bitkey Inc. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Masanori Takaratsuki; hereinafter "bitkey") announces that it will absorb and merge Palette Cloud Inc. (hereinafter "Palette Cloud"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of bitkey, with the merger to be effective June 30, 2026. bitkey's mission and vision is "Connecting people, enabling greater freedom." The company develops the connect platforms "homehub" and "workhub," leveraging its strengths in ID authentication and authorization technology. In the housing sector, since the launch of its smart lock in 2019, bitkey has expanded its track record by integrating with real estate business systems and providing delivery box systems for apartment buildings in collaboration with major delivery companies, taking a unique approach that fuses hardware and software. Meanwhile, Palette Cloud provides "Palette Management," a tenant management app with a track record of over 3 million installations nationwide, driving operational efficiency in the rental management industry and improving convenience for tenants. To leverage their respective strengths, bitkey acquired Palette Cloud as a subsidiary on July 31, 2024, and has been promoting the development of an app "used daily" that combines a "tenant app" and "smart locks." Through this joint development, the shared vision and values of both companies have deepened, and their collaborative structure was strengthened through full subsidiary acquisition on April 30, 2026. The decision to proceed with this absorption merger was made to fully integrate the management resources and organizational structures of both companies and to create further synergy. Through this merger, by combining bitkey's product development capabilities and sales network, which fuse "hardware and software," with Palette Cloud's extensive knowledge and customer base cultivated in the rental management domain, we will further strengthen our ability to create high-value-added solutions that meet market and soc