Usonar Strengthens Corporate Data Infrastructure by Acquiring 5 Patents from Ricoh ~Promoting Advancement of Foundation through In-house Ownership of Business Card Information x Corporate Data Integration Technology~

Usonar Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director, Chairman: Nanami Fukutomi; Representative Director, President & CEO: Katsuhito Nagatake; hereinafter referred to as Usonar) is pleased to announce that it has acquired 5 patent rights related to technology for integrating business card information with external information from Ricoh Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Ota-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Akira Oyama; hereinafter referred to as Ricoh). Usonar will become the patent holder as of March 31, 2026.
This initiative, based on the license agreement concluded in 2020*1, allows Usonar to become the patent holder for the technology it has been utilizing. This establishes a system for stable management and development of core technologies for our corporate data infrastructure.

Overview of Transferred Patents

The patents transferred in this transaction are as follows:

Patent Number	Patent Summary
Patent No. 6299498 Patent No. 6614255	Technology to identify individuals not yet acquired by using business card information and information from other media.
Patent No. 6369140 Patent No. 6683219	Technology to update organizational information to distinguish between acquired and unacquired business card information, and output it accordingly.
Patent No. 6550810	Technology to visualize members of a classification involved in a transaction within organizational information, and visualize the achievement level of activities in the classification involved in the transaction.

These patents are technologies for structuring and visualizing corporate data starting with business card information. They are positioned as foundational technologies for corporate data preparation, which is crucial in the AI era.

Background of Patent Acquisition and Strategic Positioning in the AI Era
In recent years, with the evolution of generative AI, the differentiating factors for conventional SaaS businesses have changed, and the importance of data infrastructure is increasing in the AI era. Usonar believes that functional SaaS and data infrastructure-based businesses have fundamentally different structures, considering these environmental changes.

With the widespread adoption of generative AI, the differentiation of application functions such as SaaS is relatively decreasing. On the other hand, the recognition is growing that the accuracy and utilization value of AI depend on high-quality, structured data infrastructure.
Usonar has independently built and updated Japan's largest corporate database, "LBC"*2, covering over 12.5 million business locations for over 35 years. This data infrastructure, which enables name matching and integration at the corporate group, corporate, and business site levels, is utilized as core data infrastructure supporting the advancement of sales and marketing activities.
Through this patent acquisition, Usonar will utilize, as its own patents, the technology for integrating business card information with corporate data, including LBC, in Usonar services such as the corporate information & business card management app "mSonar"*3. This will further enhance the uniqueness and sustainability of corporate data structuring, strengthen our competitive advantage as a corporate data infrastructure company in the AI era, and be utilized as the data foundation for future AI services and data linkage services.

Future Development
In the AI era, competitiveness will be determined by high-quality structured data. Corporate data, in particular, demonstrates higher value when linked with contact information, which serves as the entry point for corporate activities. Usonar will promote the following to achieve medium-to-long-term growth in the corporate data market:
・Improve the accuracy of integration between business card acquisition data and corporate data
・Enhance visualization of contacts at the department level
・Expand data utilization areas by strengthening collaboration with AI
・Deepen collaboration with various devices and business platforms.

*1: Regarding the license agreement concluded in 2020

We had an exclusive license for Ricoh's business card-related patents. This technology visualizes relationships with individuals and companies with whom there were no previous contacts by combining business card information with external information.
https://usonar.co.jp/news/20200820_5117.html

*2: About the corporate database "LBC"

Japan's largest corporate database, assigning an 11-digit management code to business locations nationwide. It centrally manages abundant corporate attribute information such as industry, sales, profits, number of employees, and static IP addresses. By matching transaction partner data with "LBC," it enables precise targeting, including cleansing of transaction partner data, attribute expansion, and visualization of non-transacting companies.

Japan's largest... based on our company's survey results of the number of head office and business location data of Japanese companies (as of March 31, 2026)

https://usonar.co.jp/service/usonar/#serviceLbc

*3: About the corporate information & business card management app "mSonar"

Slogan: "Understand corporate data in the palm of your hand." It is an evolution of business card management apps, equipped with Japan's largest corporate database. It consolidates corporate research, business card management, and internal communication into a single smartphone app for swift information flow in business. When business cards are captured via smartphone or scanner, they are instantly digitized and linked with corresponding corporate data. It allows users to check more information than is visible on a business card, and can be used in conjunction with CRM/SFA. It also includes chat and internal extension functions, eliminating the need to switch to other apps for communication.

https://usonar.co.jp/content/msonar/

About Usonar Co., Ltd.

Since its establishment in 1990, Usonar has independently built and maintained "LBC," Japan's largest corporate database, to address challenges in BtoB data. Leveraging its unique technology for collecting and organizing high-quality, accurate data, along with cutting-edge knowledge including artificial intelligence, the company provides the customer data integration solution "Usonar" to support more precise business strategy planning. Usonar offers various cloud services to solve customer issues, including the management strategy platform "PlanSonar," the corporate information & business card management app "mSonar," and the registered information download tool "ToukiSonar."
Website URL: https://usonar.co.jp/service/usonar/

Company Name: Usonar Co., Ltd.

Location: 15F, Tokyo Opera City, 3-20-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

Representative: Representative Director, Chairman Nanami Fukutomi; Representative Director, President & CEO Katsuhito Nagatake

Established: September 10, 1990

Stock Market: Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market, Securities Code 431A

Business Activities: Database Marketing Support Business

URL: https://usonar.co.jp/