Case Study: MEETSCUL, a "Hand-Raising" Matching Platform That Connects Regions and Companies with AI

Overview

When planning corporate retreats, offsite meetings or workations, companies traditionally had to search actively for regions and facilities themselves, and finding the best place among many options was difficult. Meanwhile, regional tourism businesses found it hard to make contact with corporate groups that had not yet chosen a destination, and struggled to win new customers and promote the appeal of their region.

In addition, conventional matching services mostly had the platform present options one-sidedly, which made it hard for companies to discover appealing regions and experiences they had not originally considered. Regional businesses also had limited opportunities to make proactive proposals that drew on their own strengths.

To solve these problems, MEETSCUL adopted a new matching mechanism: the "hand-raising" model. It was developed as a platform where, when a company posts an event request, AI automatically generates an optimal itinerary, and regional facility operators can respond to that itinerary with proposals by "raising their hand," that is, putting themselves forward. This gives companies the chance to discover appealing regions they had not expected, and gives regional businesses an environment in which they can take the initiative.

The project started in March 2025, and in July of the same year a pilot was launched in partnership with BIGLOBE's "ONSEN WORK." Ahead of the official launch at the end of 2025, pre-registration is open to facility operators in Nagano Prefecture, creating new connections between regions and companies.

Challenges

• Companies find it difficult to identify the best regions and facilities for retreats and offsite meetings

• Regional tourism businesses have few opportunities to connect with corporate groups whose destination is undecided

• Conventional matching presents options one-sidedly, so unexpected and appealing encounters rarely happen

• There is no mechanism for regional businesses to make proactive proposals that draw on their strengths

• Matching and arrangements between companies and regional businesses need to be made more efficient

What We Did

• Developed a "hand-raising" AI matching engine

• Implemented event request posting for corporate groups

• Developed automatic generation of optimal itineraries with AI

• Built a "hand-raising" (putting yourself forward) proposal feature for facility operators

• Extended features such as payments, multilingual support and allergy support

• Supported the digital transformation (DX) of regional tourism businesses

Results

• Completed a ¥50 million funding round in April 2025 (¥100 million in total)

• Started a pilot in partnership with BIGLOBE's "ONSEN WORK" service

• Opened pre-registration for facility operators in Nagano Prefecture

• Development is underway toward the official launch at the end of 2025

• Built a mechanism that creates new encounters between regions and companies

Our Role

• Requirements definition

• Design

• Development

• Testing

• Operations

Client

Company Name

PerkUP Inc. https://perkup.life/

Mission

To stand alongside organizations and the people who work in them, and create a society where rich workstyles are possible by updating the working environment

Vision

Bringing science to the encounter between people and regions. Creating a world where travel enriches the future

Business Overview

• Coworkation.com (training and retreat arrangement service for companies)

• MEETSCUL (matching platform for travelers and regional businesses)

• TeamPlace (a platform connecting more than 750 workplaces)

• Lime Resort Hakone (retreat facility operation)

• Myoko Highland Visitor Center (nature and culture experience center)

• Support for diverse ways of working for companies and local governments

• Support for regional revitalization projects

Representatives

CEO Aya Aso / COO Haruhisa Saito

Product

Name

MEETSCUL https://app.meetscul.com/

Mission

To connect regions and companies scientifically, and create a world where travel enriches the future

Service Overview

MEETSCUL is a "hand-raising" AI matching platform that connects regional tourism businesses directly with corporate group travelers. For needs such as corporate offsite meetings, retreats, workations and team building, AI automatically generates an optimal itinerary, and regional facility operators can then make proposals by "raising their hand," that is, putting themselves forward. It offers a new mechanism of this kind.

By shifting the approach from "waiting" to "encounters," it creates an environment where companies can discover appealing regions and experiences they had not originally considered, and regional businesses can make contact with new customers.

