- SmartNews is a news app focused on delivering quality information while helping users navigate beyond the filter bubble, positioning itself as a significant player in the digital news space.
- In the past year, SmartNews launched several new initiatives, including 'Self-Serve Ads for SMBs' in May 2025 and 'SmartNews AI Matome', an AI-driven news summarization tool, enhancing its product offerings.
- The company has strengthened its advertising capabilities, particularly targeting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and has seen notable growth in this segment.
- SmartNews's ideal buyer includes SMBs looking for effective advertising solutions, addressing their need for accessible and precise ad delivery amidst growing concerns about misinformation in the digital landscape.
Engineering is SmartNews’ largest function with 79 employees, accounting for just over 40 % of total headcount and underscoring the firm’s technology-driven approach. Marketing & Product follows at 32 employees, while Business Management, Sales & Support, and Finance & Administration collectively represent another quarter of the workforce. Smaller teams in Human Resources, IT, Operations, and Publishing round out the staff, reflecting a balanced mix of technical, commercial, and operational roles.
SmartNews maintains a distributed workforce anchored by its Tokyo headquarters, which houses roughly one-third of all employees. Around 18 % of staff work from the San Francisco office, and a further 6 % are based in New York. Smaller clusters operate in Shanghai, Singapore, Seattle, and several Silicon Valley cities, while a significant group of employees work remotely or from other locations around the world.
