ZenX Begins Recruitment Support Partnership with hootfolio, an AI Development Carve-Out from NEC, to Support the Expansion of Its Causal AI Business

ZenX Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya, Tokyo; CEO: Masahiro Goto) has begun a recruitment support partnership with hootfolio Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Kenta Kasahara), a company that carved out from NEC Corporation in 2025 and provides the causal AI "causal analysis®︎," with the aim of strengthening its recruiting structure for further business expansion.

ZenX, with strengths in recruiting support for the startup sector, will fully support the development of hootfolio's recruiting infrastructure as its business expands.

■ Background

hootfolio is a company that carved out from NEC in 2025 to bring causal AI technology, researched for more than a decade, into real-world use.

The company develops and provides the causal AI "causal analysis®︎," a BtoB SaaS product that uncovers causal relationships, and is growing rapidly despite being newly founded, supporting decision-making at major corporations.

Amid this rapid growth, building out its HR function and strengthening recruiting have become urgent priorities for further business growth. ZenX, with strengths in building HR organizations and recruiting in the startup sector, will now walk alongside hootfolio as its partner.

■ ZenX's Support

Using ZenStrategy, ZenX's HR BPaaS and recruiting support service, ZenX will comprehensively support hootfolio's recruiting activities across the board. By advancing digital transformation on a cloud platform, it will streamline recruiting processes, optimize costs, and build up institutional know-how.

hootfolio is currently focusing its hiring on the following positions in particular, and ZenX will continue contributing to the company's business expansion by leveraging its strengths, including connections across many fields.

<Engineer (Tech Lead)>

A core position productizing causal inference technology from NEC's research laboratories and building next-generation development workflows using AI. This is a key role leading across frontend, backend, AI platform, and infrastructure to bring research-born technology into real-world use. In the future, this person is expected to work directly under the CTO as VPoE (Vice President of Engineering), overseeing the entire engineering organization as a manager, or to serve as a specialized technical fellow.

<Field Sales (Enterprise Sales)>

Working with executives and department heads at major corporations, this role uses "causal analysis®," the BtoB SaaS causal analysis product, to handle everything from identifying client companies' management and operational challenges to proposals, contracts, and implementation support. The position calls for experience in data analysis or IT solution sales and strong problem-solving skills.

<Customer Success>

This role works alongside companies adopting "causal analysis®," supporting them from onboarding through established use, promoting usage that leads to behavioral change among customers, and raising the quality of their decision-making. It offers the chance to contribute to business growth while communicating directly with executive teams. Experience in IT/SaaS data analysis or customer success and project management skills can be put to use in this position.

For other open positions at hootfolio, please see the following.

https://hootfolio.com/join

■ Comments from Leadership

<Kenta Kasahara, Representative Director, hootfolio>
"Even amid intense competition for talent in early-stage startup hiring, ZenX's deep expertise, network, and agility have brought us compelling candidates. As we pursue a world where anyone can make scientific decisions in real time, we look forward to working with exceptional talent."

<Masahiro Goto, CEO, ZenX>
"For startups, recruiting is the most important foundation supporting business growth. ZenX, which harnesses AI, supports people-building and organization-building for companies that take on challenges. We want to fully support, from the talent side, the challenges of companies like hootfolio that use innovative technology to create new value for society, and to remain a partner in their growth."

Through stronger recruiting foundations powered by ZenStrategy, its HR BPaaS and recruiting support service, ZenX will further accelerate hootfolio's rapid growth and advance the adoption and real-world implementation of causal AI. Going forward, ZenX will continue to deepen its HR support model for startups and work alongside growth companies on their recruiting challenges, aiming to create a new standard for the industry.

* causal analysis®︎ is a registered trademark of hootfolio Inc.

[About hootfolio Inc.]

hootfolio is a startup that carved out from NEC Corporation in January 2025. With the mission of "scientific decision-making for everyone," it provides "causal analysis®," a SaaS analytics service powered by causal AI.

・Company name: hootfolio Inc.

・Address: Sha Maison Stage Tamachi, 5-32-12 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo

・Established: August 2024

・Representative: Kenta Kasahara

・Corporate site: https://hootfolio.com/

・Business: Provision of the causal analysis solution "causal analysis"

[About ZenX Inc.]

ZenX is a company offering BPaaS (Business Process as a Service) that combines AI with human expertise. Across the three domains of HR, Finance, and Global, it comprehensively supports the management challenges of startups, growth companies, and large enterprises.

・Company name: ZenX Inc.

・Address: Cerulean Tower 15F, 26-1 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

・Established: 2019

・Representative: Masahiro Goto

・Corporate site: https://www.zenx.jp/

・Business: ZenTest, an AI-powered talent assessment; ZenStrategy, an HR BPaaS, Finance BPaaS, and strategy and organizational support service; and ZenMatch Agent, a recruiting and career-change support service that delivers optimal matching based on company requirements, organizational culture, candidate preferences, behavioral traits, soft skills, and EQ (emotional intelligence quotient)