Coconala Inc. (headquartered in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Ayumu Suzuki; hereinafter “Coconala”) and Elith Inc. (headquartered in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director, CEO and CTO: Koki Inoue; hereinafter “Elith”) are pleased to announce that they have reached an agreement to establish a joint venture focused on AI solutions for businesses.
The planned equity ownership of the new company is 51% for Coconala and 49% for Elith.
By combining Coconala’s extensive corporate customer base, marketing expertise, and sales capabilities with Elith’s AI research and development expertise, product development capabilities, and proven track record of deploying AI solutions at enterprise companies, the joint venture will continuously plan, develop, and deliver products and services that support AI adoption across businesses.
Background and Purpose of the Joint Venture
With the growing adoption of generative AI and AI agents, businesses are moving beyond experimental use within individual departments toward organization-wide implementation in their daily operations.
However, successfully integrating AI into business operations and ensuring its continued use requires addressing multiple challenges beyond the performance of AI models themselves. These include evaluating output quality, protecting confidential information, monitoring usage, preventing inappropriate operations, integrating with existing systems, and continuously improving solutions after deployment.
In mission-critical fields such as finance, manufacturing, healthcare, and social infrastructure, organizations need systems that enable them to manage and operate AI while maintaining high levels of accuracy and reliability.
Coconala has developed a service platform connecting businesses with a diverse range of professionals. Its business includes over 620,000 corporate clients, a membership base of more than 6 million users, and over 1.4 million registered skill providers.
Elith positions itself as a “Mission-Critical AI Company,” conducting AI research and development, product development, and enterprise implementation support, particularly in fields where high quality and reliability are essential.
By combining Coconala’s customer relationships and sales infrastructure with Elith’s AI technology and product development capabilities, the two companies believe they can make AI more accessible to a broader range of businesses, regardless of company size or industry. This shared vision has led to the agreement to establish the joint venture.
Coconala’s Strengths
Coconala has expanded from its core skills marketplace, “Coconala,” where users can buy and sell knowledge, skills, and experience, into corporate talent services and AI solutions. In September 2026, Coconala established an AI business division, positioning enterprise AI adoption as one of its key business pillars.
Strength 1: A Corporate Customer Base of Over 620,000 Companies, Reaching SMEs and Mid-Sized Businesses
Coconala serves more than 620,000 corporate clients, ranging from large enterprises to mid-sized and small businesses and sole proprietors. Its extensive customer reach enables it to deliver products to companies that may not previously have had sufficient resources to implement AI safety measures.
Strength 2: Strong Customer Acquisition and Sales Capabilities
Through operating a marketplace with more than 6 million registered users, Coconala has established effective mechanisms for attracting customers, primarily through digital channels, and converting that interest into purchases. The company will leverage this expertise to market and sell AI products to businesses.
Strength 3: An Integrated Group Structure Supporting AI from Concept to Adoption
Coconala’s AI business division includes Acrosstudio, which specializes in AI development and implementation. Together with other corporate services, including “Coconala Tech,” which supports development projects, and “Coconala Assist,” which provides outsourced operational support after implementation, the group can support businesses throughout the entire process, from initial planning to the successful adoption of AI solutions.
The joint venture will leverage these business foundations to identify a broad range of enterprise AI needs and deliver products and services tailored to companies of different sizes and stages of AI adoption.
Elith’s Strengths
Elith is a “Mission-Critical AI Company” focused on fields where AI performance directly affects business operations and societal safety. Leveraging world-class research and development capabilities and extensive experience implementing AI in critical enterprise operations, Elith provides end-to-end support spanning research, product development, implementation, and ongoing operational improvement.
Strength 1: World-Class AI Researchers and Engineers, Including Four Kaggle Masters
Elith employs four Kaggle Masters who have achieved outstanding results on Kaggle, a global competition platform for data scientists. Its team also includes researchers and engineers whose papers have been accepted or whose work has been presented at leading AI conferences and associated workshops, including CVPR, ICLR, and ICCV.
