Advanced Media Acquires feat, a Software Development and Third-Party Verification Company, as a Wholly-Owned Subsidiary

Advanced Media, Inc. (Headquarters: Toshima-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director, Chairman and President: Kiyoyuki Suzuki, hereinafter 'Advanced Media') announces its decision to acquire all shares of feat Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director: Tatsunori Shibata, hereinafter 'feat'), a company consistently engaged in software and hardware design and development, with a focus on software testing and third-party verification, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Our company aims to be an 'AI Voice Enabler' (*1), comprehensively supporting corporate AI utilization starting from voice. In line with this, we will actively promote collaborations with other companies, including M&A, based on our unique 'M-Dev (Market Development with Enterprise Deployment)' (*2) philosophy.

Through this complete acquisition of feat, we will integrate our voice AI technology with feat's development and verification capabilities to establish a robust AI solution development system.

feat is a company specialized in technical talent, with engineers accounting for 181 of its 195 employees. Its main businesses include software testing and third-party verification, software design and development, hardware design and development, and technical support. Its strengths lie in a systematic verification process based on its unique test standard 'TESTOLOGY,' and a review system by qualified personnel, accumulating over 15 years of know-how in the field of third-party verification. The company also possesses a wide range of capabilities and solid technical expertise, capable of handling everything from software and hardware design to development and verification.

As business processes rapidly automate with the spread of generative AI, 'human checks and evaluations' that guarantee the final quality of completed software and applications from a user's perspective have become a crucial process that determines the completeness of services. We believe that the need for highly skilled professionals with extensive know-how and specialized expertise in quality assurance and verification, an area difficult for AI to replace, will continue to increase.

At Advanced Media, we believe that the greater the momentum for AI utilization in society, the more important AI x human collaboration becomes. We are promoting 'AISH (AI Super Humanization)' initiatives, which aim to enhance work efficiency and effectiveness through AI, and make work more enjoyable by making AI a partner.

This share acquisition is part of that effort. By integrating our overwhelming strengths in AI speech recognition and voice AI with feat's high development capabilities and rich human resources, we aim to create new complex solutions and services as an 'AI Voice Enabler' (*1) that maximizes the strengths of Japanese language, speech recognition, and industry specialization. This will enhance value provided to client companies and expand the acquisition of new projects.

Advanced Media will continue to integrate the technologies, human resources, and customer bases of both companies to achieve sustainable growth and improve corporate value in the medium to long term.

feat Co., Ltd. Overview

Company Name: feat Co., Ltd.

Location: Imas Shibuya 3F, 3-3 Sarugakucho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Established: September 4, 2008

Representative: Tatsunori Shibata, Representative Director

Business Activities: Software testing/third-party verification, software design/development, hardware design/development,

Technical support

Capital: 10,000 thousand yen

URL: https://www.feat-inc.com/

*1 AI Voice Enabler refers to a business entity that promotes the AI enablement of customer and partner companies and advances the market development of AI through voice AI, which is based on generative AI and voice.

*2 M-Dev (Market Development with Enterprise Deployment) refers to the evolution of market development for AI speech recognition into market development for AI, through the cultivation and expansion of sales channels by collaborating with other companies, including M&A.

【Inquiries regarding this matter】 Advanced Media, Inc. Management Promotion Division, Public Relations Team https://www.advanced-media.co.jp/contact/general/