm when it was so difficult to conclude an audit agreement that such companies were known as audit refugees. MUCAP anticipated our actions to make it easier for us to move around, acting accordingly. They got involved with us in a very hospitable manner and accompanied us till the end. We are grateful for that.

Future Prospects

— Reduce handling load on contact centers

We call ourselves The Support Tech Company. There are still many operational issues associated with companies’ contact centers, as most operations rely on individual efforts. Our mission is to improve the efficiency of this field by leveraging technology and thereby offer support with higher added values. We believe that there is a large room for growth in this market alone. Service via telephone still accounts for roughly 80% of the market, and our scope for the next five years is to grow text-based communications using our solutions to 50% of the market and automate half of it. Our main customer group is enterprises, and we would like MUCAP, which has a unique mega-bank-affiliated network, to continue to provide support for us.
I would advise those planning to start a business that you can feel relieved if you identify where your market lies to a certain extent. In our case, it is the contact center field, and at the same time, text-based communications. The existence of competition does not matter regarding your market. If you can find enough additional value for you to win there, the deeper you dig there, the harder it becomes, especially for large competing businesses to follow you and the more supporters you will find too. I do not have to explain that MUCAP was a prime example.

Interviewed in October 2021

Company

Mobilus Corporation

https://mobilus.co.jp/

Primary business activities

Developing and offering CX solutions, such as SaaS products (MOBI series) for contact centers

Company History

2011	September	Established in Shiba Koen, Minato-ku, Tokyo, to engage in the contract-based mobile application development business
2013	June	Relocated the head office to 1-chome, Nishi-gotanda, Shingawa-ku, Tokyo
2014	December	Tomohiro Ishii was appointed as President & CEO
2016	April	“MOBI AGENT” released
2017	April	“MOBI CAST” released
2018	May	Relocated the head office to 3-chome, Nishi-gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
2019	October	“MOBI VOICE” released
2021	September	Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market (securities code: 4370)

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