In an AI agent security competition organized by OpenAI, Google, IEEE, and other organizations, a team that included Elith engineers placed fourth out of 4,186 teams, earning a gold medal. Elith also benefits from the guidance of distinguished advisors, including Yutaka Matsuo, a leading figure in Japanese AI research, as well as Ryutaro Okada and Takayoshi Yamashita.
Strength 2: Extensive Experience Supporting Enterprises Where Accuracy and Reliability Are Critical
Elith supports AI development and implementation across a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, finance, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, construction, information and communications, human resources, and education.
The company delivers solutions using generative AI, AI agents, computer vision, and data analytics to clients that include leading Japanese enterprises. Its support extends beyond initial planning and technical validation to integration with existing systems, deployment in production environments, and post-deployment improvements. Elith has a proven track record of implementing AI in mission-critical operations that demand high accuracy, confidentiality, and stability.
Strength 3: Turning World-Class Research into Practical Enterprise Products
Elith applies its research findings not only to academic publications and technical validation, but also to the development and enhancement of products for enterprise use.
Insights gained from testing attacks and vulnerabilities in AI agent security competitions have been incorporated into “GENFLUX Security,” which helps organizations visualize and control risks associated with AI usage. Elith also offers “GENFLUX Evaluation,” which continuously assesses AI quality and reliability, along with other products designed to support safe enterprise AI adoption.
Under “GENIAC,” a domestic generative AI development initiative led by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Elith’s joint proposal with Chubu University, titled “Development of FinGuard, an AI Guardrail Model Specialized for Financial Services,” was selected for the program. The project aims to develop technologies that detect and mitigate risks specific to financial institutions, including risks involving customer information, regulatory compliance, misinformation, and cyberattacks.
Objectives of the Joint Venture
The new company will combine Coconala’s corporate customer base and sales capabilities with Elith’s research and development expertise and product development capabilities to continuously deliver products and services that support enterprise AI adoption.
It will address a wide range of needs, from companies considering their first AI implementation to organizations that have already introduced multiple AI tools but face challenges in managing and operating them across the enterprise.
The joint venture’s anticipated business areas include:
- Planning, development, and delivery of AI products for businesses
- Services related to AI safety, security, and quality evaluation
- Business process enhancement using generative AI and AI agents
- Post-implementation operations, AI usage visibility, and continuous improvement
- Development of AI solutions leveraging proprietary corporate data
- AI development and implementation support tailored to industry- and business-specific challenges
- Planning of new support services that combine specialized human expertise with AI
In its initial phase, the joint venture plans to leverage Elith’s products, including “GENFLUX Security” and “GENFLUX Evaluation,” to help businesses implement and operate AI safely and appropriately.
Subsequently, the company will use customer needs and usage data to enhance existing products, develop new features, and create related services. Rather than limiting itself to specific products or business areas, the joint venture aims to become a business platform that continuously develops the products and services companies need to make effective use of AI.
Roles of the Two Companies
Coconala
- Sales and marketing to corporate customers
- Collection of customer needs and feedback
- Development of sales channels
- Customer success
- Collaboration with Coconala’s membership base and professional talent network
Elith
- AI research and development
- Planning and development of products and features
- Technical validation
- Enterprise implementation support
- Continuous improvement of AI models and systems
Joint Venture
- Business planning
- Sales strategy development
- Delivery of products and services to customers
- Development of new businesses leveraging the resources of both companies
Overview of the Joint Venture
Company Name: 株式会社ココナラエリス
Headquarters: 6F, Shibuya Infoss Tower, 20-1 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Representative: Ayumu Suzuki, Representative Director, President and CEO
Business: AI safety assessment and verification, and AI agent-related businesses
Capital: JPY 10 million
Equity Ownership: Coconala Inc. 51%; Elith Inc. 49%
Planned Establishment Date: November 1, 2026
Fiscal Year-End: August
Outlook
The new company will go beyond selling existing AI products and continuously develop new products and services based on market trends and customer challenges.
