Although Volaris Group has completed hundreds of transactions around the world since we began acquiring software businesses in 1995, it wasn’t until 2025 that we made our first acquisition in Japan.

That’s because entering the Japanese market took careful consideration. For Volaris Group, conducting M&A in this unique market means having mastery of the language and business culture, having a strong team locally, and taking a long-term view on investment.

This timeline shows how quickly Volaris Group was able to ramp up our investment in the country in just two years:

• Mid-2024: Completed assessment of potential to acquire in the Japanese market
• October 2024: Hired first Tokyo-based employee
• August 2025: M&A lead in Japan relocates to Japan from France
• October 2025: Closed first Japanese acquisition (HeartCore)
• September 2026: M&A team in Japan grows to six people

In the Q&A below, our leader for M&A in Japan and VP of M&A Christophe Blanc speaks about Volaris Group’s acquisition approach in Japan and how he came to lead the team in the country.

How did you come to live in Tokyo and lead Volaris Group’s M&A efforts in Japan?

I am originally from France, but I have a personal connection to Japan beyond business. I lived in Japan when I was a university student and have always felt drawn to come back. After I returned to France, I ended up marrying someone who is half French, half Japanese. Since then, we have frequently gone back and forth to see family while raising our three children across both cultures.

When I joined Volaris in 2022, I mentioned Japan as a possible market for M&A. By 2024, we decided it was time to seriously consider our potential to acquire here, so I spent seven weeks in the country talking to potential partners, advisors, and acquisition targets. My conclusion was that the market was big enough for Volaris Group to invest in.

We see our investment in Japan as a forever, multi-decade opportunity.

How did you build the team in the country and make your first acquisition?

We hired our first Tokyo-based employee in October 2024 and started building a funnel of companies. By mid-2025, I was flying back and forth between Japan and France every six weeks, and my family and I decided to relocate to Tokyo in August 2025.

Shortly after that, we closed our first acquisition, HeartCore, in October 2025. Two more team members joined the M&A team from HeartCore in June 2026, and a sixth person started in September 2026. We’re based in Tokyo, and our entire team is from Japan, except for me. Now, we meet with companies almost every day.

Joining Volaris Group offers an opportunity for software companies to become part of an international community. Our network of businesses includes Japanese-speaking leaders from around the world, such as Kenshi Banderas Mitsuishi, CEO of Fisa Group, a software company based in Ecuador.

What’s appealing about Volaris for Japanese owners looking to sell?

There’s no five-year exit clock the way there would be with a typical private equity firm. That fits naturally with Japan’s long-term business culture and what founders tend to care about: protecting their company’s legacy, employees, and customer relationships.

Beyond that, joining Volaris means joining a community of vertical market software businesses, with access to benchmarking data and playbooks built over more than 30 years across 150+ countries. We also run a decentralized model where existing management keeps its autonomy, with the added support of a global network of peer leaders.

Practically, we’re a disciplined, well-resourced investor. We acquire with cash on our balance sheet, so we’re not dependent on debt financing that can slow a deal down.

What’s the opportunity for Volaris to acquire in Japan?

Japan is one of the largest and most promising software markets globally. The tech and software industry lagged the US and Europe for a while, but is catching up quickly. More broadly, Japan is one of the largest economies in the world, with the stable political and economic environment we want to invest in.

We see our investment in Japan as a forever, multi-decade opportunity, not a one-off entry, and our ambition is to become a widely recognized name in Japan’s software market.

What trends make Japan attractive for M&A right now?

Historically, an IPO has been the default exit path for Japanese founders rather than a private sale, since going public has been more accessible there than it is elsewhere. That’s shifting, though. Recent changes to Tokyo Stock Exchange listing requirements are making it harder for some listed companies to stay listed, so we expect more of them to look for a buyer. Volaris has experience taking companies private, so this is an opportunity for us.

We’re also starting to see more corporate carve-outs as large conglomerates come under pressure from the Japanese government to clarify their business focus. What this means for M&A is that these companies will divest non-core assets, which Volaris Group would be interested in acquiring.

Are there any other trends you see more broadly among Japanese software businesses?

We’re also seeing more SaaS and packaged software companies emerge alongside Japan’s traditional systems integrators and more openness to foreign investors.
How does succession for businesses factor into your M&A outlook for Japan?

Japan’s population is shrinking by roughly 800,000 people a year, and many founders simply have no one to hand the business to. It’s a common enough problem now that regional banks have entire teams dedicated to advising clients on succession.

Our “hold forever” model resonates with these owners because what they usually want isn’t a fast exit — it’s stability. Business owners want to keep the business sustainable, keep customers happy, and keep growing modestly.

How is your M&A team in Japan organized, and what cultural elements matter most in doing business there?

The team is dedicated entirely to M&A in Japan, and everyone is bilingual in Japanese and English at minimum. Most of us speak three languages or more, which helps bridge the cultural gap with owners here. Our team has people who speak Korean, Indonesian, German, French, and Spanish. Between us, the team combines about 20 years of cross-border M&A experience with a deep, hands-on familiarity with Japanese corporate governance and listed-company dynamics

Culturally, trust is everything. People we talk to are often quite open, but trust takes a long time to build and can be undone in seconds if you get it wrong. That’s a big reason we wanted a local Japanese team, with people who understand that instinctively. Even something as simple as exchanging business cards comes with real etiquette here, and meetings typically open with small talk about the weather before business begins.

Knowing we had a team here to support the due diligence and integration processes gave [HeartCore’s founder] comfort that his people would be in good hands, and I think that was the key trigger for him to choose Volaris.

HeartCore was your first acquisition in Japan. What attracted the founder to Volaris?

Kano-san, the founder and CEO of HeartCore, a content management services business, wanted to sell so he could focus on another venture. But finding the right home for his roughly 42–44 employees mattered deeply to him. He was very close to his employees and would personally send flowers to each one on their birthday. Our “hold forever” approach resonated with him. Knowing we had a team here to support the due diligence and integration processes gave him comfort that his people would be in good hands, and I think that was the key trigger for him to choose Volaris.

What has happened with HeartCore since being acquired by Volaris?

Nine months after the acquisition, integration was essentially complete for HeartCore. We use a light-touch approach where the business continues to operate autonomously under the decentralized Volaris model. But we also need standardized financial reporting across all Volaris companies, so we brought in someone from our Australian business to help set up that finance function. It went well. We recruited a new CEO and CFO, since neither came with the acquisition.

Now, we’re starting to see some of Volaris’s operating expertise take hold. I’d expect them to expand beyond their core website-building business into more sophisticated ways of using customer data and content — potentially drawing on the AI expertise Volaris has been building through our AI Accelerator program. It also meant a lot to the team to attend Quadrants, our global conference, in Copenhagen. Seeing themselves as part of a much larger organization was a meaningful moment for them.

Our first acquisition here is a good template for how we’ll approach future acquisitions in Japan. We focus on the customer in year one, retain local leadership, and provide patient, long-term support for growth.