‘Making life more interesting’ CAINZ and KAYAC form capital | KAYAC

Co-operation in various fields such as improving the value of customer experience, digital marketing domain, regional development, personnel exchange and so on.

As of May 23rd, 2022, KAYAC Inc. announces that it has entered into a capital and business alliance agreement with CAINZ
Through this partnership, KAYAC. and CAINZ plan to collaborate in a variety of areas such as improving the value of the customer experience, developing new products, and revitalizing internal culture through human resource exchange, as partners in realizing CAINZ's goal of becoming an ‘IT retail company’ and the “Kumimachi” initiative. (CAINZ’s set of initiatives of co-creating with the local community as a central stakeholder. “kumi” as in build and “machi” as in town) This will be KAYAC’s first capital and business alliance.
The two companies are committed to achieving medium- and long-term improvements in corporate value and contributing to the development of a sustainable society.

■　 Background & Significance Of This Alliance

Based on its management philosophy of "boosting the number of people who create," KAYAC is developing a wide range of businesses by leveraging synergies with each other, including experience facilities such as the "Unko Museum," digital promotion, game entertainment planning and development, and VR and Metaverse development, on the strength of its ability to think outside the box without being bound by stereotypes and plan along with its technological capabilities to give shape to these ideas. In 2020, they also established the "Regional Capitalism Division" to promote regional development, digital transformation at the municipal level and local community revitalization with initiatives such as the migration scouting service "SMOUT" & "Machi no Coin" local community digital currency.
With the vision of “changing the world from everyday life. CAINZ is accelerating its efforts towards its “Kumimachi” initiatives to "create a DIY culture" aiming to make life at home and in the community more enjoyable, and to collaborate with local communities to create a future "community life" in which every local resident plays a leading role. In 2018, the company also declared itself an "IT Retailer" and is focusing on digital strategies such as introducing an app that shows the location of products in stores, managing owned media, and improving the customer experience through data analysis.
Although the two companies are in different industries, their values are highly compatible in terms of their vision of "creating a DIY culture" and "boosting the number of people who create" alongside their business goals that focus on and are rooted in the local community. The companies entered into this capital and business alliance agreement based on the belief that the combination of KAYAC's creative ideas and advanced technological capabilities with CAINZ’S product development capabilities, stores, and staff will lead to the realization of CAINZ’S goals of becoming an "IT retail company" and “Kumimachi” initiatives.
Under the slogan of "Making life more interesting," the two companies will promote various initiatives to support better living in the community and the people who live there independently.

■　 Future Prospects

As a partner in the planning and development of digital solutions for CAINZ, KAYAC will be involved in the creation of new customer experiences and communication strategies to realize CAINZ’s goal of becoming an "IT retail company”. In addition, KAYAC and CAINZ will collaborate in a variety of fields, including the exchange of human resources to promote unique corporate culture which includes brainstorming culture and roll-of-dice salary system, and the promotion of regional development and community building through collaboration on the "Kumimachi " initiatives and the "Regional Capitalism Project”.

The two companies are committed to achieving medium- and long-term improvements in corporate value and contributing to the development of a sustainable society.

＜Details of Business Alliance＞
Driving communication strategies such as promotions for customers
Joint development of products or services by the two companies that generate topicality.
Ongoing content development in CAINZ’s lifestyle media.
Fostering DIY and other community activities using coins provided by KAYAC Inc in the community
Collaboration between the “kumimachi” Initiative promoted by CAINZ and KAYAC's “Regional Capitalism Project”
To invigorate the creative internal cultures of both companies through the exchange of human resources between employees of both companies

＜Details of Capital Alliance＞
KAYAC will issue new shares to CAINZ through a third-party allotment. 539,300 shares of common stock of KAYAC.
(3.54% of the 15,247,100 shares outstanding as of December 31, 2021).
Please refer to the IR release for details of the Capital Increase through Third-party Allotment.
https://contents.xj-storage.jp/xcontents/AS01527/bc7412c8/0009/4a76/84eb/b0b565db767b/140120220523554412.pdf

■ About CAINZ Corporation

CAINZ Corporation is a home improvement stores with 228 stores across 28 prefectures.
With the promise to their customers as “Living, Lalala'', they strive to create products and stores that are conscious of lifestyle proposals that fit into everyday life and total co-ordination of living spaces. They provide products that enrich people's lives at low prices every day by developing original products and utilizing their own purchasing and logistics systems.

＜Overview of CAINZ Corporation＞
Representative：Chairman and Representative Director Hiromasa Tsuchiya
President & CEO： Masayuki Takaya
Established： March 1989
HQ： 1-2-1 Waseda no Mori, Honjo City, Saitama Prefecture
Capital： 3.26 billion yen
Nature of business： Management of home improvement stores
No. of employees： 13,097 persons （as on end of Feb 2021）
No. of stores： 228 stores（as on end of April 2022）
Official site： https://www.cainz.co.jp/