Our History
My resolve is to bring smiles and happiness to as many people as possible.
When I began working as a new employee selling condominium units, one of my customers was a young married couple. They liked the property I showed them, and we started the purchase process right away. Unfortunately, they failed to secure a loan to buy the condominium.
Seeing their disappointment, I decided I really wanted to find a great property for this couple. I began collecting property information for them, including information from other companies. In the end, the couple found a property they liked from another real estate company, secured a loan, and bought the property. Needless to say, I was reprimanded by my manager.
However, sometime later, the couple came in to the office with beaming smiles and said, “Mr. Inoue, thank you for putting yourself in our shoes and searching so hard for a place for us. Thanks to your hard work, we were able to find the perfect home! Thank you so much.” Ever since the happiness of that couple, I've wanted to do my best to do the same for others. Back then, even for someone within the real estate industry, it was a struggle to find information on residential properties. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for consumers to look at the limited information available to them to make such huge, once-in-a-lifetime decisions. That experience served as the launching point for my desire to create a system in which all real estate information was open and available. That's what inspired me to form my own company and to build the foundations for NEXT（now LIFULL Co., Ltd.).
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1995
Jul.
NEXT HOME Co. founded.
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1997
Mar.
NEXT Co., Ltd. established in Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Apr.
Launched HOME'S, a website for real estate and housing information.
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2001
Jul.
Head office relocated to Shinkawa 1-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo.
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2002
Jan.
Capital tie-up with Rakuten Inc.
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2004
Mar.
Head office relocated to Shinkawa 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo.
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2005
Apr.
Osaka branch opened in Kita-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture.
NEXT acquires e-sumai Co., Ltd., an email advertising firm. -
2006
Feb.
Information Security Management System (ISMS, ISO27001) and BS7799 certification earned.
Head office relocated to Harumi 1-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo.Jun.
Fukuoka branch opened in Chuo-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture.
Oct.
Shares listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Section.
Launched Lococom, a website for local information. -
2007
Feb.
Wilnic Co., Ltd. established as a joint venture with ITOCHU Corporation.
Mar.
Information Security Management System (ISO/IEC27001:2005) certification earned.
Apr.
Acquired Renter's Co., an ASP that helps real estate agents organize properties and clients, making it a wholly owned subsidiary.
Jul.
NEXT Financial Service Co., Ltd. established to operate rental guarantee business.
Sep.
NEXT Financial Service Co., Ltd. acquires rental guarantee business from Japan Synthesis Guarantee Co., Ltd.
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2008
Jun.
Nagoya branch opened in Nishi-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.
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2009
Dec.
Opened sales office in Okinawa.
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2010
Mar.
Shares listed on TSE First Section.
Jul.
Absorbed consolidated subsidiary Wilnic Co., Ltd.
Aug.
Withdrew from the rental guarantee business with sale of all shares of stock in consolidated subsidiary NEXT Financial Service Co., Ltd. to Home Net Co., Ltd.
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2011
Jan.
Head office relocated to larger space in Minato-ku, Tokyo.
Feb.
Complete ownership acquired in Littel KK, a partnership with the University of Tokyo.
Launched MONEYMO, a website for searching for insurance agents and making appointments.Mar.
Absorbed consolidated subsidiary Littel KK.
Sep.
HOME'S PROPERTY MEDIA (THAILAND) CO., LTD. (now Lifull (THAILAND) Co., Ltd.) formed in Kingdom of Thailand (Thailand).
Dec.
Invested in Next Property Media Holdings Limited (NPM) to provide real estate information services in People's Republic of China (China).
Invested in Rakuya International Info. Co. Ltd., which operates one of the largest real estate information sites in Taiwan. -
2012
Jan.
Launched HOME'S Thailand, a website for real estate and housing information in Thailand.
Launched homescn.com, a website for real estate and housing information in China.Apr.
Invested in PT. Rumah Media (now PT. Lifull Media Indonesia) in Republic of Indonesia (Indonesia).
Aug.
Launched RumahRumah, a website for real estate and housing information in Indonesia.
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2013
Apr.
Decided to withdraw from real estate information service business in China.
Sep.
Invested in FLYMEe Inc., which operates a furniture and interior goods e-commerce site, making it an equity-method affiliate.
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2014
Apr.
Launched HOME'S Style Market, an e-commerce website for furniture and interior goods.
Oct.
Established LIFULL Fam Co., Ltd, supporting compatibility between child rearing and work.
Nov.
Acquired Trovit Search, S.L. (Spain), which operates one of the world's largest aggregation sites, making it a wholly owned subsidiary.
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2015
May.
Acquired Axelion Co., Ltd.
Jul.
Established LIFULL senior Co., Ltd., LIFULL MOVE Co., Ltd., LIFULL Fin Tech Co., Ltd. and LIFULL SPACE Co., Ltd., as a wholly owned subsidiary.
Nov.
Established LIFULL bizas Co., Ltd., operating back office work etc.
Dec.
Started australian real estate and housing information site LIFULL Australia Real Estate
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2016
Jun.
Opened branch in Sapporo, Hokkaido.
Sep.
Acquired the inbound business related to real estate investment managed by Marimo Co., Ltd.
Nov.
Established LIFULL Remodel Co., Ltd., a joint venture subsidiary with Kwasawa Corporation.
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2017
Jan.
JG Marketing Co., Ltd., which manages the crowdfunding platform, became a subsidiary.
Apr.
Changed company name to LIFULL Corporation. Integrate the provided services into the "LIFULL" brand. Headquarters moved to Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.
Vietnam Creative Consulting Co., Ltd., which develops software and application business, became a subsidiary.