Inside freee: Revolutionizing Business Operations

freee is a Japanese fintech company that specializes in cloud-based software solutions for accounting and human resources. It was founded in 2012 and has become a leading platform for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and freelancers in Japan. freee's products simplify administrative tasks such as bookkeeping, tax filing, payroll management, and employee record-keeping among many others. With that, why don’t you join me in learning more about freee with its Engineering Manager, Keiichiro Soeda. 

Since graduating from a Foreign Studies course, what made you pivot your career to engineering? How did you land a position at freee? 

As a kid, I used to like playing with computers. When I enrolled in college, I had an interest in Programming Engineering. However, I pursued Anthropology at that time. I met a friend who was majoring in Computer Science, from whom I learned much about programming in general. I was incredibly fascinated about how you can change the world by just building a system or an application like Facebook that completely changes communication across different people. That’s how I got into this industry. After graduating, I joined a startup company and after 4 years, I decided to look for other opportunities that could make me grow. That’s when I found freee. 

What is freee and how does it differentiate itself from competitors in Japan’s fintech ecosystem?

As a company, freee focuses on providing a cloud-based platform that simplifies back-office operations for small businesses. Our goal is to make administrative tasks like accounting, payroll calculation, and attendance management easier, so business owners can concentrate on what they do best—growing their businesses. What makes freee unique is our integrated ERP platform, which streamlines all back-office operations by connecting various features and unifying the data in one place.

While we initially launched as a cloud-based accounting system, many people still think of us as just an accounting software company. However, that's only one part of what we offer. Today, freee delivers a much broader range of solutions, bringing value across many areas of business operations. Our platform is designed to do more than just solve accounting problems—we aim to revolutionize how businesses manage their operations altogether.

Can you share how freee's automation features, like bank integration, improve efficiency for users?

Yes, we offer bank integrations with all banks in Japan. Users can connect their bank accounts, and once connected, all transactions are automatically synced to the system. This ensures that financial statements are always up to date without any manual input. Beyond bank accounts, we also integrate with credit cards, Amazon purchase history, and other platforms, making it easy for businesses to track and manage all their transactions seamlessly.

Another unique feature we provide is our own credit card, issued directly to our customers. Since we are the issuer, in partnership with networks like MasterCard, there's no latency in capturing transaction data. Every purchase and transaction is instantly synced to our database, offering real-time updates and further automating financial management for our users.

Can you share a success story where freee had a significant impact on a client’s business operations?

One of the key strengths of freee is our integrated modules and unified data system. We’ve continuously enhanced the integrated experience by developing multiple connected products. When compared to competitors, some may excel in accounting software but lack payroll or HR features, while others are strong in HR but don’t offer robust accounting tools. freee stands out because we provide a comprehensive platform that covers all these areas. From the user’s perspective, this means they can streamline everything on a single platform without needing to switch tools. This seamless experience is a big part of the value we deliver. From a business standpoint, it also benefits us—if users are satisfied with one feature, they’re likely to adopt others, such as payroll or HR, as their business grows. This not only meets their evolving needs but also increases our revenue per user over time.

Another thing would be the corporate culture at freee. It’s one of the biggest factors that have brought us to where we are today. I believe freee has a truly great corporate culture. At freee, we always prioritize the value we provide to our users. Across all roles—whether it’s engineers, sales, or back-office staff—there’s a shared commitment to thinking about the true customer value in everything we do. Whenever we get lost, we always come back to asking whether our actions will provide value to the customer. 

What is freee’s long-term vision for transforming the financial and administrative processes of SMEs in Japan?

Our vision at freee is to empower small businesses to take center stage in their industries. Through our platform, we aim to enable business owners to focus entirely on their core activities, leaving operational processes to us. This commitment drives us to continuously improve our platform, with a strong emphasis on automation and data integration, ensuring our solutions become even more powerful and efficient.

Recently, we’ve expanded our focus beyond just business owners. While initially centered on supporting leadership, we’ve recognized the importance of empowering employees as well. We now prioritize enhancing communication between employees and HR admins, making work processes smoother and more collaborative. By fostering a better work environment for employees, we believe this will have a direct, positive impact on overall business success. At freee, we’re committed to empowering everyone involved, from owners to employees, across every industry.

Keiichiro Soeda is the Engineering Manager of freee. He plays an important role in overseeing the development and delivery of the company’s software products and services. Keiichiro is dedicated about innovation, technology, and the empowerment of small businesses.

Visit www.techshake.asia if you would like to know and connect more with freee.