Features

• Automatic generation of optimal itineraries by AI

• "Hand-raising" matching that lets regional businesses make proactive proposals

• Creates encounters with appealing regions people did not expect

• Comprehensive features including payments, multilingual support and allergy support

• Support for the DX of regional tourism businesses

Features

• Event request posting for corporate groups

• Automatic generation of optimal itineraries by AI

• "Hand-raising" proposal feature for facility operators

• Facility search and matching

• Setting conditions for area, dates, group size and purpose

• Facility provider registration and management

• Reservation management system

• Estimate creation

• Payments

• Multilingual support

• Allergy support

• Inquiry management

• Matching history management

Project Challenges

Under its vision of "bringing science to the encounter between people and regions," PerkUP Inc. has been operating "Coworkation.com," a training and retreat arrangement service for companies. Through that work, several challenges facing both companies and regional tourism businesses became clear.

First, on the company side, when planning retreats, offsite meetings or workations, it was very difficult to find the region or facility that best fit their needs among the many diverse options across Japan. In particular, there were few ways to find appealing places beyond well-known tourist destinations or experiences unique to a region, so choices tended to be uniform.

Next, on the side of regional tourism businesses, it was hard to make contact with corporate groups that had not yet decided on a destination, and opportunities to win new customers and promote the appeal of the region were limited. Conventional matching services mostly had the platform present options one-sidedly, and regional businesses had few opportunities to make proactive proposals that drew on their own strengths.

Furthermore, for both companies and regional businesses, the arrangements and coordination after matching were cumbersome, and efficient communication and progress of the work were challenges. In particular, there was a growing need to digitize work requiring careful attention, such as payments, multilingual support and allergy support.

The purpose of this project was to solve these challenges and provide a platform where both companies and regions can create new encounters and value.

How the Project Ran

In the early stages of the project, we analyzed in detail the challenges facing both companies and regional businesses, based on the knowledge accumulated through operating the existing service "Coworkation.com." Through interviews with corporate staff and regional facility operators, we clarified the features and value that were truly needed.

Next, we decided to adopt a new "hand-raising" approach that differs from conventional matching services. We designed a mechanism in which a company posts an event request, AI automatically generates an optimal itinerary, and regional facility operators can then make proposals by "raising their hand," that is, putting themselves forward. This created an environment where companies can discover appealing regions they had not originally considered, and regional businesses can actively showcase their own strengths.

For the automatic generation of itineraries by AI, we developed an algorithm that proposes the best plan based on conditions such as the company's purpose (team building, training, workation and so on), area, dates, group size and budget. For regional businesses, we provided an interface for making proposals on the generated itinerary that draw on their own characteristics and strengths.

We also focused on making post-matching work more efficient, comprehensively implementing the features that both companies and regional businesses need, such as payments, multilingual support and allergy support. In particular, from the perspective of supporting the DX of regional tourism businesses, we built an easy-to-use admin panel and efficient workflows.

After the project started in March 2025, we first opened pre-registration for facility operators in Nagano Prefecture and expanded features step by step while collecting feedback from actual users. In July 2025, a pilot was launched in partnership with BIGLOBE's "ONSEN WORK" service to validate the practicality and value of the service.

In April 2025, a ¥50 million funding round was completed (¥100 million in total), and it is being used to accelerate feature expansion and business development. We continue to make improvements toward the official launch at the end of 2025.

Technical Features

• Cloud infrastructure and scalability: AWS. We use Amazon Web Services to achieve automatic scaling and high availability. Even as matching between facility operators and companies across Japan grows, the service can be delivered stably.

• Backend development: Go. The backend is implemented in the Go language, achieving fast and efficient server-side processing. It efficiently handles large numbers of matching requests and itinerary generations.

• Frontend development: React & Next.js. The frontend is based on React and uses Next.js, which supports server-side rendering and static site generation. This delivers faster initial display and optimized SEO.

• AI matching engine: We implemented an AI algorithm that automatically generates the optimal itinerary based on a company's conditions (purpose, area, dates, group size, budget). It achieves precise matching that also takes into account the characteristics and strengths of regional businesses.

• "Hand-raising" matching system: Rather than presenting options one-sidedly as in the past, we built a two-way matching system in which regional businesses can make proactive proposals by "raising their hand," that is, putting themselves forward.

• Integration of many features: We integrated the diverse features that companies and regional businesses need, such as payments, multilingual support and allergy support, to provide a comprehensive platform.