Mobile news aggregation platform with AI-driven content discovery and native advertising
SmartNews operates a mobile news platform serving millions of readers with AI-assisted content curation and publisher partnerships. The hiring mix—heavily weighted toward sales (14 roles) with minimal engineering (1 role)—reflects a business model focused on advertising revenue and agency partnerships rather than product iteration. Active projects signal a sharp pivot toward monetization: ads KPI design, agency partnership development, and revenue expansion strategy dominate the roadmap, while pain points cluster around agency acquisition and CPG client expansion.
SmartNews is a mobile news aggregation platform founded in 2012 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, serving 501–1,000 employees across Japan and the United States. The platform curates news from trusted publishers using AI technology and distributes content to millions of mobile users. Revenue is driven through native and programmatic advertising, with a go-to-market motion built on agency partnerships and direct advertiser relationships. The company operates a publisher-side curation layer and an advertiser-side monetization engine, positioning itself as an intermediary between news sources and both readers and brands.
SmartNews uses Google Ads, Meta Ads, Yahoo Ads, Salesforce, Looker Studio, Tableau, and Redash for advertising and analytics. Engineering stack includes Python, TypeScript, React, and SQL. AI tools include Gemini and Claude. Design uses Figma.
SmartNews actively hires in Japan and the United States, with headquarters in Tokyo.
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