ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has accepted a third-party allocation of shares from CANDY HOUSE, Inc. (headquartered in Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Jerming Gu, CEO; hereinafter “CANDY HOUSE”) and has entered into a capital and business alliance with CANDY HOUSE.

Attention towards smart homes is increasing recently due in part to an increase in the need for remote safety checks and security guarantees following an increase in dual income and aged households as well as an increase in interest in consolidated management of household appliances and devices following increased efficiency in lifestyles. The Japanese smart home market is expected to grow substantially, from 500 billion JPY in 2019 to 2 trillion^* JPY by 2025.
Within this market, smart locks could be called the leading device in the popularization of smart homes in Japan from the fact that they are placed at the entrance to homes and act as hubs to solve problems by cooperating with AI cameras and other smart home devices. Demand is also increasing among corporate offices, service facilities, and more for the management of entry and exit into rooms using smart locks from the perspective of strengthening security to manage labor and prevent leakage of information following work style reforms. Demands are also increasing from the viewpoint of reducing personnel and increasing efficiency.

ITOCHU accepted a third-party allocation of shares from CANDY HOUSE, a startup for IoT smart home devices, and has entered into a capital and business alliance with this startup. CANDY HOUSE offers high-quality smart home devices that were better designed with a market-in concept to rapidly respond to the needs of the market, with a focus on its SESAME series of smart locks. These devices are offered to consumers around the world and they have earned high marks in the market.
In the future, ITOCHU will cooperate with CONEXIO Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Hiroshi Suguta, Representative Director and President), a mobile phone wholesaler and consolidated subsidiary, and will move forward by cooperating with Group companies and CANDY HOUSE, to sell the CANDY HOUSE products to B2B segments.

ITOCHU transforms businesses through its "market-in" approach, which is a basic direction included in the Medium-Term Management Plan Brand-new Deal 2023, and this effort is in line with this policy. Moving forward, ITOCHU will contribute to the realization of a more convenient and abundant society through smart home-related businesses and support of the promotion of corporate digital transformations, along with supporting the further improvement of CANDY HOUSE’s corporate value.

https://jp.candyhouse.co/ 　(Japanese)