Customer needs and feedback gathered through Coconala’s corporate relationships will be incorporated into Elith’s research, development, and product enhancement efforts. The joint venture aims to establish a continuous cycle in which products are developed, brought to market, and improved based on real-world usage and feedback.
Initially, the company will focus on AI safety, security, and quality evaluation. Over time, it plans to expand into additional areas, including AI agent applications, business process optimization, data utilization, custom AI development, and post-implementation operational support.
Together, the two companies aim to make advanced AI technologies accessible not only to large enterprises and specialists, but also to a broad range of businesses across industries and company sizes, enabling them to put AI to practical use in their day-to-day operations.
Message from Ayumu Suzuki, President and CEO of Coconala Inc.
“The mission of our AI business division is to take responsibility for the entire process, from AI planning and development to adoption in the workplace and execution of business operations, supporting companies until they achieve tangible results with AI.
The deeper AI becomes embedded in business operations, the more companies ultimately ask one question: ‘Can we trust it with our critical operations?’ If employees’ AI usage remains invisible, or if companies cannot verify whether AI outputs meet the quality standards required for business use, AI will not become part of their most important operations.
Elith is a company with world-class technical capabilities in this field, demonstrated by its fourth-place finish in an international AI agent security competition, and has successfully translated those capabilities into products.
From our very first interactions, we felt that Elith was a partner we could trust and work with to deliver value to businesses through AI at extraordinary speed.
Through this joint venture, we will combine Elith’s technology with Coconala’s corporate customer base and sales capabilities to deliver products that make AI usage visible and secure, as well as products that continuously verify AI quality.
This will enable our AI business division to take responsibility for the entire process, from AI adoption to safe operation. By leveraging Coconala’s platform, which serves over 620,000 corporate clients and connects more than 1.4 million registered skill providers, we aim to bring safe AI adoption to as many businesses as possible.”
Message from Koki Inoue, Representative Director, CEO and CTO of Elith Inc.
“I am deeply concerned about the growing threat posed by unauthorized access, which jeopardizes business operations and people’s everyday lives. Our goal is to use our technology to overcome these challenges and make the world a safer place. That is the vision behind this initiative.
A team that included Elith engineers placed fourth out of 4,186 teams in Kaggle’s ‘AI Agent Security’ competition, ranking among the top approximately 0.1% of participants. We want to translate this technical expertise into tangible capabilities that protect people and businesses.
Our ambition is to deliver AI that people can use with confidence to 100 million people. Achieving this requires not only advancing our technology but also partnering with organizations that can bring it to the people who need it.
Through our discussions with the Coconala team, I genuinely felt excited about the possibilities of working together and how much more we could accomplish for people by joining forces.
By combining our strengths, we aim to protect society through technology and create a world where everyone can confidently benefit from the possibilities of AI.”
About Coconala Inc.
Guided by its vision of “Creating a world where everyone can live their own story,” Coconala operates the “Coconala” skills marketplace, where people can buy and sell knowledge, skills, and experience, along with a range of services for both individual and corporate customers.
Company Name: Coconala Inc.
Headquarters: 6F, Shibuya Infoss Tower, 20-1 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Representative: Ayumu Suzuki, President and CEO
Established: January 2012
Business: Operation of the Coconala skills marketplace and related services
Website: https://coconala.co.jp/
About Elith Inc.
Elith aims to become the world’s most trusted “Mission-Critical AI Company,” providing AI research and development, product development, and enterprise implementation support.
The company delivers solutions leveraging generative AI, AI agents, computer vision, data analytics, and AI safety and security technologies, particularly in industries where high quality and reliability are essential, including manufacturing, finance, healthcare, construction, and information and communications.
Company Name: Elith Inc.
Headquarters: 6F-A, Frontier Hongo, 2-27-17 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Representative: Koki Inoue, Representative Director, CEO and CTO
Established: December 2022
Business: AI research and development, AI product development, and AI solutions
Website: https://www.elith.ai/